Phish

Preventing internet threats comes not only from technology, but also involves raising awareness of the scams. Whilst often the perception is of dangers from other-worldly viruses, but the reality is that many problems arise because someone has been tricked by some all too human con.

There is plenty of focus on products promising technical protection, indeed some scams seek to exploit this market by offering bogus anti-virus software. Yet a weakness that criminals target is the person. Those phishing spam emails either gets the unsuspecting recipient to divulge personal information, or to click "OK" to download and install unwanted software.

When it comes to computer security it is not just a matter of installing some product, defence also comes from being well informed. I have experience of providing technical support and education in this area and am available for delivering customised training and support.

References

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP "information security breaches survey 2010" Technical Report

Stefan A. Robila , James W. Ragucci , 2005 "Don't be a Phish: Steps in User Education", Montclair State University.

MessageLabs 2009, "Who is the weakest link? How to protect from employee IT misuse" www.symanteccloud.com/whitepaper/Staff_IT_Misuse.pdf

Those phone calls! Yes they call Rory Cellan-Jones and me as well. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9637000/9637033.stm

More will follow on these topics.
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