How to prevent the unethical use of computers

Why should we be concerned?

• Malware (Anti-virus)
• Phishing/Idenity Theft (Common sense, inspection, biometric data, two-step authorization)

What is malware, and how do you prevent malware from infecting your computer?

Malware is any kind of software that damages a computer or a network. It is similar to when humans get sick. (1) There are many types of malware (also analogous to the fact that there are many different types of diseases humans can be infected with), ranging from applictions that spy on you (spyware), to ones that slow your computer down, and to ones that can lock you out of your own computer (ransomware). Unlike a disease however, malware is artificially created by malicious humans to harm other people. If you wonder "Why would a person create malware?", then the answer is the same to this question: "Why do people commit crimes?". The perpetrator either gains something like money, fame, or valuable personal information, or they just do it for the sake of harming other people. (3) Obviously, harming other people's electronic devices through malware is illegal and unethical.

A great way to prevent malware from infecting your computer is investing in an antivirus program. Antivirus helps scan your computer for malware and remove it. To help your antivirus detect and eliminate harmful software, you should update your antivirus as often as possible, at least daily. Doing so helps prevent newly created malware from infecting your PC because the antivirus program will be able to recognize and eliminate them. Some great antivirus software on the market are (02):

• Bitdefender Antivirus Plus
• Norton AntiVirus Plus
• Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus
• F-Secure Antivirus SAFE

But how does antivirus actually work?

1. Virus definitions
2. On-access scanning
3. Heuristics

Virus definitions help your antivirus software detect malware by letting it know if it matches with a known file that is known to be malicious. It's basically a giant database of known malware. It gets these definitions every time you update your antivirus software, which is why it's crucial to update your antivirus as often as possible. On-access scanning refers to the way most antivirus programs scan any file that is being downloaded or executed. It then sees if it's malware by checking it against the database of known viruses. As you can see, downloading the latest virus definitions goes hand in hand with scanning.

Of course, antivirus programs also have a way to detect new viruses that are not in the database of known malware; it is called heuristics. In essence, antivirus programs look for traits of malware in files/applications. For example, if a file starts replacing your files with itself, then your antivirus will know it is malware. Unfortunately, this type of detection can lead to false postitves and scare you when there's no cause for alarm. A few real life examples are: when Microsoft Security Essentials thought that Google Chrome was malicious, AVG identified Windows system files as viruses, and when "Sophos identified itself as a virus" (Hoffman 14). To clarify, these are all different types of antivirus programs.

However, these types of false positives are rare so you can mostly believe your antivirus software when it says it has detected malware on your system (Hoffman 16). I should point out that different antivirus programs have different detection rates and different false positive rates. The malware I have listed in the above list have high detection rates and low false positive rates. After all, they are the "best" antivirus software for 2020.

Once your antivirus program detects a malicious file, it will delete it from your system, keeping your PC running smoothly.

What's phishing or identity theft?

Phishing refers to the act of fishing online for personal and sensitive information like your Social Security Number, PIN's, bank account passwords etc. (5) Essentially, phishing is an online scam. Scammers online try and nab your sensitive information by posing as legitimate companies like your bank. After they obtain said sensitive information, they can now commit identity theft which is when someone else "steals" your identity online. For example, after nabbing your credit card number and PIN, they can make purchases on your account, which you have to pay back.

How do you prevent this horrifying scenario from happening?

• Common Sense
• Inspection
• Biometric Data
• Two-step authorization

Common Sense

Inspection

Thirdly, if the site in question has multiple spelling and grammatical mistakes, then that's also a red flag. Professional websites should not have these kinds of errors.

Biometric Data

Two-factor authorization

Questions

Question #2: Why is it so crucial that you update your antivirus software as often as possible?

Question #3: An arms race is when two entities try to increase their military power faster than the other. Describe how there is an arms race between antivirus companies and creators of malware. Click here for the answers.

Citations