Is Your Family Protected?

When you think about Security, what do you think of? We all have one device or another to assist in keeping us safe. We have pad locks and security systems to safe guard our home, alarm systems to protect the equipment in our cars, parental controls on our cable TV and satellite accesses. We even have ways to protect our loved ones from computer invasions.

But are we protected enough, are we using the best devices to combat the unwanted and dangerous intrusions, not to mention keeping our family from stumbling across those out on the internet?

Let's face it, without the proper soft ware to protect your computer, you are at risk every time you connect to the internet. There are the viruses, the Trojans and unwanted spam, not to mention the chat rooms where millions fall victim of on-line predators, and let's not forget the #1 problem on the internet, pornography.

You may be saying, but I have the best anti- spy ware money can buy and my internet service provides parental controls. Here's the underlying question: How effective are they? Statistics show that 95% of internet users don't have the adequate security to prevent attacks or control the content the computer user can access. The average computer is scanned by online intruders on average of 12 times a day. More and more victims are realizing the importance of these safety devices. The newest trend for identity theft is to steal information and cash out, out side of the country making it impossible to trace and leaving the victims with nothing to replace the funds.

What do I do, you ask? Let me begin with the basics. There are four steps to take into consideration.

1. Evaluate- There are diagnostic tools to find and identify dangerous threats to your computer. These tools are as simple as popping into you computer and scanning your hard drive. Threats are then identified with the proper recommended course of action to take.

2. Eliminate- Once the threats have been identified the obvious next step is to eliminate. These security tools help scan, eliminate and block threatening spy ware, annoying ad ware and cookies, damaging worms and Trojan horses.

3. Protect- Set up a barrier around your computer. This will keep intruders out and create a fire wall. This is the most effective way to defend you against hackers and avoid identity theft.

4. Control- This final step will create a peace of mind for you, with the knowledge that you can avoid potentially dangerous web sites. You can block undesirable websites as well as avoid ones that try to download spy ware onto your computer.

So what's the next course of action? Find a security device that will cover these four steps and protect you from all of these hazardous things. There are even programs that will do this and automatically update every month to ensure added safety and avoid any new unknown danger.

My advice, find them, get them on your computer to avoid any heartache that could happen. The average cost for these programs, to completely cover you computer, vary from $40- $120 depending on the collection of software you use. The products that will automatically update usually run $5 - $10 a month to give you the essential idea of, get it and forget it. Too many times we forget to update our securities and fall victim of these malicious acts. Don't wait, don't become a victim before you take action. What is the price for your safety?

Tiffany Baron is an independant Internet security consultant, she can be reached at [email protected]