InfoProtecting your website & pc from malicious software

Protecting your website & pc from malicious software

As the internet becomes increasingly important in our day to day lives, the validity of it as a target for criminals grows exponentially. Viruses, Malware, Phising attacks and so on, all of these things can be confusing for the person who merely wants to access the web, browse a few sites and collect their email. Several sites put the number of new pieces of malicious software being launched on to the web at any where between 20,000 and 60,000 per day.

“More than 5 million U.S. consumers lost money to Phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in September 2008, a 39.8% increase from a year earlier (Gartner)”. That having been said, it does not mean that you cannot protect yourself from almost all of these forms of attack. Common sense is no small factor in removing the vast majority of threats. We all know the advice not to click on links and open unknown programs and emails from people we don’t know or that appear suspicious. Also a basic understanding of how the internet works and how your computer works, can go a long way toward protecting you from most threats. But even with this knowledge, your pc can still become infected. How? well malicious software makers don’t only target you and your pc they also look to find access to websites and install code on their pages. Then when visited, these pages will generally redirect you to a new site and before you realize it and often without knowing, your pc has downloaded and installed a malicious piece of software.

Our top 5 tips for protecting your pc & website

  1. Use an antivirus such as Eset Nod32
  2. Don’t store password in plain text use a password safe such as KeePass
  3. When sharing personal information on a site, make sure it is protected via https
  4. Air on the side of caution when downloading software from the web.
  5. Avoid opening emails and clicking links sent to you by people who you don’t know or trust

To be as safe as possible, you really need to consider using a well known antivirus software. Hostingireland recommends and also uses Nod32 antivirus. If you would like to try it out before purchasing then you can avail of a free trial .

Another important factor in protecting your websites and online accounts, is to use a password safe. This is a tool which encrypts the passwords that you enter into it, making it impossible for malware, should it become installed on your pc, to seek out these passwords and use them to gain access to your account. At hostingireland we use the free KeePass password safe