For many computer users, keeping safe online is the key consideration and the focus of an industry dedicated to producing antivirus software, but data theft by more traditional methods remains an issue.

Antivirus software firms rightly warn against the perils of surfing unprotected, but forget that many cases of data loss and id theft come from more mundane incidents.

Take the recent story from the Press Association which claimed that a highly confidential memory stick, containing details of top secret anti-terrorist measures, was discovered by a Manchester businessman on the pavement outside a police station.

The USB stick had the printed initials GMP POTU on the outside, which was later discovered to stand for: Greater Manchester Police Public Order Training Unit.

And here’s where the stories differ. The businessman who found the
stick said that it contained over 2,000 files which were grouped under a heading: “Manual On Guidance Of Keeping The Peace by the National Police Improvement Agency.” He claimed it was a virtual encyclopaedia of potential measures to counter serious terrorist attacks.

And he told the PA:
“There are even diagrams of crowd control scenes. If this got into the wrong hands, they would be one step ahead of the police all the time. The information in there is dynamite.”

The businessman preferred not to reveal his identity, but the incident happened in Stalybridge, Manchester.

He said the stick also contained personal information about a number of senior police officers and who would do what in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, including coping with such incidents as explosive damage and acid attacks.

Not so say The Greater Manchester Police, who quickly claimed that no sensitive information was on the USB memory stick. They claim that the information was in fact only used for officer safety training and that the majority of it was already in the public domain.

Mike Freeman, a Superintendent of The Greater Manchester Police, told The Independent that:
“I think it is fair to suggest that in most cases, anyone who found an item belonging to GMP outside a police station might do the right thing and hand it in. The person in this instance clearly had other motivations.”

So there! You decide who is right. Did the businessmen have some fun at the police’s expense with a few exaggerations, or are the police cleverly sowing the seeds of a misinformation campaign. Either way, when reading the numerous antivirus software reviews, always remember that it’s not only on the internet that you can lose data.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

A top computer security firm is saying that one in ten people have already fallen victim to data theft.

IT security expert Avira, one of the world’s leading IT security solution companies for both the professional and personal markets, discovered from their web-based moral issue survey, that internet users seriously underestimate the ability of cyber-criminals to access their data.

Over 5,000 people were questioned online and whilst most said they were aware of the security problems posed in today’s high-tech world, they did admit that they weren’t completely prepared for the ingenuity of the modern day cyber criminal.

Avira is a German based company which operates in a number of countries. It is perhaps best known for its virus protection programme called Avira AntiVir Personal, although it also helps protect companies, educational organisations and government authorities from cyber crimes.

And although half of those taking part in the survey said they had not noticed any attack on their data, Avira confirmed its likely only those that use extensive security protection would in fact realise their integrity has been comprised.

Avira pointed out that such is the sophistication of the modern virus programmes, that their detection is increasingly difficult and near-impossible without antivirus pc software.

Perhaps very worryingly, nearly a quarter of the survey participants said they wouldn’t be that concerned if they were attacked, as they doubted if they had anything of interest for the hackers! But Avira were keen to point out this is a dangerous stance and delusionary, mainly because an individual computer can be taken over and used as a bot, part of a bot net which can be used to distribute illegal spam. So a user, unknowing his own computer is part of a bot-net, might find themselves at the wrong end of a visit from the authorities in some cases.

Of those that have already fallen prey to some form of data theft, many had discovered that their Facebook and EBay accounts had been hacked, plus their email accounts. Having your personal accounts hacked in this way can get you into trouble so it important security pc software is used.

Avira’s products also include Avira AntiVir Premium which is also useful for filtering-out phishing sites and Avira Premium Security Suite which offers comprehensive protection.

Guest Article by Neil Camp