MICHAEL ASSOCIATES JOINS CAMPAIGN TO HELP USERS GET SAFE ONLINE

(Leicester, UK. May 2007)A recent study of UK internet users has shown that over 12% of users have suffered from online fraud in the past year, losing an average of £875 each. Worryingly, of those who took part in the survey over 17% said that they had no anti-virus software, and 22% had no firewall installed. With approximately 29 million internet users in the UK, that’s over 6 million users without even the basic safeguards on their PC! No wonder internet fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country.

News like this has prompted the Midlands based new media company, Michael Associates, to become a supporter of the Get Safe Online campaign. The campaign is backed by the British government and a number of leading businesses and is aimed at educating people on how to protect themselves when using the internet.

Michael Cheung, Creative Director of Michael Associates said, “A significant number of companies who come to us for web services are relatively new to the internet and need advice. Many don’t realise that installing anti-virus software simply isn’t enough in today’s internet environment. All the websites we build are to the latest standards and are safe and secure and we host all our managed sites on secure UK based servers, but there is always more that the customer can do from their own PC when it comes to using the internet safely and securely.”

Get Safe Online offers advice on how to protect your computer, how to protect your shopping transactions and your family when online, and has an extra section with advice for small businesses. Constantly updated it includes a section on Windows Vista, as well both MAC’s and Linux’s. It also has a Help section to assist more experienced users with specific problems.

“At Michael Associates, we offer all our customers a free consultation service, and provide advice on how they can protect themselves; directing them to the Get Safe Online website is a part of that advice. It is an excellent site and we are proud to be supporters” says Michael.

Michael Associates, new media solutions was established in 2005 and has become one of East Midlands leading new media design agencies. Michael Associates offers a host of services including website design, e-commerce, graphic design, e-flipbooks, and print and marketing fulfilment, to any size of business, locally and nationally. For more information contact Michael Associates on 0845 838 6888 or visit www.michaelassociates.co.uk