Tips from Mom

Tips from Mom adopted for the re-interpreted for the cyber age

1. Get a good education
a. Attend seminars; read; take action;
b. Know your threat profile
c. Know how to recognize ‘safe’ websites

2. Never ‘talk’ to strangers
a. phishing – never follow links in emails. Motivated bad guys can create websites that look exactly like your bank – with an image over the URL so you can’t tell the difference!

3. Don’t take candy from strangers
a. Cookies are how the websites you use know who you are when you come back. They also maintain data while you’re logged in (these are both good things!)
b. Cookies can also provide data to other people (this isn’t necessarily bad, but could be)
c. Worse than cookies is clicking ‘ok’ to popup from a website you don’t know – this will install a program on your computer.

4. Don’t share your house keys
a. Each time you create a user name for yourself and a password – you’re creating a new ‘house key’ for your personal information
b. Passwords should be complex
c. Passwords should not be shared across websites

5. Take your vitamins
a. Set your computers operating system to update automatically;
b. antivirus program should download new signatures as they are available

6. Lock your doors
a. select a good firewall that meets your household’s needs
b. outbound traffic is as critical to block as inbound
c. use a browser other than Internet Explorer - eg. FireFox

7. Wash your hands when coming home
a. scan for viruses, Trojans, worms, Malware
i. key loggers; data streamers

8. Use a good soap!
a. Research the software tools available and choose wisely
i. Anti-virus
ii. Anti-spyware