3AW.com.au technology blogger, Risto Sampola,gives you some very user-friendly advice each week. Ask him a question in this blog and he will answer it.

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The advent of the Internet has perhaps revolutionised the way we use computers more than any other innovation. The value it has added to our personal lives is without an equal and the way it has enabled businesses to communicate and operate would have been nearly unthinkable only a decade or so ago. But with the good there has also been some bad. The term 'cyber crime' makes headlines somewhere in the world on a daily basis.

While it would be impossible to give definitive guidance against cyber crime in the scope of a single article, the pointers below will give you some idea as to the potential risks and how to minimise them.

The first thing to consider is that every computer connected to the Internet is in one way or another connected to EVERY single other computer also on the Internet – otherwise we wouldn't be able to Email each other, for example. Put simply, when you're on the web, you're also connected to the same network as all the world's hackers and Email spammers.

The most commonly talked about security issues are 'viruses', which are malicious programs capable of duplicating themselves and thus spreading from one source to another. These pesky little beasts were around before the Internet (on floppy disks etc) and can still spread on modern removable storage media, such as USB 'memory sticks'. Viruses can arrive in your computer from suspicious web sites, Email attachments and more recently so called 'cross site scripting' viruses have also been doing the rounds.

This is particularly troublesome as it involves genuine and legitimate sites to be infected with viruses, so a site which has always been safe in the past has now become infected. Naturally the best way to safeguard yourself against viruses is to use anti-virus software, but these vary greatly in their efficiency and how they tackle the task at hand.

Every virus has its own 'signature' and many anti-virus programs scan files against a database of known signatures. This is an efficient method, but without regular updates it soon becomes fairly useless – or even dangerous as it may give you a false sense of security. If your anti-virus signature updates are not set to 'automatic' and you forget to check for new updates then you're wide open to pretty much all viruses created since your last update as it cannot protect you against viruses it’s not aware of.

Some vendors update hourly, some daily, some weekly, so make sure you're always up to date and if you're shopping around for new anti-virus software check just how often the vendor offers updates. When you buy anti-virus software you'll also have to make sure you renew your subscription once it has lapsed. Another commonly used method to catch viruses is a 'heuristic algorithm', which looks for certain virus behaviour and may have the ability to catch viruses before a signature has been created. It's worth looking for this capability, but not to rely on it entirely.

Another Internet security development, which has been on the rise in recent years is so called 'malware' – an abbreviation for 'malicious software'. These are computer programs capable of installing themselves on a computer without the user's permission or knowledge. They create 'zombie computers', which can be used to carry out work on the hacker's behalf, such as sending out spam emails or hosting unscrupulous content, like pornography.

The legitimate user is none the wiser, but things like sudden slowing down or lack of computer performance might be caused by malware running in the background. Some malware can be in the form of 'spyware', which can monitor the user's keystrokes and performs a series of screen captures, so the hackers can actually see exactly what you're doing. A prime example of such spyware would be acquire your Internet banking username and password, which in turn would allow the hackers to log into your account and clean it up.

When it comes to email security it is first of all worth nothing that unless your emails are encrypted they are easily intercepted and read, so never send sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, via email. If encryption is used then the content of the email is effectively jumbled up into illegible content and only the recipient can decrypt it with a decryption key. The process is usually automated, but in all fairness this technology is not widely used, so bear in mind that an email could almost be likened to a postcard, whereby every point it travels through could easily read its contents. Also bear in mind that when you send an email it never goes direct from your computer to the recipient’s computer. Instead it will travel through a great number of connections and each connections poses a security risk of some kind.

Spam is of course a pain in the backside as it fills up your inbox with umpteen Viagra ads or other scams, such as, "Congratulations, you've won a lottery you never even entered." – yeah right, pull the other one! So-called 'phishing' scams involve you getting, for example, an email appearing to be from your bank asking you to confirm your username and password. There will often be a link to a website, which appears to be similar to your bank's log-in screen, because the hackers basically copied its layout.

If you then proceed to enter your log-in details, hey presto, the hackers have your details and while you're still staring at your screen, they're siphoning your account. NEVER open any emails that appear to be from your bank as no legitimate bank would ever ask you to confirm any log in details via email – they already have your details, so there would be no point in them asking for it again. If a bank wishes to communicate with you it's usually via a phone call, letter or a message in you netbanking account. There are literally billions of spam emails sent every day (often from these 'zombie computers'), making up around 90% of all emails in the world.

Online shopping has now matured to an excellent way to purchase products from around the world, but again it makes sense to exercise some caution. Whilst we're all after a good bargain, don't get carried away – if the deal looks 'too good to be true', it probably is. You might receive a fake product or no product at all. Next you should never divulge more information than is strictly required. If they ask you for your mother's maiden name (a common security check), driver's licence number, a PIN number etc. I would stop immediately and shop elsewhere. You also need to make sure that when you're typing in your payment details the shopping site's checkout is in HTTPS mode. This can be checked at your URL bar, which is where the name of the site is displayed. Usually a web address would start with - http://www... But for secure connections it will need to be https://www... The letter 's' denotes a secure and encrypted connection. Most browsers will also display a small padlock icon in the browser's frame and when you click onto the padlock it will verify that the site belongs to who they claim to be.

Naturally it also pays to check what the retailer's return and refund policies are like (who pays return freight etc.) and where are they located – is it a 'reputable country'. Online shopping from North Korea, for example, might not be such a good idea! Always use a credit card (not debit card) or a dedicated online payment method, such as PayPal as they offer some security in an event there is a fraud or other claim to be made.

Parents might also wish to restrict the kinds of sites their children can access. I am personally very much against the sort of national Internet filtering our government has been trying to push forward as that would put Australia in the same category as China or Saudi Arabia. However, you might not want to have your children visit unsavoury sites and there are many products designed to filter these out, including pornography, some chat rooms, adult rated online video games, gambling and peer-to-peer downloading sites.  

At the end of the day your best defence is common sense and an all-round security suite from a reputable security software vendor to combat viruses and malware, plus some good spam filtering. The benefits of the Internet far outweigh the risks and let’s face it – none of us have stopped driving our cars, because of traffic dangers. But the smart ones among us will always pay attention to safety, so buckle up and surf away!

When asking Risto product specific questions please provide the brands and models of your equipment as this will allow him to respond with a more detailed reply.