Please Be Careful...Hackers Out There...

To get a clearer picture of what to expect in terms of privacy -- under the law, not in terms of hackers -- I recommend https://ssd.eff.org/book/export/html/5

If you can get to any privacy/hacking talk by Randal Schwartz (Stonehenge.com), make it a high priority and take notes. He's an annual guest on the EFF track at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA, where he usually gives at least one presentation about online security.

Randal is also a regular on the Internet TV show, FLOSS Weekly -- rarely discussing security -- but look for him on other security-related shows like Security Weekly.

You'll find plenty of older information online. That can be useful. However, the security scene changes daily if not hourly, so it's best to follow specific security experts as closely as you can, for the very latest updates.

And, yes, an unsecured wifi connection makes you very vulnerable. The recent (April 2012) court decision in Google's favor was -- as Computer World explained -- an unfortunate precedent.

Hi,

There are several steps you can take to protect yourself. Which involves, among other things:

• Always keeping your system up to date.
• Always keeping your firewall up.
• Not using software from untrusted / unknown sources.
• Using strong passwords (your dog's or girlfriend's name isn't a good password, 473Uo0y8056NIYM is - of course I don't generate my passwords myself, I use a generator),
• Never use the same password twice - one service, one unique password. Here again, a good password generator that stores your passwords in a crypted file comes in handy.
• Don't send sensitive data over an unencrypted link (like a free WiFi connection), if you're in this case, use a VPN, this will protect your connection (you're establishing a secure tunnel between yourself and the VPN server, everything that goes through it is encrypted).

You may read this guide I have written for more details:

scribd.com/doc/86138095/How-to-Protect-Yourself-From-the-Dangers-of-the-Internet

Seb.

Put different passwords on anything and change it often, add a decent antivirus and firewell and u re good to go

Alot of the "article submission software" that claim to submit your articles to 300+ directories are filled with hacker websites. Just one more reason why i dont use them. All of your information on your hard drive can be compromised.

For me, the biggest preventative measures have been the firewall and not downloading from any suspicious sites. Anti-virus software can help, but the trojan or malware may be first circulating before your anti-virus software logs it and issues an update.
_____
Bruce

I daily get an email "saying open this file, scanned etc.) and it has attachment also, the magic thing is the email id is showing is made on my website i.e. email@mydomain.com like this, I don't understand it really and I don't open the attachment file and i don't click on any live links also.

Maybe we should learn a little technology of crack data vulnerability , u know how attack in order to know how defense

And ...
Don't use the administrator account for internet browsing.
Avoid to authenticate from a shared computer

The topic is huge and probably the best advices, you can find on security forum sites.

I use AVG, ad-adware, and Malware -antibyte. Dont know if this will prevent hackers.

Hackers do not hack you specifically only if its someone you know and he needs something from you, if it's a co-worker or a family member (hopefully not).

World hackers use your computer more as a zombie for major websites attack with you not even knowing, the zombie usually works in the background and perform an action that may harm other services by the hackers command.

I think what you ask is how to protect yourself for any kind of making your computer a zombie or keep things private.

1. Install an anti virus software - there are many, i use AVG because it works fine and don't suck my computer resources.
If picking a anti virus software makes you frustrated - don't be all of them are not 100% in detecting malware or viruses.

2. Use a browser other then Internet Explorer, it is much more safer. Firefox and Chrome are great alternatives. The reason is that internet explorer has more bugs and can be easy manipulated also updates to it are very low frequent against other browsers that gets updated almost every month.

3. Don't download things you don't need or from people you don't know or trust (suspicious blog or website full of banners where you don't know where to find you hands and legs)
You may download from official websites of the software company, i tend to ignore downloading sites and go straight to the author website.

4. most important Don't be innocent and be fooled easily!
If a website tells you, you have a virus or you won a grand prize or telling you to get something amazing for free that you never heard about - close it.
If you have doubts you can search the internet for more info to see maybe if it's good or not.
This is also goes for SCAMS of fake nice looking emails from Amazon or Paypal, these emails are tricking you to logon to websites mocking up the design (known as fishing) and causing you to give your personal details - ALWAYS search for the secured connection icon in your browser when logging in.

I am not trying to scare you but just taking precautions should keep you just fine

Wow so much has been said here... So I say follow everything said here...

Just be careful of what emails you open, of the link on the left bottom corner of the browser that is shown when you mouse-over, use a good antivirus and update it, a good firewall -or an internet security-. Also use a registry cleaner software and sometimes use that private browsing which does not store cookies. And of course what other users said about passwords and VPN's.

thats all true but im sure that even using my own internet connection at home I can be hacked...true?