Plan of Action

The following is a brief action plan presented through a range of steps in order to protect your computer from any potential harm. The plan has been divided into three sections:

• Installing protective systems
• Tuning the installed protections
• Behaving to avoid difficulties

If you observe and follow these guidelines you will limit your security threats and have few remaining concerns.

Installing Protective Systems

The foundation of having effective security for your computer is to set up a barrier, this can be done by installing security protection systems such as firewall, anti-virus software, anti-spyware protection, and possibly a rootkit scanner.

Firewall

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. If you are running a modern operating system, windows XP or newer, or Mac OSX, a firewall is already operating. Otherwise, installing personal firewall software is essential.

Virus protection

An anti-virus is protective software designed to defend your computer against malicious software, or "malware" includes: viruses, Trojans, key loggers, hijackers, dialers, and other code that vandalises or steals your computer contents. In order to be an effective defense, your antivirus software needs to run in the background at all times, and should be kept updated so it recognizes new versions of malicious software.

Anti-spyware

Spyware is software that snoops on your private information, causes advertising pop-ups, and monitors your Internet behavior for advertising purposes. Anti-spyware software is a type of program designed to prevent and detect unwanted spyware program installations and to remove those programs if installed. Detection may be either rules-based or based on downloaded definition files that identify currently active spyware programs.

Rootkit detection

A rootkit is malware that directly manipulates the operating system data structures to hide its presence. It does this, for example, by removing itself from the list of active programs that users see. Rootkits have become a much more serious problem in recent years for those visiting certain kinds of sites, such as gaming sites, gambling sites, pornography, and similar "not-G-rated" destinations. If your computer has been used to visit such sites, install a rootkit detector (search "rootkit detection software"). Once this software is installed, a periodic review to make sure it is up-to-date is wise. The company or shareware site that provided the software will have information on updates or newer versions.

Tuning Installed Protections

The barrier is your first line of defense; the next step is to tune up the other software you are using. This begins with your operating system.

Staying up-to-date

Keeping your operating system updated is very important. Recent versions of Windows have automatic OS updates, and because these very frequently deliver security "patches," it is essential that the process be allowed; browsers also depend for their effectiveness on automatic updates. Most other applications automatically check for updates, giving you the opportunity to install them. They should be installed, too. Why run old, buggy software?

Browser sense

Firefox is the required browser for the "lab" exercises in this book, and using it as your default browser is smart; Opera and Safari are other good options. The browser is the main entry point for external information, and so its security is critical. Firefox is sound, and responsive in the face of new security threats. The key point, however, is not to use the security-plagued older versions of Internet Explorer.

Emailer sense

The developers of Firefox also distribute a great email program, Thunderbird. Switching from your current mailer to Thunderbird is not difficult, and like Firefox, Thunderbird is responsive to the contemporary security issues.

Spam filter

It is probably wise to check your spam quarantine to be sure that you are not missing email. If spam is getting through, consider adjusting its threshold.

WiFi protection

If your computer is using a wireless connection to the Internet, then it is receiving and sending all of its information by radio broadcast, which any computer can listen to. That includes passwords. An essential requirement is that you encrypt the transmissions so others cannot observe them. The wired equivalent privacy WEP2 is required at a minimum; WEP is not secure enough. Other protocols can offer even greater security.

Disable file sharing

Though file sharing can be convenient, it is a risky facility to leave running in large wireless network situations such as a college campus; snoopers can be poking around. Leave it turned off until you absolutely need it, and then leave it on the minimum amount of time in such cases. As before, once configured in a security-sensitive way, little needs to be done except periodic reviews

Behaving to Avoid Difficulties

As in other aspects of our lives, we can adopt certain computer usage habits that help us avoid difficulties.

Download cautions

The greatest security risk to your computer is installing compromised software. But a computer is useless without software, implying that you must download it. Thus, removing the "compromised" modifier is the only choice; that is, only install the good stuff. There are two points: First, never install software without thinking about it beforehand, especially if the request to install is unexpected. When the computer asks if you want to install some software, you shouldn't be thinking, "Huh? Where did that come from?" but rather, "Yes, that's what I'm trying to do." Second, you should know the source of the software you are installing. If a Web site says you need a newer version of Flash (or some other software) to run their software, type in www.flash.com to get it; don't take the version offered. It could be fine, but the copy from flash.com is definitely good. For shareware, that is, free software, trust sites like SourceForge, ZDNet,V3.

Careful with attachments

As we explained, open email attachments only when you are expecting them. Otherwise, contact the sender to find out what the attachment was about, especially if it has one of the "watch list" file extensions.

Password protection

Adopt a set of passwords as described earlier?standard, rarely changed, and another that you willingly change when requested?all based on the one theme. Naturally, you will use strong passwords for sensitive uses such as online banking, but the passwords discussed earlier can be easy enough to use and remember that several will cover most of your applications. Password-protecting your computer is smart, too; probably more people have access to it than you think.

By setting such a plan in motion, you can have the confidence that your computer is protected. Then, only casual attention to the "latest" in security news and the occasional review of your plan are probably all you need to keep the "bad guys" away.

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