The 3 Primary Consequences Of Not Practicing Effective Internet Security

The internet has provided millions of individuals worldwide with an abundance of benefits that help us in our everyday lives. You can contact and communicate with family members and friends on a global basis as well as doing your banking and shopping, all from the comfort of home. Unfortunately, along with all these benefits, there are inherent internet security risks to be aware of. These risks increase almost exponentially whenever measures are not taken to protect yourself from the online threats listed below.

Identity Theft

The single most prevalent internet security issue today is identity theft. Our personal and sensitive information is no longer safe thanks to the millions of hackers out there who are skilled at stealing it. Sadly, most victims of identity theft find out that they have been a target after the damage has been done. For example, they will oftentimes steal your credit/debit card information and use it to make their own online purchases. Your only means of protection from this is an effective antivirus software application.

Spam E-Mail

For the most part, most spam e-mails are not dangerous. However, some of them may use Java Script or a similar program to embed a virus threat in that mail. Additionally, malicious website links may be placed within the contents of an e-mail that directs you to a download with spyware or a virus embedded within it.

Once you click on your mouse to either browse that link or download the “gift” program, your computer will get infected with the malware that has been embedded. Be sure that you only use a highly trusted e-mail site such as Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo Mail since these all feature spam protection.

Spyware

This is a comprehensive term that includes several different malware (malicious software) threats that includes:

• adware
• key-loggers
• modified cookies
• pop-up advertisements
• Trojans

It doesn’t include certain viruses that have been engineered to be self-replicating rather than spying on your computer system and stealing sensitive information. It infects your computer and sits there watching all of your online activities and uncovers any internet security weaknesses that exist in your system.

Once it finds them, the spyware program will steal your personal information including your banking info, e-mails, passwords, and social networking user ID. Finally, be wary of free anti-spyware applications as these are oftentimes spyware themselves and can be potentially harmful to your operating system.

Find out more about Effective Internet Security at the MySiteGotHacked.com.au website.