Cyber Safety

Cyber safety involves keeping yourself, your family and your personal information and your financial identity safe and secure.An important concept for women's self defense.

If your computer connects to the internet you need to have security software installed and running for cyber safety. The software will also need to connect to its parent web-site to provide updates on current malevolent programs.

The features to consider when investigating internet security software are:

Anti-virus software provides protection from:

• Malware: A general term for malicious programs designed to spy on or damage a computer or mobile electronic device.
• Virus: Programs that are able to mess up your computer by deleting, corrupting or changing information.
• Trojans: Programs that come to your computer disguised as something else or with something else designed to alter or steal information.
• Spyware: Stealth programs that monitor keystrokes and traces all other activity.
• Worms: Programs that can replicate themselves over a computer network to perform malicious acts.
• Bots: Programs that remotely take over a computer system and report the results to those who control them.

Some of these program's functions overlap and are constantly evolving, but, to summarize: ITS ALL BAD! You need antivirus software in place every time you log on the internet. Once the malware is in your computer you may not be able to salvage it its memory- or the computer itself!

An electronic brick wall that blocks communications from sources you don’t approve of and keeps hackers from stealing your personal information.

This is a very important cyber safety feature. It may come in the internet security software and/or your internet provider. In addition you must be vigilant about what emails you open- particularly those that contain attachments! Viruses and spyware can be connected to attachments and all you have to do is open one and its in!

This software helps to identify known unsafe websites that have been involved in phishing attacks. These are attempts to lure users into sharing log-on IDs, passwords and other personal information. Cyber safety demands you never share this information. Always make your passwords difficult to guess with a variety of upper and lower case letters as well as a few random numbers.

If your computer has been infected with a virus or has been hacked, immediately unplug the internet source from your computer. Run a full scan of your entire computer and all of its files with fully updated security software. Alert the proper authorities: your ISP, the hacker’s ISP- if you can figure out what it is- and the FBI at www.ic3.gov.

If a scammer has taken advantage of you through internet fraud while shopping on line contact the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov. Contact your bank to see if you can reverse the charges and cancel your credit card and get a new one.

If you deceptive spam- including phishing- forward it to spam@uce.gov.

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