Thursday Review—Fact or Fiction: Know the Truth to Protect Yourself Online

I’ve been giving out information about  how to stay safe online and today I want to share some of the top myths I’ve run across. First take the short quiz, then I’ll give you the information.

True or False Online Safety Quiz

1. I’m not on a public network, so my computer isn’t at risk.
2. Dial-up connections are just as vulnerable as wireless connections.
3. The best anti-virus software is the one you pay for.
4. No hacker would bother with my computer because I don’t have anything on it worth stealing.
5. With all the online security it takes a lot of technical know-how to hack a computer, site or network.
6. Macs are just as vulnerable as PCs to hacking.
7. My password is secure.
8. I should never use the same password for different sites.
9. I know a link is safe because a friend sent it or posted it on Facebook.
10. If my browser displays the locked padlock icon I know the website is safe.

Here are the Answers:

1. False: the Internet is a public network. If you’re on the Internet you need to take precautions.
2. True: unless you have a permanent IP address (and homes don’t, usually) you're just as much at risk as someone using a wireless connection.
3. False: according to the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports one of the highest rated anti-virus software is free. (Avira) 
4. False: personal computers are much easier to hack and contain lots of info that’s worth stealing.
5. False: yes there are some things that are hard to hack, but most don’t take as much knowledge as you would think.
6. True: I’m a Mac user and this one surprised me. The only difference is that there are fewer Macs in use so there aren’t as many viruses out there.
7. Only you can answer this, but you might be surprised. I’m a frequent visitor to friends homes and you’d be amazed at the number of them who don’t know the password to their home’s wireless system...and how often I can get in by just a few guesses.
8. True: and if you’ve been following this series you know this. Did you miss the first post? Catch up on What to do if You've Been Hacked here.
9. False: again, if you’ve been keeping up, you know this was a gimme question. Not sure what I mean? Here’s the link to Steps You Can take to Prevent Yourself Online.
10. What you want to look for is ‘https://’ not just ‘http://’. The padlock icon is easy to duplicate and it takes an experienced hacker (with lots of knowledge) to duplicate the ‘s’ in the URL.

Now it’s your turn. What questions or tips do you have for online security?

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie