With the widespread of Internet access and online monetary transaction (for example, online banking, online shopping etc.) has become increasingly common and important, security definitely is a no-joking matter. Nobody wants to put their hard-earned money in danger while committing online transaction, and the paranoid among Netizens is understandable.

Therefore, I'm here to write some common security tips to increase the safety of your online transactions and reduce the risk of your online account being hacked:

• Avoid phishing - Always trust only yourself. It's not too hard to type the address of online banking site on the address bar. Please DO NOT access online banking site via the link in your email or some untrusted sources. Phishing is meant to be avoided at all cost.
• Equipt with security tools - Install at least an Antivirus, Anti-spyware and Firewall into your machine to protect your PC from the invasion of malware/virus/attack.
• Update regularly - Keep your antivirus and anti-spyware updated with the latest definitions, and do not ignore Windows Security update. You would think you're probably not affected by the update, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
• Password tips - While it's OKAY to use your birthdate or your favourite artist name as your password in some discussion forums, a strong password is definitely needed if the site/application is critical:
  • DO NOT use the same password in ALL your online accounts. If you do and one of your accounts got hacked, hacker will be able to access all your other accounts.
  • Try to avoid using dictionary words like "prettygirl", "imagination" etc or any other stuff that's easy to guess (like your birth date, your car plate number)
  • Password is case sensitive, choosing passwords that are composed by different case will add more strength to the security (for example, sAmuRaI_KiD).
  • DO NOT disclose your password to anyone, even if the person claimed he/she is working for the bank or is the site admin.
  • If you've too many passwords to remember, use a reliable password safe like KeePass
• Common Sense - practice your common sense. Sometimes it's difficult to tell what goes wrong with the site, but once you think something is wrong, quit it and seek for experts consultation. Other than that, please do often read some online articles concerning electronic security to improve your awareness regarding this matter.

Feel free to comment on my list (constructive criticisms are welcome) or add in something here as I've missed some important stuffs.

- Source -

-- From giasens

- set dns to www.opendns.org 's dns which they provide updated phising list. details at its site.

- bsides, update ur HOST file with this http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm he has quite alist of spyware/trojan/ads sites

This post has been edited by samurai1337: Dec 18 2006, 02:52 PM

ok, here I go....

1) Always scan ur pc with antispyware whenever you have visit those web sites with a lot of pop up.
2) Do not install any suspicious downloader, because most of the downloader come with keylogger, which means it will record all you key stroke from your keyboard, and there ya go with your password....
3) And my last word, try scan your pc with http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ once per month, it's free and it will scan your pc for virus n spyware. end opinion always help a lot in understand your pc better.

ps: spyware forum is too long, so I am lazy to read it, but for all of forumer, I am using ad-aware.