Taking responsibility

The problem is that the majority of current computer users hasn't grown up with computers, let alone the internet. They barely understand what they are doing when they go online, or what a virus, worm or Trojan actually is, and have no clue about the risks of spyware and malware.

But that's no excuse. We don't let infants fly planes, why are we letting infantile cyber-citizens put us all at risk?

Undeniably, the real villains are the online criminals: the phishers, the Nigerian scammers, the identity thieves that steal billions of dollars every year from individuals and organisations. Software companies selling leaky products also share blame.

The unwitting henchmen

But it's us - the users - that are facilitating these crimes. It's our stupidity, laziness, naiveté, ignorance and inattention that are allowing criminals to hijack our machines, and send out spam, viruses and countless other dangers to other innocent, ignorant users.

We've seen with file-sharing and piracy lawsuits how record companies have successfully prosecuted computer owners, even when it turned out to be their children that had secretly carried out the piracy.

It can't be long before computer owners are also found criminally negligent for their infected, damaging, always-online machines. Banks will eventually get sick of compensating the careless, and abnegate responsibility in the fine print. After all, you're the one that plugged your account details into a fake, phishing site, not them.

So who is to blame?

The blame goes right the way up the chain. IT trainers are negligent if they don't give students a comprehensive, solid, practical grounding in security, and direct them to simple, often free programs such as Lavasoft's AdAware or SpyBot.

Computer salespeople are negligent if they are selling PC and networking equipment to customers who have no clue how to use them properly or safely, and then fail to direct them to get proper training.

Internet service providers are negligent if they sign up users with no clue about security, who will later compromise the network. The bandwidth used by malwares often costs the ISP rather than the user, depending on the plan - so there's an incentive, if nothing else, to demand a proficiency certificate before signing someone up.

Software companies are negligent for publishing operating systems and applications with loopholes and vulnerabilities. Providing patches is one thing, but how many users even know what patches are or how to install them?

E-commerce companies are negligent if they fail to keep track of scams, and find secure, reliable ways to alert customers to phishing problems. Sites such as eBay and PayPal do their best to keep people informed, but many people can't tell when an email is the real deal or faked (for which email as a technology is partly to blame, as it allows spoofed 'From' addresses).

Governments are negligent for failing to crack down on internet crime, though stronger laws are being passed in many countries. The problem is that internet crime is borderless. Criminals can be sheltering in countries that have no extradition treaties with the victim's country. They can also be stealing innocent people's identities, leaving a very blurry and difficult trail for law enforcement officers to follow.

But ultimately it is the computer user who needs to grow up, wise up, and take responsibility for their own machine. Users need to educate themselves about the dangers, and keep that education up to date. We teach our children endlessly about 'stranger danger' and how to cross the road safely. Why then, as 'children' of the internet, aren't we teaching ourselves anything?

Some nasties

Here are just a few of the nasties that might be on your machine:

Dialler/Dialer - this software takes control of your modem and dials expensive, premium rate phone numbers. You end up with the bill.

Key logger - this hidden program logs all your key strokes, so everything you type in is recorded. This includes things like usernames and passwords on banking sites - anything you type gets transmitted back to the criminal that made it.

Spammer virus - these sit on your computer, using your processing power and bandwidth to send out millions of spams to other users. Many of these spams carry viruses as well as general spam advertising.

Adware - less malicious, but still frustrating, these programs hide on your system endlessly calling up banner adverts and pop-ups.

Stealware - this redirects advertising traffic to sites that haven't paid for the adverts, effectively stealing from website owners.

If you are unsure whether your machine is clean and safe, then you should be seeking immediate professional advice. Get your computer patched, get a personal firewall and up-to-date anti-virus software, sign up for a computer literacy course, and run regular system checks to keep an eye on things.