Information Age: News, analysis & insight for IT & business leaders

JB    John Brigden

JB: We at Symantec believe the first step to protection is education. It gives me great pleasure to submit this video on behalf of Symantec to the Information Age Innovation Awards for 2009 in a Security category. You know like I said, education is the first step, right. Because when you think about it, the threats are emerging at a rapid pace, like we’ve never seen before. The malicious code activity we saw this year alone was double that than we saw in the entire 25 year history before this. The line between consumers and businesses is blurring, right. We’re seeing technologies in the consumer that are utilised in the enterprise [?] space; the information is being moved seamlessly around through accounts [?] such as Twitter and social networking sites. So being able to boast securities environments, but also help the consumers and enterprise protect and manage that information seamlessly as it moves around, is what Symantec’s all about. This was a big year for Symantec. We’ve really worked hard at continuing to integrate our strategy and bring innovative products to the marketplace in consumers and small businesses and mid-market, as well as large enterprise data centres. We’re very excited about the portfolio of integrated offerings we’re bringing out to help companies and consumers secure and manage their information. And it gives me great pleasure to submit this video.

Number one: Phishing. Fishing with an F is a way to catch fish using bait, like worms; its fun, except for the worms. Phishing with a PH isn’t fun, its scary internet stuff. Phishing is a way for bad people to catch your private details, like your bank account number or passwords. The bait they use is lies. Here’s how phishing works. Say you get an email. It looks like it’s from someone you trust, like your bank, but it’s not. It tells you to confirm your bank details or your account may be closed. Scary. You click on the link and go to a website. It looks like a real bank website, but it’s not. You enter your details and someone uses them to steal your identity and buy things with your money, which is not nice. Here’s how to be safe from phishing. Number one: your bank will never ask you to confirm your details via an email; like ever. This is the most obvious way to spot a phishing attempt. If you receive an email like this, don’t click it. Number two: look for your name. Phishing messages say things like: Dear Valued Customer. If it doesn’t say your name, don’t click it.