Since our beta program has begun, we’ve received numerous questions from our users about virus protection and security within Civil Netizen. With the constant threat of new viruses, we are very conscious of their effect on our products and you, our customers.

 

As you may have noticed, Civil Netizen currently does not have a virus scanning feature built into it. While this last line of security is one key way to stop viruses from spreading, it’s just a piece of the puzzle. During the development of Civil Netizen, we discussed the topic of security quite often, and made numerous design decisions along the way to keep your computers secure. These decisions are reflected in not only how the application works under the hood, but also in how you interact with the application.

• The pickup slip – There are many ways to notify a recipient of an awaiting Parcel. Most of our competitors rely on one of two methods, using an attachment of a binary file type, or by providing hyperlinks which lead to their website for download. Our primary method of notification uses that little block of text that you all know and love. While it might seem a bit awkward at first, using this format ensures that you won’t have an attachment encased with a virus, or that your hyperlink doesn’t lead to a malicious or phishing site.

• Notification – Have you ever received an email from a website telling you that a friend wants you to see, read, or pick something up? Nowadays, you can’t be sure what to think of that email. That’s why Civil Netizen doesn’t notify your recipient of their awaiting package. Though it’s a bit more work on your end to initiate the sending (if you’re not using a desktop mail program), we feel the comfort your recipients will feel knowing that a Parcel really is coming from you is worth it.

Security is a challenging problem, and we’re always mindful of it. But no security system is full proof. Good technology can help, but a mindful user is just as powerful.  In the meantime, we’ll be hard at work looking at new and even more effective ways to keep you and your recipients safe…