Recently Published on the PAII Forum.
It’s so easy in today’s “web world” for unscrupulous hackers to trick you into clicking on a link or an application that they have designed to download virus and spyware to your computer.
The simple act of just visiting a web site that contains malicious script code can infect your PC without you doing anything other than viewing the infected web site. This means you don’t have to click any link on the site, run a program from the site or download anything from that site. Just “visiting” or “loading” that site can be enough to infect your PC with a harmful virus.
Can Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook open you up to receiving such infections? The possibility is probably more likely because Social Media sites offer the general public the ability to post. (See Articles listed below) This opens the door to hackers to use these systems as a portal to install their “malicious script code” that can potentially infect your PC.
So – How do your protect your PC from being infected?
1 – Make sure you have the latest versions of your operating system installed.
2 – Double check that the automatic updates are current (yes, sometimes the automated update doesn’t work properly without human intervention).
3 – Make sure that you have the latest versions on all Browsers you have installed on your PC up to date.
4 – Make sure you have the latest version of any common applications such as Adobe Reader, QuickTime player, etc.
5 – Make sure you have the latest virus definitions for your chosen virus protection software. Make sure your Anti Virus Software is set to update their definitions at least daily.
6 – Make sure your Anti Virus Software you choose to use is actively scanning all activity on your PC for possible malicious attacks.
7 – Zone alarm offers a product called Force Field. Products such as these provide a “virtual machine” for your Browser to run in, so if you do happen on a site that tries to download “malicious code” it can stop it and clean it before it hurts your PC. Like AVG mentioned below, it also will tell you if a web site is “safe” to visit before you actually click on it.
8 – AVG is a good tool because it will scan for “Malicious code” on search engine results. This tool tells you if a site is “safe” to visit before you actually click to go to it.
We published a Blog Post a while back dedicated to this subject. You can get more information about keeping your PC “healthy” by clicking here.
Supporting Sites regarding this Topic...
Hackers Attack using Facebook Wall
Mark Kolb
President and Co-Founder
Acorn Marketing
