Is nobody safe online anymore except the hackers and then if you are hacker are you safe either?

Question

Its so sad..The internet is such a wonderful place to learn and to visit with people all over the world. Why has it become a haven for hackers and crackers and people that abuse it.Isnt there anything anyone can do.I don't want to stay offline and I have had others say stay off or play the system.I hate this .I want to know where one can go online to be potentially safe.I spend more time fending off spyware and malware and bugs and using different operating systems and im not a novice.. I have been using pc's every since the beginning and also mainframes.I really would like to hear some real input ,not just some smartty person that thinks they are the hacker king..There is always someone a little better and more of an expert that is going to get you .Why can't there be a stop put to all this vengeful waste of resources and theft.. and just plain mean people?

Answer 1

Hackers are no more safe than anyone else.
A user is safe as long as the user understands and follows a few basic safety rules. Keep your AV and Firewall up to date. Don't allow any DirectX controls to self install. Do not open e-mail from sources you don't know. If the e-mail is "spoofed" it's easy to tell. The idiot who sent it doesn't know how to spell or the sentences are weird or disjointed. You can always tell by how "urgent" the matter is. Real Banks and Institutions would mail you or call you. Tampering with either is a Federal crime. 'Puter punks know this. Stay off PtoP networks. Go out and buy the freaking song if you're so stiff over it. Stop trying to use your computer as your entertainment system. There's a million other things, not enough time.

Answer 2

It's actually not that hard to achieve a reasonable level of security. In the main it's common sense. The bigger problem is that too few people realize how exposed their personal privacy is when they use the net. It's not the hackers you should be worried about, it's your ISP, the search engines and especially the government you need to be concerned about, especially if you live in the US. The internet is the greatest free gift a police state could ever wish for. In the off-line world you would probably be concerned if an "official" obtained a list from a library of the books you had borrowed over the last 12 months. That same official can today access every site you have visited over the last 1-2-3 years. See what you have purchased, down loaded .... and it's happening without so much as a murmur of protest.

Answer 3

Think about it this way: in regular life no one is truly safe. Even if you are just driving your car to work there is a chance that you could get in an accident, for example. Does that mean you shouldn't drive a car? Most people feel that the risk is outweighed by the benefit. The Internet has risks too, such as the ones you've mentioned. But if you feel the benefit outweighs the risk, keep using it, and don't worry about it too much.

Answer 4

I am considered a "hacker" in my field.. I am an ethical hacker (and not the cert) though. I perform security risk assessments and forensic analysis and I use my powers for good to protect the rights of others. I am no better than nor do I consider myself above anyone else.
I would think that a person with the experience you claim to have would a) know better than to throw out blanket labels such as "hackers" and "crackers"... crackers are programers who reverse engineer programs.

To address your question:
If anything malicious attackers are less safe than the average person since they deal with malicious code and must use unprotected systems to work with that code and must deal with malicious user communities who have no more and possibly less morals than they themselves do.


The internet is as good a tool as people make it.
Security tools are as good or as bad as the users who use them.
There is no cure for someone who does not take the time to become security aware, semi-computer literate (at least for the things they want to do with it) and display common sense...
I offer you in comparison a person wanting to drive a car... the freedom to get around is wonderful.. yet the car is a dangerous deadly machine in the wrong hands... and if you don't take the time to learn the rules of the road, general maintenance, and the risks... you're eventually going to do damage to yourself, your car, and possibly others.

If you put the wrong gunk in the car.. it's going to slow down and die young... just as all these people try to push freeware crap and malicious programs disguised as good.

If you don't do general maintenance like check for properly configured tires and use tired from a reliable vendor... like mcafee... or pick up free tires from the junk yard... you're going to have a blowout...

If there were no malicious people a lot of people would be out of work... remember what happened to the utopian society in the matrix... it didn't work... nice thoughts, wrong forum...

good luck -

Answer 5

thats reality T_T. but if you are more aware how this thing work and were you get them that will be enough knowledge to protect yourself.

i rarely get virus and spywares.

tips:
-scan any flash disk you use. (IPOD, DIGICAM MEMORY, FLASH DRIVE, PEN DRIVE, TRAVEL DISK, Floppy)
-do not download at site that your not sure of.
-do not click links and advertisments.
-always update your anti virus. (even the free ones serves well just update them)

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pc helpdesk specialist