Hopefully by now it is well understood that computer security at home is very important and with the availability of entertainment, banking and other financial services online today, it is in fact more probable that your identity may be in danger of being exposed. Other online destinations such as gaming sites, social sites and such can give online hackers an opportunity to phish and target you for your information. Following best practices for computer security at home and work can keep you out of trouble.

Protect your valuable personal information

For identity thieves, the personal information of others has an unspecified value, which basically presents an opportunity for potential gain at the cost of an unsuspecting victim. In many occasions people do not consider their information important enough to protect. They store sensitive information on their computer systems and forget about the dangers of identity theft.

I order to protect your information properly you want to begin by not volunteering your personal information online. This includes the social sites, games sites and any other entertainment portal where you may be inclined to use your true personal information such as your name and address. It’s a good practice to use anonymity while working online, instead of your real name use a nickname and don’t reveal your home address or specific details about your personal life or finances.

Never answer to solicitations from sources that claim to belong to financial organizations that you do business with. Normally phishing scams come from spammers who aimlessly address their emails to loads of recipients, the majority of whom will not open these emails, but it is those that do that are most likely to fall victim to identity theft via an email phishing scam. Financial and insurance institutions DO NOT ask for this information via email or phone, they already have it. So rather than follow any links on the emails or volunteer personal information over the phone, hang up and call your credit company or bank immediately and ask customer service directly if they tried to contact you.

Stop using file sharing software

A lot of people believe that file sharing is an easy way to get free software, music and movies, but forget about the security risks that these types of programs create for your computer system. File sharing is known for creating security holes and making files on your computer system available for others to pick and choose. A number of file sharing programs have come and gone since Napster, the originator of file sharing was taken out of commission due to copyright and legal issues. They are all based on the same technology which is a peer to peer (P2P) system where a file you download from someone else’s system can then be downloaded from your system by another user.

These programs are dangerous to the integrity of your system and therefore to the security of the personal information you store on your computer. Also consider that the applications you are downloading are often coded with spyware and viruses and this is where you can seriously jeopardize yourself.

Use security software that updates automatically

Whatever type of activity you’re going to do on your computer system it needs to be protected by antivirus, spyware and firewall software for maximum protection. It’s not good enough that the software be installed on your system it needs to be updated regularly. Most security software are updated automatically by default. It’s important that these settings be left alone and not altered otherwise you won’t get the latest updates to the new virus signatures and spyware programs that are affecting internet users on the internet.

Use the latest versions of Internet Browsers

Browser security is another issue that is often overlooked. If you’re still accessing the internet with Internet Explorer 6.0 or older versions, you’re at high risk. Spyware programs and viruses can easily get past the stoppage points that this browser offers. Other versions like IE 7.0 are a little more adequate. However, you should also consider using FireFox, Opera or Google Chrome. These browsers have better built in security features that can help to protect you while you’re online.

FireFox and Opera are highly configurable browsers and don’t have Active-X enabled by default like IE. FireFox in particular has a strong community behind it that contributes constantly to configuration and security features. Chrome is rather new, but offers a pretty stable interface for browsing the internet.

For more information on browser security and how to secure your browser, we recommend you read “Securing Your Web Browser” from Cert.org, this is a complete guide on browser safety and internet surfing.