Own Your Space Teen Book All Chapters
Compliments of Edited by Linda McCarthy and Denise Weldon-Siviy page press Smart Books for Smart People® The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein All trademarks are the property of their respective owners Publisher: Linda McCarthy Editor in Chief: Denise Weldon-Siviy Managing Editor: Linda McCarthy Cover designer: Alan Clements Cover artist: Nina Matsumoto Interior artist: Heather Dixon Web design: Eric Tindall and Ngenworks Indexer: Joy Dean Lee Interior design and composition: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design Content distribution: Keith Watson The publisher offers printed discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases, or special sales, which may include electronic versions and/or custom covers and content particular to your business, training, goals, marketing focus, and branding interests For more information, please contact: U.S Corporate and Education Sales (510) 220-8865 Except where otherwise noted, content in this publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/legalcode ISBN 978-0-615-37366-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data McCarthy, Linda Own your space : keep yourself and your stuff safe online / Linda McCarthy ISBN 978-0-615-37366-9 (electronic) Computer security Computers and children Internet and teenagers Computer networks-Security measures I Title Visit us on the Web: www.100 pagepress.com Download free electronic versions of the book from MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/ownyourspace) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ownyourspace.net), and from Own Your Space (http://www.ownyourspace.net) rev 2.0 This book is dedicated to every teen who takes the time to learn about security and how to stay safe and be smart online We also want to thank all of the teens joining this project and the teens who originally inspired this book—Eric and Douglas Table of Contents Preface vii Chapter 1: Protect Your Turf Chapter 2: Know Your Villains Chapter 3: Nasty “ware” 29 Chapter 4: Hackers and Crackers 45 Chapter 5: Taking SPAM Off the Menu 59 Chapter 6: Cyberbullies 73 Chapter 7: Phishing for Dollars 83 Chapter 8: Safe Cyber Shopping 97 Chapter 9: Browsers Bite Back 115 Chapter 10: Private Blogs and Public Places 137 Chapter 11: Going Social 149 Chapter 12: Friends, Creeps and Pirates 161 Chapter 13: Any Port in a Storm 175 Chapter 14: Look Pa, No Strings! 191 Chapter 15: Getting Help 211 Chapter 16: Tweaks 223 Appendix A: A Note to Parents 239 Acknowledgments 243 Contributors 244 Index 245 Preface Linda McCarthy was inspired to write the first edition of Own Your Space when the two teenagers in her house managed to destroy what she thought was a pretty darn secure home computer network Linda was more inspired when she realized that Douglas and Eric weren’t looking to break things or even trying to impress her when they brought down her home network They were just using the Internet the way normal teenagers Since then, this book has become a collaborative project to provide free security learning to teens and families online Contributors to the 2010 edition include Denise Weldon-Siviy, a mother of four, teacher, and writer Other experts we are adding to the team include specialists in firewalls, networking, and wireless systems, as well as advanced Mac and Firefox users Our design specialists and anime artists tie these concepts together in teen friendly form We also have several teens on the project and are adding new teens continually to keep the project current and fresh Without that teen involvement, this book and project would not exist For now, and for later Like malware, that changes every day, we plan to update this online version as needed to keep protecting our readers Computer security is a moving target The eBook format allows us to run along side It was very important to us that this book be made available to ALL teens and families in need of security learning For that reason, this book is made available for free online under the Creative Commons Licensing (creativecommons.org) This project is made available through corporate sponsors and would not be possible without their support viii Own Your Space Who This Book Is For This is a book for every teen and an essential resource for every parent and teacher Especially though, this is a book for the computer savvy, keyboard-comfy teens who use the Net every day and want to know how to secure their systems, preserve their Net lifestyles, and protect their data This book provides important details to keep those teens, their privacy, their identities, and their reputations safe in cyberspace In short, this book is for normal teenagers—like you We realize that you understand quite a bit about computers, probably a lot more than your parents We also know from our own teens where the gaps in your computer knowledge tend to fall We wrote this book to address those gaps Because we know your time is limited, we’ve kept this short and tried to focus on the important aspects of security We also kept it interesting by including real examples and case studies from real teenagers just like you Even if you are a power user, this book is still for you! Sure, you’ll know a number of the details we cover Still, we are willing to bet that you’ll find a number of details you weren’t aware of before And you’ll certainly find a lot of detailed information you can share with a less enlightened friend, sibling, or parent Who This Book Is Still For, Just Not Quite 100% For While this is a book full of details, it isn’t a book full of numbered instructions We wanted to write a book you’d want to sit down and read, not another 400-page technical manual To any Mac users, we apologize for including only screenshots based on Windows Much as we wanted to include all variations, that just wasn’t practical for this edition We will, however, be adding an appendix just for Mac users soon Still, most of this book applies every bit as much to Mac users as everyone else Preface ix What You’ll Learn This book is designed for any teen who is • In fear of drive-by downloads of nasty adware, spyware, and viruses • Anxious about scareware and ransomware • Trying to stay safe on social networking sites • Concerned about online predators and identity thieves • Scattering secrets to the wind in favorite hot spots • Shopping online without protection • Unsure of the risks about webcams and sexting • Dealing with cyberbullies at home or in school • Blogging alone and in the dark Got a thought? We’ve love to hear your feedback on this book Just send it to lindamccarth@gmail.com Help save a forest and educate everyone in your school at the same time Let your friends, family, and classmates know that this book is available for free on many corporate sponsor sites, as well as on MySpace (myspace.com/ownyourspace), Facebook (facebook.com/ownyourspace.net), and at Own Your Space (ownyourspace.net) ... this book is available for free on many corporate sponsor sites, as well as on MySpace (myspace.com/ownyourspace), Facebook (facebook.com/ownyourspace.net), and at Own Your Space (ownyourspace.net)... Download free electronic versions of the book from MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/ownyourspace) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ownyourspace.net), and from Own Your Space (http://www.ownyourspace.net)... their support viii Own Your Space Who This Book Is For This is a book for every teen and an essential resource for every parent and teacher Especially though, this is a book for the computer