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Once upon a time, hackers were teenage geeks releasing malicious software onto the Internet in much the same way they might spray graffiti onto the local youth centre. But that picture is outdated. Today's cyber-criminals don't just want to mess you about, they want to steal information from you, and they're particularly interested in details like credit card numbers, bank account usernames and passwords, and other data that can be used to steal money and identities and commit fraud.

As computers and the Internet play an increasingly important part in our day-to-day lives, the risks are growing. Although online shopping, banking, news and other electronic services mean an end to queueing and can save us time and money, our reliance on our own PCs to handle financial information creates a vulnerability that can be exploited. An attack from the Internet can happen in a number of ways, the most common being a computer virus or spyware infection. We'll explain how the hackers use malicious programs to take control of your PC, how they can continue to compromise computers even if you have security software installed, and how you can reduce the risks by taking some simple, sensible precautions. As they say on Crimewatch: please, don't have nightmares.

What is a computer virus?

There are lots of programs on the Internet that are designed to install themselves on a PC and remain hidden, leaking personal information and allowing unauthorised people and computers to control your system. These are often referred to as viruses, although technically they're only viruses if they can spread automatically, often by sending themselves as emails to other victims.

An increasingly

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common threat involves spyware. This general term includes any software that installs itself without your approval and then monitors your system, steals information and possibly provides remote access to an attacker. Spyware doesn't replicate itself like a virus, but once installed on your PC it's just as harmful, if not more so.

It doesn't matter what names you call these programs. Viruses, spyware, malware and badware are just words to describe software that's been designed to cause you harm. You don't really need to distinguish one from another, and, in an ideal world, your anti-virus software should be able to detect all the variations.

The truth about anti-virus

Unfortunately, no anti-virus or anti-spyware program is 100% effective. The bad guys are inevitably creating viruses and spyware faster than the security companies can detect new variants, and the end result of this virtual arms race is that although the best anti-virus scanners detect most of the threats, none detect all of them.

Think of your security software as a bullet-proof jacket. You wouldn't walk around a war zone without one, but it won't make you invulnerable.

Choosing a good security program isn't easy, because not many people are equipped to test this kind of software in depth, and there's considerable debate about how to do it. Things get even more confusing when you realise that some of the anti-spyware products available on the Internet are actually spyware themselves. These rogue utilities, offered for free download from various sources, claim to offer protection, and will even appear to detect some spyware on your PC, but will demand payment before removing anything and will spy on your actions.

Rogue anti-spyware programs are an example of a social engineering attack. Social engineering means tricking the victim into doing something, such as running a program, handing over their password or generally cooperating, like a burglar conning you into handing over your front door key instead of breaking a window. Fortunately, thanks to the publicity about this kind of attack, people are becoming increasingly clued-up - here you are, reading this article - and harder to fool. The bad news is that hackers no longer need to trick you into installing spyware.