Security

If you use a computer, regardless of whether or not it is connected to the internet,you are in danger. You've spent some money on a nice system and it's proven to be very valuable. You've got lots of financial data (at least your check book), your graphics, scanned photos and lord knows what else stored safely on your hard drive.

You think you are safe? Think again.

Before you do anything else, make sure you have a backup and recovery plan for your computer system. Invest in some kind of backup device (a tape drive, zip drive or whatever) and a good backup program (Backup Exec is good) and do regular backups. At the very least, back up your critical data files. You MUST do backups if you want a secure system ... if something gets through your defenses you can rebuild if you have a backup. Otherwise, you are stuck ... system destroyed an no backup means you lose all of your data.

Your first and most significant danger is from nasty little viruses. Your system is in danger if it has any contact of any kind with an outside computer. This includes an internet connection, a network link or even a floppy disk. What do you do about it? Spend the money and buy the best antivirus software that you can find ... I prefer Norton Antivirus because of it's ease of use and automatic updating features. There are plenty of products to choose from, but be sure you can get regular, easily and automatically installed virus updates. Norton is good because it also comes with an email module which scans incoming messages and removes viruses automatically.

The next thing I would recommend is to check out your email program. Microsoft's email programs are wonderful, but they are so powerful that they allow a multitude of malicious programs to damage your computer. If you are using Outlook Express, consider switching to Eudora or a similar program. If you are using Outlook, I would suggest you check out the security upgrade from Microsoft which effectively disables many scripting features and the opening of executable files. This will prevent email viruses, more properly called Trojan Horses, from infecting your system.

Once you are protected from viruses and email Trojan Horses, it's time to protect yourself from people attempting to break into your system. Even if you are using a dialup connection, it is a good idea to get yourself a firewall. If you can afford it, purchase a hardware firewall such as the SonicWall.  You can also get a nice software firewall such as Zone Alarm (you can install the free version). A hardware firewall is far superior to the software versions.

You may also want to use an anonymous proxy service to cloak your TCP/IP address from others. An anonymous remailer is good to keep your email address confidential, although you can use several free web-based email accounts to perform a similar function.

Now if you really want to be secure invest in AdSubtract Pro (there is also a free version) and configure the cookie and referrer protection. This allows you to selectively enable or disable cookies and referrers (and some other things) based upon web site address. It's very useful and easy to configure.

Also remember to configure Ad Subtract to remove advertisements and web bugs, and you've got yourself a pretty secure system.

Now you want to stay secure ... you've got to understand that there is a war going on right now as we speak. This is the war between hackers and the rest of the world. Hackers are constantly testing the limits of computer systems, and find new holes and vulnerabilities all of the time. Thus, in order to keep your system really, really safe, you need to sat on top of the most current security information.

Read up on other threats to your privacy so you can be more careful online. Be especially wary of scams and other attempts to defraud you. If you've got kids, but in place adequate safeguards to protect them. This is very important if you don't want them getting themselves, and you, into danger.

Finally, be cautious about installing any new programs, spreadsheets or documents (specifically Word documents). If you download a program off the internet, make sure it is from a very trusted source. Downloading that game from the cool site that you found last night is probably not a good idea - no telling what is in the program, waiting to cause havoc on your computer.

As you can see, keeping your system secure is a lot of work. But if you do not do it, you will no be happy with the results. At the very least, make sure you have a good backup. In fact, if you can only do one thing, spend the time on your backups. That way you can always recover.

Contents

• News Important news related to the security of computers, the internet and the web.
• Using anonymous proxy server services to hide your TCP-IP address If you have a direct connection to the internet, such as a DSL or cable modem, then you should consider one of these services to hide your TCP/IP address. It is very important to use anonymous browsing to protect your privacy online while surfing. These services are basically anonymous proxy servers which hide your TCP/IP address. Some of them include remailers to help protect you from spam and junk mail.

• Backing up your system is an essential part of your security schemeBackups are extremely critical to keep your system secure. If your system is damaged by a virus or an intruder you have a way to recover. Remember, however, that you must think through and test your scheme. You have many options in hardware: tape, jazz or zip drives, depending upon whether you are on windows NT, Unix, SUN, ATL, DEC, IBM, NCR or HP.
• Preparing for Disaster Do you use your computer for anything?If you do, then you had better make a backup. You never know when something could happen to destroy all of your work.
• Cookies (under names like magic cookies, persistent cookies, and just plain cookies) are basically harmless, but many surfers are very much afraid of them for various reasons. Companies like Doubleclick use them to track your surfing habits. These can be a great way to personalize your experience on a web site, though, and sometimes a web site simply will not work. Buy Norton Internet Security 2000 to selectively delete and add cookies.
  So What's A Cookie For, Anyway? Cookies were invented for a good reason and have valid uses. It's too bad evil companies have perverted the concept and threatened our privacy.
  The Fear Of Cookies Afraid of the lowly cookie file. Here's some of the reasons why you should be.

• Protecting Your Children The internet is a very hostile place to children. It's bright and shiny and fun, but there are dangers everywhere. Protect your kids from prowlers, pornography and hate sites. Your children's safety is at stake.
  • Report Child Pornography Report child pornography to the authorities immediately and always so that it can be dealt with. The world does not need this kind of sum and trash.
  • A Dangerous Environment Think the internet is safe for your kids? Think again, and spend the time now to keep them safe - or suffer the consequences.
• Firewalls protect your system You must protect your system with a personal filewall, especially if you are using DSL or cable modem.
  • DMZ A DMZ is useful to allow some systems to be exposed to the outside world while still remaining secure.
  • Honeypots A honeypot is used to get hackers to concentrate their efforts on a decoy system. 
  • Features of a Good Hardware Firewall So you want to get a good hardware firewall? This article presents some of the things you should expect.
• Fraud and scams Be careful when purchasing or signing onto anything on the web, as it's full of fraud schemes. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can help with bonds and stocks, while the U.S. Post Office can help with mail fraud. Remember, there are con men and scams everywhere. (See also Money Making Opportunities - Scams and Cons)
• Referrer You may be unknowingly giving out some of your usernames and passwords as you surf the web. Here's what's happening and how to stop it.
• Social engineering is a way to hack into your system Don't give out your username, password or credit card data without very good reason and being very sure who the other person is. Hackers use something called social engineering to get this data from you.
  • Social engineering - What is it? Ever heard of Social Engineering? It's a way that someone can get around your security and steal or destroy your information!

• Viruses The most important thing you can do to protect your system is install a virus checker (also known as an anti-virus program). These programs will scan your system for viruses and Trojan horses and delete or repair them. There are several products including those by McAfee and Norton (Symantec).
  • Some More About Viruses There is much to know about viruses, and it's important that you learn as much as possible to protect yourself.
  • The Ultimate In Virus Protection Learn how to protect your computer and your hard work. Start with a backup plan, install antivirus software and subscribe to newsletters.
  • Outlook Security Patch If you run Outlook and you want to protect yourself, you should install the Outlook security patch.
  • Viruses - Code Red Worm System administrators will remember the summer of 2001 as a strange time indeed. Code Red and Code Red II are some of the reasons.
  • Viruses - SirCam The SirCam virus is one of the nastiest and most prolific viruses to hit the internet yet.
  • Hoaxes Have you gotten an email recently which claims your computer will be trashed by a horrible virus? Did you send it out to all of your friends? Here's what you should have done.
  • Setting Up Your AntiVirus Software First, get some antivirus software. Next, make sure it is configured in the most paranoid way possible.
  • Get Real About Virus Protection Some people believe they are safe from viruses just because they don't use Microsoft products. They should think again.

• Web Bugs Web bugs are little graphic images inserted into web pages, emails and other web-aware documents to allow companies to gather information about you without your knowledge.
• • Web Bugs Are Crawling Everywhere You've heard about web bugs. They are little things designed to track your movements. Watch out - they are exploding all over the internet.
• Hacker Notes This column is intended to educate people on what threats exist and how they can defend themselves against them.
  • Hacker Notes - Back DoorsSometimes people create alternate ways to get into your system which bypass the front line security. These are called back doors.
  • Hacker Notes - History Hacking has a long and colorful history. It is very interesting reading.
  • Hacker Notes - Denial Of Service Attacks Denial of service attacks have gotten a lot of press lately. What the heck is it?
  • Hacker Notes - Email BombsAn email bomb is a way to deny someone access to his email account for a period of time.
  • Hacker Notes - Passwords You want to have a hacker on your system? Do what most people do and have weak passwords.
  • Hacker Notes - Ping Of Death One common attack method is to send a huge PING packet at a system. Some older or unpatched operating systems will crash in response.
  • Hacker Notes - Terms This article defines some of the terms commonly used by hackers.
  • Hacker Notes - War Dialer Hackers often use war dialers to find modems which they can use to crack into your network.
  • Hacker Notes - Trojan Horses In order to damage, control or even just examine a system a hacker must convince someone (a user, an operating system or an application) to install something for him. A Trojan Horse is one way to do this.
  • Hacker Notes - Web Site Defacement A hacker who wants to "leave his mark" might deface a web site. He might also want to leave a message or simply mock the webmaster.
  • War Driving, War Flying and War Chalking With the advent of extremely inexpensive wireless access points, a new hacking technique called war driving has appeared.
  • Hacker Notes - Zombies Sometimes a virus does not appear to do anything, yet has infected your system. If this happens, you might actually be helping attack a government, a company or a university.

• Cyber terrorism Is cyberterrorism a real threat to the United States? In spite of real possibilities, terrorists prefer weapons that cause mass deaths and destruction.
  • Cyber-terrorism Replies Got some replies to my article on cyber-terrorism. Here are my responses.
  • Let's Use Our Brains, Please I think it's time to begin to use our own brains and be more discrete about what we make available on the internet.
  • Cyber Warfare The United States is at war with terrorism. It's realistic to assume that terrorists will attempt various cyber attacks now and then. So prepare yourself and your network.
• What is a security certificate? Security certificates provide a way whereby people can trust one another on the internet.
• Physical Security Working on making your systems more secure? Before doing anything, ensure they are behind locked doors.
  • Physical Security - Securing Your Laptop Laptops are light and easy to steal, make sure your's is not a statistic.
  • Clean Your Disk Drives Worried about security? How about making sure your drives are clean when you throw them out.