‘Safer Internet Day’ Re-Establishes Warnings Against Internet Threats

Security specialists, on February 9, 2010, with the help of the annual 'Safer Internet Day' initiative of the European Union, renewed caution against online and malware scams, especially against users of social-networking websites.

Reportedly, this year's (2010) theme -"Think B4 U Post," chiefly deals with Internet threats confronting the youth. However, Internet Security Expert Phil D'Angio at VeriSign cautioned that all surfers on the Net were potentially in danger. V3.co.uk reported this on February 9, 2010.

Malware Researcher Andrew Brandt at Webroot, another security company, too with the help of the SID initiative cautioned of the various risks everyone encountered vis-à-vis safe online activity. V3.co.uk reported this.

Says the researcher, cyber-criminals are attacking individual Internet surfers who are currently the most vulnerable links online.

Notably, these criminals employ several different techniques of attack, from phishing campaigns to bogus AV (anti-virus) programs. While the phishing technique attempts at acquiring online banking information from users, FAKEAV software frightens users into paying money to the scammers for supposed security software.

Said Brandt that people should be careful while surfing on the Net and not trust something there that sounded unbelievably true. PC ADVISOR published this on February 9, 2010.

According to the researcher, when a web-link appears doubtful, online surfers should do a Web-search for the phrases/words given inside the link.

Brandt further recommended that the surfers must make sure their anti-malware defenses were up-to-date. Also, they mustn't use Web-browsers having familiar security vulnerabilities. Lastly, as an additional safeguard, they must utilize browser plug-ins that would help to prevent the working of browser exploits.

Additionally, according to security specialists, young people often fail to understand that when they post personal information online, it stays there, becoming accessible to anyone. So if crooks access the information, they may use it for committing identity theft.

Besides, maliciously-intended people can easily display innocent images in an entirely different context that can mean humiliation, sometimes even bullying. Since photos posted online are digital in form, anyone can do a cut-paste, modification or distortion of them. Consequently, young people through these can be largely exposed to frauds by Internet criminals.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 2/16/2010