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Vidia
Communications Help Desk
Computer Security 101
Making sure that your personal computer
is safe from intruders is as important
as it is for your home. And like
securing your home it isn't difficult to
do but it does require some work on your
part. It is very important to ensure
that your computer system is secured. A
machine that has not been secured can
result in a lot of trouble. It can be
used to send Spam or transmit a virus.
It can also be used by a third party as
a jumping point to hack into other
networks or allow them access to your
personal information including financial
information that you have stored on your
machine.
Securing your PC
Securing your personal computer can be
as easy as these three steps:
1. Installing a firewall
2. Making sure your software is up to
date
3. Install Anti-Virus software and make
sure to keep it updated
In addition, Vidia recommends that you
read these sections for other useful
software and online safety tips:
* Checking for Trojan Software
* E-mail safety
* Peer-to-Peer safety
Common Sense Security is a third party
site that contains a lot of good
information on computer security that is
written in terms that many non-computer
oriented people can understand.
Installing a Firewall
There are two types of firewall,
hardware and software. A hardware
firewall is a physical device that you
must install between your cable modem
and your PC. There are many style and
types of these devices but they all
perform the same function. A hardware
firewall acts similar to having another
PC in the line between your main PC and
the modem. The hardware firewall
acquires the public IP from our servers
and assigns a private IP to your PC.
This means that when someone attempts to
access your public IP they are actually
accessing the firewall device, not your
computer. Because your computer is
assigned a private non-routable IP from
the firewall someone accessing the
firewall from the outside cannot access
your PC.
Software firewalls are programs that you
install on your PC. There are a large
number of vendors and cost can range
from free to several hundred dollars.
The ease of configuration of software
firewalls also varies greatly. Some of
the more popular software firewalls are
available from these venders:
* BlackICE PC Protection
* Computer Associates (12 months free)
* McAfee Security
* Symantec
* Tiny Software: Tiny Personal Firewall
* ZoneAlarm
Further information on installing a
firewall can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/firewall.asp
For information on how to secure a home
network go to http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html
Information on how to interpret firewall
logs can be found at http://www.mynetwatchman.com/scanguide.asp
You can test your firewall security by
doing a remote scan of your system from
Shields UP!! by Gibson Research (http://grc.com)
or Sygate Online Services (http://scan.sygatetech.com/).
Installing Anti-Virus Software
Just like in the human world there are
hundreds of thousands of viruses
floating around in cyberspace. There are
new viruses released and found "in
the wild" every day. Because of
this it is important that you
"inoculate" your PC by
installing Anti-Virus software and make
sure that it is kept up-to-date with the
newest virus definitions. You should
configure your software to scan your
system daily as well as having it run in
the background while your system is
running.
There are several Anti-Virus software
vendors. A few of them are listed below:
* Computer Associates (12 months free)
* McAfee Security
* Symantec
* Trend Micro
Some other useful links to information
are computer viruses:
* http://securityresponse.symantec.com/
* http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/
* http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/
It is also extremely important to make
sure your Anti-Virus software is
constantly updated. There are new
viruses discovered every day and
Anti-Virus vendors routinely release
updated virus definitions. Most vendors
release new virus definitions once every
1-2 weeks. Many Anti-Virus software
packages allow you to schedule
definition updates to occur
automatically. Check the documentation
for your particular software to
determine if it has this capability and
how to configure it.
Keeping your system up-to-date
One of the most important things that
you can do to secure your PC is to make
sure that all of your software is
up-to-date. This includes your operating
system as well as anti-virus and
firewall software.
Hundreds of new vulnerabilities are
found every month. It is important to
make sure that your software is updated
to prevent one of these from being used
to access your PC.
Updates for Microsoft operating systems
can be found at the following:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp
Microsoft Office products at the
following: http://office.microsoft.com/OfficeUpdate/default.aspx
These sites allow you to scan your
system to see what updates are needed
for Microsoft products and then tell you
which ones you need to download and
install. In November 2003 Microsoft
began releasing software updates on the
second Tuesday of each month. You should
check your system on that day, or
shortly after, to ensure that your
system is constantly updated. You can
also use the Automatic Updates software
that is included with later versions of
Microsoft Windows. This option can be
found and configured in the control
panel area.
If you are using a Microsoft operating
system information on how to secure your
specific version can be found on
Microsoft's site at this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
Checking for Trojan and Spyware Software
In computers, a Trojan horse is a
program in which malicious or harmful
code is contained inside apparently
harmless programming or data in such a
way that it can get control and do its
chosen form of damage, such as ruining
the file allocation table on your hard
disk. In one celebrated case, a Trojan
horse was a program that was supposed to
find and destroy computer viruses. A
Trojan horse can be considered a virus
if it is widely redistributed.
The use of "spyware" by
marketing companies has risen
dramatically over the past year. This
software can be placed on your system
without you knowing it and can send
personal information to these marketing
companies.
There is software available that can
help identify and remove Trojan
software, as well as Spyware, from your
machine. Although many anti-virus
products will find some Trojans, they
will generally not find all, or
malicious software that may damage or
slow down your Internet connnection. As
such, it is just as important to scan
for these little bugs as well as for
viruses. Below are links to some
examples of sites or programs that can
be used to rid your machine of these
pests.
Webroot Privacy Analyzer
Privacy Analyzer quickly scans your PC
to reveal:
* Hidden spyware infections that can
lead to identity theft, computer
corruption and increased exposure to
advertising.
* Unnecessary cache, cookie and history
files that can slow your system and
expose you to privacy invasions.
* System vulnerabilities that can result
in bombardment from pop-up advertising.
Average scans take less than one minute.
Webroot Spy Audit
Spy Audit scans your system registry and
hard drive space for thousands of known
spyware programs.
Spy Audit shows you what spyware is on
your system. It will not remove or
modify any files.
Spy Audit takes seconds to run.
* TrojanScan
* Spybot Search & Destroy
* a squared
* Ad-Aware
* Digital Patrol
* Pest Patrol
* Tauscan
* The Cleaner
* PC Doorguard
E-mail Safety
Probably the one thing that you can do
that will do the most to safe guard your
machine from a virus infection through
e-mail is DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS.
Unless someone tells you that they are
sending you an attachment do not open
any that you receive.
Even an e-mail that appears to be from a
friend or business associate that
contains an attachment may in fact be a
virus.
One trait of many viruses is that they
pull information from your e-mail
client's address book and send
themselves to every address listed. They
will also show themselves as being from
that individual that is infected. So
what may appear at first glance to be
something that is safe may indeed not
be.
Not using the preview pane is also a
means of preventing infection by some
viruses. There are certain types that
are imbedded in graphics or HTML type
e-mail that can infect your machine
simply by viewing them in the preview
window. Turning off this option will
help safeguard you from these.
Another measure that you can take to
help keep your system from being
infected by e-mail bourn viruses is to
have your anti-virus software scan your
e-mail as it downloads it. This way you
can check the mail for virus infection
before you even see it. See your
anti-virus help files for information on
how to set this up.
Peer-to-Peer safety
Peer-to-Peer file sharing has become
extremely popular over the past couple
of years particularly with the younger
Internet users. P2P, as it is more
widely known, can be very useful when
used for legitimate purposes. But it
also has a dark side. The most widely
publicized has to do with copyright
infringement. This becomes an issue when
you allow files on your system to be
shared with others. When you do this you
then become a provider of the
information and violate the DMCA. More
information on Copyright infringement
and the DMCA can be found HERE.
Information on how to disable sharing on
many of the P2P programs can be found at
the University of Chicago's web site at
http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/no_fileshare.shtml
Information on how to do this with Kazaa
can be found at http://www.musicunited.org/kazaa.pdf
A lesser-known side affect to P2P is the
spyware and Trojan software that can end
up on your system as a result. This can
happen as the result of spyware or
Trojan software contained within the
application itself or as the result of
downloading what you thought was a good
file that was actually a piece of
spyware or Trojan. This is just another
good reason to make sure that your
anti-virus software is up to date. There
is a good article on this problem
located at the following:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1373801,00.asp
NOTE: All of the links and software
provided on this page are provided as a
courtesy to our customers. Vidia does
not recommend any particular software
for a particular purpose. Vidia will not
provide support for these products.
Support requirements are met solely by
the software vendor and Vidia assumes no
responsibility for any issues that may
arise through your use of any of the
products listed here.
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