Computer Security, Viruses And Threats.

Submitted by: Drew Pilton

Today, many people rely on computers to do homework, work, and create or store useful information. Therefore, it is important for the information on the computer to be stored and kept properly. It is also extremely important for people on computers to protect their computer from data loss, misuse, and abuse. For example, it is crucial for businesses to keep information they have secure so that hackers can’t access the information. Home users also need to take means to make sure that their credit card numbers are secure when they are participating in online transactions. A computer security risk is any action that could cause loss of information, software, data, processing incompatibilities, or cause damage to computer hardware, a lot of these are planned to do damage. An intentional breach in computer security is known as a computer crime which is slightly different from a cybercrime. A cybercrime is known as illegal acts based on the internet and is one of the FBI’s top priorities. There are several distinct categories for people that cause cybercrimes, and they are refered to as hacker, cracker, cyberterrorist, cyberextortionist, unethical employee, script kiddie and corporate spy.

*The Hacker.

The term hacker was actually known as a good word but now it has a very negative view. A hacker is defined as someone who accesses a computer or computer network unlawfully. They often claim that they do this to find leaks in the security of a network.

*The Cracker.

The term cracker has never been associated with something positive this refers to someone how intentionally access a computer or computer network for evil reasons. It’s basically an evil hacker. They access it with the intent of destroying, or stealing information. Both crackers and hackers are very advanced with network skills.

*The Cyberterrorist.

A cyberterrorist is someone who uses a computer network or the internet to destroy computers for political reasons. It’s just like a regular terrorist attack because it requires highly skilled individuals, millions of dollars to implement, and years of planning.

*The Cyberextortionist.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Z4A5VeqJQ[/youtube]

The term cyberextortionist refers to someone who uses emails as an offensive force. They would usually send a company a very threatening email stating that they will release some confidential information, exploit a security leak, or launch an attack that will harm a company’s network. They will request a paid sum of money to prevent the threat from being carried out, a bit like black mailing.

*The Unethical Employee.

An unethical employee is an employee that illegally accesses their company’s network for numerous reasons. One could be the money they can get from selling top secret information, or some may be bitter and want revenge.

*The Script Kiddie.

A script kiddie is someone who is like a cracker because they may have the intentions of doing harm, but they usually lack the technical skills. They are usually silly teenagers that use prewritten hacking and cracking programs.

*The Corporate Spy.

A corporate spy has extremely high computer and network skills and is hired to break into a specific computer or computer network to steal or delete data and information. Shady companies hire these type people in a practice known as corporate espionage. They do this to gain an advantage over their competition an illegal practice.

Business and home users must do their best to protect or safeguard their computers from security risks. The next part of this article will give some pointers to help protect your computer. However, one must remember that there is no one hundred percent guarantee way to protect your computer so becoming more knowledgeable about them is a must during these days.

When you transfer information over a network it has a high security risk compared to information transmitted in a business network because the administrators usually take some extreme measures to help protect against security risks. Over the internet there is no powerful administrator which makes the risk a lot higher. If your not sure if your computer is vulnerable to a computer risk than you can always use some-type of online security service which is a website that checks your computer for email and Internet vulnerabilities. The company will then give some pointers on how to correct these vulnerabilities. The Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center is a place that can do this. The typical network attacks that puts computers at risk includes viruses, worms, spoofing, Trojan horses, and denial of service attacks. Every unprotected computer is vulnerable to a computer virus which is a potentially harming computer program that infects a computer negatively and altering the way the computer operates without the user’s consent. Once the virus is in the computer it can spread throughout infecting other files and potentially damaging the operating system itself. It’s similar to a bacteria virus that infects humans because it gets into the body through small openings and can spread to other parts of the body and can cause some damage. The similarity is, the best way to avoid is preparation. A computer worm is a program that repeatedly copies itself and is very similar to a computer virus. However the difference is that a virus needs to attach itself to an executable file and become a part of it. A computer worm doesn’t need to do that, it copies itself to other networks and eats up a lot of bandwidth. A Trojan Horse named after the famous Greek myth and is used to describe a program that secretly hides and actually looks like a legitimate program but is a fake. A certain action usually triggers the Trojan horse, and unlike viruses and worms it will not replicate itself. Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are all classified as malicious-logic programs which are just programs that deliberately harm a computer. Although these are the common three there are many more variations and it would be almost impossible to list them. You know when a computer is infected by a virus, worm, or Trojan horse if your computer displays one or more of these things:

*Screen shots of weird messages or pictures appear.

*You have less available memory than you expected.

*Music or sounds plays randomly.

*Files get corrupted.

*Programs are files don’t work properly.

*Unknown files or programs randomly appear.

*System properties fluctuate.

Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses deliver their payload or instructions through three common ways.

1 – When an individual runs an infected program so if you download a lot of things you should always scan the files before executing, especially executable files.

2 – When an individual boots a computer with an infected drive, so that is why it’s important to not leave removable media in your computer when you shut it down.

3 – When an unprotected computer connects to a network. Today, a very common way that people get a computer virus, worm, or Trojan horse is when they open up an infected file through an email attachment.

There are literally thousands of malicious logic programs and new ones come out by the numbers so that’s why it’s important to keep up to date with new ones that come out each day. Many websites keep track of this. There is no known method for providing 100% protection for any computer or computer network from computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, but people can take several precautions to significantly reduce their chances of being infected by one of those malicious programs. Whenever you start a computer you should have no removable media in the drives. This goes for CD, DVD, and floppy disks. When the computer starts up it tries to execute a boot sector on the drives and even if it’s unsuccessful any given virus on the boot sector can infect the computer’s hard disk. If you must start the computer using removable media for any reason, such as when the hard disk fails and you are trying to reformat the drive make sure that the disk is not infected.

How can you protect your computer?

The best way to protect your computer from any of the above is by using good quality internet securities software. Purchasing this from a reputable security company is recommended to ensure that your software is kept up to date with the most recent virus signatures. If you are not up to date an unrecognised virus will not be stopped by the software. A full security package will protect you from viruses, Worms, Trojan horses, keyloggers and will detect when a hacker is attempting to hack into your computer and prevent them from gaining access when you are online or connected to a network. It is not advisable to use a free antivirus service as these do not provide adequate protection and are a false economy. Recommended internet security software companies are:- Norton, McAfee and others.

About the Author: The auther is dedicated to PC security and PC health. See the Error Doctor Award Winning Registry Cleaner Software.

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You May Think That Your Home Computer Network Is As Safe As Bug In A Rug It Is Not

Submitted by: William Piker

You may think that your home computer internet network is as safe as a bug in a rug . After all your Linksys or D-Link brand or another popular brand offers state of the art security features. Perhaps you have the standard WEP 64, or the safe as the banks WEP 128 encryption format. Perhaps you have even gone one step further to the ultra newer safe WPA router data security formats or even to greater security heights.

Your computer network is ultra secure. Or so you think and have beer reassured. Perhaps you have even had a computer security professional do the setup and maintenance,

And yet your personal data or banking information may be stolen. Your children may be directed to bad internet sites or worse. Your windows security updates may be compromised leaving your computer and network open to wide and wider scale attacks on your computer. Your confidential passwords whether they are for email, medical, airline or even banking may be compromised or stolen. Finally your computer may be utilized as a zombie in large scale denial of service attacks on the internet. Your computer and many thousands of other may be set, waiting patiently for long periods of time, to be activated as a sleeper agent. Which along with many thousand of other remote computers are set on secret activation to altogether overwhelm some target whether it be government computers, the CNN online news network or whatever?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emdzQJQnK08[/youtube]

How are all of these threats possible? Computer security is always a case of cat and mouse with human ingenuity always at the root of the game. The hackers do this.

The computer security network react to fix the security hole it issue whether it be Microsoft, Apple Computer or the Computer Hardware of Computer Hardware accessories manufacturers . And then the computer hackers think of an alternate means of attack.

In this case, even though it apparently seems that even though your wireless or simple cabled non wireless computer network has another gaping security hole. Home routers are at risk of being compromised by remote hackers. As a result of innocently or inadvertently visiting web pages malicious standard java script type software can access the controls of your home router and reset the controls inside the router to cause you big trouble.

Your router can be set to visit certain sites instead of where you wish to go. This may be simply to redirect you to sites containing advertising of the villain s daily choice. You may be taken inadvertently to websites which in a flash download further viscous and mean software, on a regular basis. Or even worse you may be taken to fake sites which are not what they represent. For example you may well type in the bank of America http://bankofamerica.com website. You may even have searched the name by Google. You will think you are being directed to this banking website where you enter your account name and password only to discover you cannot access your account because you are a bogus copy of the front page of that website whose purpose is to steal your banking account and passwords.

The answer to this security problem is simple. Simply change the administration password in your router from the default out of the box, out of the manual and factory to anything else.

As a result the malicious java script will not be able to unlock and enter your router and do its damage. The simple answer to these router security issues and securing your router firmly is to easily and simply change the administration password on your router whether it is wireless or a wired router. Now your home computer network and router will be safe from this threat.

About the Author: Max A. Rubin

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Do You Have A False Sense Of Cybersecurity For Mobile?

Nearly three-quarters of Americans have never installed data protection applications or security software on their mobile devices to prevent data loss or defend against viruses and malware. 72% of us have unsecured smartphones, to be exact, even though we are using them more frequently in our digital lives.

Arecent survey shows that 44% of Americans use smartphones to access the Internet, and 75% say they access the Internet more frequently on their device today than they did one year ago.

Digital research firm comScore found that close to 32.5 million Americans accessed banking information via mobile device at the end of the second quarter of 2011, a 21% increase from in the fourth quarter of 2010. Approximately 24% of consumers store computer or banking passwords on their mobile devices, according to Consumer Reports’ 2011 State of the Net Survey. More than half of smartphone users do not use any password protection to prevent unauthorized device access. And according to Gartner, 113 mobile phones are lost every minute in the U.S. alone.

With unit sales of smartphones and tablets eclipsing those of desktop and laptop PCs, cybercriminals will continue setting their sights on mobile, and increased mobile Internet use will continue exacerbating security and data breach issues.

Protect yourself:

Use mobile security software and keep it current. Having complete mobile security protection like that offered in McAfee Mobile Security is a primary safety and security measure.

Automate software updates. Many software programs will automatically connect and update to defend against known risks. Turn on automatic updates if that’s an available option.

Protect all devices that connect to the Internet. Along with computers, smartphones, gaming systems, and other web-enabled devices also need protection from viruses and malware.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Evangelist to McAfee. See him discussing identity theft on YouTube.(Disclosures)

Computer Security Get Prepared Or Loose Your Data

Submitted by: NamSing Then

The very much imminent threat to anyone using his or her computer online is the possible attacks or intrusions by Trojans, Viruses, Key loggers, Spy wares and etc. Some of the following preparations help you combat these threats in your quest to computer security.

Installing Antivirus Programs

Download and install one or more of the popular antivirus softwares and set them to update automatically. Viruses infest your computer from any of the input sources like diskettes, suspicious websites, emails and downloaded programs. Check these things every time you need to use them with these antivirus programs. You can also configure antivirus programs to automatically protect you whenever you connect to internet. If you are a professional user of internet, scan the whole system for virus as frequently as you want. These anti virus programs either destroy or quarantine viruses whenever they catch them.

Upgrade Your Operating System

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVfDJZ7Qcg[/youtube]

Vendors of operating systems often upgrade their releases and distribute the upgrades as service packs or patches. The service packs plug loopholes in the operating systems and make them robust by taking care of bugs. Subscribe to continuous up-gradation programs which automatically download the patches as and when they are made available.

Treat Email Attachments with Due Diligence

Macros and viruses are distributed by their creators as email attachments too. Don t open the mail or download the attachment unless you are sure of the senders and you were expecting the mail. Suspicious mails and attachments could possibly contain self installing viruses. If the mail subject line sounds amazing or suspicious just delete it or scan the attachment prior to opening it.

Use Firewalls

Firewalls are by far the strongest internet/intranet protection for computer security. They are either hardware or software tools that effectively scan data transfers from and to your computer. You can set parameters to scan based on location and type of data transfer.

Password Protection

Use of stronger passwords is a great help in onsite computer security. Strong passwords are longer in length and combine alphanumeric combinations with upper and lower case alphabets thrown in. They are never the words from dictionary, names of places or humans etc.

Keep Backups of Important Data

Regularly make backups of important data, just in case.

Be sensible to check certificates when downloading something from an unknown site. Use file encryption facilities to curtail unauthorized access to your files. Finally, your office computer can be secured by password protection against manual intrusions.

About the Author: NamSing Then is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites

Computer Security Software

and

Secure

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Computer Security Get Prepared Or Loose Your Data

Submitted by: NamSing Then

The very much imminent threat to anyone using his or her computer online is the possible attacks or intrusions by Trojans, Viruses, Key loggers, Spy wares and etc. Some of the following preparations help you combat these threats in your quest to computer security.

Installing Antivirus Programs

Download and install one or more of the popular antivirus softwares and set them to update automatically. Viruses infest your computer from any of the input sources like diskettes, suspicious websites, emails and downloaded programs. Check these things every time you need to use them with these antivirus programs. You can also configure antivirus programs to automatically protect you whenever you connect to internet. If you are a professional user of internet, scan the whole system for virus as frequently as you want. These anti virus programs either destroy or quarantine viruses whenever they catch them.

Upgrade Your Operating System

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on2QoYQKHEQ[/youtube]

Vendors of operating systems often upgrade their releases and distribute the upgrades as service packs or patches. The service packs plug loopholes in the operating systems and make them robust by taking care of bugs. Subscribe to continuous up-gradation programs which automatically download the patches as and when they are made available.

Treat Email Attachments with Due Diligence

Macros and viruses are distributed by their creators as email attachments too. Don t open the mail or download the attachment unless you are sure of the senders and you were expecting the mail. Suspicious mails and attachments could possibly contain self installing viruses. If the mail subject line sounds amazing or suspicious just delete it or scan the attachment prior to opening it.

Use Firewalls

Firewalls are by far the strongest internet/intranet protection for computer security. They are either hardware or software tools that effectively scan data transfers from and to your computer. You can set parameters to scan based on location and type of data transfer.

Password Protection

Use of stronger passwords is a great help in onsite computer security. Strong passwords are longer in length and combine alphanumeric combinations with upper and lower case alphabets thrown in. They are never the words from dictionary, names of places or humans etc.

Keep Backups of Important Data

Regularly make backups of important data, just in case.

Be sensible to check certificates when downloading something from an unknown site. Use file encryption facilities to curtail unauthorized access to your files. Finally, your office computer can be secured by password protection against manual intrusions.

About the Author: NamSing Then is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites

Computer Security Software

and

Secure

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