Sponsor's Message

"I was just searching the Net", my friend explained, "when suddenly my hard drive began making a noise and my computer slowed down. I turned off the computer but now Internet Explorer keeps coming up with a different page to the one it used to when I start it up."

While you and I probably know full well what's happened here, this intelligent and pretty typical Net user was confused.

"Have I caught a virus or something?" he asked, adding that he'd not used his internet banking since this happened because he was afraid his computer had been compromised.

Well full marks for actually realising that there was a potential security problem with his infected PC but I was amazed that an otherwise very smart guy (who admittedly has little interest in computers) would have allowed this to happen in the first pace.

Yes, he was running anti-virus software but it hadn't been updated in over six months.

No, he wasn't running firewall software and didn't know what it was or where to get it.

No, he wasn't aware that you could download free browsers such as FireFox or Mozilla or that they were a far safer option than the copy of IE that came with his PC.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination.

No, he didn't know about AdAware or any of the other anti-spyware/adware programs that could be had for free on the Net.

Was his browser and OS patched to the latest version?

No, he's on a dial-up connection where he only gets about 28Kbps due to the quality of the line and he claims that he simply can't afford to have the PC tying up his phone for hours on end while those updates download.

So here we have an intelligent guy who knew enough to realise his PC had been compromised by something but who wasn't aware of the absolute importance of keeping his software up to date and taking simple but effective steps to prevent most forms of infection.

If we consider him to be "Joe Average Websurfer" it becomes very easy to see how the various malevolent sods out there can build such large and effective networks of zombie machines. Machines that can be used as spam-gateways or for launching fierce denial of service attacks.

But where was his ISP during all this?

But where was his PC vendor?

Why do so many companies simply ship a box (often with outdated versions of Windows and IE) out the door without bothering to provide any advice about firewalls, updating software, safe-surfing, etc?

Why do so many ISPs just sign people up and not do something similar?

Do hardware vendors and ISPs have a responsibility to inform their customers about the basics of safe-surfing?

What can we do to help these "Joe Average Websurfer" types and educate them to the fact that the software and services they're being sold are just not enough to safely allow online banking and other sensitive tasks?

If you've got any ideas, why not tell us all in Aardvark Forums.

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!