Personal judgment and technical knowledge to protect from hackers

17:07 24th March 2009

People should use a mix of personal judgment and technical knowledge to defend their computer systems against hackers.

David Emms, senior technology consultant at Kaspersky Lab, a company which provides information security software, said that people need to be sensible about their activities, such as ensuring they use different passwords for separate websites.

In addition, people could seek computer training to make sure they understand how to use the latest security software.

Mr Emms said: "Don't use the same password for Facebook and MySpace and your bank and eBay and all these things, because potentially if someone gets the key for one door they could open every other door with it so to speak."

He added that people need to be aware their computers need regular updates to make sure they have the best security features available.

IT security firm Sophos recently revealed that it detected up to 20 new 'scareware' websites everyday during 2008.