Remember the 80s TV series "Hill Street Blues?" And the character Sgt. Phil Esterhaus who always ended morning roll call with the admonition, "Let's be careful out there!"
Anyone got any better advice for Internet users than that?
In the early days of the 'Net, it was easy to think that all was safe and private. Then we started getting very rude awakenings. Identity theft? Fake sites? And worst of all SPAM!!!!! And not just spam! Spam that infects your PC with a virus! Or a worm! (Ewwwww!!!) The sheer volume is overwhelming. Scam spam meant to steal your money. Jokes! Viral videos! Phishing! And, for me, the most annoying of all: chain email. "Send this message to at least 25 people and a zillion dollars will magically appear in your lap within the next 2 minutes!"
Enough.
Just remember that a free lunch is never free. That anything that sounds too good to be true probaby is. Check this site for some tips on recognizing phishing email. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/identify.mspx
And when you get an email from someone claiming something extra horrible (nicotine in McDonald's hamburgers!) or something extra wonderful (Bill Gates wants to give you a million dollars!), check it out on http://www.snopes.com/
Guard your email addresses and passwords for various sites. Never use names (family, friends, pets) or personal dates (birthdays, anniversaries) for passwords or PINs.
And finally, remember that privacy on the Internet is not guaranteed, especially if using a public computer and/or Wi-Fi access. Delete browsing history. Clear caches.
Let's be careful out there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Snopes is my favorite. There is a snopes type show on TLC now too.
Check out my new posting. I ordered a sweat shirt with this on it too.
Is the show Mythbusters? I like that show. And Snopes is fun just for browsing, too.
Actually I think the name is Mostly True Stories. It deals with urban legends.
Good comment.
Post a Comment