By Joel Montgomery and HP // 6 June 2010 // Related Categories: Security, Tips

It's been a whole decade since the Loveletter virus said "I love you" to millions of email recipients across the world and caused email systems to grind to a halt. Once upon a time coke-gulping teens would write malicious code so their friends, and possibly the geek world, would bow down to their brilliance. These days the motivation for disrupting a network is a commercial one with the main objective to retrieve your private information and steal your credit card details.

Here are six things you can do to maximise your protection against today's threats:

1. Automate your Microsoft updates.
Most virus writers exploit vulnerabilities (or "holes") in the Microsoft operating system, so updating your software automatically with Microsoft Update is a strong and simple first line of defence against threats. The Microsoft Update site scans your computer and gives you a list of updates that are relevant to your computer and its configuration. Click here to open up your Microsoft Update screen and then change your settings to update automatically.

2. Create and maintain strong passwords
Sounds obvious, right? Keeping and using strong passwords, and changing them regularly, is often done poorly but it is a very important step in keeping your data secure. Hackers can test between one million and fifteen million passwords per second, which means a basic 6-letter password can be cracked almost instantaneously. Ideally, passwords should be long (10+ characters) and use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often. Here is a great online tool to test the strength of your passwords.

3. Invest in total protection - Antivirus alone is not enough
It's not a 100% guarantee but your risk of being compromised is significantly lower when you use comprehensive security software. Antivirus is not enough. You need a firewall, anti-phishing, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-virus and these days you can buy all of these features in one package. Two popular brands are Trend Micro and Symantec. Be wary of free security software because free tools are often not updated regularly enough and the true value of security software is in its ability to stay up-to-date to combat the latest virus outbreaks.

4. Don't click on unknown links or attachments
Never click on unfamiliar links embedded in an e-mail and never open attachments from unknown senders. Check for anything unusual even in links you do recognise since slightly altered domain names could indicate that a site has been hijacked. It is quite easy for hackers to "spoof" which means they send an email that appears to be from a legitimate domain (e.g. yourfriend@sydney.com) but is not. If it doesn't look right then it probably isn't.

5. Download files only from trusted sites
You should only download files from known, well-established sources. Never download anything if you're not certain what it is. And here's a tip - when in doubt, don't download the file to your computer at all. Instead before you download, insert your USB drive, download the file onto this drive, and then check the files by performing a manual scan with your desktop virus scanning software.

6. Watch the back-doors: Instant Messenger, and your phone
The first phone virus was created in 2004 with only a few infections reported. Today more and more malicious code is written to attack your computer via your phone or your instant messaging (aka ‘chat') tools. The protection software mentioned above will scan both of these back-doors. If you have an iPhone you can download a free web protection tool from here to protect your phone whilst surfing the Internet.

In the business of cyber attacks most hackers and virus writers target those who have their guard down when they connect to the Internet. By employing the six tips above I can't guarantee 100% protection but I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of Internet-borne threats won't stand a chance.

Do you have any other security tips for our readers?

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