How much do people worry about security?

[tampere]

It's one of those things you read about but don't really consider until you get hacked... how does everyone try to prevent their data from being stolen? It feels like super strong passwords are sometimes not enough.

[grassy]

I just use MBAM premium and stay away from malicious websites.I have never had any problems really.I like a clean built rig and also a clean install and running rig.I certainly don't stock it with pointless software which is not needed.Never ever spent big money on security antiviruses.If you are very aware what emails you open and sites you visit and also your updates then you should be fine i would say.Oh i do use an add blocker.:)

[Korth]

An experiment ... clean install of Win10x64 Home Premium without any firewall, WinDefender, ad-blockers, anti-popups, anti-virus, anti-malware. Without any Windows Updates (except for two device drivers, lol, but they had nothing to do with security). Running stock IExplorer and Chrome, default settings on everything.

After one week of somewhat "normal" use (moderate browsing, downloading, YouTube/Netflix, some gaming, etc) ... installed all the security software and ran full system scans. Hundreds of minor objects (dataminers and the like) which are basically trivial and nonthreatening. But no major objects - viruses, malware, spyware. I observed many annoying ad-banners and pop-ups during the week which would normally be invisible (blocked from displaying or even downloading). I had my browsers hijacked a few times, annoying but easily fixed by closing all instances and reopening/reloading the tabs again. Surprisingly few popups actually, but I very often found "popunder" browser windows ambushing me after closing down my browsers. Quite surprising, really, I honestly expected far more of an unsavoury mess, especially after my daily visits to a fair variety of dirty-banner-laden torrent sites.

Alas, no worthy infected files/trojans/etc collected from this week-long run that I could quarantine and copy into my archives for future use.

[MuntyJack]

i care and i often use vpn

[Korth]

The NSA and CIA and Illuminati and evil tax collectors and UFOs don't want my data. I'm boring and insignificant. And not worth the effort of hacking when they could just beat it out of me with wet towels and heated tongs and pitbull lawyers anyhow.

But Google and Microsoft and Facebook and Apple and all of the reprehensible "little" internet advertising companies they own and the three credit reporting agencies and of course The Nine (along with all their customers) want my data, lol. I might feel it's *none* of their business but it turns out that it's *exactly* their business. I suppose all the various components of the Canadian government also want my data, but I betcha they already have it (or can buy it) anyhow, I'm just a number of the nature of the beast.

I choose to wear my Tinfoil Hat Linux on only the most special and extraordinary circumstances. The other 99.9999% of the time (when I'm not tinkering around with Tinfoil Hat Linux just because it's a really cool and neato toy) I choose to live in the real world and simply accept that other people are going to hoard all the information about me and my life that's in public domain, there's realistically nothing that can be done about it (even if you're smart and privacy conscious) and the only alternative is to become a frightened old coot hiding behind a Faraday cage under a rock off the grid on the darkside of Mars.

[xeromist]

Korth wrote:
the only alternative is to become a frightened old coot hiding behind a Faraday cage under a rock off the grid on the darkside of Mars.

They should turn that into a movie. 😉

[davemon50]

Korth wrote:
...the only alternative is to become a frightened old coot hiding behind a Faraday cage under a rock off the grid on the darkside of Mars.

I'm not sure why you think that is going to work either. MRO

[xeromist]

Relevant article:
https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/07/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-mostly-and-love-my-threat-mo...