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Most prominent hacking attempts focus on web servers of major corporations and organizations. Sony’s database was hacked and account information of its clients and customers was stolen. Servers of various banks are repeatedly targeted so that credit card information and other such details can be stolen. However, this does not mean that the average person is completely free from risk of hacking.

Your credit card number is not the only asset that you store on your computer. Your personal photos can be stolen, manipulated, and sold on the internet. You may not visit adult and pornographic web sites but that does not mean your photos cannot land there. This may sound very far fetched but is certainly possible if somebody hacks your computer and steals your private information.

Terrorists often use email and others such high-tech communications solutions to bypass security measures. A person living in Mumbai was accused of sending terror threats to law enforcement agencies. When investigation took place, the law enforcement authorities discovered terrorists compromised and misused his wireless internet security account to carry out their nefarious activities.

Your computer may become a base for further illegal and immoral activities. All these problems can occur if you do not secure your system. Don’t presume that major security measures are required for organizations and big computer servers alone. The last thing you want is for the law enforcement authorities to land on your doorstep accusing you of an illegal act that you never committed.

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Do you find it difficult to hide your private mails from your office colleagues? Do your colleagues like to stand behind your back watching your computer screen to keep track of your private web surfing activities? The most effective option is to stop surfing internet for your private purposes during office hours. This is the only way you can maintain privacy of surfing habits.

Your colleagues may not intend to snoop but one simply cannot resist the idea of knowing something more about the other person without his or her knowledge. There was a time when offices could afford high speed internet access but one could not do the same at home. This is no longer the case today. Today, you can even have high speed internet browsing facility in your cell phone. In such a scenario, investing in a smart phone and having your personal e-mail accounts registered in your phone is the best way of maintaining privacy.

Of course, your employees or colleagues will not misuse your private information but you will find it very difficult to keep track of online fraud possibilities if you surf the internet at home as well as at work. On the other hand, if you restrict yourself to home alone, you can be confident that a hacking attempt has taken place on your home computer.

If you are in a position where it is unavoidable to surf the internet in the office for your personal reasons, make sure you do not store any passwords or other private information and that you flush the history clean after you have completed your surfing to maintain privacy.

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The best practice is to have two email addresses where one can be used for private purposes and other for public or business purposes.  The main email address should be kept private and it is better to avoid using this address for purchasing or for contest. The private address can be shared only with the business associate or trusted friends. The basic method to fight spam is ignoring junk emails and the user should not respond to any spam emails.

The email users should not display their email address on their website because this way the spammers get a lot of chance to add the email to their mailing list. Today, spammers use software that scans every web page in the Internet for email address. One good way to hide the email address is to ask the visitors to fill in the form submitted to server-side CGI program to access the information.

While creating an email address, users should be careful with the names and it is better to avoid common names. The best way to create an email address is to use the first letter of the first name followed by the last name. Spam blocking software can also be used to filter spam emails.