Most of us would not dream of leaving our car door unlocked.

We would not leave our wallet unattended in public. Too many of us, however, are doing exactly that with our smartphones and computers. In cyber terms, the front door is ajar and there is a sign on it saying: "Open house, come on in."

Those who have experienced cyber crime - finding unexpected purchases on their credit card or discovering that their computer has been maliciously infected with a nasty virus - know how infuriating it is. Those who have not received a shock bill for a new plasma screen TV or had some unknown hacker send an obscene message to everyone in their address book, may think of it as something that happens to other people. Bad mistake. One survey suggests 16% of people have lost at least £500 from having their card details stolen and used over the internet. Losing all your cash because you were too absorbed watching zany cat videos to update your online security settings is a hard lesson.

So the Government's warning to ensure passwords are secure and to accept prompts to update security software, is very, very good advice.

The skateboarding cats can wait.