Internet security - A Con ?

[dyna-ti]

Yeah yeah yeah, internet threats, hackers this ,that t'other. oh yeah and supposed virus's

But is there actually anything there to guard against or is it just the threat of sends everyone scurrying towards Norton,mcafee and the rest for protection you quite possibly don't really need :?

As I understand it , to get 'hacked' you need to hack yourself by downloading the naughty softwear in the form of even naughtier pictures or an early release of a song or vid.


I don't think theres anything 'roaming' about the ether looking out for unguarded computers.
This isn't the Matrix :facepalm:

In my 20 year using these things ive never had a spy, Trojan, key logger or anything else happen.
there was in the past some unscrupulous malware promising a computer fix but just kept on 'popping up' an advertising window and a short court case put paid to all of that and since then I think theres nothing.

Rogue programs roaming the web ?
Sorry, I just don't see it
YOU -download that file
YOU- follow that blind link
YOU


Anyone agree with me on this ?
To which end im going to buy a cheap laptop then use it for general surfing- News,ebay,email etc etc but no firewall and n over priced security softwear using up computer resources to justify itself being there.

 

[mattr]

If you just use it for mainstream news sites, legitimate forums, decent email services, you shouldn't have a problem.
The risks start when you are linking into anything serving up dodgy adverts from third party websites (get adblock installed) or clicking on random links in spam emails (Any mainstream email provider will sort this for you, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo. AoL probably send them to you in the first place!)
Or surfing dodgy websites. Can't help you there. MSE is probably the "best" to fix this (best as in easiest).

I had a laptop connected to the net for 4 years with no anti virus at all. Had no issues.

Until I loaned it to a family member for a couple of weeks.
Let just refer to him as "Mr Clicky". Installed abut 20 viruses. All served up from proper sites.

 

[jointhedotz]

The problem is that whilst the above is correct it's not unheard of for legit sites to be hacked and malicious code added. You can lessen your risk by being careful but not remove it. Personally I run MSE as it's unintrusive and scan with malwarebytes reasonably often (doesn't take long on ssd).

Long story short, yes, you need AV software although the paid stuff isn't worth the premium.

 

[legrandefromage]

Trojans used to sit inside adverts for legit services and malware drops off like a wet turd from video streaming and music.

Porn, video and music seem to be the biggest culprits. Porn is an obvious one but kids streaming music can be caught out quite easily.

Email is also still a classic as some look very legit. But with email, most previews allow you to see the senders address, then its pretty obvious that its not real.

I have to do a lot of research into car electrics and some sites just pile it on.

 

[ajm]

Re:

There definitely is a real threat, I dealt with a business last week whose payroll data had been encrypted by an infection and they were being held to ransom over it (all their other data accessible to the infected PC was also in the process of being encrypted!)

It was almost certainly brought in by a convincing but fraudulent email with an infected attachment (PDF or zip file probably)... businesses like that deal with emailed PDF attachments every day and they could be coming from hundreds of customers or suppliers so not necessarily immediately obvious if fake.

It's not always easy to see if a machine is infected; the standard in-your-face popup causing malware is obvious but the really nasty stuff can hide in the background very unobtrusively sometimes.

 

[Koupe]

No need whatsoever to pay for the likes of Norton/MacAfee/etc. Apart from anything else, they come with a truckload of bloat that will slow you down.
You definitely do need some kind of protection though - AVG or Avast (or similar alternatives) will do the job perfectly well for free, and unobtrusively.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Re:

Common sense will protect you in most cases, but not all. I too run Microsoft Security Essentials when using Windows.

Most of the time I'm running Linux though, and even in there I use virtual machines for my home banking and any other important stuff.
That way if malware ever does sneak up on me nothing is really lost and my important data can't be accessed because the malware only sees that one virtual machine but not the others or the actual machine behind them.

 

[Skeelsie]

All the branded advertised stuff is mugware, it works but it's for mugs who largely go to PC world because they can't be arsed to think for themselves and are under some illusion that the DSG group have their better interests at heart, they'll promptly get on the LED curved 4k bandwagon the following weekend in a leased RR Sport.

I personally wouldn't go bareback unless I didn't use the web, Microsoft Security Essentials is perfectly good blend of function and low bloat, the cost is very appealing too. Introductory offer of £0.00 for life.

Corporate solutions are different story but largely a support nightmare if you operate a properly secure domain.