Apparently there’s a newly released exploit in Encapsulated Postscript Files (.eps) files that can allow malicious code to run (i.e. viruses and the like).  Why don’t I find this to be particularly horrible news?  Because this shouldn’t affect anyone who’s paying attention anyway.

Zero-day Adobe bug overshadows impending Flash fix – The Register

There are viruses that can infect your computer through dozens of file types, among which are .avi, .pdf, .doc, .xls, .zip files (holding .exe’s) .scr, .pif, .bat and many more and through web technology such as Active X controls, Flash videos, Javascript, sql injection, xss, etc.

Just take a look at a top 20 list of Internet security problems, threats and risks

What can you do to keep safe and still use your computer?

1. Make sure you use an effective antivirus.

NOD32 from Eset is one of the best out there IMO.  Along with fast, accurate virus scanning and removal you can also get antispam and firewall capabilities to help keep threats out.

If you don’t want to pay for protection Microsoft Security Essentials is a great antivirus solution, but you’ll have to look elsewhere for antispam as it’s not included.

2. Update everything when it asks.

how many times have you seen a popup from a program on your computer asking for an update and you click on “no” or “later”.  Guess what?  You’ve just ignored security updates that are designed to stop you from getting affected.  Just install the updates, even once a week or two and you’ll be much safer online.

The flip side to this is of course that you should never, ever believe a website that says you’re infected and need to click on something to remove it (unless you actively went to a trusted online virus scanner).

3. Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know or if you weren’t expecting something.

Just because you get an email offering you money back from the IRS or that a package you didn’t know what coming from UPS wasn’t able to be delivered doesn’t mean you have to click on whatever is attached to the email.

Think about it, the IRS doesn’t email important information, they send it via snail-mail, often in triplicate.

Let say you get an email from a friend or co-worker and instead of their usual eloquence it reads something like “u gotta chek thees out!!1!” and there’s an attachment.  Either your friend has just had a stroke before forwarding your something or (much more likely) their computer was infected and is sending out copies of the virus to everyone in their address book.  It never hurts to write back a simple “what is this?” email.  Chances are they didn’t even know that email was ever sent and would prefer you to ask them before opening it verses getting upset when their email “hacked your computer”.

If you follow those three basic steps you won’t really have to worry about the newest internet virus that’s coming out, because you’ll already be protecting yourself.

photo from joffley on flickr.com

Do you have any comments you’d like to add?  Post them in the comments section below.

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