Keeping younger kids safe on the Internet

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Protecting online watchwords is just as of import for children as it is for adults, 10-year-old Connor David Bruce of Danville recently told an Internet security advocate. If a impish friend acquires your password, he said, that friend could "send a love missive you didn't intend to send."

Kids are becoming Web-savvy at a little age, said Parry Aftab, executive manager director of the non-profit-making WiredSafety.org. Her program, Adolescent Angels, and its new extension, Tween Angels, desires to build up these newbies with information about Internet safety and complaint them to go through on the message to friends and peers.

The hazards they confront differ from those grownups worry about but are still significant. Instead of emptying a depository financial institution account, a kid could access a friend's e-mail business relationship and direct bogus messages. Or, it could take to cyber bullying, an increasingly common menace for children and teens as they pass more than clip wall hanging out on the Internet, on their cell telephones and on synergistic games.

"You necessitate to set up them," Aftab said. "The clip to learn children about drive is before you give them the keys."

Started in 1999, the New Jersey-based program have amassed an regular army of about 640 Teen and Tween Angels from Last Frontier to Pakistan.

Connor, the fourth-grader, is one of the new recruits in the first functionary Northern Golden State chapter of Adolescent and Tween Angels. This month, he and more than than a twelve children, ages 7 to 12, gathered in Danville for the first portion of their training.

They learned, for example, about "stop, block and tell" and "take five": If a cyber tough directs a awful message, they should halt what they're doing and take a five-minute break, moving on to something else they bask doing.

They should also barricade the tough - for example, by removing the tough from their blink of an eye messaging brother list. And they should state a trusted adult. "If you respond, then they've won," said R. J. Mitchell Yep, a dimpled 10-year-old from Danville. "If you don't respond, then you won."

Over the adjacent respective months, these children will go on to larn about Internet safety, completing specific exercisings and producing research undertakings to gain their "wings." They also will get to do the units of ammunition in their communities, speaking at school assemblies and other meetings.

"Parents and instructors can acquire up and preach, but if they hear it from another kid, they will retrieve it," said Hilary DeCesare, a former Prophet gross sales manager, who along with Sherri Ribera is leading the Northern Golden State group.

The children also could get assisting law enforcement and offering feedback to Silicon Valley companies. In the past, Aftab said, participants have got helped companies such as as Walt Disney, Yokel and Microsoft, giving suggestions on their merchandises and services. One kid recently demonstrated to a Walt Walt Disney executive director how children beat on Baseball Club Penguin, a popular land site for preteenagers owned by Disney.

Much of the attending given to kids' Internet experiences have focused on making social-networking topographic points safer for teenagers, including January's formation of the Internet Safety Technical Undertaking Force, a grouping that includes Wired Safety, Facebook, MySpace, Microsoft, Yokel and Google.

But many of the same concerns now use to simple school children as they hop on land sites like Baseball Club Penguin, Webkinz and Disney's Toontown Online. In February, for example, more than than 4.7 million so-called tweens used Baseball Club Penguin, according to Nielsen Online, rivaling land sites such as as LinkedIn and Reunion.com.

Staying safe on the Internet is something that hit place recently for the Yep family. Last month, they learned that a household friend's 13-year-old girl had committed suicide. Though no ground was given, the parents believe the Internet could have got played a role.

Asked why he decided to fall in Tween Angels, R. J. Mitchell said, "I desire to do the human race a topographic point with good thoughts and good choices." Sometimes, he added, "thoughts and picks take to bad ideas."

Internet safety

Among the land sites designed for tween safety are:

-- Stopcyberbullying.org

-- Teenangels.org

-- WiredSafety.org

E-mail Ellen Spike Lee at .

Network Security: Gullible Users Are the Weakest Link

Despite improvements in system and web security, crafty cybercriminals stay a important threat, adjusting their methods to take advantage of unwary Internet users, the SANS Institute states in its study on the top 20 Internet security hazards of 2007, released Tuesday.

Hackers and cyberspies have got shifted their focusing and moved away from the widespread malware onslaughts that exploited software-based exposures in favour of more than targeted assaults that trust upon unsuspicious users' credulousness and custom-built applications, the study states.

"For most big and sensitive organizations, the newest hazards are the 1s causing the most trouble," said Alan Paller, manager of research at SANS. "The new hazards are much harder to defend; they take a degree of committedness to uninterrupted monitoring and inflexible attachment to policy with existent punishments that lone the biggest Banks and most sensitive military organisations have got so far been willing to implement."

Spyware infections, including keystroke loggers, are among the most commonly used word forms of malware establish on compromised systems. Since January, there have been a 183 percentage addition in Web land sites "harboring spyware," said Gerhard Eschelbeck, main engineering military officer of Webroot, a spyware sensing firm.

Software Security

Vigilance and regular updates from operating system shapers have got led to more than unafraid systems and decreased cyber criminals' ability to establish monolithic Internet worms that were frequently seen between 2002 and 2005, such as as Melissa, Zotob and Blaster. As a consequence of the renewed accent on security from (Nasdaq: MSFT) , for instance, there have not been a new large-scale worm onslaught targeting Windows systems since 2005, according to SANS.

However, even as operating systems have got got got go increasingly secure, other types of software system have been responsible for an addition in the figure of "client-side vulnerabilities." Vulnerabilities in antivirus, backup and other applications have been hit by worms. Most notable, SANS research workers said, was the worm that exploited a buffer flood in (Nasdaq: SYMC) antivirus software system last year.

Browsers, business office software, mass media participants and other desktop applications business relationship for a important growing in exposures on the client side. Although Microsoft's Windows operating systems are less vulnerable to attack, Qualys, a security house that scans billions of systems for vulnerabilities, said it have seen a nearly 300 percentage growing in exposures in Microsoft Office products.

The primary perpetrator is the up-to-the-minute version of Excel, which can easily be exploited "by getting unsuspicious users to open up Excel data files sent via e-mail and instantaneous messages," said Amol Sawarte, director of exposure laboratories at Qualys.

"Microsoft have their macro instruction linguistic communication built into Microsoft Office, and sometimes it's hard to actually observe [problems]. Second, with everyone worried about Windows and keeping that up to date, people don't always worry about keeping Office up to date," said Henry Martin Robert Ayoub, an analyst at .

More than any other type of software, Web application insecurity the most "troublesome because so many developers are writing and deploying Web applications without ever demonstrating that they can compose unafraid applications," SANS' Paller said. SANS ranked critical exposures in Web applications No. One on its top 20 list.

"Most of their Web applications supply entree to back-end databases that clasp sensitive information," he continued.

However, "until colleges larn computer computer programmers and companies that use programmers guarantee that developers learn unafraid coding, and until those employers guarantee that they work in an effectual unafraid development life cycle, we will go on to see major exposures in nearly half of all Web applications," Paller noted. Security Solutions

To protect themselves from critical exposures in Web applications, consumers and endeavors can deploy a Web application firewall and security scanner.

In addition, concerns should have got got got application beginning codification testing tools, application incursion testing services and a formal policy that all of import Web applications will be developed using a valid unafraid development life rhythm and only by developers who have proven -- through testing -- that they have the accomplishments and cognition to compose unafraid applications, SANS advised.

Combating people's inclination to swear instruction manual and golf course included in e-mails -- whether because they are too busy or too distracted to be disbelieving -- necessitates a twofold approach, Ayoub told TechNewsWorld.

Ayoub holds with the SANS recommendation that concerns behavior security consciousness preparation as well as its warning not to give users inordinate rights and let unauthorised devices.

"There are definitely users that are going to chink on e-mails they're not supposed to. And inordinate user rights is one country where a batch of endeavors are not doing 100 percent. A batch of organisations really haven't gotten this portion under control and aren't enforcing their internal policies and aren't doing the smack on the carpus to maintain people from participating in activities that aren't safe," he explained.

"As an industry, we cannot remainder on our laurels. There have to be continued education. There have to be continued improvements and updates," Ayoub continued.

However, instruction can only make so much, said Greg Young, a (NYSE: IT) analyst. "It's less about instruction and more than about taking action. There have been a batch of talking and not much action in organizations. Organizations just necessitate to support thyself.

"End users will always [open e-mails from aliens and chink on golf course sent to them]. That's human nature, and that is why instruction have limited value. You have got to take action to protect against the things we cognize can and will happen," he continued. "Humans are the weak link. And there are some pretty basic stairway we can take to protect ourselves against ourselves and the bad guys."

Enterprises too often have got got webs that make not have adequate depth of defense, he asserted. The critical assets of too many webs are distribute out or are openly accessible to all internal users, he pointed out.

"These are not merchandise vulnerabilities, it is a misconfiguration," Young told TechNewsWorld. "You have got to do certain you are protected. There is an surplus of things you can purchase and install. The security marketplace is flush. You have got to take action yourself. This have to be a management-down goaded [solution]. It is not an IT job anymore; it is a concern problem."

12 Essential Security Tools for Your Computer

Unprotected computer or computer without any security tool is always vulnerable to cyber criminals, hackers, spammers and identity thieves. So, to avoid such security problems and identity theft, you should always have security software with some essential features such as firewall, antivirus etc.

The following 12 essential security tools can help you to protect your identity, personal information and data on your computer, so that you can surf the internet without any fear of identity theft, hacking, viruses, spywares etc.

Firewall is essential to block the unauthorized access to your computer data. It monitors the inbound and outbound traffic from your computer to the internet and blocks any suspicious traffic. Network and program firewall is required to block the doubtful traffic and operating system firewall is necessary to protect your operating system and your data.

1. Network and program firewall:


Network and program firewall protects your network and computer from suspicious traffic and shield your programs from malware. For high level of security, it should be a Multi-layer firewall or with multiple layers of security.

2. Operating system firewall:


Some internet security software also provides operating system firewall to protect your operating system. This security tool blocks any malicious software from causing damage to files in your core windows operating system. It also blocks entry of hard to remove spyware with kernel-level threats to computer to protect your operating system from any damage.

3. Full Stealth Mode:


Full Stealth Mode is required to make you invisible to hackers, even when you are connected to net, so that you can access the internet without any fear of getting hacked.

4. Antivirus:


Antivirus is necessary to protect your computer from damages by viruses, worms and trojans. Viruses and worms spread from one computer to another either through e-mails or from files downloaded from internet. Viruses and worms can destroy your files and erase data on your computer. So, to protect your data and your hard disk, you should always have updated antivirus program with the latest definition files.

5. Antispyware:


Antispyware protects your computer from spywares and intruders to protect your personal information. Spywares get installed on your computer without your consent or knowledge and take control of your computer, gather your personal data, information, web activities and web sites you visit and transmit that data to others.

6. Complete Spy Site Blocking:


Spyware distribution websites are the major source for spywares. Security software with complete spy site blocking feature can block these websites and also blocks you from visiting these sites by accident.

7. Identity theft protection:


Nowadays, identity theft is a major problem on internet. With increase in e-commerce, online buying and credit card usage on internet, protection against identity theft is crucial to protect your identity and personal information on your computer. So, identity theft protection is a must security tool while accessing the internet.

8. Real time updates:


Your computer should have latest updates or real time updates against viruses, spywares and any new possible attacks.

9. Anti Spam, Anti Phishing, Email protection:


Phishing mail is a scam, which looks like a correspondence from a bank or institution to gather your personal information or bank details. Anti spam, anti phishing and email protection is necessary to protect you from phishing e-mails and e-mail fraud.

10. Instant messaging protection:


Hackers, spammers, spywares and viruses can attack your instant messaging session. IM messaging protection protects your instant messaging session from these attacks. You can also use this tool to restrict your kid to use instant messengers only with trusted people.

11. Parental control:


This feature is necessary to prevent your kids from accessing inappropriate websites and objectionable content on web sites.

12. Credit Card Monitoring alerts:


Some internet security software also provide credit card monitoring alerts which alert you if your credit card number appears online. This tool is very useful if you use your credit card on internet for transactions.

For more information on internet security softwares available with all these essential security tools, please visit www.truevalue4money.com/pcprotect.html website.