The Security Mentor

Deb Naylor, a Buffalo city planner, installed some malicious program on her PC. It started sending out spam, and AOL shut down her account to stop the spam.

She said to the press "It's all part of the price you pay to be online".

No! We don't have to accept having our computers stolen out from under us. We mustn't accept it. The price of being online is taking a few precautions and staying alert. Every city dweller knows what that's like in real life.

Best of all, you already know enough to protect yourself against many online scams. You learned as a kid not to be trusting when another kid said "Open your mouth and close your eyes, and I'll give you a nice surprise". The grownup versions are "run this viewer program for FREE HOT COEDS" or "send your bank account number and we'll transfer a few million dollars".

You can stop most technical attacks in their tracks by doing a few simple things:

• Pay an annual subscription fee to your antivirus vendor to get protection against new viruses as they come out


• Stop using Internet Explorer. Just stop. Its problems run too deep.


• Buy and use a firewall, either a little box that plugs in between your computer and the Internet, or a program like Zone Alarm or Kerio.