Home Computer Security

Introduction

As far as you know your computer can be a target for intruders . And this, because they want what you have stored on it (for example credit card numbers, bank accounts and anything else they can find.) They steal those information for using your money to buy themselves goods.

Money isn't the whole thing that intruders look for. They might want your computer's resources (your hard disk space, or your fastest processor or internet connection ). You might ask: “why do they need all my computer resources?” Simple: to attack other computers on the internet, or use your hard disk space for storage. Really, the more computers uses an intruder to attack, the harder is to localize that attack and harder to be stopped.

I will tell you why the intruders usually pay attention to home computers: Because home computers are not very secured and easy to break into. Very often, home computers are connected to the internet through high speed connections ( DSL modem s and cable modem s). These are favourite targets because they are connected to the internet almost all the time.

The way the home computers are connected to internet really doesn't count, intruder attacks are often successful. A lot of home computer owners don't realize that they need to pay attention to computer security . This document describes how some parts of internet works and points to some task that you have to complete to improve your home computer security. Your objective: keep the intruders and their tools (programs) off your home computer.

The intruders operate in many ways. They send you an email with a virus program and when you read the email the virus gets activated and opens a gateway for that intruder which can take advantage of your home computer. Other times they take advantage of some weakness of your computer's programs to gain access. We call that weakness: vulnerability . Many times they put downloadable files that contain viruses or Trojans. (For example: drivers, mp3s, and cracks). You can be the one that installs their gateways to your resources.

After they got your computer access, they install some new programs on your computer. These programs let them to continue their black work even you have discovered some vulnerability and you have filled up the security holes. Those programs are called backdoors and they are very clever made programs that use to disguise with other programs that runs on your home computer.

You really need to think about your home computer security. In the next step I will point some (I hope all) of what you need to know and for your good believe about your home computer security's best. It doesn't matter what operating system are you using: Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, the security principles are the same and they will remain the same even if new versions of your operating system comes up.

Thinking About Securing Your Home Computer

The most of computer security specialists associate a computer with a house. Using their model, let's say that your computer is your house. It has goods in it. Think about what you know about a house security, about what do you do to keep it safe, what you installed to keep it safe and secure.

For example you know that if you talk loud, your neighbours can hear you. So, you close the door and the windows, and don't give the key to anybody you don't know. More than that, you might install something to improve your house security.

How about your home computer? It is the same. Almost ALL your communications go over the internet in clear text mode. That means that anybody that can capture your information can read it. You must be very carefully in picking your password. Don't use weak passwords like your name, or birth date. Use strong passwords (disarranged character combinations formed by letters, digits and special characters). And be sure your password is long enough (it have at least 8 – 10 characters).

If possible use the secured protocols while you are surfing on the net or you are using instant messaging services (http s :// instead of http://).

Running an Anti-Virus program is a need. Usually anti-virus programs run in background checking every single file while you are working or surfing.

Be sure you have installed a firewall and be sure that you keep your system services up to date by using patches .

Finally, if you are using sensitive data be sure you use file encryption to improve the level of your home computer security.

I would like to directly give you the steps that you have to follow to improve your home computer security, but I really need to explain you in a few words how some internet parts works.

Keep this in mind

First you need to know that information goes clearly over the internet. We already referred to this by using our house model. If you are talking with your windows opened, people from outside can hear and understand what you are saying. If you need privacy , you and your conversation partner need to have this conversation in another room with the doors and windows closed and if possible don't speak loud.

The internet works the same. The only difference is that the room is much bigger. When you are chatting with someone, or send an email for example, the information doesn't go directly from your computer to the other person's computer. The information goes through thousands computers maybe until it touch its target. More than that, when your words are delivered, it happens something like this: the transfer protocol asks “who is Alice 's Mom because I have this message for her: Hi mom, If you want to use my credit card number for your shopings, this is the number … ” . Imagine that EVERYONE in our internet room listens and almost everyone understands.

You need to know that the information sent over the internet might be captured by people that understand them and even used in their own benefits. That might be a risk for every internet user. You can use encryption programs to solve this problem. There are many programs available on internet.

Second, you need to know that there are many trusted relationships between computers. These relationships of trust can be spoof ed. The intruders use this spoofing technique very often. They can spoof emails, instant messaging services, they can spoof everything. Spoofing involves trickery that makes you think a message appear as if it from an authorized IP address or trusted email address. More than that, every packet can be spoofed. The packet is a piece of a messages transmitted over a network.

This means that any information that you receive over the internet should not be trusted unconditionally. You need to care about your work files or your sensitive data that you might store on your home computer. Be a little paranoid, don't trust all automatically. In fact is better to don't trust anybody in the internet's world. Think about information you trust with caution.