Computer Literacy: Privacy and Protection

Privacy and Protection 1
Scary Things for Computer Users
(edited 1/21/07 ADA)
Scary figure

Virus/Trojan Horses/Bombs.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm From "How Things Work" A nice set of answers to questions about Viruses. Somewhat limited in that it does not recognize the history of computer viruses that go back at least to main frame computers of the 60s. For more history:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question179.htm Someone started controlling my computer over the Internet -- what happened?
http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslistbooks.html?id=10 A Bit of Archeology about Virus History

Key logger/Trackers
http://home.rochester.rr.com/artcfox/TinyKL/ Used to monitor a computer use. Read the Introduction. What is the potential privacy issue involved?
http://searchportal.information.com/ Just check out the descriptions of the diffirent programs.

Spyware/Adware/Cookies/Drive-by Download/Browser Hijackers
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1777227 Another Computer Age Nuisance: Spyware. You've installed anti-virus software on your computer and bought a spam filter for unwanted email. Think you're safe? Think again. There's another cyber-pest waiting for you on the Internet: spyware. NPR's Larry Abramson reports. Try the free versions of Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy for protection. Be sure and update and run frequently.

*http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,977889,00.asp PC Worlds take on Spyware—It's lurking on your machine A nice overview of different types of Spyware and Spyware removal tools evaluation. The first page gives the essentials but if you want to know how readers of PC World reported its effects are specifics about the delivery method check it out here.

http://www.spychecker.com/ Just scan. A source for information and prevention tools
http://www.spywareonline.org/ Check out some of the rationalizations for using Spyware at the top of the page.
http://www.safer-networking.org/ Home of the award winning Spyware removal tool. A little wordy but this reportedly is the best Spyware removal tool.

Spam
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=01-Jan-2004&segNum=51&mediaPref=RM "AOL lists the top ten enticements used in the subject lines of unsolicited e-mail in the past year. You'll recognize many of them."

*http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=01-Jan-2004&segNum=51&mediaPref=RM Microsoft Sets its Sights on Defeating Spam: Microsoft says it hopes to virtually end the problem of unsolicited e-mail by 2006. CEO Bill Gates has pledged to boost spending on researching and developing new anti-spam techniques. NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with Ryan Hamlin, Microsoft's general manager

Cookies
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie7.htm Introduction to How Internet Cookies Work", "Cookie Basics", "How Does Cookie Data Move?", "How Do Web Sites Use Cookies?", "An Example", "Problems with Cookies", "Why the Fury Around Cookies?".

Phishing
http://www.wordspy.com/words/phishing.asp "(FISH.ing) pp. Usually involves email and creating a replica of an existing Web page to fool a user into submitting personal, financial, or password data. —adj."—phisher n. Check the definition and warnings. Sample Spam and Phishing emails I have recieved.

*http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=DAY&showDate=24-Mar-2004&segNum=10&mediaPref=RM The Marketplace Report: 'Phishing' for Web Victims. NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to John Dimsdale of Marketplace about "phishing," the practice of tricking people into divulging personal information over the Web.

*http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=22-Jul-2003&segNum=3&mediaPref=RM Teen Charged with Fraud in Internet Scam, The Federal Trade Commission settles its case against a 17-year-old boy charged with stealing thousands of dollars by using deceptive e-mail and a fake AOL Web page to trick people into revealing their credit card numbers. It is the FTC's first legal action against the increasingly popular Internet scam known as "phishing."

Other Related Terms
Malware
Short for malicious software, any software designed specifically to damage or disrupt a system, such as a virus or a Trojan horse. May be distributed as Spyware/Adware/.