Are these real risks for a system with a good antivirus and a savvy internet user?
How do you know if your antivirus is REALLY working? What can happen to your computer if you don't keep up to date? By the time something nefarious happens it's too late to hunt down the source. It could be anything.
For instance I'm a recent ID theft victim by someone filing tax returns in my name. I've never had any antivirus on my 4 Mac computers purchased in the past 10 years I've been surfing the internet.
How did someone get my SSN and DOB numbers? Every expert (ID theft divisions for credit bureaus, IRS ID theft task force, ChexSystems, SSA, H&R Block, my credit card company and bank etc.) all never mentioned computer hacks/software viruses/malicious code as the cause. I thought maybe keyloggers recorded my entering personal information online as a possible culprit. I installed a reverse firewall, "Little Snitch", found no keylogging call outs and sends or anything except a lot for Adobe and Apple which I allow.
I have to believe and accept the IRS is correct in saying I'm an ID theft victim without any physical evidence except what their computer systems tell them. When they finally sent me the letter confirming I was an ID theft victim,
they were off by one digit in recording my apartment number. And this after I mailed in writing my physical address with the correct apartment number as well as telling their ID theft CSR's four times of my new address and the IRS still got my apartment number wrong. The other administrative agencies mentioned above I've had to tell of my new address change didn't have this problem.
So am I really an ID theft victim? I didn't lose any money. Everyone's been "Johnny On The Spot" in catching this sending me messages from faceless people telling me this happened just like I have to accept the "Pop Up" dialog boxes from a piece of software telling me I've been infected by some "malicious code".
So in short...(yeah, I know, too late)...Life's a risk and we're all on our own. We're fooling ourselves if we think we can be protected by software. All it takes is one digit off to throw everything out of wack.