Sophos issues top ten tips for people travelling to the Olympic
Games
IT security and control firm Sophos is warning the tens of
thousands of athletes, coaches, journalists and tourists travelling
to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games to be on their guard against
cybercriminals when using their notebooks, PDAs and smartphones.
Sophos published
research last month which revealed that almost a third of all
infected webpages in the world were hosted in China in the first
six months.
Experts at Sophos are highlighting the need for visitors to the
Games not to forget their usual security measures in their haste to
access the web from Wi-Fi hotspots, internet cafés and hotels.
Cybercriminals including hackers, spammers and phishers are
known to take advantage of major events, whether they be political,
environmental or sporting, taking advantage of the excitement and
tricking unsuspecting computer users into accidentally clicking
links in spam messages, visiting bogus web pages, and inadvertently
downloading malware.
With the web now being hackers' preferred vector of attack and
with China now hosting the second largest proportion of infected
webpages in the world, the risks are even higher for the average
computer user wanting to connect to web. This problem is compounded
in China, as many security companies find it more difficult to
monitor Chinese sites when compared to other countries, and even
when infected sites are identified, finding the appropriate contact
and communicating the problem can prove challenging.
"Desperate to read the latest news from the Games and send
reports back home, sports fans might fall at the first hurdle,
giving hackers the advantage," said Carole Theriault, senior
security consultant at Sophos. "Of course hackers will do their
best to capitalise on this event - the most effective way to avoid
the pitfalls is to make your device an unattractive target. We've
published top ten tips to remind users to not throw caution to the
wind. After all, the last thing any visitor wants is to find their
bank account emptied while they enjoying the Games abroad."
Sophos's top tips to stay safe on the web at the Olympics:
- Turn off administrative rights when accessing the internet - a
hacker will get a lot further with an administrator's password and
username.
- Before you send email or surf the web, check that your
anti-virus software is fully up to date. Just because you are out
of the country doesn't make you a more difficult target for
hackers.
- Ensure all security patches for your browser, operating system,
and other applications are downloaded and installed as soon as they
are made available.
- Have an active personal firewall to help block unauthorised
access to your computer.
- Do not leave your laptop or mobile phone unattended. Old
fashioned theft in events like these is still a serious
problem.
- Make sure your VPN connection is secure when sending emails or
downloading data.
- All confidential data should be encrypted, whether it is stored
on notebooks, mobile phones or USB stick. Should your computer or
data fall into the wrong hands, it will be blocked from prying
eyes.
- Only use your own USB sticks or external storage devices -
hackers have been known to plant malware on these items in the
past.
- Turn on your wireless functions such as WLAN and Bluetooth only
when you need them, and make sure to turn them off when you have
finished sending mail to looking for web content.
- Back up all important data: even if all precautions are taken,
it is still possible for your computer to be stolen or compromised.
Ensure you have copies of all the latest data backed up on another
device, such as a USB or CD. If the worst happens, at least you can
retrieve your information.
Sophos has published on its website general best practice advice which should be
followed by computer users all year round to reduce the risks of
security threats on their computers.
Experts at Sophos recommend that companies control network access,
automatically update their corporate virus
protection, and run a consolidated solution at their email and
web gateways to defend against viruses and spam.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.