internet safety 101

I know we as a younger, more internet friendly generation have grown up hearing about the dangers out there on the web, and the precautions we need to take in order to stay safe, but almost naively I thought we were almost past that stage of precaution on our part. I figured that since people had realized what the "bad guys" out there were doing, they had figured out ways to protect the innocent from such atrocities. My father had internet protection on his computer, and installed it on mine as well. When I got a Mac I noticed that I had never heard anything incredibly awful infesting Macs from the internet, so once again I thought I was safe. When we started to go over what types of things were still out there and the ploys involved in stealing any information possible from unsuspecting users opened my eyes. I had never before understood how those who send spam or viruses got money for what they did, so I didn't see the business in it, and thought it was a dying trade. Evidently it is not, which makes me want to be more cautious in the future.

As I used the internet this past week I have subconsciously thought about what I'm doing and whether it is necessarily the safest for my computer or not. I have checked for the "s" at the end of http to see what websites are secure and which ones aren't: with that I have thought about any info on those websites I may be giving away, and whether it would ever backfire to hurt me. for the most part, I haven't given away info that I didn't want people to have on un-secure websites, and I have checked on those websites that I need to input sensitive info. I used to think that the updates my computer tells me it needs were annoying, since there seems to be something new every week. But now that I know there are updates to fix bugs and fight holes that could be exploited, I have thought about whether I want to update when it tells me to, or wait. I will choose not to wait as often as I used to, and get those updates when they are available from now on.

I suppose I should be glad that I'm in the "elite" group of computer owners right now because I own a Mac instead of a PC, but I know I can't get lax in my guard because more and more virus makers are beginning to target Macs. I will need to continue to be vigilant to protect myself and my computer. I especially should watch what I'm doing on public wireless, because that is when it will be most likely to have others listening in to what I'm doing. At least I realize the dangers now, instead of after something bad happens to me.