advice on the internet
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The Worst Case
What's the worst that could happen?
Type Michael Fiola pornography into Google. You will find the true story of an innocent man whose life was nearly destroyed because he didn’t know anything about computer security. The work laptop he was given did not have any antivirus software on it, and became infected with malware that downloaded child pornography onto his computer (entirely without his knowledge or consent). When the pictures were discovered, he lost his job and his friends, and was prosecuted for possessing indecent images of children. He was eventually found not guilty… but would you really want to go through that?
Generally speaking, the people who send spam (unsolicited mass advertising emails), perpetrate online fraud, or host terrorist videos or child pornography, are not stupid enough to use their own computers to do these things. They use malicious programs to take control of any unprotected computer they find on the Internet... that could be yours.
We don’t want to put you off using the Internet. If you have a properly configured computer and use some caution, then surfing the web, sending emails, and even Internet banking and online shopping are very safe. We DO want to point out that it’s important to make sure that your computer IS properly configured, and that you know how to recognise and avoid potential threats.
