Regardless of the type of computer you use, someone somewhere is always trying to infect it or break in.\u00a0 One of the best defenses you have is keeping your operating system and applications up to date.\u00a0 Today, like it or not, patching is a necessity although many treat it as optional.<\/p>\n
When software vendors announce patches, miscreants immediately begin reverse engineering (if they weren\u2019t already) the changes to determine where the security holes exist in the software.\u00a0 They then write code designed to exploit these holes and gain access to your computer.\u00a0 The number one way to deliver this malicious code is via Internet browsing followed by email attachments.<\/p>\n
To give yourself a fighting chance, here and at home, it\u2019s imperative that your operating system AND <\/strong>applications be kept up to date.\u00a0 Apple provides a software update utility that you can run manually or on a schedule to check for the latest updates.\u00a0 Windows has a similar utility that checks for updates on a regular basis (if enabled).\u00a0 For Linux distributions, determining what updates are needed is generally a manual effort.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, for everyday applications, the update process varies from vendor to vendor.\u00a0 However, below are some key applications that should always<\/strong><\/span> be kept up to date:<\/p>\n Adobe Reader & Acrobat Vendors certainly don\u2019t make it easy to keep your computer current.\u00a0 However, there is a free on-line tool (no signup required) that you can try that does a decent job at indicating where upgrades are needed.\u00a0 If you browse to the link below, this tool will check the versions of a number of the applications listed above (you\u2019ll have to accept and install the plug-in first).<\/p>\n https:\/\/browsercheck.qualys.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Give it a try!\u00a0 I think you\u2019ll be surprised at how many of your applications are out of date (and vulnerable to malicious attacks).<\/p>\n Icon Ninjas<\/a><\/p>\n References: Regardless of the type of computer you use, someone somewhere is always trying to infect it or break in.\u00a0 One of the best defenses you have is keeping your operating system and applications up to date.\u00a0 Today, like it or not, patching is a necessity although many treat it as optional. When software vendors announce patches, miscreants immediately begin reverse engineering (if they weren\u2019t already) the changes to determine where the security holes exist in the software.\u00a0 They then write code designed to exploit these holes and gain access to your computer.\u00a0 The number one way to deliver this malicious … Continue reading Give Your Computer a Fighting Chance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-software"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph2nPL-83","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAdobe Flash
\nAdobe Shockwave
\nApple QuickTime
\nApple Safari
\nGoogle Chrome
\nMozilla Firefox
\nReal Player
\nSun Java<\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/2010\/01\/13\/tips-for-avoiding-malware-infections\/<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/2008\/10\/24\/dont-ignore-the-windows-update-shield\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"