| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
Most of us have been bitten by the love bug at one point or another in our lives. Whether it has left us incurable romantics or stone-cold cynics, we can all agree that on this Valentine's Day there is one love bug we don't want to encounter, and that is a virus cloaked under the guise of love.
Like it or not, love is a weak spot for almost everyone, and the deadly "ILoveYou" worm unleashed in 2000, is proof enough as it leaped from the Philippines to the world in a day, forcing even the likes of the CIA and British Parliament to shut down their systems to stop the trojan.
Since then, other forms of malware have appeared, spreading the same way as the "ILoveYou" bug, through email and the contact list of an infected PC.
Online security firms have all been warning against falling for the love trap, especially on Valentine's Day.
According to IT security firms such as Symantec and Sophos, the current danger lurking on the Internet is the Dorf malware also known as Storm. It can come as an email attachment that will only promise heartbreak, or a romantically-themed email which will direct unsuspecting users to a romantic looking website containing the malware.
Try to hear warning bells and not wedding bells when you receive an email with subject lines such as "I Like You", "Powerful Love", "Tower of Love", "You Stay In My Heart", "Hugs And Kisses", "Val-ANT-ines", "Just You", "What is Love?", "The Love Train", "My Heart", "You're My Valentine", "Just You", "My Love For You", "Love Rose", "World Love", "You Stay In My Heart", "A Rose To Say...", "I Love You", "Valentine Friends", "Love Rose", "Thinking Of U All Day", "Valentine Invitation", and "Happy Valentine's Day!"
The email could in fact link to a website designed to surreptitiously infect and take control over the PC and be used to send further spam, launch denial-of-service attacks, or commit identity theft.
That's one reason why I like the latest McAfee Total Protection 2008 package. With one look you can tell if the website is safe or otherwise, thanks to the all-clear green check which appears near the URL of the website.
The McAfee SiteAdvisor Plus which will run safety ratings checks of a site, also popped up a warning when I wanted to bookmark a website, indicating the presence of adware which may cause problems at a later stage. Very considerate!
These may seem simple, even not a big deal, until they all come together and clog up your PC and surfing experience with unwanted junk or worse, malware that run in the background sending your information off to an online criminal halfway around the world.
Initially, these petty thieves stole virtual money. Now, they're also taking real cash, so watch those zeros to make sure one or two hasn't gone missing.
Fortunately, the 12-in-1 package which offers protection out of the box for three PCs, is rather comprehensive. It guards against phishing and identity theft for the adults who bank online and also keeps watch for children who go online, by scanning for not just offensive websites but also images.
The system was very easy to install and didn't cause conflicts on my PC, even with another security software deliberately left in place.
The only concern and confusion was the Network Manager program that gives a snapshot of the entire network. Oddly enough, it kept showing that the PC in use was disconnected from the Internet and others joined to the network needed protection, even though they were - they just weren't using McAfee !
There was no apparent slow down in the PC. In fact, the PC began to run a little better after McAfee's Total Protection 2008 as it cleared away junk that had accumulated in the system while weeding out little bugs that were hiding here and there.
Like other all-in-one security software available, McAfee also offers to backup, encrypt, compress and restore files that can be saved on CD/DVD, USB or either an external, or network drive.
What set it aside though, was another feature that I really liked, and that was the Shredder. Like the shredder you have in the office (and maybe at home as well) that makes sure documents are well and truly trashed, the McAfee will digitally "shred" confidential files.
The promise is to effectively remove "any and all traces of them from your computer." Computer forensics experts may want to disagree, but the chance to have a little extra peace of mind after a clean-out is very appealing.
With bugs flying around under the guise of love and friendship, the one date that you really need is an update. This is especially if your security software is reaching its use-by day.
In the meantime, either get the love message you want verbally or tangibly and leave email for the boring stuff.
As with Cupid, if you let your guard down, chances are you'll get hit.
|
