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Broadband Security - Part 2 (securing Your Computer)
There are several ways how security is breached, and having a security package in place can prevent “online criminals” gaining personal information. trojans This is not a new method of attack. Computer viruses have been using this method for many years before widely adopted broadband Internet connections. Such viruses would infect your computer and usually provide no visible evidence that they existed. These viruses would be scanning your computer for information and sending it back to the hacker over a network. Most Trojans intrude a computer system after either installing dubious downloaded software from the internet or, by opening e-mail attachments. Viruses A virus is a small program written to do various things to a computer. The action a virus takes depends on the motives of its author but can range, more seriously, a complete wipe of your hard disk. Most people already understand the threat of viruses and take precautions by running anti-virus software. E-Mail Attachments E-Mail historically started out as being plain text sent to and from recipients connected by a network. As Internet technology improved, we firstly had the ability to attach files to e-mail and then, recently, the ability to format e-mails in the language of a Web Browser (i.e. HTML). The most popular way in which a hacker can use e-mail to place a "trojan" in your computer is by sending infected attachments containing malicious programs or scripts. When you try to open the attachment (Note: Sometimes even previewing an email is enough to infect your computer), it instantly runs and installs itself on your computer. At this point, your computer has been breached. Simply turning it off & on will not remove the Trojan. The hacker now has full access to the parts of your computer. You can spot potentially dangerous attachments by how the file name ends. If it ends in .exe, .js, .vbs, .dll or .ocx, it is a program and can be run as malicious code. Pharming Pharming is a relatively new scam. It involves re-directing users to bogus websites where users are encouraged to enter personal / account information into a bogus website without knowing. A Pharming attack consists of an internal attack on your computer whereby a program or process is installed that deliberately re-directs legitimate requests. For example, if I were infected with a Pharming virus, then when for example I type "www.my-bank-online.com" into my web browser, this could be intercepted and re-directed to "www.i-have-your-details.com" without my knowledge. No doubt the bogus website would look very similar to my legitimate website and I would type in my security details as normal and would be unaware that I had been conned. Key Loggers Key loggers are programs that, once installed, record key presses on a computer keyboard. These key presses are then sent (again, without the users knowledge or consent) over the internet to a criminals system whereby they can capture and use sensitive information such as bank account details or credit card numbers. Spyware The term Spyware can include a number of different methods of intrusion including viruses, Trojans and key loggers. The definition of what is and is not Spyware is still somewhat unresolved. For example, various well known computer hardware manufacturers have been accused of using "spyware" products as part of their after sales support software. Anti Virus Most people know by now that having anti-virus software in place is essential, but many viruses still occur on computers with anti-virus software on. Why? The reason is that the virus was not recognised by the anti-virus software, and this would be because the anti-virus software had not been updated regularly to include new virus threats. It is essential that you update you anti-virus software regularly with the latest virus information. Updates are available from anti-virus software vendors, or the majority of anti-virus software has automatic update technology built in, so that updates occur on a regular basis. It is very important you are aware of these “threats”, and to block any broadband internet hackers from trying to gain personal information and corrupt files in your computer. Getting spyware under control is a fairly. All we need to do is to run regular scans of our computer systems using the right tools. The majority of spyware tools are free at the moment. Please see below for some alternatives:- AdAware (personal edition is free) Microsoft antispyware The following recommendations for implementing computer security summarise the article:- Install and regularly update Antivirus. Install and configure a Firewall. Install and regularly run AntiSpyware. Don't send personal information by email. By having a basic understanding of computer security and knowing how to minimise our risks, we can now hopefully feel at greater ease whilst using and enjoying our broadband connections both at home and in the office. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Compare Broadband Providers, Browse Broadband. |
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