"Phishing"

Today, my thoughts have been on the presentation I have to give next Tuesday on "Phishing." I have been doing a lot of investigation on the subject and the more I do, the scarier it becomes. Did you know that in a one year period, there were 57 million phishing attacks through the internet and email and this year that number has already been met?
In case you don't know what phishing is, phishers try to trick you into giving your personal information in a fake email or website. They create a spoofed email that looks legit and that email tells you there is some urgent problem you need to fix (or requests something like that) and asks you to click on a link and the true link is disguised and it really takes you to a counterfit website. Then you are asked to enter personal info or by clicking on the link it may also download sypware to your computer. Sometimes phishers distribute popup windows and instant messages by automated software or bots. But that all depends on you clicking on the link in the email.
Here are some ways to protect yourself from phishing attacks:

• Never give out your passwords - NEVER!
• Be suspicious of urgent requests for information
• Be aware of generic email - how do the companies you deal with do business?
• Don't click on links in email - to avoid counterfit links, go to the internet and manually enter the website address into the address bar
• Don't give in to curiosity - it only takes one click for your computer to be compromised
• If someone calls you on the phone asking for personal information, ask questions, ask caller for name and phone number, and politely decline giving info until you can verify request

One other important computer security tip is one about your passwords. Make sure they are at least 8 characters long and that they contain upper and lower case letters and some characters. I don't know if you know but there is a program out there that can be run in just a few seconds that will scan your password for every word in the dictionary and if you have selected a "word," the program will find it and break it. Also, it's very easy for hackers, if they want to, to find out who you are and what you like by simply going to Facebook or MySpace and read just a little about you in your profile. Most people use passwords they can remember and the hackers can easily guess your passwords from your hobbies and passions listed there. Never use family names, birthdates, pet's names, car make and models and other obvious likes and dislikes. And never use the same password for different accounts. Imagine if an identity thief were to get into one of your banking accounts, could he get into all your other accounts with the same password? Protect yourself by making it hard for someone to steal your stuff by having more than one password.

As you can see, I have my job on the brain. I got to organize some of my thoughs while writing and I hope I gave you a helpful tip today. Have a wonderful Monday.