The Very Best Free Antivirus

Evaluate it yourself, The Very Best Free Antivirus can be found Here:


Only you will know for sure if you actually clicked on “Here” before reading the rest of this and by design the hyperlink was never established. This was an exercise to see if you could be persuaded to blindly click on it before checking it out. Yep I played on a trust relationship to get you to do it. If you didn’t fall for it, please enlighten the rest of us as to why. However if it did work, it was pretty ornery actually. You were expecting a link to some dynamic program full of promises of virus eradication. After all, who wouldn’t want something that good? Sound familiar? Unfortunately this little con is very similar to how so many people are draw in and become infected with all the nasties out there.

I have also come to believe that some folks have developed an attitude that their systems are invincible since they have an AV, Firewall, Malware killers, and so forth. As a result they will click on almost anything before thinking. Sorry to say, but we may have contributed to that ‘tude to some degree. Although it is the right thing to do, we continually attempt to provide information relative to programs that can be used as preventative measures. Additionally we spend an inordinate amount of time describing what people need to do to rid themselves of malware, hijacks, etc. If the person heeded the advice and was successful, then these noble contributions could in fact create some of that over-confidence.

Additionally, regardless of all the great threads, posts, and efforts, I believe there is one more thing we might do to help keep folks from the deviant wares of the dark side. We need to somehow stop them from clicking on that attachment, downloading that pseudo plug-in, etc., before they know for sure what the ramifications of that action will be.

Short of disabling their index fingers, mouse buttons, or providing an attitude adjustment upside the brain housing group; I guess we’re pretty much limited to trying to educate them not to click first! Rather, to do a little investigation before hand. With that premise in mind, I found and took inserts from the following article. It describes some good ideas to pass on to users and may be helpful in the education endeavor.

Don't download the browser code: You're browsing the Web via Microsoft's Internet Explorer when suddenly an official-looking dialog box pops up, asking if you want to download a browser plug-in. Why not? You do the same thing all the time when using Microsoft's Windows Update Web site…But if you want to avoid a flurry of pop-ups, undesirable toolbars, a home-page hijacking, or worse, don't do it.

Don't believe the link, either: A link in an e-mail message that claims to point to a Citibank Web site may not really go there.

Don't believe the message: To persuade you to launch a virus-laden mail attachment or provide your personal information, virus authors must earn your trust.

Don't believe the return address: Though an e-mail message may claim it's from your bank, your ISP, or even your boss, that doesn't mean it is.

Don't click e-mail attachments: Most viruses and worms arrive on your PC in the form of e-mail attachments.

Scott Spanbauer
From the August 2004 issue of PC World magazine

http://msn.pcworld.com/howto/article...,116586,00.asp

Since some of you probably did click on the “Here:” earlier, I guess this little dance wouldn’t be complete without providing at least a few ways in which to help curtail Social Engineering (SE). By no means is this an all-inclusive list and I’m quite confident you could add to it a hundred fold and please do. Also listed below my comments is a link (it does work and can be used safely!) to the AO Tutorials that deal specifically with SE.

Once again first and foremost is education. Users need to be aware of at least some of the many methods the deviants will employ to gain information. A classic example would be someone posing as a Tech, or a Bank Employee, etc., contacting Mr. or Mrs. User. Armed with only a little bit of knowledge about the company and/or the person, the wily back orifice could persuade a member of the User family to give up the “Keys to the Kingdom”. The medium in which he would employ SE and his success would only be limited by his imagination.

If you have multiple users, publish your support procedures and a means in which the user can verify the names of the Support Staff during a conversation. Fix-it Tickets can eliminate many Charmin Moments caused by the effects of Social Engineering.

As a User, be suspicious of anyone asking about login, passwords, etc. Remember, your Support Staff doesn’t need them! In fact, be very wary of someone inquiring about any account or personal information.

Be just as concerned about what goes out of your computer as you are about what comes in. Make sure that firewall is patched and properly configured. Especially when you are dealing with file shares

Shake the dust off the tired old adage, “ If it sounds to good to be true, then it’s probably is”, and understand it’s message.

And the bottom line: Keep your secrets secret.

Social Engineering Tutorials
http://www.neg.be/index/search.php?q=Social+Engineering

Since I did promise you the Very Best Free Antivirus out there, I will deliver. It’s called: Don’t Click First ! IMHO the very best free antivirus on the market today is already in your hands. Resist that temptation to click that mouse until you absolutely know what will happen if you do.