Home PCs targeted

The war between criminal hackers and computer security firms is increasingly shifting to the home front. Because businesses, schools, and government agencies "now have effective barriers against direct assault by cyberthieves … the black hats are redoubling their efforts to get inside home computers, where security is often weaker," the San Jose Mercury News reports . In the "old days," when computer viruses were the main threat, a lot of the hacks were created by amateurs, many of them "adolescents and post-adolescents who sought bragging rights from one another through online vandalism." Now cybercrimials are usually professionals, and they're out to make money by taking control of home computers rather than vandalizing them. The Mercury News goes on to explain what they're doing and what family PC owners can do to protect their machines – look for the three bullets at the bottom of the article. I would add a 4th: Share these precautions with your kids! BTW, Washington Post security writer Brian Krebs reports that Microsoft has just warned PC owners of flaws in Internet Explorer, PowerPoint, and the Windows operating system which have been under attack. Brian tells you how to protect your PC at the bottom of his piece.