New Year; Same Old Security Woes

It's now 2011 and many folks are brimming with resolve to quit some habit, go on a diet, or exercise more. Still others will look to the year ahead and try to predict what comes next for us. But resolutions are made to be broken and even the best intended predictions have a 50% or better chance of not coming true. There are, however, some absolutes. Here's a list of things you can count on happening in 2011.

Some celebrity's Twitter account will be hacked and their tweets will point to malware-laden websites;Someone you don't even know will try to 'friend' you on Facebook so they can spam you with socially engineered malware;A malicious email will pretend to be a breaking news alert;You'll receive a greeting card from a stranger with a link that points to a malicious website;Someone from Nigeria or South Africa will claim a long lost relative or complete stranger has left you lots of money, then ask you to pay some fees in order to receive the (bogus) funds;You'll receive a bogus job offer that promises instant cash with no qualification requirements other than having a bank account and a pulse;You'll receive an email claiming you've won some non-existent Internet lottery - and once again ask you for fees for the (bogus) funds.

This year, make a pact with yourself to not fall victim to yesteryear's social engineering scams. After all, you'll have plenty of other security mishaps to deal with in 2011 without adding getting scammed to the mix. For sure, you can also bet that in 2011:

Search engine trending topics will be repeatedly poisoned with links to malicious websites;Tens of thousands of legitimate websites will be repeatedly compromised;Malicious ads will be repeatedly distributed through bona fide and perfectly innocent websites;New security vulnerabilities will be repeatedly discovered, released, and quickly exploited - often by the same folks that discovered them.

Fortunately, you don't need to reinvent the wheel to protect yourself. Following these 2010 New Years Resolutions will keep you safer in 2011, both online and off.

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