Scoble has a few words about computer security:
Several discussions today centered on phishing, spyware, malware, viruses, and worms. Dave Winer said
something real important "I can't trust my computer anymore." I hope
I'm quoting him correctly, but he's recently been hit with spyware and
can't get rid of it. Unfortunately I didn't get a look at his computer
this week, so couldn't debug it.
Chris Pirillo, in his blog "why Microsoft is going to lose the OS wars" nails it home again.
Dan Appleman is one guy doing something about it. He has a quiz
that very few people in this industry get completely correct. It sure
shocked me (and at the geek dinner a week ago where he gave a talk it
shocked most of the people who came). His book, Always Use Protection: A Teen's Guide to Safe Computing,
opened my eyes to what is really going on out there and just how much
work we need to do (it's a book that everyone should read, but probably
won't).
Yes, Windows XP Service Pack 2
improves things quite a bit, but you still need to practice safe
computing. Appleman's book shows that teenagers are actually turning
off their firewalls (to play networked games) and getting their
identities stolen at a huge rate (and in a way that you might not
expect -- teenagers share computers with other teenagers quite readily)
because of the way that they use their computers and also because of
their familiarity with computers.
Etc. . . [Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]
I feel pretty secure here: router, firewall, anti-virus,
spyware-checkers, and so on. But the idea of sending a kid off to
college without a few more lessons in securing his computer is
something I'm not comfortable with. So we'll be reviewing his setup
before he leaves, and again when he gets moved in. I took Appleman's
quiz (link above), and the only question I got wrong was about identity
theft: seems that something like 30% of teenagers have been victims,
compared to only 5% of adults. What a way to start your financial
life.
5:06:57 PM 
|
|
