First there was Java that had a ton of vulnerabilities that Oracle still has no clue how to fix except to block all scripts that are not securely registered with them. If you are a 
small guy programmer with an average bank account, you are not going to be able to get your creation to work since it will be blocked by Java.
It might be the most secure script out there bit simply will not work because Oracle has no clue on how to fix their program. Today, vulnerability was found in Adobe Flash. These vulnerabilities are found from time to time but the main difference is that they FIX the problem. They do not block everything so you cannot access it.
The newest vulnerability affected Windows XP, Windows 7 and outdated versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010. While many of the attacks were not affecting a large group of people, it shows us how important it is to keep your system up to date. This includes all your programs as well. Hackers are getting more aggressive and are trying new ways to get into your system and steal your precious information.
This can really be seen at the retail store sector where we are seeing store after store being hacked by sophisticated software that is injected into the point of sale software. This is supposedly extremely secure software that is not vulnerable to attack. Somehow, hackers are injecting their Malware into the POS system and then grabbing customer’s credit card information as it is swiped at the terminal. This indicates a weakness in the software that will have to be fixed by all merchants in order to stop this scenario from continuing.
This is not only happening at stores but now you have to be extremely careful even when using your phone or tablet. The vulnerabilities are greater in the Android system then in Apple’s IOS but either can be compromised. Even if you use an Apple device, I would recommend using anti-virus software for protection against these vulnerabilities.
Just recently, the University of Maryland was a victim of cyber attack. The attacker was able to get records of both staff and students. The attackers got away with such information as Social Security numbers, addresses and names. This is another example of how desperate some of these hackers are. They simply do not want to make an honest living and quite frankly they never will. They need to be caught and put behind bars for the rest of their lives.
With all this about security, many folks are probably thinking that the computer era is going to be the death of us. The truth is that computers are great in many ways but they have drastically reduced the quality of the average persons social life. We spend more time working on computers then we ever did in any point of history. For many of us, it is almost all day. We rely on them for almost everything, including dating. All this computer activity and time online opens lots of opportunities for hackers. They know that the computer is our lifeblood and that makes us, the average computer user, a likely target. Prevention is the key and keeping a clean computer that is professionally well tuned will help stop some of these thieves from entering your life.
Posted By, Ross Deprey owner of Computer Geeks Online.net
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