Education and AwarenessHelping Customers Protect Themselves Online Is a Top PriorityPublished: February 15, 2005 | Updated: April 14, 2006 The Internet and e-mail are vibrant resources, powerful tools, and a critical part of the world's communications and business infrastructure. They are also under constant attack. The spam, phishing, and online threats have evolved from an annoyance into a threat that challenges the viability of electronic communications for users worldwide. Most spam contains misleading information designed to generate an online purchase or, worse, to trick recipients into disclosing sensitive personal information or confidential corporate data or downloading malicious software.
At Microsoft, we believe we must not only deliver strong technology to address online problems, but also provide information and resources to empower individuals and organizations to better understand how they can help protect themselves.
Helping Users Know Where to Start
Nothing can guarantee complete safety in cyberspace, but much can be done to help users understand and minimize their exposure to risk. We make available a wide range of resources to help users protect their businesses, their computers, and their personal information. Instructions, advice, tools, and videos are available from both Microsoft.com Security and MSN Online Safety & Security. Both of these Web sites provide prescriptive guidance to help protect children online, combat online fraud, reduce spam, avoid phishing scams, and preserve privacy.
MSN has produced a series of brochures about online safety topics, including phishing, identity theft, spam, and keeping kids safe online. These materials may be reproduced and distributed for educational purposes free of charge: Helping Businesses Protect Their Brands OnlineSpammers and scammers are increasingly exploiting well-known brands to trick e-mail filters and e-mail users into thinking that their messages are legitimate. Microsoft encourages companies and organizations looking to protect their domains to consider utilizing the Sender ID e-mail authentication framework. Start at the Sender ID home page to find information, tools, and an implementation wizard to easily create a Sender ID record to protect your domain from phishing and forged e-mails. The Microsoft Small Business Center provides an overview of security issues affecting small businesses as well as preventative solutions. Microsoft TechNet Security gives information technology professionals the information they need to help secure their systems, while the Microsoft Security Developer Center provides guidance and tools for software developers. Office Online provides guidance for productivity software users, including Inbox and junk e-mail management in Outlook 2003. Promoting Industry and Partner ProgressTo help implement key technology solutions, we are working with industry partners, standards organizations, and governmental agencies to develop implementation guides, tools, and other resources to help our customers and partners more easily deploy and integrate emerging solutions. These assets are available through sponsored customer summits, participation at industry events, and online. Microsoft works with key stakeholders who have a common objective of improving online safety, confidence, and productivity throughout the Internet ecosystem. Find out more about how the industry is collaborating to eradicate spam and phishing | |
