COMPUTER SECURITY

Identity Theft,  Phishing,  SPAM,  Viruses,  SpyWare/MalWare, 
Denial of Service Attacks,  Trojans/Worms....

If you aren't familiar with the above terms, you will be soon. Everyday we are hit with email viruses and SPAM that compromise your security, business data, and system performance. Reading your email used to be fun, now we spend most of the time deleting SPAM and deleting any emails that don't look familiar because there may be a virus attached.

Our email and computers are a playground for SPAM and Virus writers. Does that make you a little concerned or angry? It should.

Not even Microsoft, McAfee or Symantec can keep up with the daily threats. Some even conspire that these three companies are "in bed" together to keep these viruses coming so they can stay in business.

So what can we do? We try to install software that claims to stop SPAM and those annoying popup ads, only to find out that they are actually brining in more SPAM and Ads.

Let's address each one at a time.

VIRUSES
We've all known for some time about computer viruses. Not many have carried a nasty payload that will destroy your computer data completely on a wide-spread basis, but how much longer until that happens? 

In the meantime we are getting Trojans and worms like Netsky, MyDoom, and Coreflood trying to spread into our workstations.

It's my personal theory that virus writers are only testing their programs for a large scale attack. Once they figure out a sure way of propagating their viruses, it will not be long before the Internet is brought down and held captive causing huge economical loss - can you imagine the entire Internet being down for one day, 1 week, or even a month???

Having a virus scanner is good for now. It's been our personal experience that McAfee (http://www.mcafee.com) does a good job at automatically downloading updates and scanning workstations. 

SPYWARE/MALWARE
Spyware/Malware are programs that install themselves in the background of your computer which not only eat up computer resources, but also sends out information about your computer.

For entry level users, AdAware (http://www.lavasoft.de) is free and does an adequate job of finding spyware and other programs that cause your computer to slow way down. SpyBot - Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org) also does a decent job and is free without brining in more garbage into your computer.

PHISHING
When a website looks legitimate but is in fact impersonating one. This is done to collect personal information from a trusted source. For instance, you logon to EBay and/or get an email looking like it comes from EBay asking you a question to submit or update personal info about your account info. 

When clicking on the email link you are actually redirected to an imposter site and tricked into giving out your personal info.... Buyers beware, this leads to Identity Theft.

PROTECT YOURSELF
There are practical steps you can take for yourself in keeping your computer clean of viruses and safe from prying hackers.

1. Install a Virus Scanner - It may be too late for most users as they don't act until their computer behaves slower. When getting a new computer, either update and subscribe to a scanner service or buy your own full version of virus scanning software. 
   **Make sure to set the scanner to update at the end of the day and scan shortly after the update runs. 
   
   
2. Suspicious Email - If you get an email from an address you don't know - delete it! If you get an email from a familiar address you were not expecting, pick up the phone and call the person to make sure it really is from them, especially if it has an attachment. Emails can be spoofed and made to look like it's from a legitimate source.
   
   
3. Browsing Websites - There are still many out there who browse web sites that they are unfamiliar with... maybe even some sites you should not be at. Whatever the case may be, if the sites you visit are full of ad banners, you can bet most of them will be downloading programs and installing themselves onto your computer in the background without your approval. 
   
   Enough of these programs will not only slow down your fast computer, but also compromise your data. Avoid these sites.
   
4. Browser/Email Plug-ins - Stay away from the Email and Browser plug-ins like Hotbar, Yahoo, etc. These may be free downloads, but someone is paying the programmer who made these little plugging. Just remember, anything on the Internet that says it's free, will cost you something in the end.
   
   
5. Cable/DSL Users - If you are one of these users, then you are connected to the Internet 24/7. When you shut off your computer at night, shut off your cable/DSL modem too. This will keep port snoopers from seeing your computer making it stealth or not there.
   
   Why leave your computer on at night broadcasting that it is waiting for a conversation? There are over 65,000 ports on your computer - of which the average user only uses 9 at the most. Unplug it!

ADJUST THE ATTITUDE
It's all common sense. We pay a price for convenience. Whether at work or at home, computers are becoming more of a responsibility rather than personal entertainment. You may think that just because you downloaded software on your computer or opened a suspicious email that it will not affect anyone else. This type of thinking is wrong because your are on a network connected to many others. You actions on your computer affect others like it or not.

Think about the purpose of your computer workstation. If at work, then only work-related  software should be installed and ran. Just because you are bored of your workstation does not mean you should download software to make it pretty or appealing - you are at work after all. Company computers are just that... they are the company's computers, not your personal entertainment center.

As for home, you decide what your computer's function is. If hooked up to the Internet, then think about keeping all sensitive data off that computer. Most homes have more than one computer. Maybe use the computer that is NOT connected to the Internet to keep your documents and financial bills on. Yeah, it's not convenient, but calling your Credit Card company to cancel because someone has been using your credit is more inconvenient. Online Shoppers, try calling the 800# to complete your order instead of using paypal or other Secure Payment software - pick up the phone!

The final side of this is that of morality. If you are the typical user who keeps "everything" on your computer including sensitive data - yet you insist on using File-Sharing programs like Kazaa/Limewire, or visit porn sites or other high risk sites, then prepare for problems. Devious behavior in the privacy of your own home is going away like it or not. Someone will capitalize on your devious behavior eventually.

It's up to you. Do you enjoy fast, safe computer performance? Or are you willing to risk personal data and let your computer become an infested, slow performing doorstop?

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