Mac Users – What To Do Before Your Mac Catches A Virus

Experts have been warning recently that smug Mac users may get their comeuppance soon as hackers are noticing that Macs now encompass nearly 10% of the personal computer market and may be gearing up to send off a barrage of viruses. So should Mac users start thinking about anti-malware software? Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle seems to think so and he has some solutions to suggest his article A Flu Shot for Your Mac . What he suggests is looking in a free software program called iAntiVirus, a new Mac program from PC Tools. Guess it was inevitable, huh?

Staying Safe in the Land of E-Commerce

Some people swear by online shopping, others wouldn't be caught dead making that seemingly fateful click-to-purchase online. Making purchases in both realms has its pluses and drawbacks. The truth is that in both realities the middle guy may be the biggest threat. Out in the real world, for example, the wait staff or clerk has possession of your credit card out of sight just as when you make an online purchase you have to trust that your credit card info is going to the right people who will send you what you are looking for. Always pour over your monthly credit card bill to make sure you haven't been scammed by the middleman. For more tips, see Staying Safe in the E-Commerce Jungle.

What Will Spock Know About You?

The founders of new site called Spock.com have set quite a task for themselves. They want to index information on every person in the world. Spock.com says it has already indexed 100 million people and is adding one million names per day on the invitation-only, test version of its Web site, which will be made available to the public in mid-August.  Users will be able to add keywords, pictures and other personal and professional information about people with an internal system on the site to filter out false information that could destroy the Web site's credibility. Each Spock.com user will have an "authority ranking" that can go down if the information provided for a profile is rejected.

You don't have to be an Internet privacy expert, though, to worry about possible abuse. These days, with some people checking things like their credit rating every day, you have to wonder if we all are going to have to monitor what's online about ourselves. Organizations like the privacy rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation agree. "More and more of our lives appear online, or are being organized online," Derek Slater, an activism coordinator at EFF says. "It can be very annoying to see so much of someone online, potentially without putting that (information) online oneself." And, by the way, people search engines have little to worry about legally. As third parties, they are not held accountable under U.S. law for putting on their Web sites information provided by others. Just one more thing to worry about, eh?

In Phishing Experiment, Students Take the Bait

Indiana University researchers say the best way to understand online security is to act like the bad guys. So they set out to send some phishy emails and were somewhat surprised to find students so readily taking the bait. In one study done in May, 72% of more than 600 students tested fell for an e-mail from an account intended to look familiar that sought usernames and passwords. Overall, the experiments found that hackers have the most success by using hijacked Web addresses or e-mail accounts that look real. The research also showed computer users generally have little knowledge of website security certificates and leave themselves open to attack with poorly configured routers or operating systems. Pretty scary considering this is the most digitally "with it" generation and shows that we all need to pay more attention to the email we open and where we "leave" our private information. But researchers also say that phishing attacks rely on human vulnerabilities such as greed, curiosity, ignorance and fear. Some things seem to never change.