You’ve heard it before: Clicking on links or attachments in suspicious emails can lead you to seemingly safe websites that are purposefully designed to gather your personal information1 or to entice you to download malicious software2. But did you know you can also end up tangled in these Internet traps when you simply navigate to a site which, behind the scenes, has been compromised by a hacker?3 Hackers are known to compromise legitimate websites (usually by adding fraudulent online advertisers to the legitimate ones) in order to direct users to harmful sites that canvass for and exploit weaknesses on the end user’s computer4. In this manner, just visiting a site can result in your machine being victimized.
Increase protection automatically
Even with the best of intentions, you may end up being redirected to or otherwise fooled into visiting a malicious website. A major firewall vendor analyzed three months of Internet traffic circulating through its customers' networks, and found that the source of 90% of malware was simple web-browsing, while only 6% was tainted emails.5 You can limit or prevent infection by ensuring your security patches are up-to-date, running antivirus software (such as the Symantec Endpoint Protection software, which is available via an enterprise license – free for judiciary employee’s work and personal computers), and employing web-filtering software.
In addition, make sure you have good back-ups. Why? One of the fastest-growing attacks today is “ransomware,” which is malicious software that uses encryption to lock up your data until you pay a ransom to have it unlocked.6 Data from the judiciary’s Security Operations Center indicates that we are not immune to this threat and are also seeing a significant uptick in its occurrence. So, whether at home or at work, make sure your information is backed up so that you can restore your data for free – no ransom!
You mention web-filtering software, what is it?
Web filters automatically block access to known malicious websites. The filter analyzes and flags malicious websites, adding them to its regularly-updated catalog of harmful sites. The result is that you can’t access these websites, so they can’t infect your device or steal your information. And, if a legitimate site is incorrectly categorized as harmful, access to it can be easily permitted by contacting your local IT staff.
How do I obtain web-filtering software?
Free web-filtering products for personal use include K9 Web Protection and McAfee SiteAdvisor. Court-unit IT staff looking to protect the local area network from web-based threats should consider using Websense, which is available to courts under an enterprise licensing agreement. Additionally, support for implementing Websense is available from the Department of Technology Services, AO Technology Office.
1 Judiciary Security Tip: Phishing: Don’t Get Hooked!
2 Judiciary Security Tip: Email Security: Thinking Outside Your Inbox.
3 Kaspersky: What are Web Threats?
4 Hackread: Yahoo Ad Network Hacked, Infecting Millions of Devices with Malware, Ransomware.
5 USA Today, Malware now spreads mostly through tainted websites.
6 Trend Micro: Ransomware one of the biggest threats in 2016.
Increase protection automatically
Even with the best of intentions, you may end up being redirected to or otherwise fooled into visiting a malicious website. A major firewall vendor analyzed three months of Internet traffic circulating through its customers' networks, and found that the source of 90% of malware was simple web-browsing, while only 6% was tainted emails.5 You can limit or prevent infection by ensuring your security patches are up-to-date, running antivirus software (such as the Symantec Endpoint Protection software, which is available via an enterprise license – free for judiciary employee’s work and personal computers), and employing web-filtering software.
In addition, make sure you have good back-ups. Why? One of the fastest-growing attacks today is “ransomware,” which is malicious software that uses encryption to lock up your data until you pay a ransom to have it unlocked.6 Data from the judiciary’s Security Operations Center indicates that we are not immune to this threat and are also seeing a significant uptick in its occurrence. So, whether at home or at work, make sure your information is backed up so that you can restore your data for free – no ransom!
You mention web-filtering software, what is it?
Web filters automatically block access to known malicious websites. The filter analyzes and flags malicious websites, adding them to its regularly-updated catalog of harmful sites. The result is that you can’t access these websites, so they can’t infect your device or steal your information. And, if a legitimate site is incorrectly categorized as harmful, access to it can be easily permitted by contacting your local IT staff.
How do I obtain web-filtering software?
Free web-filtering products for personal use include K9 Web Protection and McAfee SiteAdvisor. Court-unit IT staff looking to protect the local area network from web-based threats should consider using Websense, which is available to courts under an enterprise licensing agreement. Additionally, support for implementing Websense is available from the Department of Technology Services, AO Technology Office.
1 Judiciary Security Tip: Phishing: Don’t Get Hooked!
2 Judiciary Security Tip: Email Security: Thinking Outside Your Inbox.
3 Kaspersky: What are Web Threats?
4 Hackread: Yahoo Ad Network Hacked, Infecting Millions of Devices with Malware, Ransomware.
5 USA Today, Malware now spreads mostly through tainted websites.
6 Trend Micro: Ransomware one of the biggest threats in 2016.