PERSONAL CYBERSECURITY – HOW TO AVOID AND RECOVER FROM CYBERCRIME
DescriptionMany books on personal computer security tend to be highly prescriptive
with lots of screenshots and values to fill into specific fields. This is nice, but
this aspect of computing changes rapidly and many of these books become
confusing within months of publication because interfaces change. Users need
simple explanations of what they are doing and why they are doing it, not
outdated, detailed instructions. The rate of change has escalated as products
adopt automated update practices. Products evolve much more rapidly than a
few years past. To stay safe during rapid change, computer users must have a
firm grasp of what they are protecting themselves against, how the protections
work, and why they need to protect themselves.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section explains how
computing has developed, how cybercrime has become a serious problem,
and the extent of its severity. The second section examines what government
and industry have done to respond. The third section relies heavily on the
previous two sections and focuses on what you can do to protect yourself and
what to do when you become a victim. Throughout, I have tried to maintain
focus on what is wrong, why it is wrong, and how the response works so that
a user can apply the advice to any computer they work with.