USAA Magazine Fall 2006

SAFETY’NETYour home computer is your window tothe world. But hackers bent on mischiefcan crawl in if you don’t protect itBY PRESTON GRALLAUPDATE YOUR OPERATING SYSTEMAND SOFTWARE OFTEN. Makers frequentlyupdate their software to close holesthat hackers find. That’s why it’s importantto make sure your software is updated withthe latest security fixes. The easiest way todo that is to turn on the auto-update featurein your operating system and any other softwarethat offers the auto-update feature.You can also go to the maker’s Web site anddownload new fixes.RUN ANTIVIRUS, ANTI-SPYWARE,AND FIREWALL SOFTWARE. Make sureto use all three kinds. Some software companies,such as McAfee and Symantec, makefull-blown suites with all three types. But youcan get individual ones, as well, from companiessuch as Sunbelt Software. There are alsoplenty of free ones, such as Microsoft WindowsDefender anti-spyware, the Windows Firewall,the ZoneAlarm firewall, avast! antivirus, andAd-Aware anti-spyware. Choose only one antivirusand one firewall program. Having more thanone of each on your system can cause problems.You can, however, run multiple anti-spywareprograms without difficulty.BEWARE OF PHISHING EXPEDITIONS.These are perhaps the most lucrative scamson the Internet and occur when your logininformation for a financial site is stolen. Ithappens when perpetrators send you a link inan e-mail pretending to be a legitimate financialinstitution. Never click an e-mail link and thengive out your personal information. Instead,launch your browser separately from the e-mail,head to the site yourself, and then log in. USAAwill never ask for personal information in ane-mail. We’ll ask for this information only afteryou have logged in to our secure site.WATCH OUT FOR MODERNPHARMERS. In a pharming attack, you typein the address of a Web site in your browser,but the browser is hijacked and sent to a scamsite. To protect against this, look at the addressof a financial Web site — it should start https://,instead of http://. The “s” means secure. If youhave a device called a router, which creates ahome network, change its password from thedefault password it comes with; pharmers oftenhack the default password as a way to launchpharming attacks.AVOID SUSPICIOUS E-MAILATTACHMENTS AND LINKS. Never openan attachment or follow a link from a stranger.And don’t even trust friends — nasty softwarecan disguise an e-mail as coming from someoneyou know. If friends send you a file or linkyou didn’t ask for, confirm they sent it to you.20USAA MAGAZINE WINTER 2007 USAA.COM