"DRIVING SAFETY"
ON THE INFORMATION
HIGHWAY
Beware of the traps
and detours that can
cost you dearly

By JUDY ALEXANDER

As you speed down the “information highway” these days, you no doubt have noticed the bumper-to-bumper traffic around you. More and more people are logging time on the Internet each year for reasons as diverse as hunting for a job, chatting with friends and family, taking college classes, purchasing merchandise, paying bills and banking.

But among your travel companions are a growing number of modern-day highwaymen — opportunistic cyber-thieves who capitalize on your lack of knowledge about their dirty deeds to get your identity, your money and your good name.

With everyone from businesspeople to retirees, students and stay-at-home moms communicating and transacting business on thousands of Internet Web sites, it may be time to slow down and learn the “rules of the road” for Internet travel. Knowledge, in fact, may be the best way to thwart the growing problems of Internet safety and information security, especially the ease with which anyone with a computer and a little patience can learn some of the most personal details about your lifestyle and your finances.

No one knows for sure how much Internet crimes cost Americans each year; indeed, many victims are unaware of losses for months or even years, and some crimes, such as Internet crimes against children, go well beyond the loss of dollars. Just one form of Internet crime called phishing — Internet messages that lure unsuspecting victims to divulge personal information — netted more than $1 billion for its perpetrators in 2005, by some estimates. And unfortunately, legislation that could thwart at least some crimes and protect the unsuspecting from others hasn’t caught up with the explosion of Internet commerce and communication of the past decade.

In the meantime, without much traffic control on the Internet, you are best served by taking a defensive approach to Internet use, using your knowledge of the “rules of the road” to guide you safely through the potential detours and roadblocks.

Among suggestions from Internet security experts, these guidelines may be most important to security for Internet users:

• Know whom you’re doing business with before you provide personal or financial information on a Web site. If you’re unsure about the Web site’s sponsor, do some homework or contact the appropriate branch of the Better Business Bureau. Make sure the site lists a physical address, not just a post office box. And check to see if it displays seals from consumer protection organizations such as the Better Business Bureau Online and TRUSTe. Best advice: Do business only with organizations that you know well and already trust.

• Look for a privacy policy statement on Web sites where you conduct business. Review the policy carefully, and if you are uncomfortable with the site’s security commitment, take your business elsewhere. Reputable sites use technologies such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or SET (Secure Electronic Transmission) that encrypt data during transmission. You can tell if this technology is in use when the lock icon at the bottom of your Web browser window is closed.

• Never send your credit card number or other sensitive personal or financial information by e-mail. E-mail is not a secure way to transmit this kind of data.

• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall, and update them regularly. More than 10,000 known viruses — a hidden computer program that invades a computer and causes damage or performs unwanted or unauthorized functions — lurk on the Internet with more than 200 new viruses created each month. No computer can withstand the onslaught without effective virus protection.

• Check out any software programs before you download them from the Internet. Downloads contain executable code that can make a hacker’s job easier or viruses that can destroy your computer’s data.

• Open e-mail attachments only if you know what they are and who sent them. Attachments may include executable files with commands that explore your computer and disclose everything they find — your name, credit card numbers and other personal information — to their creator, or viruses that destroy the data on your computer.

• Do not reply to an e-mail or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, and don’t click on any link in such a message. Savvy scammers can create e-mails that appear to be sent by legitimate companies, such as your bank or credit card company. But beware — legitimate companies don’t ask for this information by e-mail. If you are concerned about an account, contact the appropriate organization, using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open an Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. Never cut and paste a link from the suspicious e-mail into your Internet browser.

• Choose passwords carefully. One source suggests you treat passwords like military secrets — a good policy when you consider how important passwords are to your personal security. Avoid obvious choices such as your birthday, Social Security number, names or even real words that can be detected with automated or “brute force” password breakers. A better option: a combination of numerals and letters mixed in upper and lower case, or special characters if your system accepts them.

• Keep your password to yourself. Don’t write it down or let anyone see you type it. Change passwords every 30 to 60 days for maximum security.

• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to ensure you have received no unauthorized charges. If your account statement is late by more than a couple of days, contact your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and balances. In addition, periodically check your credit report to ensure all accounts shown are actually accounts that belong to you.

• Discuss Internet safety and security with your children. Set rules and guidelines, and monitor children’s Internet use.

• Back up your system on a regular basis.

• Report Internet crime if you are a victim. File a complaint at the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site — www.ftc.gov — then visit the FTC’s identity theft Web site at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Many victims of Internet fraud are vulnerable to identity theft. Learn more about protecting yourself at www.ftc.gov/spam. Whether you use the Internet as a phone, a post office, a library or a shopping mall and log on from the comfort of a home office, in a booth at the corner cyber café or on the street with a cellular phone, you can best protect yourself when you observe the “rules of the road.”