Melissa Blackstone
Applied Information Technology
George Mason University

Obama Administration Addressing Internet Security

Internet security continues to be a growing problem and so many people put themselves at risk without truly knowing what they are doing and the problems that can occur in the future. The Obama administration wants to give guidance to the American people about one of the "biggest national security threats in your home and office--the computer"(Baldor, 2009, p.1) In this article, they are telling people to only go to trusted sites, and to know the people that they're speaking with. If you don't know them , that could be a big risk, as seen in the FBI case mentioned above. Because the U.S. is "the biggest target, with the most to steal"(Baldor, 2009, p.1), federal agencies are hammering more money into protecting their computer systems. The Obama administration, wants to make people more aware and let them know them know they can help by:

• "using antivirus software, spam filters, parental controls and firewalls.
• regularly backing up important files to external computer drives.
• thinking twice before sending information over the Internet, particularly when using wireless or unsecured public networks." (Baldor, 2009, p.1)