What do I need to know about internet security?

[NHU Community Friend]

NHU will keep you informed on how to prevent viruses and spyware from infecting your computer.

[NHU Community Friend]

Computer viruses are programs that install themselves on your computer without your approval and are executed when opening or downloading and installing an infected file from a webpage. They can also be hidden in spam e-mail attachments or web pages that contain adult content, torrent downloads and false internet advertisements. Viruses can spread to other areas of your computer and can keep installing themselves to other files and items and can even corrupt the data on your hard drive.

[NHU Community Friend]

Spyware is software that gathers personal data like bank account or credit card information and spies on your computing habits especially on the web.  The data gathered by spyware can be transferred to other computers without your consent. Spyware can remain hidden from the user and can cause higher CPU speed usage, memory and hard drive usage by changing configurations and install malicious software without your consent. Spyware can be included in software or other files that are downloaded from the web and can execute whenever the software or file is run.

[NHU Community Friend]

Stop and observe any web page to check if there is anything suspicious like false advertisements and file download requests. Avoid visiting any sites that contain adult content, torrent downloading, peer to peer file sharing and sites containing pop ups that make suspicious offers. Avoid downloading software from the internet unless you are absolutely sure that the software is safe and legal. It is recommended to use an antivirus such as AVAST. Antiviruses are programs that can detect unsafe software and files, they can isolate and remove known threats and can perform background scans on your computer to catch any hidden threats in your computer. AVAST offers a boot time scan that you can schedule for the next time you boot your computer and will scan it before booting your current operating system. An antivirus can also warn you when you visit unsafe webpages and unsafe file downloads and can provide security for your personal information whenever you log into a site.

[NHU Community Friend]

Ransomware is a type of malware virus that can encrypt important data and prevent you from accessing your important files. Whenever you would try to access one of your important files you would get a message demanding a fee in order to decrypt your data and allow access to it. Ransomware can spread through unsafe websites,  program downloads and infected e-mail attachments.

[NHU Community Friend]

Back up your important data regularly to another hard drive or media device like a CD or USB drive. Make sure not to open or download any attachments from spam or suspicious e-mail and avoid downloading unsafe software from the internet. Always keep your antivirus software, operating system and software applications up to date.