Online Safety Awareness: Malware
Ever gotten an email with an attachment telling you to download software on your computer? Be suspicious about downloading anything to your computer from various sources. They may seem tempting but you're really just tempting fate.
Just as we keep ourselves safe in the "real world," online safety is important too. You can do some simple things to keep your virtual world safe. This is the third in a series of five videos.
Transcript
Jared: (Description: white male wearing glasses and navy blue shirt with GTS logo)
You just saw that I’m wearing a mask. Why? Because out here in the real world, there’s a serious and dangerous pandemic. I wear the mask to protect myself and others. Now, what about the online world in the virtual space? How can I protect myself there?
GTS will be releasing video clips to the Gallaudet community. The goal of these video clips is to increase your awareness of cybersecurity. I invited three students from the IT program at Gallaudet to tell you about several cybersecurity threats and advise on what you can do to protect yourself on the Internet.
Now, let’s see what they have to share with you.
Gabriella: (Description: white female with medium light brown hair, wearing glasses and black t-shirt)
Malware attacks change what you already know about viruses. What is malware? It is a combination of the words malicious software. Malware is malicious because it’s code or a program that causes harm or destruction to your systems. It’s designed to get unauthorized access to computers, laptops, servers, or networks. Hackers can use it against individuals to get their personally identifiable information, such as SSN, passwords, bank or credit accounts.
How can you tell you’re infected? Some of the common malware attacks will allow access to your system from the Internet as a result of phishing emails.You can be attacked while you are typing and give information to the hackers. If you try downloading software from unknown sources, such as game installers, music files, advanced toolbars or email attachments, then try to open them, they can be malicious, especially if they are from untrusted sources.
Freely available software that is easily downloadable from the Internet is tempting, be suspicious. Be careful when dealing with software from unknown sources because there’s a possibility your personal information will be stolen.
