So where was I? Ah yes, I had just told you that the internet continues to be the new Wild Wild West - which anyone with any sense already knew. Yeah, it’s dangerous out there. And naturally everyone then says, okay, where do we go from here?

There are some things you can do to keep yourself a tad bit safer while cruising the cloudy pages. The real problem as always is… The bad guys only have to find one hole. The good guys have to guard everything. It’s a very lopsided war and very hard for the good guys to remain alive, no matter how hard they work. You can do everything right and still get bit.

The only saving grace in this scenario is that people tend to be lazy - they’re gonna go for the easiest thing they can get unless it’s a vendetta. Soooooo….

Your goal is not to be one of the "low hanging fruit”. Let’s begin.

Choice of Browser

Every browser can be exploited. However Internet Explorer currently has the most hackers going after it tooth and nail. If you use it you have to realize that most of the worst exploits are more likely to hit you first.

However Firefox (my preferred), Safari, and even Google Chrome all have been victims in the war. (I was going to give you links, but I figure you can find them if you want them - ha) Chrome most recently had an issue with malware getting around its sandbox security setup. Some are safer than others. None are 100% safe. There are some steps you can take to make your browsing better.

Stopping stuff in the browser

First of all everyone should have the popup blocker enabled on their browser. Use the "allow site” feature to allow the popups you want to see. This is called "white listing” and is the best option currently available. Simple.

Every browser has ad block software available (including IE). Use it! Here are the links

Firefox ad block plus
Safari ad block plus
Chrome ad block plus

IE has to be a bit different. I haven’t got any experience with this but this is the ad blocker I found for IE
IE ad blocker

The firefox version even comes with a YouTube demo to help you get it set up. Ad block software means many of the ads being served up on websites are blocked. You don’t see them and they can’t download any malware to your system. Many people have been bitten by malicious ads on reputable sites. I initially installed it to get rid of those annoying blinky ads. The blocking of malware ads has been a significant bonus.

Every once in a while I run across a web site that has ad block detecting software. The authors of said sites then put up a message admonishing me for not helping them make money (how dare I) telling me I need to turn off my vile ad blocker when visiting their site! When I see those notices, I leave the site immediately and don’t return. Guess they accomplished their goal and got rid of me. If you run across this, you’ll have to decide how you want to handle it, especially if it's a favorite site.

PDF reader

Over the last couple of years, Adobe has been attacked as hard as IE. Maybe even harder. The bad guys have found that applications are a very handy way to get on your system. Adobe, with its myriad of features also has a myriad of holes. Unfortunately it takes them forever to patch the holes once found since they have to do it without breaking the features people paid for.

There are other plain vanilla free PDF readers out there. Foxit Reader is the one I use on my Windows machine. (Mac users catch a break here since the built in Preview reads PDF files and most people don’t ever download Adobe Reader). I have taken Adobe Reader off my system. Besides Foxit is way way way faster!

Flash

Speaking of Adobe. It’s very important to keep your flash up to date! Lately Firefox has been excellent about bringing in the new flash when Adobe updates. If you haven’t been prodded to update your flash for a while, then go check your version at Find Flash Player Version to be sure you’re up to date.

Click Thru

I will come back to this since it’s a post of its own.

If you were really paranoid (well you wouldn’t be reading this because you’d find it too entry level heh) you could turn off scripting. Firefox has a cute little no-script plugin. But that basically breaks most of the Internet and then what would be the point of even getting online? Every time you get online there is a risk. Some are bigger than others. I find this one to be down the list so far. There may be some upcoming exploit that will drive us to this extreme, but I’m not at that point yet.

I think that’s enough for now. Next up. Email. Stay Tuned.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 08:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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