An alarming report from computer security house McAfee has revealed that despite all the warnings about shared personal information, nearly half of teenagers online have swapped personal details with strangers.

The McAfee report, which focusses on the worries of shared personal information, is called “The Secret Life of Teens.”

The survey, which was conducted by research company Harris Interactive, questioned nearly 1,000 US teenagers between the ages of 13 to 17, to discover trends about shared personal information.

Here are some of the worrying statistics when it comes to shared personal information:

• 69% of 13-17 year olds have updated their status on social networking sites to include their physical location;
• 28% of teens chat with people they don’t know in the offline world;
• 43% shared their first name;
• 24% shared their email address;
• 18% shared a personal photo of themselves;
• 12% shared their mobile phone number.

Tracy Mooney, mother of three and McAfee Chief Cyber Security Mom, said on the subject of shared personal information:
“Keeping kids safe no longer only means teaching them about the dangers of alcohol or how to deal with a school bully. This report is a wake-up call to the real dangers our teens face when they make themselves vulnerable online. As a mom, it worries me that kids aren’t practicing safe ‘street smarts’ when they’re online.”

What’s more, the report discovered that it’s girls, rather then boys, that are more likely to chat with strangers online.

Mooney again:
“Kids know not to talk to strangers – it’s one of the first lessons you teach them. But online, there’s a sense of trust and anonymity, so kids let their guard down. Kids would never hand out their name and address to a stranger in the real world, so it’s alarming to see how many kids do that very thing online.”

And despite the campaigns and publicity, cyberbullying remains a major problem, as the statistics show:

• 14% of 13-17 year olds admit to having engaged in some form of cyberbullying behaviour in 2010;
• 22% say they wouldn’t know what to do if they were cyberbullied.

A further worrying trend is that teenagers now access the internet away from home more than ever before.

Mooney again:
“It’s almost impossible to keep up with how my kids get online. It’s not like keeping the home computer in the living room is the answer anymore – you have to educate your kids to be safe while they’re accessing the Web from their friends’ houses, or on their phone – away from my supervision.”

And the statistics bear this out:

• 87% of teens go online somewhere other than at home;
• 54% access from their friends’, or relatives’ houses;
• 30% of teens access the internet through a phone;
• 21% of teens access the internet through a video game system;
• 23% of kids go online anywhere with an open Wi-Fi signal.

And teenagers are not making it easy for anyone to see what they are doing on the internet, with two-thirds admitting they don’t tell their parents what they do while they are online (42%). Also, that they would change their online behaviour if they knew their parents were watching (36%).

The tactics to hide their activity on the internet are widespread:

• 38% of teens close or minimize the browser when their parents enter the room;
• 32% of teens clear the browser history when they are done using the computer;
• 55% of 13-17 year olds hide what they do online from parents.

Also kids are getting the blame for infecting the home computer. They may use the computer for homework research, but 62% also use it to download media; a common way for viruses to impregnate a computer.

The figures speak for themselves:

• 27% of teens accidentally allowed a virus, spyware, or other software to infect the family computer;
• 46 percent of teens admit to downloading music or videos from a free service, which is much more likely to infect the family PC with everything from worms, viruses, ad-ware, spyware, or backdoors that allow people on the Internet to access the computer;
• 16% of 16-17 year old boys have downloaded x-rated content.

Mooney finishes up:
“Like me, most parents think they have a handle on what kind of online content their children are exploring. This report makes it clear that we need to be much more involved with helping our kids make the right decisions online. Education is key.”

You can say that again.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Software giant Microsoft has been accused of making a stealth download via one of its recent security patches.

Stealth downloads involve an unwitting computer user downloading code onto their machine without knowing of its transmission. It is sensitive subject in the computer security industry, as this is one of the main ways that malware is delivered onto people’s computers. It is a practice abhorrent in the industry and so for a leading company like Microsoft to be accused of such actions, has caused some embarrassment.

Allegedly, along with its regular Patch Tuesday security update, Microsoft bundled a Bing toolbar add-on. The stealth download adds the Bing toolbar to both the Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers. And it does so without the users permission.

News of the stealth download was reported by technology blog Ars Technica. It stated that the Search Enhancement Pack update actually loaded the Bing toolbar onto those users who had installed the Windows Live Toolbar, or MSN bar, onto their Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers.

An apparently unabashed Microsoft told another tech news site, The Register, when questioned about the stealth download, that the problem arose because of a bug in the update file. It has, said Microsoft, now been fixed. They went on to explain the update, via the Search Enhancement Pack, was only supposed to work on those users with a Windows Live toolbar, MSN toolbar and a Bing Bar.

A spokesman said:
“We fixed the update so that going forward folks who still have only the older Windows Live Toolbar or MSN Toolbar will not see this behaviour anymore.”

So that’s alright then! Industry experts are a little less understanding and some have questioned Microsoft’s real intentions behind their stealth download tactics.

Microsoft was also in the news for suing an alledged spammer. Target of the lawsuit is Connecticut spammer Boris Mizhen. He is alledged to have sent unwanted emails to Microsoft customers and for gaming Hotmail’s spam filter. Mizhen is named in the legal action, as are several of his companies.

This is not the first time that Mizhen and Microsoft have locked horns. He was sued by the Seattle software giant in 2003 for sending spam to the web-based Hotmail service. The case then ended in a settlement with Mizhen paying out a reported $2 million and an agreement not to send anymore spam to Hotmail customers.

As regards the new, alledged campaign, Mizhen’s associates are keen to point out that these new messages were not spam and that many Hotmail users had moved them from their junk folders to their inboxes. Fair enough, although it’s thought by some that Mizhen and his companies alledgedly created the accounts which did this.

This has opened up the whole debate as to how successful spam filters are, especially those that rely on user feedback to judge the criteria of spam. Such techniques as whitelisting, blacklisting and Bayesian filtering are some of the ones used to recognize and filter out spam. Because these techniques are well known, they can be abused by spammers intent on ‘fixing’ the system and allowing their spam to get through.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Microsoft has been busy issuing security patches (also known as security bulletins) in a fast and furious way over the last few days, with security patches also coming from Adobe and Apple.

Microsoft sent out ten alerts which covered 34 separate vulnerabilities and these came together with a number of other updates and additional fixes. Only three of these security patches were ‘critical’ and they affected media decompression, ActiveX and their web browser, Internet Explorer.

Adobe has recently had to fix a long line of weaknesses with security patches in their product line-up and the latest was uncovered in the Flash Player. This effects multiple platforms and will also create impacts on the Adobe Reader and version Nine of the Acrobat. Although a fix has been issued, not all elements are covered and some platforms will have to wait for help.

Security patch experts say that the older versions of the PDF handling software are safe from the problems. Those users of Reader and Acrobat are being told they can work around the problem, but they have to make inoperative, delete, or rename the component called ‘authplay.dll.’ This provides the Flash function within the PDF documents.

As well as Microsoft and Adobe, Apple has also had its fair share of security patch problem fixing. They have had some problems with their latest version of the Safari browser which is said to have numerous issues inherited from older versions. Not least is a long-discovered weakness which enables malicious sites to harvest history data from the Safari browser.

Computer security officials are again warning computer users to accept security patches sent by the creator of the software in order to protect themselves against all manner of malware programmes.

And they stress that only those security patches from reputable, known companies should be downloaded. A common tactic is to trick computer users into thinking that they need a patch, only to find that it is in effect a malicious programme.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

If you use the internet you need to consider computer virus protection. One way to protect your computer is to use antivirus PC software. The anti virus software is designed to protect your PC from viruses that can be found when you surf the web. 

Computer viruses can be contracted in a variety of ways. Sometimes you will visit a website which has malicious code on it which will then install itself on your computer. The virus code can attach itself to a program on your computer. Some computer viruses can be very dangerous as they can reproduce themselves and infect other computers on your network or even PCs you communicate with through email and instant messenger. 

How do I protect my computer against viruses? 

There are new computer viruses being created all the time which is why it is important to make sure you have the best virus protection. There are many different kinds of PC protection software so you will need to do some research to find out which software is the most appropriate for your computer usage. 

Antivirus reviews are a great way to find out which antivirus software is the best and how they work. Good anti virus review sites will have antivirus software reviews and will also provide information about the latest computer security issues. At Antivirus-BUYability we bring you the latest virus news so you can be aware of all the latest computer vulnerabilities and how to stay safe online. 

Computer Viruses 

Hackers and cyber criminals will often exploit the latest fads and technology in order to spread computer viruses very quickly. For this reason social sites like Facebook and Twitter can be a risk to your computer because they are often a target for people who wish to spread computer viruses. By using computer virus protection you can use these sites with no worries of security issues. 

Another popular way in which computer viruses spread is through email. Because email viruses can spread so quickly it is important when you are reading your antivirus reviews you ensure the antivirus software you buy gives you adequate email protection. Email viruses can inject onto your computer even without opening the infected attachment, by viewing the email in your preview pane can cause infection.

Computer virus protection is a must in a world that is increasingly digital, be vigilant when opening and downloading files. If you are unsure of the source of the file then delete it from your PC. IF you keep up to date with potential computer viruses by reading antivirus reviews sites and buy antivirus software you will have done your best to protect your computer against viruses.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

McAfee Antivirus is one of the most well known brand names in the antivirus software market. The company was founded back in 1989 as McAfee Associates and is the world’s largest dedicated security company. McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010 is their most recent antivirus software release and it offers full PC security to protect you while you browse the web giving you the confidence to download files as you please. 

With McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010 you are always up to date as the software continuously updates with the latest virus definitions all without interrupting your computer use. McAfee provides the fastest protection against malicious threats. New and emerging threats are analysed and blocked in milliseconds.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus offers total pc protection to block as well as remove spyware, adware, malware and rootkits (dangerous programs designed to alter your PC). You are protected while you surf online as McAfee AntiVirus Plus warns you of suspicious websites before you even click.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus added features

With McAfee AntiVirus Plus you are not only getting an antivirus software which protects you against Trojans, spyware and all sort of threats but you get a range of added features including a firewall, disk cleaner, disk defragmenter and a network security manager.

The McAfee firewall is a neat added feature as it protects your computer from hackers whilst you are online. It does this by monitoring your activity and can protect you from identity thieves and malware that hijacks your system with the ultimate goal of stealing important personal information.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus can be purchased to cover multiple computers there are licences which cover 1, 2 or 3 PCs.

Has our McAfee Antivirus Review whetted your apetite? Get 50% of McAfee AntiVirus Plus click here to go to the latest offers on antivirus software.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein