| I received a spam email the other day and the | | | | the bottom right, they could be in for trouble. |
| subject said "Tired of reality shows? Make your | | | | Continuing on, they have to visit a variety of |
| own!" | | | | websites to gain knowledge about a given |
| Of course I deleted it and proceeded to go about | | | | subject, hopefully they wont pick up a 'drive by |
| my online chores, but later that email got me | | | | download', resulting in a keylogger or a bot being |
| thinking, what if there was a 'Online Safety' reality | | | | installed on the computer used to compete. |
| show? | | | | Another task would be to register at a forum or |
| Hear me thru ok? | | | | blog and participate. Some programs that run |
| There would be contestants.... Say on a sunny | | | | forums and blogs are susceptible to hacks, |
| south sea island beach, and each contestant has | | | | hopefully they wont lose their personal info they |
| to accomplish a variety of tasks to win. You | | | | gave when they registered to nefarious users set |
| would get to vote one or more contestants off | | | | to sabotage their computers. |
| the show if they were too good or maybe a | | | | Then it gets tough. They have to download and |
| ringer. The same for the really dumb ones,after | | | | install a program, something like a weather update |
| all, it would have to be exciting to keep the | | | | service or maybe one that tracks favorite sports |
| viewers interested. | | | | scores. A lot of these are loaded with |
| So the basic task would be to succeed in staying | | | | spyware,adware or even malware. |
| safe online while surfing the web, and completeing | | | | At this point, some will have failed. They will have |
| various online challenges. For example, they would | | | | forgotten to update their antivirus or said yes to |
| have to insure the computer given them was | | | | a popup that allowed some evil program to glean |
| secure.... Ya know, updated with the latest from | | | | their passwords or such. The show will be down |
| Microsoft, etc. Then they would have to get | | | | to a few who were knowledgeable enough |
| online and insure their provider was also credible | | | | beforehand or will have learned sufficiently while |
| and choose which browser they want to use too. | | | | on the show to stay in the running. |
| Oh, don't forget their anti-virus, anti-spyware and | | | | After the last commercial, its only a half hour |
| firewall programs, gotta make sure those work. | | | | show ya know, it all climaxes with them visiting |
| Now they are ready for the competition. They | | | | their bank to pay bills and access their account |
| would have to send and receive, and reply to | | | | balance. If they can safely do this and not have |
| emails. | | | | given up their holy grail of information, the bank |
| Hopefully they would know how to set up their | | | | account info, they will be the winner. |
| email program to protect against attachments | | | | The prize? Vegas of course. After all, not insuring |
| and pictures infecting them, and if not they would | | | | your online security is gambling, and the house |
| have to learn. Not only that, but in addition they | | | | always wins. |
| would have to know weather or not to reply to a | | | | By the way, who do you think they would pick to |
| email, because in today's game it could be a phish | | | | be the host of the show? |
| or worse, a scam to get them to enter their | | | | Me of course, I wrote the article! My lovely wife |
| personal info at a fake bank site. | | | | would be the Vanna White style woman wearing |
| Ok, on to the rest of the challenges, like buying a | | | | my "Spywarebiz" t-shirt, and telling the |
| product and insuring the website used is safe. | | | | contestants what they have won. |
| If the checkout does not have that lil' lock icon at | | | | |