Is Your Browser a Little Long in the Tooth?

By Nathan Lyle (Web Maestro) - June 28th, 2010

Your business uses a computer that still runs Windows 98. The rest of the world is several versions of operating system ahead of you, but you don't care because you're still able to do the work you need to do, and if it ain't broke, why fix it. Right? Yes, unless you're connected to the Internet.

First, the scary stuff. You don't have to be using email or surfing the Web to be at risk. If your computer is plugged into the Internet (particularly through an "always on" connection like a cable modem) then you have the potential for your computer to be compromised from the outside. The older your software, the easier it is for less ethical people to find ways into your system because there's been more time to discover bugs and create hacks. If you plan to connect your computer to the Internet, you'll save yourself a lot of grief by figuring out a way to keep your software relatively current.

There are many potential points of entry. The operating system itself is likely to have components that were designed to communicate over the Internet. Most systems also come by default with at least one email program and one Web browser. The browser is our focus for the moment, as it's the most commonly used Internet related software on most computers used by businesses.

You don't have to use your browser to visit "naughty" websites to be at risk. Legitimate websites can be compromised so that anyone visiting them may unknowingly download viruses and spyware... so it's not just a question of sticking to the websites you're familiar with. Aside from having good antivirus and firewall software in place, the easiest and best thing you can do is make sure you keep your browser up to date. Most popular browsers are updated frequently. If you're not the type who enjoys downloading or installing software, you can usually set your browser to update itself automatically.

Even if you're not a "tech person" it can't hurt to familiarize yourself with your Web browser's settings and functions. It's a little like owning and driving a car. When you're driving, the more you know about your vehicle, and how it works, the safer you'll be.

If you use the browser that came with your computer, you may not be familiar with the various choices that are out there. (And they're all free!) The most popular browsers are currently Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. You can have any or all of these on your computer at the same time. You can typically find out what version your browser is by looking in the "help" or "about" menu for details. Some browsers will even have an "update" button in the same area to make it easy to get updates. By keeping your browser updated, you'll help ensure that you're as protected as possible from the Internet jungle.

One of the common tricks used by hackers is to create what looks like a Windows pop-up dialogue box. They're hoping you'll click on any of the buttons, which then tells the browser to download viruses or spyware. If you're not sure about something, don't click it! If in doubt, just close the browser window, or the browser itself. Just because something looks a certain way on the Web, you can't take it for granted. This goes for actual websites too. A common "phishing" tactic is to recreate the login page of a bank and then trick people into attempting to enter their username and password. The really slick phishing sites then forward the person to the real bank site, while storing the login in their own database, giving them access to the bank account with the visitor likely not even noticing. The best way to avoid this is to always be aware of the address of websites you visit, which will display in the URL or address field toward the top of your browser. The website http://wellsfargo.com is not the same as http://wellsfargo.com.ibank.ru. (Something like the second example is likely to be a dangerous site.)

Finally, a common misunderstanding about browsers is that viewing websites through a browser is like "window shopping" while you walk down the street, where you see things as you pass but have not gone in to the store or committed to anything in particular. You should know that every bit of text, image, video, audio, etc., has already been downloaded to your computer by the time you view it. Your browser keeps a "cache" of these files. To view a website, your browser collects all the needed files for a page, and then puts it all together and displays it for you. This matters, because once a file is on your computer, it's much more potentially dangerous. This is why an older browser (with more known weaknesses) is a large security risk.

It may seem overwhelming, but with the auto update capability of most browsers, it's not too difficult to stay up to date and at least relatively safe.