Yesterday was National Computer Security Day, and while you've surely heard the oft-repeated lines about how important it is to take the necessary precautions toward ensuring your computer is safe, we’re hoping you take those lines seriously. In 2011, about 403 million unique variants of malware were exposed and 55,294 malicious Web domains were active, according to Symantec’s annual review. A report from Secunia also showed that most vulnerabilities are resilient and that despite the fact that their numbers are decreasing, none of the top 20 producers of software—commercial or open source—managed to do quite enough to help keep that number negligible.
In 2011, the company identified “…more than 800 end-point vulnerabilities, of which more than 50% were rated as highly or extremely critical and 78% of all vulnerabilities affected non-Microsoft programs,” said Morten R. Stengaard, Director of Product Management and Quality Assurance at Secunia, in an e-mail to Ars. The most targeted data is personal information and business-centric data, which has also been found to be the least protected, and the hardest to secure and defend.
So, taking that extra step to make sure your computer is protected is worth it, and as the saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Here are a few quick tips for getting your computer security squared away this weekend.
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