Google® Business Solutions All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Avoiding Web and IM Security Risks

In This Chapter

• Knowing the risks of connecting to the Web

• Understand what can get out through instant messaging

• Deciding the best way to protect yourself

If you're dealing with Google, you come in contact with a great deal of what's available on the Internet. In addition to the services it provides, Google is connected to a mind-boggling amount of information hosted on others sites. More than likely, you won't have a problem with any of the sites you encounter. You may find some utterly useless information, of course, but nothing harmful. Still, threats to your computers and your network are out there, and you need to be aware of where these threats might be. Google has some protection options available, but it's better to avoid those threats in the first place.

Identifying Web Security Risks

Most of the security risks you face on the Internet rely on trickery and deceit to lure you into their traps. Brute force hacking takes too much time, and it's not guaranteed to work. It's far easier for a malicious program to trick you into providing sensitive information. The following are examples of this kind of trickery:

• Malicious sites: A malicious site doesn't have to look evil or dangerous. In fact, if it did look dangerous, it wouldn't be effective: You'd be less likely to access the site to begin with. When you load the information in a browser, however, you also load a payload that will try to get information. This payload can include a virus, ...