By Doctor Security
It’s “flu season” and what do many people do to protect themselves from coming down with a bad bug? Right, they get a flu shot. It’s preventive medicine. I think we all can agree that it’s best to be proactive when it comes to our personal health. Well, guess what? The same philosophy also applies to the health of our personal computers and the personal information contained on them.
Unfortunately, it’s always open season for those of us who have PCs (even if you have Windows 7: learn more about Windows 7 security online or in previous blogs.) You can get a computer virus or be targeted for a cyber attack at anytime. So it is very important to be proactive when it comes to safeguarding your PC and your personal data.
Now, I don’t want to hear any sick excuses: “But I never get the flu…I never get viruses… I don’t go to those kinds of websites…My laptop will never get stolen…” It only takes one time to really knock you down and out. It may not kill you, but you could save yourself a lot of pain and suffering.
Good PC security software needs to be comprehensive – guarding against the gamut of threats. Lets break down the types of protection required into four categories: 1) firewall, 2) anti-virus, 3) browser security and 4) identity and data protection.
The first line of defense against cyber threats is a solid firewall. This is the technology that functions as a gatekeeper – turning away any well-known or suspicious “characters” that try to hop the fence into your system.
Robust anti-virus is what’s required to catch suspicious and unauthorized activity on your PC, protecting you from new and/or ever-evolving dynamic virus threats.
Browser security is extremely important because if you aren’t careful, you can invite bad elements into your private life and onto your personal PC without even knowing it. There are numerous scam and phishing sites that can turn your PC into a zombie to be used by organized cybercrime or trick you into revealing your financial account information and passwords.
Protecting your personal data is a great way to prevent identity theft. With laptop theft and data loss commonplace, it’s necessary to have hard drive encryption so that everything that you save on your PC is scrambled. So if your PC falls into the wrong hands, the personal, confidential, and financial information on it, can’t be decipher. You should also get offline identity protection services – provided free with many ZoneAlarm products.
For the most comprehensive security software that also protects your personal data, check out ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Hard Drive Encryption. It’s just what the Doctor would order. Stay healthy my friends!