Great 'Easy Computer Security and Privacy Tips' Hunt

110frankie

Even if I know the person sending me an attachment, unless they sent it by arrangement I still don't open it without mailing them and asking if they sent it.
Their email may have been hijacked.

blinky

Comodo Firewall is free and is better than Windows built in one. Doesn't work with Vista.

Spybot Search and Destroy and Spyware blocker for antispyware.

http://www.activevirusshield.com/ AOL free antivirus - this a a cut down version of Kaspersky, one of the top performers.

ollyshaw

If you are a true moneysaver, use ubuntu. https://www.ubuntu.com A free operating system with no spyware or viruses.

Olly

Blacksheep1979

cwaring wrote: »

Because people exploit them un-necessarily?

But is it unnecessary? If we didn't have moderate levels of threat, like crime in society then we wouldn't think about having protection. Then when one rogue individual came along they would have an easy time profitting/easily damaging everyone else. Just think how much trouble you'd be in if hackers hadn't existed for the last x years and banks all of a sudden started to be targeted by scammers now.

robinw77

ollyshaw wrote: »

If you are a true moneysaver, use ubuntu. https://www.ubuntu.com A free operating system with no spyware or viruses.

Also, there's plenty of free (Open Source) software available for Windows PCs, Macs and Linux variants such as Ubuntu mentioned above. This is developed on the basis that you or I could work on it, rather than a dedicated team of costly developers, hence the free-ness. Whatever program you use, there is generally an Open Source (OSS) alternative - the Firefox web browser, Open Office, GIMP drawing package, and so on. Wikipedia has a list of what's available. An extra incentive is that there are generally fewer hacks for Open Source software and the ones that do get exploited, get fixed much quicker than the ones for, say, Internet Explorer.

If the idea of installing Linux puts you off, then Ubuntu has been said to be easier to install than Windows. A good compromise is buying a Mac, which is what I'm pressing these buttons on now. They're more expensive, although less so than in the past, but there's far less fiddling to do and there are very few (if any) known viruses/hacks for them because of both their increased security and lower popularity. Let's not get into the old Mac/Windows/Linux debate here though!

Robin

cockshooters

Mentioned briefly before http://www.grc.com is an excellent source of information about internet security. The "Shields Up" feature will quickly identify any open ports on your computer.

Lawrence and Hilarie :beer:

choosewisely

If you're on broadband a hardware router/firewall gives you more protection than a USB ADSL modem and software firewall alone gives. Keep running a software firewall too though as that let's you know when something bad is going out as well as coming in.

If you're reasonably techie then IPCop, a free linux based firewall is easy to set up on an old PC and by adding a few mods you can have it scanning email and web traffic for spam, viruses, phishing etc. at the gateway before anything ever reaches your local network.

Encrypt your wireless!!! - Wherever I go (as an wandering IT consultant) I often turn on my wireless on my laptop out of interest and there are always unsecured wireless networks around that anyone can connect to. Not only could a smart person intercept your internet traffic but they can use you connection for anything they want including illegal activities and they would all be traced back to you. As a minimum encrypt your wireless connections.

emmapolo

get a mac....:rotfl:

phemalee

WHERE TO START
Prevention is the best method of attack, don't wait until you get something nasty on your PC, it will take you longer in the long run. Always seek advice from a more technically minded person who will usually guide you to the right place. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS update security products. Just because you haven't got a virus now, if you don't update it, you increase your chances and it's pointless buying it in the first place! My sister's internet security hadn't been updated since she installed it...in 2001!!

ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT
If you use the administrator account, make sure you use a password to log onto Windows. Not using this is like leaving your front door wide open when you go out. If you're unsure if you are using the administrator account, it is usually the account that lets you install and uninstall programs. In addition to this, you could also create and log onto a standard user account to surf the internet, so that if something tries to install itself, it will not have sufficient privileges to do so. This is particularly useful if you have kids (or adults) who just like to click 'YES' to every pop-up messages that appears!! Another thing to remember is to shut down your PC if you aren't using it. Simple, yet effective.

INTERNET SECURITY
Always install a firewall and real time anti-virus scanner along with anti-spyware/malware scanners before you do anything else. When setting up others' PCs, this is always first on my list. These can be bought or downloaded for free so there's no excuse. And keep it simple so you are more likely to keep products up to date (see above). Personally, I use Norton Internet Security along with Spyware Blaster, Adaware and Spybot S&D.

INTERNET BROWSING
Use a browser such as Firefox (which I am now) instead of Internet Explorer. The reason being, it is more secure and less widely used so a hacker will usually go for the biggest impact and therefore the most widely used product. Also, as it is Open Source, any security flaws are more likely to be quickly ironed out before they affect many people. Please note - some sites require functions only offered by Internet Explorer, so leave this installed just in case you need it.

VIRUS CHECKS
Run regular virus checks on CDs/Data Pens before you use them, these may contain the same spyware/viruses as emails but is often overlooked.

SURFING ACTIVITIES
Don't go on dodgy websites. Sounds obvious, but I'm not just talking about !!!!!!. Lots of websites generate extra income by having pop-up adverts and windows, which are not controlled by the original website and which could contain many nasties!

UNNECESSARY SOFTWARE
Don't install software you don't need. Many small add-on products also act as spyware, some which monitor internet activity and have the potential to report your net usage back to third parties and generate pop-ups, including !!!!!!, not great if the family has children!

EMAILS
Be vigilant regarding emails received, if you don't know the sender, delete it. Even if you do know the sender and the attachment(s) look dodgy, they probably are.

PHISHING EMAILS
Don't trust emails that appear to be from financial institutions which ask you for your personal details, these are called PHISHING emails and are bogus. Some even ask you for your ATM PIN! If in doubt, always type in the address of the company's website that you are familar with to log onto your account.

PASSWORD PROTECTION
Always password protect sensitive documents so if someone does get hold of your documents, it's harder for them to crack. Use an alpha-numeric password and include special characters (e.g. £%$&) if possible to make it stronger. If data is extremely sensitive, use a recent version of Winzip (or similar product) to Zip your files to a higher encryption, preferably 256bit.

That's all I can think of for now, hope this helps some of you out!
Lee

mkornblum

Hi,

I was reading this thread and agree with a lot of the tips here, but also think a few of them might be beyond some of the readership. I am a web developer and systems administrator; I also have a large family who call me up with ANY computer-related query - so I have a little experience with setting up and securing home systems cheaply of for free

I would also recommend a Mac as OS X is very secure. You can use the free ClamXav virus checker with it to boost you a little. Linux based systems are also good, but I understand that most people will be using a Windows PC, so this is mainly aimed at them.

In the interests of brevity (!!) I have not explained how to do most of the tips here, but you should be able to Google the answers for all of them...

Internet Connection
Ideally, use a router. These cheap bits of hardware are designed to allow you to set up a small network at home, allowing your computers to share files, printers etc. They generally have a built-in firewall (which is your best defence against viruses) and increasingly have a wireless component. Belkin and Netgear make good ones.

If you use wireless access, or even if you just have wireless on your router, set it up properly. If you ever shop online, or access your bank account on your computer, you should encrypt your wireless connection. This means set it up with WPA (or WPA/PSK, etc) security, not just WEP. It is now possible to hack a WEP secured network in under 10 seconds (once you are hacked the hacker can listen to your communicdation, pulling out all your passwords, etc).

Use a software firewall if you haven't got a hardware one. It will slow your machine down but it's worth it not to get an infection. I recommend ZoneAlarm - it is free and comes with decent default settings. Don't be fooled into upgrading to the paid-for one! (on my mac I use iptables, but this is harder to configure. OS X has a built-in firewall that is fairly good).

Use Anti-virus Software. I recommend AVG Anti-Virus (https://www.grisoft.com), also free. It is easy to setup and updates almost daily. Again, don't be tempted to upgrade to the paying one.

Security Policy
Turn on Automatic Updates. Set your computer up to download and install all updates automatically. If you see the gold shield in the bottom right of the screen, or any other notice for that matter, always take the time to perform the update.

set up an administrator account that you use when installing software or changing settings, and a user account (or several!) for general use. This pays dividends in the long run.

Take half an hour or so to make sure your Email client (Outlook etc) is set up properly. The settings are there to stop things being downloaded automatically. In my experience this isn't necessary as they are fairly good by default.

Never open a file that you are not expecting to receive, or whose sender you don't know. If you use AVG Email Scanner this is less important.

Choose a good password. It should be alphanumeric (letters and numbers) of mixed case, ideally with punctuation. I use 3 different passwords, for different levels of security (i.e. my password for this forum is different to my bank one, and to my work one). L33T (as described above) is not a great idea, as most hackers include LEET words in their 'dictionary' - the list of words to try first. Ideally find one that is automatically generated, and memorise it.

Do a scan with your anti-virus software, around once a week. Schedule it in the software so you don't forget. Set the scanner up to automatically quarantine (render unusable) or delete any infected files.

Finally
Things like the antivirus, the firewall and the encrypted wireless connection all slow down your system, but they are worth doing as they save you time in the long run.

A couple of things that can speed you up: extra RAM is cheap these days, it is always worth bumping it up a bit if your computer is running slowly. Secondly, schedule a defrag weekly - it makes an enormous difference.


Anyway, I hope this tome helps a few people out there!! Let me know what you think of my tips

MK