Happy Holidays from AVG

When we wish you a happy and safe holiday season at AVG, we do our best to make it as safe as can be.

Every December, I like to look back on the year to see just how well we met the mark in helping you protect yourself and your loved ones.

Yes, you and your loved ones. Because AVG isn’t just about protecting computers. Or mobile devices. Or information. Or businesses. Or even customers.

We’re about protecting people. And helping people protect themselves.

We strive to accomplish this not just through technology, but education, too. The threat awareness, helpful tips and other safety info we served up this year on Facebook, Twitter and our blogs are available to anyone and we do this because we think its important for us to educate as well as protect.

This year, we also continued to survey the world’s parents and children as part of our ongoing Digital Diaries research to see how the Internet is impacting the way today’s youth grow up in a digital world. And we issued quarterly threat reports to help people stay ahead of the bad guys.

But smart surfing skills should accompany smart technology. And so we acquired Bsecure to bolster our AVG Family Safety™ offering. We introduced AVG Mobilation™ to help protect Android mobile phone and tablet users. And we updated our free and premium Internet Security products to arm people with defensive technology that matches how they live and play online.

And because our digital lifestyles continue evolve so rapidly, our software suite saw the addition of AVG LiveKive™, which makes it easy for users to back up, access and share their digital files, and AVG MultiMi™, which greatly simplifies the growing complexity of sharing your life online.

We also introduced free anti-virus software for Amazon EC2 users, and I firmly believe we gave cybercrime a good run for its money. But there’s even more ahead, and I look forward to you being a part of it.

To all of you—especially those who have supported us as part of our user base of over 100 million customers who work together to keep us all safe —I’d like to extend my warmest thanks and sincerest wishes for a happy, safe holiday season.

Happy holidays.

JR

Image used courtesy of Harwood Photos

Yes, indeed. It’s scary isn’t it but our latest piece of research from our Digital Diaries project reveals that 58% of parents with children in the 10-13 year-old bracket said their kids had access to a ‘mainstream’ social network.

Our results show that by the time most children are 11-years-old they are already active on mainstream, adult social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and participating in behavior and activity that maybe beyond their social and emotional development.

The survey, conducted by research agency ResearchNow on behalf of AVG, questioned 4000 parents in 10 countries across the world. The findings are startling as not only did parents admit that their kids had access to mainstream social networking sites, or their regional counterparts like the Spanish Tuenti, but it also showed that only 60% of parents check up on their kids online behavior, and 40% don’t. So a lot of kid’s activity on these sites is unsupervised.

To compound matters, half of all 10-to-13 year-olds in English speaking countries access social networks on their mobile phones, which are easier to hide from parents and more difficult to monitor.

What makes these findings so unsettling is that unsupervised browsing and social networking can lead to content and conversations that exceed the maturity of the user. In fact, our findings suggest this unchecked time on the web will cause kids to start exhibiting what you could call adult behaviour online well before they are considered adults in real life.

With this so-called “digital adulthood” becoming a more common rite of passage among pre-teens, parents should start talking and educating their kids about how to stay safe online and how to avoid awkward situations that they may not be emotionally equipped to deal with.

Parents may also want to check up on their kids’ use of the Internet and consider installing parental controls on PCs and cell phones. Go to AVG.com/family-safety for more information on this.

Of course, monitoring your child’s behaviour online at such a critical age can cause concern amongst parents and their children about spying on what they are doing. Is it a breach of privacy or all part of being a good parent? Is it straining the parent-child relationship?  What do you think? How do you handle these situations? Do you check up on your kids? Do they understand why? Join in the debate here.

NB. There is a lot more in stage four of Digital Diaries that we will be discussing in coming weeks. If you want to find out more on our ongoing research project called Digital Diaries, which is examining how the Internet and technology are changing childhoods in today’s digital world, and previous stages, then go to avgdigitaldiaries.tumblr.com for the full research.

That person also needs to make sure we’re prepared for the new security threats that emerge every day so that the customer is always protected. And that we’re on top of any new digital lifestyle needs, so we can promptly fulfill them.

The COO also must bring a personal element that fits in with corporate culture but in a way that helps lead an organization rather than be absorbed by it. This person can’t just support corporate objectives. This person must help expand our overall vision. The COO has to make us all better at what we do.

That’s why I’m excited and proud to have our new COO John Giamatteo join the AVG team. John comes to us from Solera, a half-billion dollar global software company. At RealNetworks, this 23-year tech vet provided valuable strategic insight and operational leadership that helped the company continue revolutionizing digital media. If you listen to music or watch video over a computer or mobile phone, chances are you can thank RealNetworks, where John’s titles included President of Technology Products and Solutions and EVP of Worldwide Business Products and Services. Before that, John held a variety of senior management positions in just about everything from Finance to Sales and Marketing at Nortel Networks before becoming President and CEO of Asia-Pacific operations.

John knows technology. He knows the Internet. And he knows how to get things done. But where John most uniquely shines is in how he can keep millions of working parts humming in harmony from all around the world. It’s this kind of management that allows innovators to keep innovating.

As a company, we constantly strive to bring even greater value to our customers and industry partners

Welcome, John. See you at the office.

To continue in our commitment to educating the public (and ourselves), AVG commissioned a comprehensive report by Future Poll to investigate the current state of cybercrime as well as to identify emerging trends that point to how hackers will attack us in the future.

The survey researched the views of 7000 Europeans in the UK, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and Russia, and was conducted in August 2011.

What was the most worrying finding of the report? That hacking is rapidly expanding beyond our desktops and mobile phones to other web-enabled technologies—everything from power grids to cars. Unless consumers, businesses and governments assume responsibility and take action now, cyberthugs can exploit our hyperconnected world and threaten the very fabric of our society.

Take a look at some of these hacking scenarios. Science fiction? Hardly.

• Carhacking: Hackers take control of your car’s door locks, dashboard displays, and even its brakes.

• Health-scare: Saboteurs threaten the wellness technologies we depend upon to keep us healthy.

• Jailhouse rocked: Prisoners are sprung from jail using only a USB stick.

• Sniffers and Blackouts: Burglars monitor your activities then reprogram your home security systems from afar.

• Grid-jacking: Scammers and terrorists alike find opportunities in hacking into the Smart Grid.

These are scary scenarios, to be sure, but what makes them even more frightening is how unwilling users are to protect themselves from the more widespread and well-known threats of today.

Despite using their mobile phones to access bank accounts and valuable personal data, less than 15 percent of smartphone owners in the Czech Republic, Russia and the UK are concerned about viruses on their mobile devices. And in France, only 4 percent are worried.

What does this mean for the state of cybersecurity today and tomorrow? That us, the users are the weakest link.

The biggest threat we’re facing today isn’t hackers but our blasé attitude to computer, data and online security.

By not keeping our antivirus software up to date or sharing too much personal information online, web users are handing hackers the keys to their online kingdom.

What’s most surprising is that it’s our younger users who are most susceptible—18 to 35-year-olds who more or less grew up with the internet. Tech savvy generations who should know better.

As these younger generations enter our workforce, we could have a ticking timebomb on our hands as hackers target the vulnerable with socially engineered attacks that sneak past our corporate and government defences to wreak havoc on our world.

What can be done? People need to know they’re not invincible. If you use a Mac, you can be hacked. If you don’t visit adult sites, you can still be hacked. If you own a small business, you need to acknowledge a new climate of risk.

The more connected our world, the more susceptible our world is to hackers.

Governments, the financial sector and the internet security industry will all need to consider how to incentivise safe internet practice. But ultimately it comes down to each and every one of us taking the time and care to protect ourselves.

For more information about the Future Poll report you can download it here.

But something happened in 1991 that suddenly made controlling these viruses an urgent and ultimately universal need – the birth of the Internet. That something was British engineer Tim Berners-Lee’s little project he’d been tinkering with called the World Wide Web. That very same year, AVG Technologies was born.

Back then, the World Wide Web was a far cry from what it is today. But just as we were beginning to realize how the Internet could assist humanity and enrich our lives, competing sources were already looking at how the Internet could be used to reach into our lives and turn them upside down.

AVG was founded to combat these forces and protect the Internet for what it was, and what we hoped it would become. To a great extent, we’ve succeeded. The Internet, after all, is thriving beyond our wildest dreams.

I think one reason AVG has been so successful is not so much how we’ve evolved as threats have evolved, but in how we’ve evolved with our users.

As their use of Web-enabled technologies continued to grow and change, our job has always been to protect what made those technologies so valuable to them in the first place. That meant protecting people without getting in their way.

AVG pioneered the idea of no-hassle computer security with its first product AVG Free. By offering it to anyone at no cost, users could protect themselves and ultimately the Internet at large by adding to the combined power of millions of other AVG users who together form a groundswell of support for a safer Internet and at no cost to themselves.

As our community grows in strength, the Internet too becomes stronger for everyone. But we didn’t stop there.

AVG’s product line has grown to accommodate the new and emerging ways people depend on the Internet. A few years ago, that meant adding anti-spyware and identity theft protection to our software line-up. When hackers began eyeing the Mac platform, we released LinkScanner® for Mac. And with the introduction of smartphones and tablets came AVG Mobilation™ to help users protect their mobile devices.

Today, 20 years since AVG was born and with the launch of AVG 2012, we’re helping people protect and even enhance their digital lifestyles in more ways than ever before. You probably know that AVG 2012 Internet Security is available for heavy duty Web users who go online to shop, bank, email, network, and watch videos.

But did you know we also offer AVG Family Safety® to help protect and guide younger users? Or AVG LiveKive™ for automatic back-up and sharing of music, pictures and other data across all your devices? Or MultiMi™ to simplify the sharing and socializing across many accounts?

AVG isn’t just about protecting products. We’re about protecting your digital life. And we’re not just growing as a company. We’re growing as a movement of people and institutions who want the Internet to succeed—just as we did 20 years ago.

Of course, the Internet gets scarier every day and there will always be a new crop of cyber thugs who try to devalue the Internet or use it to disrupt our lives. But I’m optimistic that AVG will continue to keep these darker forces at bay.

After all, we have millions of people on our side.

Take your neighborhood watch. When something seems out of place, the community takes note. If crime begins to occur, everyone in the community knows to be on guard. But community also does so much to ward off potential threats in the first place. It’s the strength of togetherness, of collective watchfulness, that helps keep individual community members safe.

The new AVG 2012 was built on this very same premise of trust and unity.

Not only does our 100 million-strong community of customers whose combined use of AVG 2012 identifies and blocks threats in real time before they reach you, these 100 million users also provided feedback that helped us improve our product to meet their needs better than ever before.

That’s why our mantra is “We Protect Us.” It’s not just AVG that’s working to protect you. It’s the combined power of AVG’s entire community—a community that continues to grow because of the trust we’ve all built together after 20 years of protecting each other online.

So what kind of improvements does AVG 2012 bring to the table? Our users were loud and clear in wanting a faster and lighter product without making any compromises on threat protection. That’s why with AVG 2012 we expanded protection to combat new emerging threats but packaged it in a lightweight technology that doesn’t strain system resources or frustrate the user.

How light? At a lean 65 MB, the file size of AVG Internet Security 2012 comes in well below that of our three closest competitors despite adding 127 new features. AVG 2012 also improves upon our last edition by speeding up full disk scans by up to 50 percent and browser launches by up to 10 percent. AVG 2012 is lighter, faster and smaller than any previous AVG product.

AVG 2012 also continuously looks for performance improvements based on how you use your machine. If your PC seems sluggish, the new AVG Advisor feature will tell you where the problem is. There’s also the new AVG Accelerator, which optimizes computer connectivity to deliver content faster than you’ve ever seen. You’ll spend less time waiting for videos and other content-rich files to download and more time enjoying them.

But AVG 2012 is also about the power of choice. AVG has built a range of free and premium products that allow you to choose the product that’s right for you, your family, and your digital life. If you’re a heavy computer user, PC Tuneup will restore your computer to peak performance. If your digital data is scattered between your PC or mobile devices, AVG LiveKive™ provides automatic back-up and instant access to all of your data across the devices you own. If you have kids and want to make sure they’re not alone in exploring the web, AVG Family Safety™ is there to help.

Altogether, this is what makes AVG so dependable and why our customers keep coming back. AVG isn’t just about protecting your devices. Our people-powered protection is about protecting you: In short, We Protect Us.™

For pain-free protection, check out AVG 2012.

I remember the first time someone explained the iPod to me. “Sounds like a Walkman,” I thought.

Or when I first read about the coming of today’s digital 3-D. “I saw Jaws 3-D and that was more than enough 3-D for me.”

To fully appreciate the iPod or digital 3-D, I had to experience them firsthand. And in both instances, I was completely blown away.

I know many people felt this way, and I think they’ll feel the same way about MultiMi™ , a free social media desktop app that provides a truly revolutionary way to stay connected with your digital life.

This isn’t yet another social network. This is a truly unique offering that makes it easy to surf, connect, share and collaborate with everyone, anywhere.

Chat, swap photos, follow feeds, update your status, access files on the PC and in the cloud, check your inboxes and calendar… MultiMi lets you do all of this and more from one powerful place, safely and securely.

But MultiMi isn’t an aggregator that overwhelms you with information. It’s an integrator that intuitively blends digital content in with your digital life—or lives.

Do you ever feel that keeping up with your personal, work and other communication streams a constant juggling act? With MultiMi, you can view, search, share and interact across all your accounts. Drag-and-drop emails into a tweet. Post email attachments directly to Flickr or upload Google Docs with an automatic link within an email. MultiMi makes the Internet what it’s supposed to be—easy.

History is littered with inventions that wowed us and then whipped us. We loved recording our favorite TV shows on the VCR, but we couldn’t figure out how to set the clock. The office copier was supposed to save time, but any time saved was wasted on fixing paper jams.

The Internet too has added complexity to our lives. It’s no coincidence that Real Simple magazine was launched in 2000. Lifehacker – five years later. The web gives us more information and opportunities, but also more decisions to make. Life in the home and office have become one. With mobile phones we can stay connected anytime, which for many means all the time. It can leave us stressed and relationships strained.

With MultiMi, the Internet can be useful again. And our digital lives, more manageable.

But you really do have to see it to believe it.

Please check out MultiMi and be sure to share your experience with us here. I’d love to hear from you.

For Apple, widely considered the most innovative company in the world, that price is attention.

Since first igniting the personal computer revolution in the 1970s, Apple has been delighting hundreds of millions with some of the most amazing products around. Still, despite its popularity, the company was always a laggard when it came to overall market share. This allowed Apple to whisk along for decades below the radar of hackers who preferred the much heftier reach of Microsoft and its enterprise base.

But then something happened. Apple began selling iPhones and iPads which combined with its Mac sales to put Apple into more hands than ever before. In March, the company announced it had sold 100 million iPhones. That translates into 100 million copies of its Safari browser, which has been steadily chipping away at Internet Explorer’s share in the browser market. Last year, for the first time ever, Apple surpassed Microsoft in market cap.

None of this has gone unnoticed.

LulzSec was a notorious hacker group that recently disbanded after mounting pressure from law enforcement—but not before claiming it was able to gain access to Apple servers by exploiting a security flaw in Apple’s software. In name, LulzSec may no longer be, but its hackers are still out there. And Apple is clearly a target.

If you own an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, this is your wake up call. Apple technology may have a reputation for being secure, but this “security” has long depended on the company’s relatively tiny market share. Hackers simply couldn’t be bothered. But with iPhones and iPads driving exponential growth of iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, and the Safari browser’s market share creeping up on 10 percent, consumers will soon be bearing the brunt of Apple’s success.

In fact, in our latest quartery AVG Community Powered Threat Report, we outline a number of recent attacks on Apple, including crimeware toolkits that may allow even average Joes to steal passwords and siphon bank accounts.

The Mac Defender virus—which exploits the growing wariness of Mac users by masquerading as a legitimate anti-virus program—is another problem. This cross-platform attack distributes malware to Mac OS, iOS and Windows through massive SEO poisoning attacks on Google that lure users into the scam.

The attack scored 2,000,000 hits in May alone.

We believe this is just the beginning, and Apple lovers needs to start taking steps to protect their devices, their data, and themselves.

If you’re an Apple user, have you encountered any such attacks? Have you installed anti-malware solutions for your Apple devices? Do you know how to spot a legitimate anti-virus program from a fake? Please weigh in below.

I think about their financial security. I worry about their health. I make checklists every week; are my kids spending too much time in front of the TV? Are they brushing their teeth? Will they remember not to talk to strangers?

If you’re a dad, I’m sure you can relate. The ideals of fatherhood continue to undergo dramatic change. Dads aren’t necessarily expected to be the sole provider. We’re no longer off the hook when it comes to changing diapers.

Still there persists a societal and I think instinctual expectation that fathers will defend their families and homes at all costs. Of all the responsibilities and nuances of fatherhood, the guardian remains our most defining role.

I don’t think this will ever change, though our duties must continuously evolve. We’re constantly required to arm ourselves with the education and tools required to protect our kids as new dangers emerge. When modern day seat belts were introduced by Volvo in the early 60s, we started strapping our kids in, because the commercials and later the law told us so. When affordable smoke alarms started to appear in the early 70s, we installed those too.

And on an almost nightly basis, the local news would continue to serve up a new host of hazards and evils to fear. We imagine the horrible possibilities of such things occurring in our home and then devise preventative measures. Now when our kids get skateboards for their birthdays, they come with helmets and pads. Keys to the family car come with stern warnings.

And after the last child has been put to bed, we do our nightly house check to make sure our doors are shut and our windows are locked. When the home security system tells me it’s armed and ready with that final beep, I know my kids are as safe as they’ll ever be—at least for the time being. I’ve protected them as best I can with the tools available, and I’ve done my best to make sure they know how to stay safe themselves when they venture out into the world again in the morning.

But certain things still keep me awake at night. The Internet is one of them—precisely because you can’t keep it out with a guard dog or deadbolt. On the contrary, it’s being welcomed into our homes past our fortresses—a very good thing as long as our kids are using it safely. But how can we teach online safety to kids when they live more comfortably on the web than we ever will? When phishing and other scams manage to ensnarl even intelligent adults who should have known better?

AVG recently sat down with parents, bloggers and non-profits to talk about this very dilemma. While everyone present agreed our children faced many dangers online, not a single person in the room had installed child safety features on their home computers. And maybe one or two had talked to their kids about online safety despite all of their children being connected to the Internet one way or another.

We dads must remember to do like our fathers before us. We must educate ourselves on the very latest threats and protect ourselves with the very best security tools.

Only then can we say, at least when it comes to the Internet, we’re doing all we can to keep our children safe.

Patco sued, accusing Ocean Bank of being asleep at the wheel while money was being siphoned out of its account at $100,000 per day. But, a couple of days ago, a judge ruled in favor of Ocean Bank.

If this doesn’t scare you, it should. Up until now, banks have largely been dealing with fraudulent charges the same way credit cards have. If someone uses your account to make fraudulent purchases, you’re reimbursed. Today’s landmark decision shows this may no longer be the case—a frightening notion given small businesses are now a preferred target among hackers.

AVG has long predicted a time when banks and retailers could no longer cover the huge financial losses incurred when hackers fraudulently obtain legitimate account information to access funds. The way the law now seems to see it, account holders should do more to safeguard their information—never mind banks want you to be conducting transactions online, which is how hackers are able to use phishing attacks and viruses to attack you in the first place.

The growing use of online banking apps on smartphones will only make things worse. Consider a recent US study we conducted with the Ponemon Institute that showed just how much of our financial and account data is stored on mobile phones. Hackers know that data exists, they know you have it, and they will stop at nothing to steal it from you. And yet, despite this growing threat, half of all small business owners don’t have a security strategy in place.

Two years ago we began asking governments to consider tax incentives for consumers and small businesses who buy online security solutions to protect their data. If people won’t protect themselves, we have to give them even more reason to do so. We can’t wait for them to catch up to the realization of this very real threat.

That’s why AVG is initiating a viral effort on Twitter where we encourage you to get involved. Please tweet the following: @avgfree The US government needs to provide tax incentives to help consumers utilize security software #SecurityCredit Please retweet. The volume of tweets will send an important message to the decision makers who can take action to protect consumers.

In the meantime, if you aren’t already protecting your business with essential security solutions and workforce training, you may want to consider it. Check out our small business products and Business Resource Center for more tools and resources. Or else keep an extra $300,000 handy.

Scarier still when you factor in the Internet, which presents its own set of life facts that kids could come face-to-face with at any time, and at any age.

Earlier in the year we talked to mothers with children ages 2 to 5 and found 69 percent of them can operate a computer mouse, but only 11 percent can tie their shoes. To be sure, today’s playground is more often than not a digital one where kids still encounter serious threats, only they’re in a place where they are not as safe as they used to be—at home.

Online predators and cyberbullies may be virtual landmines, but they threaten a child’s innocence and well-being in very real ways. Today’s grade-school surfers risk being exposed to adult situations and may be forced to make adult decisions. And so just as you would prepare your son or daughter with the facts of life, it’s becoming increasingly imperative that you also arm them with the facts of the Web.

But when is the right time?

In the latest installment of our Digital Diaries research, we discover 47 percent of children as young as six are “talking” to friends online. But who are these “friends”? Are they school chums or strangers who have been able to cultivate a false sense of trust? And what of the 20 percent of eight to nine year-olds who have already experienced some kind of inappropriate or aggressive behavior online?

The painful truth is that it’s never too early to discuss safe surfing habits with kids. As soon as they are allowed to use a computer, they must be taught how to use it safely. The need for such a talk with your children might be too close for comfort, but here’s where I hope AVG can help.

To aid parents in their discussion of online safety, we produced a storybook that introduces children as young as 3 to the Internet as something that requires caution and care. Little Bird’s Internet Security Adventure, available for free on the Kindle, iPad and desktop, is the story of a little bird’s journey home. Along the way, Little Bird bumps into her young zoo friends, all who have questions or concerns about situations they’ve encountered online. From cyberbullies, computer viruses, “yucky pictures,” and requests from strangers for personal information, Little Bird has a simple solution that teaches kids to stay on guard and always keep their parents informed.

Little Bird was born out of the shared experiences some of us had when we realized just how quickly our children could get around on the Internet using our desktops, iPads and iPhones. Afraid our kids might encounter harmful threats or inappropriate content, we created this story to help all children know where not to stray and what to do if they ever encounter disturbing subject matter.

I’m very proud of Little Bird’s Internet Security Adventure—I’ve read it to my own kids, and I hope you’ll share it with your families as well. Even if you carefully monitor your child’s every move online, danger is but a click away.

Don’t let it be the click that can’t be taken back.

Little Bird's Internet Security Adventure can be downloaded from the AVG site and so can the accompanying pdf guide.

Back in October 2010, AVG began a year-long study called Digital Diaries to investigate how our children live and interact in today’s dynamic digital world. The first age-group that we examined was newborns (Digital Births) and this was followed by two-to-five year olds (Digital Skills). What we found was that today’s generation of newborns and young children face a vastly different world than those born before the Internet was conceived in 1973.

The latest chapter in the series is announced today is called Digital Playgrounds and covers children aged six-to-nine.

The findings suggest that children aged six-to-nine years old spend as much as three-and-half hours per week playing in their Digital Playgrounds. Interactions that once took place in the schoolyard, football field or in the cafeteria are now just as commonplace on the Internet. In fact, nearly half of eight-to- nine-year-olds regularly talk to friends via computers and mobile devices, showing that our children are more socially connected than ever before.

Sadly this increased connectivity can lead to unwanted behavior. The Digital Playground research also shows that one in six six-to-nine-year-olds and one in five eight-to-nine-year olds have already experienced what their parents consider inappropriate or aggressive behavior online. When parents were asked if their family devices were armed with parental controls or Internet safety, only 56% were certain that their family computers had such tools and less than half were unfamiliar with the sites their children frequent online.

So the question remains, are we, as parents, doing enough? Are we doing enough to educate our children about online safety; supervising them; and keeping them safe?

As a father and the CEO of AVG, family safety is a top concern. What used to be second nature and as simple as wearing a helmet to ride a bike, is made more complex by the online world. The Digital Playground of today can consist of a broad reaching network of strangers and unfamiliar activities and territories.

That is why I am pleased we have AVG’s premium Family Safety suite to help all parents protect their children from online threats while also helping educate children as they traverse this great, wide open field of possibilities. Our AVG Family Safety suite helps monitor specific websites visited, searches conducted, and the amount of time spent online. It enables families to customize their filtering options to best suit the specific ages, needs and awareness levels of individual family members. And equally as important, it offers full reporting capabilities to help parents better engage with their children about online habits.

As their Digital Playgrounds become increasingly important to our children, it is important that they understand the new possibilities and boundaries of this landscape.

I encourage you to download our AVG Family Safety (www.avg.com/avg-family-safety) tools and start talking to your children today about their time in the internet. Talk to them about what they enjoy doing and what they find fun. As with most things, education (both yours and theirs) is the key to getting the most out of the internet safely, whatever your age.

It’s a scary thing when television—not always the bearer of morality and goodness —should need to nudge its audience into being better parents. But scarier still is how little control parents have nowadays even when they do know where their children are.

With the Internet streaming into our homes from computers, cell phones and iPads, knowing where our kids are isn’t enough. We need to know what they’re doing.

The Internet has its own brand of morals, and at times indecency, and unlike TV it can engage your child in a more interactive way. People sitting before a television set can only do one thing—watch. With the Internet, we are part of the show and with no guarantee of a happy ending.

In many ways, the Internet makes our job as parents easier. It doesn’t just ask if we know where our children are. It offers up information and advice and support. There are forums where you can talk to other parents from all over the world. You can buy baby bottles and safety gates and have them delivered right to your door.

But in many other ways, the Internet makes parents’ job harder. Kids who log on can be exposed to content that can hurt them psychologically. They may unwittingly get involved with predators and bullies. Right now, at this very minute, your children could be on their mobile phones, posting pictures that will follow them wherever they go for the rest of their lives.

That’s why today AVG introduced Family Safety, a new set of solutions designed to give some control back to the parent. Of course no software can take the place of good parenting, but managing a child’s use of the Internet can be a tricky thing.

AVG Family Safety can help by allowing you to block, monitor or filter online content and interactions in real time. You can even use Family Safety to limit the time your child spends online.

But AVG Family Safety isn’t just a solution for parents. It’s also a solution for kids. What good is protecting children without arming them with the judgment to make wise decisions on their own? Children need to be educated while they’re on the Internet. They need to be shown how to steer clear of malicious sites and mature content. They need to be taught how to surf the Internet without getting hurt. And that’s what AVG Family Safety does.

Now I know a lot of parents aren’t comfortable with monitoring their children and they don’t like to invade their children’s privacy. To this I say:

“Your children are on the Internet. Do you know what they’re doing?”

For more on AVG Family Safety watch this video below: 

To keep you children safe online go to onAVG Family Safety at www.avg.com/avg-family-safety

But it was with 1826’s first permanent photograph when the human race was treated to a parade of inventions—punctuated by the phonograph in 1877 and motion picture camera in 1888—that solidified the way we experience, express, and document our modern-day lives.

Since then, remarkably, not much has changed in the kinds of media we consume. We still enjoy photographs, listen to music and watch motion pictures. What has changed is the way we store and re-experience this content. Ideas once recorded on clay tablets are now digitized, so they’re easier to create and share virtually anywhere. It also means they’re easier to lose.

Digital data can be corrupted and lost in so many ways. From hard drive failures to malware to simply leaving a laptop on the bus, it’s a common fact of life. But when this data includes a toddler’s first word or a college research paper, losing it becomes so much harder to bear.

But that’s the thing about data—it’s inherently valuable. As a consumer we asked about backing up data said, “If I lose my laptop, I lose the first seven years of my daughter’s life.” Yet, as emotionally tied we are to digital media, most of us won’t do anything to protect it. We simply assume our data is safe. But as 150,000 Gmail users learned last month when a glitch accidentally wiped out their accounts, data is never safe.

That’s why we have made it as easy as possible for consumers to store, secure and share their data by launching a new online back-up and sharing service called AVG LiveKive

But why would a security software company add a back-up service to its portfolio? Because when it comes to your data, AVG wants you to have peace of mind. It doesn’t matter whether your data is lost or stolen—either way it’s gone. Make no mistake, safe storage is security.

And that’s what you get with AVG LiveKive: a trusted source storing and securing your digital life complete with file scanning, and other safety options, such as military-grade encryption. And to ensure all your data is protected, AVG LiveKive allows you to sync data with all your other devices—including cell phones, tablets, laptops and PCs —to make sure your songs, pictures, movies, texts, documents and other files are all safe in one spot.

Check it out, and be sure to share with us any experiences you might’ve had with data loss. We know how heartbreaking this can be!

The term virus was first used in 1983, but self-replicating programs date back as far as 1945. During this time viruses mostly consisted of limited attacks unknown to the general public. A turning point came with 1982’s Elk Cloner virus, written by a 15 year-old as a harmless prank, but which nevertheless showed how a virus could proliferate in the wild by exploiting user ignorance.

For the next two decades, we saw the emergence of malicious codes that exploited holes in programs like Word and Excel, to those that employed the mass reach of email and the Internet to become truly global epidemics.

In 1999 the data-eating ILOVEYOU virus was the big game changer. Fifty million computers were infected, including those at the US Department of Defense and the Federal Reserve, for a total cost exceeding $5 billion (Computer Economics). By then more than 200 million people were connected to the Internet, and the early virus programmer had evolved from the bored prankster to organized cybercrime syndicates motivated by any number of financial, social, political, and state-sponsored agendas.

And so, what are the parallels with mobile security? First, take everything I’ve mentioned about the evolution of computer threats and condense it. Cell phone use didn’t begin to take off until the late 1990s, but in just five years viruses began to appear, culminating in the first Android attack last summer that infected a million devices—a mere six years after the first mobile virus appeared. It took until 1999 when the Melissa virus went wild for a hacker able to launch a virus of that scope on a computer.

And now experts estimate that up to 200,000 Android users have downloaded more than 50 malware-laced apps that appeared last week, and if history tells us anything, this is only the beginning. Mobile’s own game-changing viruses are just around the corner.

Why are mobile threats evolving more rapidly than those targeting the PC? There are many reasons, but mostly because the number of mobile devices dwarfs PCs and it didn’t take them nearly as long as computers to become Web enabled. Simultaneously, hackers can easily switch between PCs to mobile devices, whereas users still seem to be stuck in neutral.

In fact, when it comes to protecting themselves, many users are either unaware of the security risks that come with mobile devices, or they simply don’t care. AVG’s latest research, which was conducted by the Ponemon Institute in the USA with 734 particpants over the age of 18.  Click the link to download the full survey on smartphone security.

The research shows that while 65 percent of those surveyed use their mobile devices to read email and surf the Internet, less than 30 percent of them consider installing an anti-virus solution. In fact, more users are worried about mobile spam (67 percent) than mobile security (43 percent)!

Users, take note: Mobile devices have evolved. Mobile threats have evolved. Hackers themselves have evolved.

It’s time we evolve, too.

N.B. Has you mobile device ever been hacked? Have you ever downloaded an app with a virus? Or have you noticed unsolicited charges on your mobile phone bill? Have you ever considered security for your mobile? Let us know your story and join the debate at AVG.com/blogs

Read more about the AVG smartphone survey on Tony Anscombe’s blog.

As we all know, last week Japan was rocked by the strongest earthquake in their history. What has followed has been a series of disasters both natural and manmade, devastating the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and overwhelming Japan’s emergency services.

While the people of Japan have shown great fortitude it is important in times like these for all of us to dig deep and help in any way we can.

That is why I am urging our employees, partners and customers to offer contributions to help Japan recover from this tragedy, by donating directly to the Japanese Relief Fund.

As a company, we believe that organizations and people around the world should come together to offer their support to the Japanese people affected at this difficult time. We send our deepest sympathies to those people suffering during the unprecedented tragedy that has unfolded over the past week.

Today we at AVG have pledged USD$25,000 to their cause and will stay committed in supporting the hundreds and thousands of people affected by the disaster. The pledge was made via the International  Red Cross’s Japan Tsunami Appeal. Donations can be made by following the link.

If you too can help the people of Japan by giving something then please go directly to a recognized charity organization, such as the Red Cross, Save The Children or the Salvation Army.  This will ensure your donation finds its way to those who need it and not into the hands of scammers and cyber criminals.

Image used under Creative Commons license courtesy of Mindful One

Dorothy was able to make it through because she had courage, brains and heart on her side. But she had something else—she had security. Who wouldn’t want an axe-wielding tin man on their side? Or a good witch to pop in whenever she’s most needed?

The journey toward success for any small business owner is usually a long one. By merely embarking on it, you open yourself up to attacks that fly in from all quarters. At least when it comes to competitors, you can be on the lookout. But what about cybercriminals? Do you know what’s out there? Do you know how they can come at you? Will you be prepared when they do?

Just as the Wicked Witch of the West was able to prey on Dorothy’s weaknesses—by kidnapping Toto or setting fire to the Scarecrow—hackers will turn your most valuable assets against you. That same Internet connection you use to make financial transactions can let in a Trojan horse. The iPhones your workers use to communicate with each other could be used to gain access to sensitive company documents. The social media channels you use to engage customers can be hijacked and used to harm your reputation. How can you arm yourself with the digital tools you and your workforce need to succeed without those very same tools being used against you?

As AVG’s small business security expert Robert Gorby writes in his excellent post about business practices that can aid cybercriminals, of the businesses that use social networking, only 23 percent have addressed the security issues that social networking brings.  Too many small business owners are letting their guard down. The very people we hire to help us succeed are very often the people that can cripple a network and bring down a business—all because they didn’t know how to exercise proper caution in their use of the Web and mobile.

As my thoughts turn from Dorothy’s plight to the business security issues being discussed at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, I’d like to remind ambitious business owners fighting for success that your sword can only be as good as your shield.

Check out our Small Business Resource Center for a library of guides and tools that can help you protect your business from identity theft, data breaches, online banking break-ins and other computer crimes. There is even an Online Security Audit tool that can provide you with a complete report on the most pressing security issues that threaten your own business—in just minutes.

Make no mistake, small businesses are a target, and the threats are many. The good news is you may not have to worry about flying monkeys. The bad news? What you do have to worry about is probably much worse.

I hear it all the time. Cell phones aren’t just a way of life. They are an extension of ourselves—quite literally. Ten years ago, scientists were already experimenting with cell phone technology implanted in our bodies!

So if cell phones are our lives, why aren’t we protecting them? This issue will weigh heavily on the minds of those attending the RSA Conference and Mobile World Congress this week. And with good reason.

This week, an AVG survey conducted with the Ponemon Institute revealed that only 29 percent of surveyed smartphone users in the US have even considered downloading a mobile security application. More than a third aren’t even aware that mobile security threats increase when using your phone for financial purposes or handling personal data!

Now if I were to ask you to hand me your mobile phone, you’d hesitate, right? You probably wouldn’t even hand your mobile phone over to your closest friends or family members for fear of them stumbling onto certain emails, texts or photos.

So why entrust that information—plus your business documents, credit card info, and contact details —with a complete stranger? If you don’t have security software installed on your mobile device, that is exactly what you’re doing. You could be sharing your mobile phone—your life—with hackers, stalkers, and other unsavory characters.

Why? Because the same way hackers can attack your computer, they can attack your mobile phone. Just last summer we saw the first major attack that affected the stolen information of a million Android users. For years computer criminals have tried to make life miserable for the world’s 1.2 billion computer owners. You can bet they’ll do the same through devices that number almost five times that.

Of the 200,000 fun games and other applications on the Android Marketplace, AVG’s Android security application regularly ranks among the most popular and fastest-growing. Over 7 million Android community users have installed ANTIVIRUSFree on their handsets to date. That’s good news for several million AVG Android customers. But what about the other 93 million Android phone users?

Download ANTIVIRUSFree and weigh in: Have you ever been hit with a virus on your mobile phone? Did you ever discover someone hacking your smartphone? Join the conversation here on the AVG Blog, Facebook or Twitter.

Read more about AVG's survey of US smartphone users on AVG's Free blog