Spare the environment, spare yourself

It’s hard these days not to be aware of global warming. It already affects millions of people and is going at an alarming pace.
Recently, I was reading an article from a computer magazine, titled something like “Go green”. in this article they looked at how much energy computers are using and also if any of their parts could be recycled. That was an interesting reminder that most of today’s electronics are big energy suckers. Also, our society’s way of consuming electronics has changed drastically over the past 50 years. It used to be that you would buy a television that would last you years. Nowadays, the life span of most of our electronics is very short. Of course there is a reason behind it. It’s not in the manufacturers best interest to make a product that will last a lifetime. And of course, technology changes constantly, and along with aggressive marketing, peer pressure and the like, you have to have the latest thingy.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but it would really help too much, would it? Now, as far as our energy consumption goes, there are many things we can and probably should do. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, people were advised to leave lights on (apparently it cost more to start a light, than to leave it on all night). I’m not too sure about that one. Today however, there is a general consensus to turn appliances OFF when you are not using them. I couldn’t agree more with that statement. There is also another reason why you should do it, and this has to do with malware attacks (finally )

In today’s malware threats, botnets are the big topic. They are groups of zombie computers that participate in illegal activities. Zombie computers are anybody’s PCs, which happen to be infected and controlled by hackers. You may not know it, but chances are that your computer is sending out spam while you’re sleeping at night. Hackers can detect if a computer is idle and launch a task, instead of risking the chance of being exposed while you are on it. (why are my hard drive and modem lights going insane?).
Or you computer may be used as storage for child pornography: the hacker is safe, but you’re not if the authorities raid your house and discover illegal material on your PC.

Anytime your computer is online, you are at risk of being attacked. Contrary to some beliefs, you don’t have to be downloading stuff or surfing the web for something bad to happen. Also, if your machine is already infected, it will gladly enjoy having 100% free resources again after you leave.

For the sake of the environment and for your own protection, it makes sense to turn the PC off when you’re not using it. It’s a hacker’s worse nightmare when he sees his bot infected machines go offline because suddenly, he can’t control them anymore and his chance of harming you and other people goes down.

JSegura