Week 7 - Internet Security

How safe is the Internet?

How safe is your computer?

Coming from a IT background, (my brothers and sisters are graduate with Computer Science [or equivalent] degree), I always think that my computers are very "virus-proof". When I actually started studying my diploma (Engineering Informatics), I had learnt that there is nothing called "virus-proof". Well, the professionals and the makers of MacBook claimed that MacBooks are essentially virus-proof but how much do you actually trust that?

Personally, I do not trust that MacBooks are actually virus-proof. I had installed 2 anti-virus on my MacBook just in case. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

I had ever got attacked by trojan horse before. It wasn't exactly from internet but it was from the transmission of data through a thumb drive.

Removing the virus was the most difficult. Once you are under attack of any virus, your information that you are sharing online will be compromise without you even realising it.

A study being carried every year by Symantec shows the below findings.

Highlights from the 2014 Internet Security Threat Report

Key Findings

• 91% increase in targeted attacks campaigns in 2013
• 62% increase in the number of breaches in 2013
• Over 552M identities were exposed via breaches in 2013
• 23 zero-day vulnerabilities discovered
• 38% of mobile users have experienced mobile cybercrime in past 12 months
• Spam volume dropped to 66% of all email traffic
• 1 in 392 emails contain a phishing attacks
• Web-based attacks are up 23%
• 1 in 8 legitimate websites have a critical vulnerability

With the above statistics, it is hard for you not to be more protective of your computer and what you are seeing on your screen every single day.