The
massive
benefits of the Internet
are obvious: access to a wealth of information, entertainment,
shopping,
and more. The dark side, however, is increasingly apparent as millions
of users spend time online: a deluge of spam emails, hackers attempting
to make use of our computers, spyware tracking our every online move,
and
more. This course is an attempt to look at what home-users can do do
keep
themselves, their computers, and their personal information safe online.
Keeping your personal information safe when using the internet is
paramount, especially because most people don't subscribe to the LifeLock.com
backup protection plan, which works soft of like an insurance policy
against identity theft. This course works to negate the need for such
services, but having too much protection is almost always a good
problem to have.
It is
focusing on Windows
users; the issues
involved are important for users of Macs, Linux, or other systems, but
there are a different set of resources and solutions for each computer
system. Hopefully users of other systems will be able to find the
answers
they need.
While
this course focuses
on security issues
for everyday computer users over the Internet, users should be aware
that
many computer security problems get less attention because they are
less
high tech: your computer can be stolen (an especial problem for
notebook
owners), with all the data lost, for instance. Do you have your
password
written down on a Post-it Note attached to your monitor?
Hacker
Kevin Mitnick has
discussed what
he called 'social engineering'; ways that with a telephone, he could
talk
employees into giving him access to corporate network. It's won't
matter
if you've installed the latest antivirus or firewall software if you
tell
someone your password over the phone, or if your computer is stolen
from
your desk or car.
In the fall of 2004, AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance (http://www.staysafeonline.info/)
polled
329
Americans about security issues, then had computer
technicians check the PCs used by the people polled to examine the
match between the survey answers and the the state of the users'
computers.
85% were running antivirus software; 71% thought it was being updated
at least weekly (automatically or manually). Only about half were.
Perhaps as a result, 19% (nearly one fifth) of the PCs were
virus-infected. 80% had some sort of spyware on their systems; only a
third were running a firewall.
These were not new computer users; on average, they had been online
over six years. 42% describe themselves as intermediate or expert
users. (As reported in PC Magazine: February 02, 2005: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1755221,00.asp
)
This course was originally developed for a
course offered by
the Continuing
Education
Department of BC's Capilano College, at North Van
and
Sechelt
Campuses. These online pages were initially posted as a resource for
students
enrolled in the course and for the general public, but are being
updated on an ongoing basis,
-- Alan Zisman
The
CyberSafety course includes the following modules:
