Cyber Attacks and Your Money

During the last month, there were cyber attacks to our banks from foreign countries. These attacks denied many people access to their banking by overloading the system. I check my online banking daily, so I was one of many who could not get access my bank's website to view my account, or make any transactions.

These attacks have caused many people to become concerned about their money. I don't know if these concerns are real or not. Most large companies have very sophisticated computers with extensive backup systems.

However I do see some experts predicting that there might be some problems in the future, either from viruses or other computer problems beyond my understand.

So is our money safe in our banks? And if not, what should we do?

I trust that our financial institutions are doing everything possible to protect our computers and financial records. I believe we have some of the most intelligent and well-trained people in the world protecting our computers and guarding against potential problems.

Having said that, I do believe that there are certain things everyone should do to protect their money and any situation that may arise to come between us and our money.

Here are the basics.

1. Keep an adequate supply of food and the other necessities of life in your home to ride out a short-term crisis.

2. Keep a little extra cash in your home, in small and large bills. If you can't access the money in your bank, you want to have cash available to buy items where business is still being conducted.

You need a mix of both large and small bills. You do not to have to give someone a $10 bill for a bottle of water when they don't have any change.

3. Keep a paper copy of your money in banks or other saving vehicles. Make sure that it is current. If you have an online bank, be sure to print your bank statement monthly and keep it in a safe place in your home.

Finally, be sure and protect your personal computer. Have a good virus program installed on your computer, and back up your information to a travel disk (USB flash drive) and also use an online backup service to store your information.

No one can predict what may or may not happen. However we can do our part to protect our personal information.

Remember, if you get hungry, you cannot count on the government delivering a fresh loaf of bread to your doorstep. If everyone prepares and works together, we will all do better in handling any cyber attacks and potential emergencies together.

About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at http://www.frugalhappyfamilies.com/ - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money!

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Staying Clear of Threats and Attacks While Online

With the majority of the people in the world today having daily access to the internet, their lives are to a big extent dependent on the internet to facilitate and effectively go about their businesses. The IT world has had a very big impact on the way that people are able to lead their lives and even interact with each other all made easy by the internet. But many of these achievements are offset by some very unfortunate incidences which have been brought about by the very large numbers of attacks which happen day in and day out. Most disheartening is the fact that the attacks are in most cases perpetrated on the unsuspecting users of the internet bringing them losses in in terms of data, personal information, time, and financial resources. Some of the threats and the attacks have been in the form of malware, scams, identity theft and hackers and people have to really educate themselves about these threats and how to stay clear of them to avoid getting ensnared to the devious schemes of the lurking cyber criminals.

To ensure that people are in the position to avoid the threats and many attacks which are prevalent on the internet, a number of steps and measures have to be taken to remain on the safe side. The biggest threat to internet security is the element of human error and indifference. How is this possible? It is common that good judgement and some common sense will usually be thrown to the wind and the results are fatal counting into loads of cash and lost man hours as the damage is rectified. The infection of a PC or any device will happen out of curiosity as people are keen to click on a link even when they know only too well that it might be potentially dangerous. Hence internet security calls for a proactive nature where an individual is keen to follow rules and guidelines which will guarantee that they protect themselves from and their networks when online.

First and foremost, access to the internet should be done only after a quality antivirus has been installed to guarantee security. A good antivirus or internet security suite can be gotten through the finding and reading of reviews and finding the most effective security software at the available budget. Second to installing the antivirus software, it must remain updated and must be renewed once it has expired to guarantee that threats and attacks are prevented. It will be a disastrously mistake not to have an antivirus and not to have it updated.

Other measures will be to have spam filters to an email account in order that spam and suspicious emails are quickly identified and deleted. Some other rules are that you should never download attachments or files without conducting a virus scan. It is even recommended that sharing files from dubious sites is avoided. In fact the best piece of advice is that the file sharing should be avoided at all costs since they become a potentially big source of threats.

Social networks have become very popular with people now having multiple accounts on the different social networks. Social networks have become a playing ground for cyber criminals whose intentions are not right. Users of the social media need to be aware of the threats and adopt steps which will help avoid attacks and unfortunate incidences. Some will be on the social media itself and most dangerous will be getting malware and the viruses on your personal computer which can be devastating in the kind of damage they can cause and the difficulty in eradicating them.

The smartphones have been an area of big concern since people carrying these gadgets which are miniature computers are often a threat to networks. This is best explained that smartphones and other portable devices are open to attacks by malware, Trojans and viruses and worms. Secondly, through access to internet on the workplace network, the smartphones are an area of weakness which can be exploited by hackers and criminals.

Having looked at the threats and forms of cyber attacks, the best way to stay clear of them is by having antivirus software or an internet suite which is running and is promptly updated.

Visit KaspAV now and for effective and affordable antivirus solutions! KaspAV is a division of Guardian Network Solutions and authorized Kaspersky reseller. It specializes in providing the ultimate antivirus solutions in order to prevent harmful types of viruses from lodging into your system and stealing information. Kaspersky's products are industry-leading, and increase the health and defenses of any device, mobile or desktop.

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Worldwide Ukash Virus Attacks

It is impossible to write about computer security and dismiss the infamous Ukash Virus family, to which the cunning FBI Moneypak also belongs. I have written about the treacherous infection a couple of weeks ago; however, one personalized report cannot even begin to reveal the significance of the entire faction that keeps spreading into more and more countries all over the world. In this report, I will try to review how the malignant group of ransom-ware has emerged, what its strategies and objections are and what Windows users need to do in order to remove Ukash Virus and protect their operating systems against it.

It is extremely difficult to determine which malignant ransom-ware from the vast Ukash virus faction emerged first; however, one of the first sightings must be the widely researched and reported PRS for Music virus. The infection was first reported in March of 2012 and suggested a threat to Windows users living in the United Kingdom. Since then, the country faced attacks from the Metropolitan Police virus, the West Yorkshire Police virus, the Police Central e-Crime Unit virus and other infections with similar, misleading names.

Surely enough, after getting the first taste of success, cyber criminals behind the group of malignant infections have moved on to infecting even more computers located in the richest countries of the world. This includes the U.S., Canada, Australia, Egypt, Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain and a few other European countries. In fact, the success of the initial Ukash viruses was so great that more and more forms of this cunning infection can now be indicated. This raises a question whether more groups of schemers have not applied the same techniques, as now tens of ransom-ware viruses are being categorized accordingly to the infections that initiate their existence.

When talking about Ukash viruses, the name of the Reveton Trojan must be mentioned, because this sinister application is responsible for the biggest part of Windows terrorizing viruses. Some of these infections are the GVU virus, the Federal Bureau of Investigation virus, the Luxembourg Police virus and the International Police Association virus. Regardless, all Ukash infections are represented in the same manner, and once malignant components lock down a computer and remove access to the desktop, Windows user is presented with a fictitious notification. Almost always this bogus alert is filled with accusations about cyber piracy, terrorism or pornography distribution.

Ukash virus removal is not an easy task and even experienced Windows users are likely to face serious issues generated by the rootkit Trojan functionality. Despite this, it is possible to unlock a paralyzed computer and remove Ukash virus, in whichever form it may come, without complying with the ridiculous ransom payment demands. To find more information on how to remove the infection manually and automatically, follow the resource link. All in all, Ukash viruses are meant to be destroyed, not trusted, which is why it is important to have this infection deleted in any possible way.

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Different Kinds of Computer Attacks

Computer systems are being infected by various virus attacks and to get rid of them, you must at least know how to safeguard your system from all the harmful threats and the various attacks online. Due to these attacks you end up losing your precious data and many other credentials. Your main concern should be figuring out how to protect them and ensuring that your work and network runs smoothly. Cyber-attacks can be categorized into two types-Active and Passive attacks.

Virus

Once the virus enters into the system it starts affecting the other files very quickly, making it a major problem in terms of keeping the infection in check. A virus is likely to go through drives and folders that can cause damage when you run the file.

Trojan

Trojans play a major role in infecting the computer system. The major targets of the Trojan are screen savers, games, and softwares.

Worm

Worms generally interrupt the file and make so many folders of the same name and keep on installing itself without any help.

Root kit

Cyber criminals and hackers take full advantage of the Rootkit and take the hold of the system in order to spoil their activities, and steal the important information in disguise. Victims are being targeted by the hackers every now and then.

Types of Passive attacks

Eavesdropping

Hackers snoop on the victim's in order to steal the confidential message occurring on the internet and access all the information held between the two networks.

Denial of service attacks

This is the hardest job for anybody to get rid of this attack as it completely damages the working of the file and send unnecessary requests to agitate the functioning of the computer. Many good companies have gone through DOS attacks like Amazon, Microsoft, and many more.

Spoofing

IP packets are being sent to steal the valid address of the computer users and once they are accessed, the records and information on the PC can get erased and personalized. This is divided into two types, one is IP spoofing and the other is DNS spoofing.

Password

Passwords are easily accessed by the cyber-criminals to fetch the complete information and data of the users. To prevent this from happening, a user must get computer security to protect one's system for long time. Always endeavor to write passwords with special characters so that it doesn't come in notice of the hacker's eyes. Long length of the password with numbers will also make it difficult for the hackers to crack the passwords.

To stop these attacks from increasing, you must have an antivirus protection installed to safeguard your computer and make it running without these vulnerable attacks mentioned above.

Protect your computer from various malicious programs by installing latest free virus protection software. Always use official websites to buy antivirus software online.

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