1 Introduction

This is an easy-to-understand guide of the most commonly faced security threats any computer user is likely to come across via email, social media and online shopping. It is split into two sections, ‘stuff you need to know’ and ‘things you need to do,’ to make it easier to understand. 

Antivirus software is now incredibly advanced, but the problem of viruses is worse than ever! Every week we hear in the news that a major corporation, university, hospital or public-sector organisation has been the victim of a cyber-attack from a virus infection. This is because many viruses trick us into installing them or rely on vulnerabilities in the software we are using. The same way that the most sophisticated alarm system and front door security is not much use if you open the door from the inside to let someone in, or leave the back door unlocked. This book explains why you cannot just rely on just antivirus, but also need to be aware of the various scams and tricks used by criminals. If fact every virus I have ever removed for others over the past 20 years, has been on a computer with up-to-date antivirus installed.

So why have things got worse? Today, it is all about money; mainly taking your money that is, from your bank account, on your credit cards or selling your details to other criminals or holding your documents and photos to ransom. They are the digital version of the mugger in the street, the organised crime syndicate, burglars and thieves. However, you look at it, it is basically criminals using technology to commit extortion, fraud or theft against you, or gaining unauthorised use of computer assets to facilitate extortion, fraud or theft on others. One can lead to the other, which is why thinking you have nothing of value is not true, just the fact you have a computer is enough.

Types of Malware (Malicious Software)

To give you an idea of the scale of cyber-crime, it was announced that the British police are battling more than 200 global organised crime groups engaged in cyber fraud in London. The latest according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) there were an estimated 1.6 million incidents of computer misuse in the some of the reporting years. Despite the scale of the problem, the chances of the criminals being caught and brought to justice is rare, even without the fact that most operate from a different country and use technology to hide their true location.

According to the antivirus company McAfee Labs they’ve seen over 375 new malware threats every minute, which works out to a very scary average of more than 6 per second (it was 8 per second at one point). They also reported in the past over 63 million malicious URL hyperlinks (named web addresses) and over 66 million malicious IP web addresses, so you get an idea of the scale of the problem. If you are interested, the links to the full threat reports and infographic overviews are listed at the end of this eBook. So now you know the situation, though it’s not all bad news, as a little bit of background knowledge of how to avoid the dangers and the common methods the criminals use, will lower your chances of becoming a victim.

Index or next chapter Viruses & Trojans