In the News Policies, etc. Two different kinds of threats, one active and one passive, plague information security. The first types, active threats, receive the most publicity in the popular media.
Passive threats receive much less attention, but are more important for individual computer users.
These are the threats that you can control, because, when unattended, they comprise the paths that criminals or vandals use to get into a system. Keeping up with all of them are important, and they are not especially difficult. Whether it's learning how to apply patches to a system or how to set strong passwords, the fact is that the amount of energy you put into fixing passive vulnerabilities will determine how well your system will stand up to an active attack. For every threat, there is a remedy. This is true, even of most active threats.