Internet Security Fundamentals

The book I read to research this post was Internet Security Fundamentals by Nick Ioannou which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book tells you all about the various scams and cons that what is often organised criminals do to get things like people's bank details and other personal information that can be used for identity theft. It does a good job in this respect although is rather short but is such an interesting topic I'd have liked to have read more about it. We hear about things like phishing where they send you a fake email supposedly from someone like your bank or ISP asking for personal information but now rather than use a fake website many use a link to the actual that actually installs spyware on your computer or other spying app and watches you typing in your personal information. Many phishing messages use free throw away e-mail addresses which should put you on your guard. In fact there is a market for web sites with similar names to actual sites like banks and these are quite sought after by phishers. A very common technique is offering the latest blockbuster or a porno film as a free download complete with malware that as you install it bypasses your firewall. Often you are asked to install a plug in to play the movie of course complete with malware. It does say if you need additional software to play a file get it ideally from the official site or at least from a mainstream site. Another scam is getting an attractive to strip off on a web cam and getting you to do the same and then blackmailing you by threatening to post it on a social media site of you stripping or even sending it to your employer or spouse. Even if you think you are talking to an attractive lady on the internet often it can be someone completely different just phishing for personal information. If you have a teenager or partner who goes on a computer you mustn't do any internet banking or shopping online on that machine as almost certainly they won't be as you and have the same high standards about not downloading malware or giving away personal details. In fact with teenagers it suggests get them a tablet and get them to use that instead. Never use internet cafes and especially not there machines even for things like checking e-mail. Instead use a smartphone and many have a personal internet hotspot feature that you can use with your tablet or netbook whilst out. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think it was a free download which makes it a bit of a bargain. It's also very well researched.