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  1. Top 10 Cyber-Security Urban Legends

    It's hard enough protecting yourself against genuine security threats, but this field has spawned its share of myths, which many gullible users believe:

    1. "Hackers can legally break into Web sites that lack WARNING notices." Truth: Breaking into Web sites is a crime, whether a sign is posted or not.
    2. "Some Windows system files are malicious and should be deleted." Truth: This old rumor is false; leave your system files alone.
    3. "Hotel card keys secretly record your personal information." Truth: The information on these cards is limited to room number, checkout time, and other non-identifying information.
    4. "Including a fake entry in your e-mail address book will prevent e-mail Trojans." Truth: We wish it were this easy to prevent "Trojan horse" programs – but it isn't.
    5. "A digital cell phone can be infected with a virus merely by answering a phone call." Truth: There's no evidence a virus can be spread in this way.
    6. "Search engine crawlers perform security checks and notify you of vulner-abilities." Truth: No known search engine employs this practice.
    7. "Thieves use lists of automated out-of-office e-mail replies to target homes for burglary." Truth: While this theory is plausible, there are no actual known cases.
    8. "Free patches e-mailed to you will protect your PC from the latest worm or virus." Truth: In many cases, these unsolicited "patches" are themselves viruses.
    9. "Signing up with a "Do Not Spam" Registry will prevent unwanted e-mail." Truth: While the popular "Do Not Call" Registry is genuine, there is no official spam counterpart.
    10. "Elf Bowling and Blue Mountain Greeting Cards contain viruses." Truth: Downloaded software can indeed hide vi-ruses, but no users have ever contracted a virus from these legitimate companies.
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  2. Cybercrime Set to Soar in 2005
    Top 5 Threats to Watch Out For

    One: Organized crime increases its involvement in computer crime. Eastern Europe is a known hotbed of online crime, from Phishing to spamming to identity theft to scams involving nonexistent "Russian brides." Asia, too, has its share of organized cyber crime gangs.
    Two: Terrorists make use of the Internet. Experts warn that 2005 may be the year in which terror-ists use online techniques, such as massive denial-of-service attacks, to wreak havoc on the U.S. The nation's air-traffic control system; financial and stock-market networks; com-munications web; and traffic systems in major cities are all possible targets.
    Three: Phishing continues to evolve. By now, most people are familiar with the basic way phishing works: You receive an e-mail message that appears to be from a trusted company or government agency. It looks genuine; the e-mail has the company logo right there. It asks you to click on a link to reactivate your account or update your personal information. But if you comply, you are actually sending this personal data to cyber-crooks who use it to steal your identity.
    Four: Increase in DoS attacks and extortion. Denial-of-service attacks are a massive, and growing, problem for business. In a DoS attack, a company's servers are flooded with so many bogus requests that they are unable to transact legitimate business. Particularly harmful is the distributed flavor of the DoS, dubbed DDoS.
    Five: Smarter viruses. According to security special-ists, 2005 may not see a big increase in the sheer number of computer viruses – but the viruses that are unleashed will be smarter and subtler. Already, viruses have appeared that collect data on victims' online banking habits, then forward it to organized-crime rings.
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  3. You'd have to be an idiot if you fell for any of the urban legends in your first post.

    The sad thing is that I know many people who would.
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