Tips to help avoid becoming a victim of Cybercrime 1 of 3

Cybercrime is bigger business than ever — in the first six months of 2007, security firm, Sophos, tracked 42,629 new pieces of malicious software, an increase of 24 per cent from the same period last year.

But there are basic precautions you can take to avoid losing your savings or your identity on the internet.

Ask a security expert for advice on safe web surfing, and you'll almost invariably be told to make sure you use antivirus software. If you don’t have up-to-date protection software on your computer, some say you shouldn’t even be on the internet.

These days, though, it’s not as easy as just dumping an antivirus program on your computer and forgetting about it.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, notes that his company sees thousands of new threats every month, often new types of trojan viruses which can turn your computer into a spam-spewing zombie, or track your keystrokes and steal your passwords. Most modern antivirus packages are pre-set to update themselves daily, but Cluley says you should have your antivirus software programmed to update at least once an hour when you’re online, in case an update is released while you're surfing.

Det.-Const. Mark Fenton of the Vancouver Police cybercrime unit suggests using more than one type of software to catch unwanted programs on your computer. In addition to a robust antivirus program, he recommends something like Ad-Aware, which detects and eliminates spyware.

Use a firewall

Antivirus programs can’t do it all. Your internet connection should use a router with a built-in firewall to keep online intruders at bay (a basic router with a firewall can be had for as little as $25 these days if you shop around).

It's also a good idea to equip each computer with its own software firewall. A good firewall will serve two purposes: Firstly, it will prevent malicious software, also known as malware, from getting onto your system in the first place. Secondly, if you do have some malware code installed, the firewall will stop it from reaching out to the web to talk to its master. Windows operating systems come with a built-in firewall nowadays, and most online security firms sell firewall software as part of a package.

Be careful where you surf

Some online activities are riskier than others. Fenton says that downloading movies and video from peer-to-peer file-sharing sites like Bittorrent is extremely hazardous.

"The bad guys like to infect the most popular files with trojans, and they’re usually ahead of the antivirus software so they don’t get detected," he said

So think twice before you try to save a couple of bucks by downloading Spiderman 3. Other dicey sites are porn, online gambling, and just about anything else your mother would disapprove of.