Nasty bugs are
out to get your PC
make sure you've got
security down to a T
National Cyber Security
Awareness Month
October
National Cyber Security Awareness Month draws awareness to dangerous viruses and aims to show you how you can keep your computer safe.
Viruses can have a fatal impact in our computers – an impact which risks us losing all our data. Precious family pictures, emails, you name it! And that’s why National Cyber Security Awareness Month is happening again this October.
The more awareness is drawn to the issue, the more chance there is to reach people who will take notice and make sure they have anti-virus software – or software that is up-to-date.
There all sorts of sneaky viruses like the slow virus that doesn’t attack until you modify or copy the file. And the retro virus – no, it doesn’t come complete with ’70s music and cool swirling patterns – but scarily attacks the anti-virus software designed to get rid of it!
So how do viruses affect our systems, exactly? They get into our programs, files and hard disk – and stop them from running properly. They might run slower, even crash or show up frequent error messages.
Everything is linked up so if you’ve had your iPad plugged in and it’s stopped working or the printer is disabled, this is another sign that your computer is infected. And do you know what’s worse? They can self-replicate to make lots more of themselves running about your system! Arg!
So how can you stay internet safe this October (and hopefully beyond)? First of all make sure you have anti-virus software and firewalls installed and update them regularly. This way you and your family can enjoy using the internet without worrying about losing anything personal!
Do you work for a company that uses a lot of computers? Or in a school? If so you could endorse the company online and create a section on your organisation’s website that lets you post banners and draw attention to the issue.
Depending on how you connect to the computer, whether at home or in work special information sheets have been drawn up to help you get involved this National Cyber Security Awareness Month.