By Tony Larks, Vice President, Global Consumer Marketing, Trend Micro

That’s why governments in Europe and the US have been increasingly proactive in disseminating info to the public. Trend Micro is right behind the EU’s European Cyber Security month initiative and the US National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Both have been running throughout October with a mission to tool up the public and businesses with the knowledge and cyber street smarts to keep them safe from harm.

Get Safe Online

This month has historically also been home to Get Safe Online week in the UK. Trend Micro has been a proud partner of Get Safe Online since it was founded a few years back as a government initiative to raise cyber security awareness.

Click & Tell

Starting today, Get Safe Online week 2012 is running a Click & Tell campaign designed to get people sharing their online safety tips with friends, family, colleagues, neighbours or even strangers. We’re trying to encourage people to spread best practice advice down the pub, over coffee, via social media, at the gym – wherever. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to all this either, because the Get Safe Online site is a great resource for loading up on cyber knowledge.

A lot of cyber security awareness is common sense – we just need to think a bit more laterally about the risks and where the threats lie online. You wouldn’t hand out your personal details to a stranger in the street, so don’t do so online.

Always be extra cautious about the source of emails and messages on social media, especially if they arrive unsolicited and contain links or attachments. Even ones that appear to come from friends or legitimate companies like your bank may have been forged to trick you.

In the end the bad guys want your money, or your personal information, and sometimes even control over your PC or mobile. Staying alert to the threats and keeping up-to-date with the latest and most secure versions of browser, operating system and security software will give you a great platform to enjoy the web without imperilling your digital life.

Tony Larks works for Trend Micro and is guest blogging for the Fearless Web. The opinions expressed here are his own.

To get more tips and advice regarding Internet security, just “Like” Trend Micro Fearless Web Internet Security on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/fearlessweb.