VOA标准英语2013--Tips to Minimize Your Risks From Cybercrime

 

Tips to Minimize Your Risks From Cybercrime

Protecting organizations and individuals from data thieves is a multibillion-dollar industry. There's a good reason. Alan Edwards, the president of WhiteHorse Technology Solutions says anyone with access to the Internet should be worried - because cybercrime is no longer limited to your home, your office or your bank.

“You have your iPad you’re carrying around, you have iPhones, your android tablets, your laptops. So much information walks out the door of the office,” says Edwards.

For hackers² - all that mobile data spells opportunity. Criminology professor David Maimon says one way to reduce your risks is to be very careful about what you post on social networking sites.

“I think the fact that you report to everyone about your actions 24/7 is problematic because if someone wants to victimize you, all they have to do is look at your Facebook account," said Maimon.  

A little common sense can pay dividends⁴:

* Don’t tweet when you’re going on vacation if you don’t want your home burglarized.

* If you bank by phone, don’t store account numbers and passwords on your phone.

* Don’t open emails or attachments⁵ from people you don’t know.

And if someone wants to give you something for free, Alan Edwards of Whitehorse Technology Solutions says to be wary⁶. "The first thing to think about is basic economics. If I’m being given something for free… why?"

But common sense is a poor substitute for good security:

*Activate your computer’s firewall.

*Install reputable anti-virus and anti-malware software.

*Use strong passwords, which means avoid using your name, your birthday or personal information.

Whitehorse Technology recommends starting with a phrase you’re familiar with - then use the first letters of each word in the phrase to create your password.  

*In this case AFaHMaSP. To make it stronger - add a special character, numbers or both.

Even then, good security measures can only do so much, said criminology student Ted¹ Wilson.

“Anything can be exploited, it’s just a question of whether or not a hacker³ actually wants to take the time to overcome whatever type of security measures you have,” said Wilson.

Consider a recent example involving the secretive government of Iran. Security expert Edwards said hackers managed to infiltrate⁷ the country’s top secret nuclear program using the old USB flash drive trick.  

"It’s very, very simple. If I drop a flash drive in a car park [parking lot], the odds⁸ are somebody’s going to pick it up, and what they do first is look and see what’s on it. So they take it into their business and they plug it in their computer. You’ve just bypassed all the external firewalls," he said.

Hackers have many more tricks to steal your information. But unless you’re a high value target - such as a bank, government agency or business - every security precaution you take adds a new layer of protection.  Experts say that additional barrier may be all it takes for a cyberthief to move on to the next target.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

3 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

4 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

5 attachments   

n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物

参考例句：

• The vacuum cleaner has four different attachments. 吸尘器有四个不同的附件。
• It's an electric drill with a range of different attachments. 这是一个带有各种配件的电钻。

6 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

7 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

8 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？