Like, only nine people wanted to win a copy of Norton Internet Security 2009, worth USD70.

About 70 people wanted to win a tiny PSP pouch, worth, I dunno, a few bucks?

(Both these contests were run concurrently at my blog.)

The NIS 2009 contest required some work (posting an anecdote, a blog and answering questions).

The PSP pouch contest only required posting a comment of at least two words.

Do you think this proves that I have lazy blog readers? Haha. You tell me!

Anyway, I’m going to announce the winners of the NIS 2009 contest now. Yay! You never expected it to be so soon, right?

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WINNERS OF NIS 2009

JayWalk
Cornflict
modchip
Anlooo
muscular

These five people each win a Norton Internet Security 2009 software!! Howza!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

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WINNERS OF LUGGAGE TAG

aig
nerdie
Wishbone
the(new)mediaslut

These four people each win a Norton luggage tag!! Congratulations, too!!

And now, we have a surprise bonus awards announcement!

Ooooh… what is that?!

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BEST ANECDOTE

JayWalk wins the best anecdote award for this very entertaining story of his encounter with a computer virus!

This happened two years ago where the entire office network was hit by a virus. We managed to trace to one of the two terminals in the Accounts/HR department as the source of the virus.

A check on the logs and we discovered that some one has visited quite a number of porn websites and must have click one of those malicious pop-ups, thereby install it to the terminal and infecting the rest of the office network. Mind you, quite a number of the sites were very hardcore stuff that would even make a pirate blush.

Prime suspect was either the Accountant or the Customs Officer who are the only males in the department. However, since no one in the entire department was willing to own up, I had no choice but to pass the RMB 300 repair bill to split among all the staff in the department.

I supposed when it comes to money affairs, department solidarity goes down the toilet right away.

30 minutes later, the girl from HR owned up.

Thanks, JayWalk. You will receive a Norton luggage tag for this! :)

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BEST BLOG POST

modchip wins the best blog post award for his leet photoshop skillz!

LOL. See what he did to my photo and the Norton box?!

Thanks, modchip! You will also receive a Norton luggage tag for this!

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TOP SCORER

Oooh! JayWalk is sweeping all the awards!

He is the top scorer in this whole contest so he wins another luggage tag!

LOL. Sorry, that’s the only thing I have to give for bonus awards. Haha.

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Now for the important part. How to claim your prizes.

PRIZE WINNERS TAKE NOTE

Please e-mail me your name and address so I can mail your prizes to you.

And do allow some time for the delivery of prizes (especially if you live overseas) because I haven’t even received the boxes myself.

Thank you!

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Finally… the answers to the quiz, just for fun!

INTERNET SECURITY QUIZ

Question 1
If you do not purchase goods or services on the Internet, you can’t become a victim of cybercrime. True or false?

Answer
FALSE.
Even people who do not shop or bank online can be affected by cybercrime. All it takes is one visit to a hostile website, or even a benign website with an infected advertisement, and a machine can be infected with a crimeware program such as a bot or Trojan horse.

Question 2
The Internet is so big that things like fraud or identity theft shouldn’t really concern you; the probability you will be targeted is very small unless you use the Internet a lot. True or false?

Answer
FALSE.
Automated bot programs are constantly scouring the Internet looking for fresh victims to infect. Even if you keep a low profile, the security of your computer will be tested by this relentless breed of crimeware. Moreover, the sheer volume of fraudulent “phishing” emails means that you are likely to receive a phony message sooner or later. While heavy Internet users may have more opportunities to become a victim, everyone using the Internet is exposed to the threat.

Question 3
People who don’t use Microsoft Windows are safe. The bad guys take advantage of Windows users because it is easy and leave Linux and Macintosh users alone. True or false?

Answer
FALSE.
While Microsoft Windows users are certainly the most targeted population of Internet users, people using other operating systems and software are not immune to software flaws and fraud attacks. For example, the Firefox web browser had more confirmed vulnerabilities (25) than Internet Explorer (13) for the first half of 2005. This demonstrates that computer users cannot expect to eliminate their risk of attack online simply by choosing different software. Many of today’s attacks such as phishing work independent of whatever software package you happen to be using.

Question 4
A legitimate company will not ask for personal information such as credit card numbers in an email message. Even though it may look convincing, messages that urgently request personal information are likely bogus. True or false?

Answer
TRUE
Even before phishing messages became as prevalent as they are today, it was uncommon practice to request confidential information using email.

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And that ends our Norton Internet Security 2009 contest.

Thank you all for your participation.

And thank you Symantec for sponsoring the prizes!