Internet Security The Complete Manual

Learn how to keep your PC secure from hackers, viruses and malware. The modern digital age is an incredible resource and an astounding human achievement. However, alongside the wealth of information at your fingertips, there are more nefarious elements at work. We live in an increasingly digital reliant world and there are those out there who would stop at nothing to swindle, cheat, destroy and cause utter mayhem with our information. With this guidebook we will help you protect you and your data.

The Complete Internet Security Manual

Digital Security In Numbers

Modern Day Security

Types of Security Risk • There are more security risks for your computer than just the common, run-of-the-mill virus. The amount of digital use the average person has over the course of a week has increased significantly in just a few years, and with it comes a legion of security related issues.

Hackers and You • We’re probably all familiar with the term ‘hacker’, and what it suggests, but do we really know what a hacker wants from us? More to the point, how are we perceived in the eyes of a hacker? Let’s have a look at what the modern hacker wants from the average user.

Social Engineering • With the rise of wider forms of communication, through social media and so on, comes a new wave of threats called social engineering. There are many forms of social engineering, so let’s have a look at what you’re up against, and how to combat it.

Ransomware: How it Works • The first instance of an extortion attack is credited to Joseph Popp back in 1989. Since then the frequency, delivery and scale of ransomware attacks has increased significantly; so what is ransomware and how does it work?

The Virus Top Ten • Viruses are constantly evolving thanks to more ingenious methods of delivery and due to the developers and hackers tweaking their code to sniff out operating system vulnerabilities. It’s difficult to say what the next big virus will be but some scary ones have already appeared on the Internet.

Phishing, Vishing & Smishing • It’s tempting to think we’ve made up the words Phishing, Vishing and Smishing but in actual fact they’re all forms of social engineering scams. Whilst we’ve covered social engineering already, it’s worth looking at these three modern day threats individually.

Pharming • Whilst on the subject of homophones, another recently added word to the long list of security threats is Pharming. Pharming falls within the online fraud layer of security and although in reality it’s been around for as long as web pages have, the methods of deception are continually evolving.

Windows 10 Security • Microsoft is often accused of developing insecure and ‘broken’ operating systems. However, what the Redmond company delivers is an easy to use system that’s as secure as it can be without compromising its use. It’s a difficult balance to maintain and security can suffer in the long run.

Digital Security FAQ • Whilst it’s all fine and well learning about the different security risks you face every time you boot up your computer, often questions can go unanswered. We’ve put together ten popular digital security questions that we hope will help fill in any blanks.

Protecting Yourself

Be Smart • We’ve looked at some of the many varied ways in which you can be compromised by a digital attacker and some of the ways in which you can help protect yourself. However, it’s often more beneficial to be able to recognise the signs of a digital security issue.

Top Ten Antivirus and Security Packages • While the built-in Windows Defender is a great antivirus and security tool, it’s nowhere near as capable as one of the many third-party security suites. The likes of Bitdefender, McAfee and Symantec have years of security specialism behind their...