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The big problem is that, despite many of us doing our best to educate the great unwashed mass of Net users, a huge percentage of those folks really don't have a clue when it comes to securing their machines and avoiding "risky behaviour".

As reported previously in this column, some ISPs such as Xtra are now flogging a "security package" that is little more than a repackaged (and repriced but not cheaper) copy of a commercial anti-virus suite.

Most ISPs also include some measure of spam and virus filtering on their mailservers, offering to reduce a customers' risk of catching something nasty.

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Doing its part, Microsoft has included a rather lacklustre firewall in the latest versions of its Windows operating system -- but unfortunately, few people probably understand anything about its use or configuration.

The message about not opening unsolicited emails with attachments is very slowly getting through to some people but I suspect that the deluge of virtual Christmas cards will allow many a virus or worm to infect Kiwi PCs across the land.

In the UK it appears as if they're doing something serious about this problem of user ignorance over security matters and have launched a "Get Safe Online" campaign designed to heighten awareness of the risks.

The UK programme is backed by some heavy-weight supporters including the police, eBay, Microsoft British Telecom and others so it should carry some clout.

So what about us "she'll be right" Kiwis? Aren't we deserving of a similar educational campaign, especially in the lead-up to Christmas?

Those with the most to lose from things such as phishing, hacking, viruses, worms, trojans and other threats could do worse than to organise and/or back a push to educate the average Net user?

Surely banks, ISPs, police, InternetNZ, schools and the mainstream media could pool their resources and do their bit to ensure that Kiwi surfers don't remain easy targets for those of evil inclination?

It's not that we're thick, it's just that we're a little too relaxed about the issue of online security -- perhaps through laziness, perhaps through a lack of appreciation of the risks involved.

You only have to talk to anyone who regularly services or disinfects the public's PCs to realise just how ignorant many people are of the dangers, so should we launch our own push to educate the masses?

Or am I overstating the scale of the problem? Have most Kiwis already adopted sensible operating procedures and locked-down their PCs or are we still largely a nation of "at risk" Net users?

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