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Older Means Wiser To Computer Security

Posted by Soulskill on from the get-off-my-lawn dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Growing up in the digital age, 18 – 25s may appear to be a more tech-savvy generation, but that does not translate into safer computing and online practices. A new study reveals that they are the most at-risk group, and prone to cyber-attacks. That makes this group even more vulnerable to online security threats. Younger users tend to prioritize entertainment and community over security, perhaps due to overconfidence in their security knowledge. For example, they're more concerned about gaming or other social activities than their online security. They also have less sophisticated security software, and hence, have reported more security problems than other groups."

10 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Shocking... by NicBenjamin · · Score: 5, Funny

    18-25 year olds don't think bad things could happen to them.

    On the bright side an 18-25 year old probably doesn't have much worth stealing.

    1. Re:Shocking... by seepho · · Score: 5, Funny

      perhaps due to overconfidence in their security knowledge

      Also arrogant, don't forget arrogant. Consequently, they should get off my lawn.

    2. Re:Shocking... by sneakyimp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah who needs those youngsters' data? It's all just music/video/games stolen from someone else anyway -- and all they have is that noise the kids are listening to these days -- none of that Clapton or Floyd we veterans need.

      We in the older crowd, on the other hand, know that LawnSentry is important to keep your lawn free of those virus infected younglings.

    3. Re:Shocking... by Eponymous+Hero · · Score: 5, Funny

      A few weeks ago, I foolishly setup a "Stay Off The Lawn" sign that a home security company sent me by mail. As someone who doesn't know much about home security, at the time, I thought nothing of it. "Why would a home security company want to hurt me?" Following this line of thought, I put up the sign without question.

      How naive I was. Despite having what was supposedly the best "Stay Off The Lawn" sign out right then, a young whippersnapper stepped on my lawn and held my attention hostage. He was pretending to be a messenger from the National Security Agency telling me to buy some strange lawn sign I'd never heard of from a company I'd never heard of to remove this same young whippersnapper.

      This immediately set alarm bells off in my head. "How could this happen? My 'Stay Off The Lawn' sign is supposed to be second to none!" Faced with this harsh reality, I decided to take my "Stay Off The Lawn" sign in for repair. They gladly accepted the job, told me it'd be fixed in a few days, and sent me off with a smile.

      A few days later, they called me and told me to come pick up my sign. At the time, I noticed that they sounded like whimpering animals, but I concluded that it must just be stress from work. When I arrived, they, with tears in their eyes, told me that the young whippersnapper was so awful and merciless that they were unable to remove him. "Ah," I thought. "That must be why they sounded so frustrated and pathetic over the phone. Their failure must have truly ruined their pride as professionals." I later found out that two of them had committed suicide.

      After returning home, I tried to fix it myself (despite the fact that even the professionals couldn't do it). After about a day or so, I was losing my very mind. I stopped going to work, stopped eating, was depressed, and I would very frequently throw my precious belongings across the room and break them; that is how bad this young whippersnapper was.

      That's when it happened: I found GetOffMyFuckingLawn.com [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com]! I installed the "Trespassers Will Be Shot" sign from GetOffMyFuckingLawn.com [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com], faced it toward the street, and let it remove all the young whippersnappers! They were removed in precisely 2.892 seconds. Wow! Such a thing! I can't even believe this as such never before! GetOffMyFuckingLawn [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com] is outstanding! Those young whippersnappers are running faster than ever! GetOffMyFuckingLawn [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com] came through with flying colors where no one else could!

      GetOffMyFuckingLawn [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com] totally cleaned up my yard, and increased my property value! If you're having young whippersnapper problems, or even if you aren't having any obvious problems, I recommend that you use GetOffMyFuckingLawn [getoffmyfuckinglawn.com]. As a cranky old vet, it did more for me that any so-called "professional." It'll even boost your firearm accuracy & aim-down-sight speed!

      Now with LawnSentry! [http://www.wimp.com/lawngenius/]

      --
      insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
    4. Re:Shocking... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny

      perhaps due to overconfidence in their security knowledge

      Also arrogant, don't forget arrogant. Consequently, they should get off my lawn.

      It may look like an iPod they're plugged into at their desk, but it's an industrial grade SEP Field Generator, going full tilt.

      and pull your pants up

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    5. Re:Shocking... by jd · · Score: 4, Funny

      Back when I was 18, I found a library computer had been infected by a virus. I copied the infected program and found a clean version off the local public domain archives. Wrote a binary diff and extracted the inserted hook plus the attached virus. Looked at the code through a disassembler. It was ok, but that wasn't the important bit. The important bit is that I'd done software gene splicing.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    6. Re:Shocking... by kelemvor4 · · Score: 4, Funny

      18-25 year olds don't think bad things could happen to them.

      On the bright side an 18-25 year old probably doesn't have much worth stealing.

      If they're in I.T. then they probably still have their virginity. You could steal that.

  2. Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The best firewall for Windows IS Linux!

  3. Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hosts File: DO NOT SUMMON APK.

    It is too LATE for that because he has already been SUMMONED. It is too late for you to stop the POWER of the ETC/HOSTS file which I have used for the past fifteen years to protect my COMPUTER by linking to

    0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 which is faster for resolution times

          A
              P
                K

    +------ P.S.
    |
    |
    +------> /etc/hosts FILES ARE SECURE AND CHECK OUT MY links

    Furthermore, studies have shown that one sentence per line is more effective than listing 127.0.0.1 because last time I brought this up you ran from me like a coward .

  4. Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 4, Funny

    OK, here's my 54-year old doddering answer.

    For important things you can sign up for an instance of Linux on Amazon, connect, do whatever you need to do, and throw the instance away. For stuff that requires only minimal security, cough up some bucks, put on your big boy pants, slap 16 Gig of EE3 RAM into a new HP laptop and run a Linux VM web appliance on VMWare's free player or Virtual Box. Throw a keystroke encryptor on your windows host too. Sure, it's not perfect, but a dang good cheap firewall. Make sure you add Ghostery, first thing, or you'll be tracked by hundreds of different sites. The government/corporations may not come to track you down today, but your comments, even the innocent ones that mention your name, address, friends or family members may come back to haunt you in a few years.

    Or maybe next year. Because maybe you're just not paranoid enough yet.

    Now, (and it feels good to say this), "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.