In this month’s article, we’re going to look at a few simple topics on how to protect yourself online. We’ll see how to tell if a website is secure, how spammers get your email address, and how to keep your username and password safe.

Information on the Internet is passed from you to the server and from the server to you unencrypted. In other words, anyone can read what you have sent and received. We call this a plain-text transmission. Watch out for websites, even trusted ones, that request personal information or login information if they are not secure. Anyone who is connected to your network or any network that your data travels across can see your information if it is in plain-text. To illustrate this, try the following:

• Click on the Start button, then Run.
• Type "cmd" and click OK (Windows 95/98/ME users will need to type command).
• A command prompt will appear.
• Type "tracert google.com" and press enter.
• Look at the different networks that appear.
• Type "exit" and press enter.

Tracert will show you all of the networks that your information must cross to get to Google. You might trust Google with your information, but do you trust those other networks?

So how we do know if our connection is secure? Before you enter your information, think about this checklist:

• Does the address of the website start with http or https? Http means that your information is being sent in plaintext (unencrypted). The ‘s’ in https stands for secure.
• Did your browser warn you about the web site’s certificate when you loaded it? If so, you will want to be cautious. The site may not be legitimate.
• Does your browser display a lock in the lower right corner?

Internet Explorer will show:	Firefox will show:

Everyone hates SPAM. Here are some of the ways that your email address can be harvested by spammers:

• Many companies sell your personal information to marketing companies when you do business with them. Many of them will also automatically sign you up for newsletters.
• Spammers have tools that search through websites and mailing lists for email addresses. You may have websites with email addresses written like user @ example dot com. This will keep some of the tools from finding it, but not all.
• Responding to SPAM tells the spammers that someone is checking that account and opening their messages.
• Viruses collect email addresses from your computer and use them to send SPAM.

Here are some steps you can take to protect your email address:

• Use a separate email account with untrusted companies and on public websites.
• Read a website’s privacy policy before handing over your email address.
• Make sure that you do not sign up for newsletters accidentially. When creating an account on a website, be sure to review all of the communication options and uncheck any that you do not want.
• Install an anti-virus application and keep it up to date.

Be cautious when creating accounts at various websites. I would suggest having at least three email accounts that you use. One for work, one for websites you trust, and one for websites you don’t trust. You would never want to use your username and password from work on another website. If someone were to use your information and cause trouble at work, everyone would be looking at you and none of us want to see that happen.