Today the Safer Internet Day 2013 is taking place. It is the tenth edition of the event that pays attention to threats on the Internet. The aim of the EU-launched day is to make the Internet a safer place especially for children and teenagers.
This year the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media, BITKOM, has listed ten of the most serious Internet threats:
- Drive-by-Downloads of malware
- Trojans / Worms
- Attacks on databases and websites
- Virus kits
- Botnets
- Denial-of-Service-attacks
- Phishing
- Data loss
- Rogueware/ Scareware
- Spam
According to BITKOM, so called Drive-by-Downloads are becoming increasingly dangerous for Internet users. It refers to malware that can be caught when visiting manipulated websites. This also counts for Trojans and Worms. All in all, cyber criminals operate ever more sophisticated.
The President of BITKOM, Prof. Dieter Kempf says that “Drive-by-Downloads are particularly treacherous, because they can hardly be recognized and the mere visit of a malicious website is sufficient enough for an attack on one’s own computer.”
What can you do to protect yourself from those threats?
- Always use the latest versions of browsers, plug-ins (flash, java) and of the Adobe Reader.
- Always use the latest anti-virus programs.
- Don’t install any software from unknown sources.
- Always keep your operating systems of computer, tablet, or smartphone up to date.
- Never open e-mails from unknown sources.
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