October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Who knew? I don't know about you but if my computer goes down, I'm out of commission. To guard against that happening, I have antivirus, spam and spyware protection and a firewall, which makes me feel like one of those race drivers in a fire-proof suit. Results of a study recently done by McAfee/MCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) show startling results about consumers who only thought they were protected:
- 87% of U.S. consumers said they were using antivirus protection but a scan showed that only 52% updated their antivirus protection in the last month...
- 70% believed they had antispyware software installed but only 55% do...
- 61% believed they had antispam software installed but only 21% do...
Bari Abdul, VP of worldwide consumer marketing at McAfee put it this way, "consumers at this point in time have a false sense of security." One of the current problems in addition to those previously mentioned is "phishing", where you receive an e-mail that looks like it came from your bank, credit card or other business provider, asking you to click a link to update your personal information. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they heard of phishing but only 54% could describe it accurately. The next figure is staggering - nearly 90% store personal information on their computers and conduct sensitive activies such as banking or stock trading online...
What protection should you have? Abdul defines "core protection" as a combination antivirus, antispyware and firewall software on your computer. Keep it updated and make sure it's working...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1950] Premiered on this date: Charles M. Schulz' "Peanuts" comic strip is born...1953] Edward R. Murrow's "Person to Person" begins an 8-year run...1955] "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" debuts and runs on and off until 1986. 'Good Evening': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVoFCFT_xG4 ...1959] "The Twilight Zone" starts a 5-year run...1961] "Ben Casey" begins a 5-season run...
- 1967] Thurgood joins the 'Supes': Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the 1st black Supreme Court Justice...
- 1968] 17K: Bob Gibson strikes out a World Series record 17 batters as the Cardinals beat the Tigers in game one of the WS and here are all 17 strikeouts as called by Curt Gowdy and Harry Caray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixTNIFlBJZQ ...
- 1970] Team Tragedy: A plane carrying 30 members of the Wichita State football team crashes. All 30 are killed...
- 1978] Bucky "Bleepin'" Dent: Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent's 7th inning home run at Fenway Park leads the Yankees to a one-game playoff victory over the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees win the AL pennant...
- 1980] Holmes sweet Holmes: 30-year old heavyweight champ Larry Holmes defends his title with an 11th round TKO of 38-year old Muhammad Ali...
- 1985] "Happy Trails": 1985] Rock Hudson dies from AIDS at 59...1998] Gene Autry, Hollywood's "Singing Cowboy" dies from lymphoma at 91...
- 1994] Father and Son: For the first time in NFL history, father and son coaches face each other with Papa Don Shula's Miami Dolphins beating his sons' Cincinnati Bengals...
- 2002] Sniper rampage begins: A man is shot and killed in a grocery store parking lot in Wheaton (MD), the 1st victim in a series of sniper attacks in the DC area that will leave 10 dead...
- 2006] Amish massacre: A 32-year old milk truck driver kills 5 Amish girls and then turns the gun on himself in Nickel Mines, Bart Township in Lancaster County (PA)...
Music Memories:
- 1965] Debuted on Shindig: The Who...
- 1985] End of the line: Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." tour ends in Los Angeles...
Commentary...
Shades of Steinbrenner: The Mets did something that George Steinbrenner used to do, apologize for losing. My Mets e-mail apology says, in part: "All of us are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year's success" but then goes on to add, "we wanted to thank you for your record-breaking support of our team this year" (the Mets drew 3.8 million disappointed fans). The e-mail ends with "you deserve better results" (ya think?) and the last line is, "many thanks again for your record-breaking support". For the record, the word "disappointed" was used once while the reference to "record-breaking support" was used twice. Cha-ching, sorry fans...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Tiffany (36), Kelly Ripa (37), Lorraine Bracco (53), Sting (56), Donna Karan (59), Don McLean (62) which calls for the long version of "American Pie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHkT2YfqHE4 , Rex Reed (69) and Maury Wills (75)...
Timeline Countdown: One day until the MLB wild card playoffs, 22 days until the 1st game of the World Series, 29 days until Halloween and 33 days until the end of daylight savings time...
