Security is a big concern. Most people brush aside security for reasons of having a totally-secure software, being ignorant, overly trusting a network or being indifferent to the issues. I did belong to one of these categories for a short period.

I realized how vulnerable people are on the network. The moment you have an ip assigned and people can see you. I was really annoyed when some time back I received a message from some kid trying to impress with the (mature) message. It easy to nail them but then again its also our duty to be vigil to make sure such things are impossible.

Security is only partly made available by applying patches or by installing a "secure" software. Most important is to realize that nothing is ever fully secure (even in the real world). One has to take necessary steps in ensuring just that. Sometimes this occurs after being "hit". At other times one needs to be a paraniod about security.

Most software are too ready to give out user information just to throw in that added/unwanted "user-friendliness". They just do more harm than good. So the next time you are about to buy some great-out-of-the-world user friendly software ask yourself "At what cost?"