The Crocodile Hunter Meets Badware in the Wild

October is a cyber security awareness month so lets start it with the most hilarious web security awareness video I’ve ever seen.

It is brought to you by StopBadware.org and Bluehost.

Here’s my boring summary of the video

• Keep your software up-to-date — both on your local computer and on your server.
• Use strong passwords — and don’t use the same passwords everywhere.
• Delete unused or unnecessary software — again both on your local computer and on your server. The fact that you don’t use all those plugins, themes and scripts won’t stop a hacker to exploit their vulnerabilities to break into your system.
• Use a secure web host — and don’t mess with security settings unless you know what you are doing. (Yeah, I know, this video is created by Bluehost) While it is true, it’s usually hard to tell how secure a web host is. At the same time some of the default settings of web hosts are quite questionable. E.g why do most of them still push clients to use FTP instead of SFTP and save passwords in FTP clients? (Based on tutorials I see in their knowledge bases).
• Don’t take Safe Browsing security warnings lightly — they are there for a reason. If your site is blacklisted, make sure to check Google Webmaster Tools (Health -> Malware) for additional information. You will also find the “request a review” link there — use it to ping Google when the issue is resolved so that it can check and unblock your site.

Some more no-brainers

• Use a reputable anti-virus software and update it regularly.
• Don’t click on emails unless you really trust a sender.
• And honestly, ads that promise to send you a new iPhone or some other valuable prize for free are just malware traps.

Simple, funny and to the point. Did you see any other security awareness videos that are at least not boring?

Similar posts:

• Matt Cutts on Malware
• Introduction to Website Parasites