Reporting Elections, Safety and Security of Journalists Others spread through removable media, particularly devices like USB memory sticks and external hard drives that allow users to write information as well as reading it. Viruses can destroy, damage or infect the information in your computer, including data on external drives. They can also take control of your computer and use it to attack other computers. Fortunately, there are many anti-virus tools that you can use to protect yourself and those with whom you exchange digital information SPYWARE Spyware is a class of malicious software that can track the work you do, both on your computer and on the Internet, and send information about it to someone who shouldn’t have access to it. These programmes can record the words you type on your keyboard, the movements of your mouse, the pages you visit and the programmes you run, among other things. As a result, they can undermine your computer’s security and reveal confidential information about you, your activities and your contacts. Computers become infected with spyware in much the same way they contract viruses. So many of the suggestions above are also helpful when defending against this second class of malware. Because malicious webpages are a major source of spyware infection, you should pay extra attention to the websites you visit and make sure that your browser settings are secure. 19