Online Privacy
I first started looking into security when I read an article by Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation, this man is amazing, and his site is scary, but he is there to help the surfer. His site is forever in my top 10 sites to visit. I won't rewrite the site, but there are a number of very useful items on the site.
Check out the "Shields Up" test. There are two parts, one tests your security shield and the other probes 10 ports on your computer to try and gain access. I don't know what the Shields Up tells you because it's never been able to access my computer. So try it and if it gets in I'd be interested to know what it says. The Port Probe gives you a choice of results of "Stealth", "Closed" or "Open" and advises appropriately when you scroll down the page.
Another useful utility is a little file called "Leak Test" which you download onto your computer and when you activate it, it tries to access the internet in the manner of a Trojan virus.
There are many interesting things on this site where security is concerned, go have a look. Especially if you don't have a firewall yet. You will do shortly afterwards.
Online Vulnerability
When you log on to the internet, your service provider gives you an IP (Internet Protocol) address which identifies you to other computers on the internet. Should you commit an offence, you can be traced via your ISP. Unless you have broadband access your IP Address will change each time you log in.
The most likely reason someone may try to hack into your computer is to find personal information such as passwords or financial information. If you are connected via a broadband connection you are increadibly vulnerable as you are online much longer and your IP address remains constant.
So, what steps can we take to protect ourselves?
- Unexpected file sharing risks. If you are connected via a cable modem, it's like being attached to a local network. If the cable system is set up in a certain way and your Windows operating system has file sharing allowed, you are welcoming in everyone on your local network to view and, if they wish, copy every file on your computer. To stop this, go to your Network Neighbourhood icon, right click on it, select properties, click on Printer and File Sharing and a dialogue box appears with 2 checkboxes, one for your files, one for your printer. Uncheck both to deny sharing. If you are part of a home or office network, you will be connected via a Hub or Router which will issue all the computers a different IP Address when connecting to the internet. It is also possible to instruct your Router to disconnect from the internet after a period of Idle Time.
- Protect your passwords. Use unpredictable passwords when you log on to the internet or any password protected sites. Many people include such things as their surname, part of their address, names of partners or children. Could your password be guessed ? I'm not saying that everyone is out to get you, but you never know. Passwords are the easiest to protect, but often the least considered. If your house was burgled, and your computer stolen, have you checked any "Remember Me" or "Remember My Password" boxes on any sites ? If you have, they are instantly accessible.
- Cookies. Should you worry about cookies? Cookies are much maligned - they are used to remember you when you return to particular sites so that the site owner can tailor content to you, or simply recognise you with a simple 'Hello Firstname', or hold your shopping cart contents while you bisit other pages etc. They can provide information to the site owners such as how often you visit, what you have looked at and which links you have used. So assuming that it is not an illegal site you are visiting, I don't see a problem with them. You can clear cookies via your internet options anyway.
Prevent intrusions
The most successful way to prevent unwanted intrusion is to install a firewall. Think of a firewall as exactly that, a wall of fire which turns anything away unless it has your express permission to enter. I installed ZoneAlarm Free Edition, free for home use and on many disks free with magazines or from ZoneLabs. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of unauthorised access to my computer.
ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite
When I first installed it I was constantly getting a small window saying "Unauthorised access has been bloked at port ****** from IP Address ***.**.*.***" It occasionally had a website address instead of the IP address. Lots of people want to know your surfing habits, these unauthorised accesses were "Third Party" cookies. People associated with sites I visited and may have been doing market research or lining me up for lots of Spam emails, or just trying to gain access. This window appeared so often that I disabled the warning and left it to protect me without telling me.
A firewall will also block access from your computer to the internet, if you want to stop a program accessing without your permission you can stop it. But more importantly, if you get a Trojan virus, where the first part collects information on your computer and is then joined by a second part which sends the information back to the originator, the sending of the information can be blocked by the firewall. I know this because it's happened to me, even with all the anti virus and anti trojan software I have, the trojan set itself in place and I knew nothing until ZoneAlarm advised me that an application (named but unprintable on here) was trying to access the internet. So I stopped it and then deleted it.