10 IT & Technology Myths

In the IT industry, we hear some interesting (and more often than not, entirely untrue misconceptions) from our customers, and like many others have done before us, we thought it might be fun to visit some of these myths and explain the untruths behind them (in no particular order):

Users then act as both “seeds” and “leechers” – seeds send pieces of the file out and leechers take those pieces. This enables a fast and continuous/uninterrupted download of data.

A BitTorrent client is needed to assemble those pieces back together, and this client searches for and monitors each piece and determines what it has and what it needs to complete a file, but the BitTorrent client doesn’t actually hold any data itself. The BitTorrent protocol is also used by software companies to distribute patches and data for games, as it is faster and reduces server loads while increasing availability.

The use of the BitTorrent protocol is only illegal when it’s used to download copyright infringing work such as movies, TV shows and music as well as any other digital work protected by the copyright infringement act.

2. Data is less secure in the Cloud

This is another common misconception, probably brought about due to numerous data breaches that have been publicised over the last few years. Any data that can be accessed from outside of a business or a cloud environment has the same chances of being hacked, if the opportunity to do so exists.

The truth is that on-premise data is more at risk of theft and corruption than data in the cloud. In an on-premise environment, data is exposed to real people, every day. Being located on-site means that a lack of physical security (locked, secure communications rooms as well as secure site entrances) can allow anyone direct access to your data; disgruntled employees, employes without restricted data access as well as on-site service providers.

Research has shown that more on-premise user data has suffered from data security incidents than cloud data service providers. Cloud data is harder to gain access to, and cloud service providers must adhere to strict data security standards and therefore tend to provide a far more secure environment in order to maintain their reputation, especially if their core business is selling cloud hosting services.

This doesn’t make a cloud environment bullet-proof but it does significantly reduce the risk that on-premise data faces.

Incognito is handy if you share a computer or device with another person. You can do your gift shopping in secret and it’s also effective and safer to use for any bank transactions or conversations that you don’t want to leave traces of on your PC.

So can you actually make your browsing private? You can take measures to make it more private, but there is no true 100% privacy option available. A VPN can be used to mask your IP address and your physical location and TOR, an open source browser, works like VPN does but as a browser.

4. Antivirus will protect me from…

Everything? No, not even close. Most antivirus software will protect you from viruses, trojans, worms and some malware, but they are only as good as their last update.

In a perfect world, an antivirus solution would protect from every one of these threats but because new variants are released every single day, it takes time for an AV provider to update their engines and provide protection from newly developed threats.

Often it’s necessary to use both an antivirus as well as an anti-malware software, and if you want to get as close as possible to being safe from ‘everything’, a firewall should be considered first and foremost in your line of defense.

Lastly, nothing can protect you from yourself or other local users because unfortunately, humans are the greatest risk element of all.

5. USB connected devices should be dismounted before removing them

This one is interesting because there are two sides to this myth: those who say you should dismount them first and those who swear that it doesn’t matter.

In a Windows OS environment, the write cache feature is disabled for drives that the OS believes are removable. There is an option to turn this on or off, found under Device Manager > Disk Drives > Drive Name > Properties > Policies. Turning this off enables write caching but you have to then always use the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ notification icon in order to disconnect the device safely. 
Having write caching on provides better performance of the device.

6. WWW is the same thing as the Internet

Many people believe that the Internet and the World Wide Web is the same thing, and they could be forgiven for it because we use the term ‘Internet’ as a generalisation for just about everything ‘online’.

The World Wide Web (www) is how we access information over the internet. It uses the HTTP protocol to transmit data and web services that use HTTP to allow apps to communicate, use the World Wide Web to share information. Browsers are used to access websites which are web pages linked to each other by hyperlinks (http:// or https://).

The Internet is essentially a great big network of networks or rather, a network infrastructure. It globally connects millions of devices together to form a network where any internet device can communicate with another internet connected device. Information data is transferred across the internet by various traffic protocols such as SMTP (email), FTP (file transfer protocol) and IM (instant messaging).

8. Macs don’t get viruses

This one is a favourite and it’s a great talking point for both Mac enthusiasts and Windows users alike.

The reason for this misconception is that for many years it has been far more profitable for attackers to target Windows devices because there are more of them. This means that the likelihood of a successful malware or viral campaign is far greater and an attacker will reap more of the reward (money) that they are after. 
Macs have always been vulnerable to malwares and viruses, but because viruses designed for Windows can’t be deployed on Macs, attackers choose to take the easy route and target the larger group of users.

Now that Mac users are on the rise, we are seeing more Mac targeted malware and viruses released into the wild.

9. Hacking is illegal

Seems legitimate, and for the most part hacking into a private computer system or systems is illegal. However there are plenty of people making a living hacking ethically and by ethical hacking, we mean “white hat” hackers whose job it is to seek out the bugs and vulnerabilities that allow “black hat” hackers to do their thing.

10. My PC is slow, it must have a virus

This seems like a reasonable assessment but you’re probably wrong. If you’ve done the scans without getting a result and are still convinced you have a virus, taking a look at your PC’s overall health is a good idea.

PCs get slower simply because we use them. Everything you do, both locally on your machine and online, is cached somewhere in your PCs memory. Combine this with all of the programs you have installed, big or small, your browser extensions (which you really do not need especially if it’s one of those free ones that came bundled with something else) and plugins and the fact that your PC just might not have enough memory (RAM) to cope with the 1001 tasks you’ve asked it perform all at the same time, no wonder your PC is slow!

Hard drive failure can also cause a drop in speed, because they have moving parts they are built to eventually fail. Not having enough space on your drive will also slow things down. Having too many tabs open in your browser can also hog memory and any programs running in the background (like virus scans) may be contributing to your PC’s lack of speed.

Sometimes all that’s needed is a restart – this is where the old ‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’ comes from because doing this flushes out the system and starts everything up fresh.

There are many more IT myths out there so remember to check out the facts before believing anything is true.