Network Security

Many parents are highly concerned about the safety and viewing habits of their children on the internet. There are ways to block content from some sites as well as set up special types of accounts to protect children, but these measures generally only work on the youngest of children. By the time a child reaches their teen years, they will likely be computer savvy enough to bypass most if not all of these measures. Therefore a parent must find another way to keep track of what their kids are exposed to online.

One tool available to parents are key loggers. Key loggers come in both hardware and software versions. The software version of these monitoring programs run hidden in the background and record what your child is doing. The hardware versions accomplish the same thing but consist of a small device that plugs into the computer between the computer and the keyboard. Today, the software version is by far the most common and the hardware versions are generally reserved for when a person is not able to log onto the target computer.

The most flexible for of key logger is by far the software version. There are hundreds of these programs available. Some simply do what the name suggests and logs the characters that your child types. From there you can see what he is saying in chat, email, etc. The more advanced and much more versatile versions record every aspect of your child’s use of the computer. It records both sides of chat conversations, captures screen shots, records all websites visited and many other aspects of computer usage.

The monitoring programs have another useful feature that can come in handy if your child has his or her own computer. the program can be configured to periodically send the reports to you via email. this way you can even monitor your kids while you are at work. If you prefer, the files can also be transfered using FTP if you have that type of account. You control how often the files are sent to you.

These programs are generally easy and quick to install. Some of the monitoring programs that are feature rich take a little longer to configure and tweak to your exact needs. For these it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with these features before you decide to install them. Most of the programs can be installed in either visible or stealth mode, depending on your needs. In stealth mode, a series of distinctive keystrokes is required to open the program. the programs can also be remotely installed on the target computer by sending the program disguised as another file. This file could be an mp3 or a picture file that your child would be likely to open. Once they click on the file to open it, the program automatically installs itself in stealth mode. This is another handy feature if you don’t have easy access to your child’s computer.

Whatever you choose, be sure to weigh the pros and cons of your child’s safety versus your child’s privacy. Trust is a big things in kids, especially teenagers and this type of monitoring program can be seen as a major intrusion into their life. However, as a parent, you sometimes must do what’s best for your child’s safety regardless of the consequences. These key logger monitoring programs are just one more tool you can use to protect your child.

There are numerous ways for your network to malfunction. Among them are the following. Hacking occurs when a person willfully breaks security codes and passwords in order to retrieve private and confidential information. Furthermore, they may even manipulate information and try to let it look like it was done by the main owner. IP spoofing happens when a person uses a bogus address and manipulates messages to seem like they are coming from a more secured confidential source. Denial of a service attack can also happen when a person infiltrates a site and sends too many wrong data at once thereby making the site temporarily non functional which prevents people from having access to the site.

It also uses one of these common methods to manage input to your network. Proxy service is a feature wherein internet data is received by the firewall. Afterwards, data is sent to the origin of request. Small quantities of data are sifted through filters which can be customized in a process called packet filtering. All others are then segregated and are treated as junk. One of the most modern ways is the use of stateful inspection wherein one simply compares the information to an already sifted base group of data. Incoming and outgoing information are monitored and similarities are trimmed together to make sifting easier.

Essentially there are two types of firewall. First is the internal / software which already comes with the operating systems of the computer. Some computer users download it for free or at a very little cost from the internet. Make sure you install it in an external device such as CDS or USB since you really don’t know the authenticity and the safety of the file. This type provides the basic protection since installing it may already post some risk and lessens the ability of the software to catch it. Second is the external / hardware which are also called network firewalls. This gadget is placed in between your modem or cable and your computer. This is more expensive than the internal type but is especially useful if you have various computers. Some internet service providers combine this with the routers. Lastly, this gadget is separated from the operating system thus it can be more secure against viruses or unsolicited contents.

It can be custom made in that it can filter the data based on your predetermined qualifications. Some of the common ones are the following. Some would like to block certain sites with a given domain name, some can simply block an IP address that is slowing down the network. Others block the port, individualized per server, to just deny access to computers Lastly, you can also set your own protocol to characterize your intended relationship with the server.

If you surf around the Internet, one of the words you will come across is “encryption.” Many people have a legitimate concern about identity theft, and protecting your personal information is an important task to undertake. With all of the wireless technology available, there are a number of ways for hackers to intercept your data files. One of the best ways to protect your files is to encode your data.

Encryption is the process of taking a plain text file, and running it through an algorithm (or program) which “scrambles up” the letters, making it completely illegible. Usually, the person encoding the text file assigns a password to the file, which is needed to “unlock” or “decode” the file, restoring it to its original state. The stronger the password you choose (for example, making it longer, or using a combination of letters and numbers instead of just letters), the safer your file.

One question to ask yourself is this: why encode your data? Most people encode their data to protect themselves against identity theft. If your sensitive data is encoded, even if a hacker or other nare-do-well gains possession of the data files, they will still not be able to read it unless they steal the password. (This is why it is important to store your passwords on a piece of good, old-fashioned *paper*, away from your computer.)

How, you may ask, does one encode a text file? One common method is to use an off-the-shelf package like Microsoft Word. After you have created a text file, there is a feature where you can tell the software to encode the file, and assign a password. Anyone trying to open the file without the password will only see a mishmash of letters. When a “legitimate” user with the password opens the file, they enter the password, and the file appears as it was originally created.

The big question is: does this process really work? Does it really make it impossible for people to get to your data?

And the answer is yes. It would take the best minds in the world, using the largest and fastest computers, years and years to break the algorithms used to encode your data. Even the encoding algorithms used in everyday software such as MS Word provide incredibly strong protection.

What happens if a hacker gets a hold of your file? Usually, s/he will know that trying to “crack the code” is impossible. Instead of taking that approach, s/he will try to “guess” the password. If you use simple words, like “fluffy” (the name of your poodle), the hacker has a much better chance of guessing the password. On the other hand, if you use a password like, “s9j5hqz3c41m2,” the hacker will have a much harder time coming across the correct sequence of characters. (A character is either a letter, a number, or a punctuation mark.)

Once you have mastered the fairly simple steps to encoding your data, you may rest assured that you have taken one very important step towards creating “information-age-peace-of-mind.”

Anti-Virus software is used for protection against threats coming from the internet or other data-containing sources. It stops programs such as trojans, malware, spyware and other harmful agents from interfering with the well-being of your computer and information. Nowadays this kind of software is a must to have, as worms and viruses are running rampant all over the world-wide-web. As natural as the internet might seem in our present age, so should protecting yourself be.

The advantages are many, but it would be better to describe the disadvantages first, as threats are often needed to keep a man about his security. Think about it like this: You drive home from work, stopping by an ATM only to be flabbergasted at the fact that your card balance is empty. Awestruck, you ring your bank only to find out all of your accounts have been emptied in the last few hours. You get home, sit at your computer, and try logging on to your business sites when, you guessed it, your identity and accounts have been stolen as well. After thinking hard about everything you could have done that might have allowed someone to take control of your personal information, an ad on the internet says it all: “Get your virus defending software now!”.

You guessed it, surfing the web unprotected is like walking down the street with all your money and documents dangling out of your back-pocket by a thin thread, and while your SECRET, personal information is printed on the front of your shirt. The virus protection market has boomed in the last few years, with dozens of products to choose from, and so has the technology behind it. While the first viruses only messed around with your PC’s performance and were minor, albeit annoying threats, today they can make you lose whatever is linked to your computer, which could be everything. But fret not; defense software technology has also advanced to a level that can match any threat this present age might offer, and next I’m going to present to you the clear advantages.

The software of an anti-virus is purely designed to defend against all incoming or already existing threats, or possible ones. All of these programs feature system scanning, which is the action of verifying all the files on your computer against possibly hidden viruses, and which is the first thing one should do after acquiring the software. The next most important thing is the passive shield, always automatically activated and which is the means to keeping out viruses from the internet out of your computer as you are browsing and surfing. Last, but not least, some programs feature a “Firewall” option to defend against attacks by hackers over open gateways and security faults, this being essential if the environment you are surfing or working in is likely to be targeted. This all being said folks, I hope I’ve made you understand about the importance of protecting your computer and yourself all the time, so as not to get into any unnecessary trouble. Stay protected!

As more and more people become increasingly dependent on the use of the internet and computers as a whole, there will always be a significant increase in threats against these important aspects in one’s everyday life. Many people often overlook the importance of being fully protected from outside sources who pose a threat against their personal computers. These cruel individuals continually contrive ways to break into systems, stealing vital information or simply destroying the operating system of an innocent yet naive victim. To decrease the risk of falling into this category, it is important to be up-to-date with computer protection.

Many computers come with a free trial offer and updated anti-virus programs already loaded onto their machines, however once these trial periods end the programs are more or less useless. The virus combating software will simply become obsolete due to the fact that the program will not have updated versions of new virus threats. New viruses are created and contrived of daily so it is of the utmost importance to stay ahead of this curve by having a shield against these new terrors. If one is not satisfied with the preloaded software, there are several programs available that can fit most budgets based on need and overall exposure.

Although some of these programs can be found for free against adware and what not, the more name brand, mainstream software lines are normally something that needs to be purchased. With this in mind, many fail to purchase the newer programs increasing their vulnerability to potential harmful individuals up to no good. The normal thought process is that the computer owner will just proceed with caution in everything done on the internet; however, viruses and hackers have become much smarter over the years and can really blindside someone without them even knowing.

In addition, these threats can come in a variety of forms. Many come through email. An unsuspecting victim could open up a piece of spam mail that looks legit and find that their whole operating system is taken over by a bug. Also, navigating to the wrong website could also lead to a hazardous situation with an unprotected computer. Many of these sites will have random pop up advertisements as well which can be harmful and just plain annoying. Having the proper shield can eliminate and warn the user prior to going to websites such as these.

The catastrophic results of not having proper anti-virus software can lead to far more damaging consequences than just simply paying for and taking the time to keep these programs up to date. One wrong move and a computer can be picked apart by these bugs leaving one extremely exposed to identification theft, having personal information sent out to the public, or having to deal with the expensive cost of fixing or replacing the valuable computer. Rather than dealing with these terrible problems that are created evil individuals, people should simply make them a non-issue by continually protecting themselves with the proper software.

It’s not hard to see how the integrity of our society has taken a turn for the worst in the last thirty years. With the baby boomer generation reaching the age of retirement, more and more people are looking to get rich quick and become millionaires without any hard work being put into it. Thus enters the schemes of the next generation in a technologically savvy and shifty society. Just surfing the web will undoubtedly place your finances and well-being at risk by the deceptive schemes to steal your money and identity.

So how can you avoid those malicious URLs? Well, first, be safe and don’t go surfing around on unrecognizable URL sites. No parent wants their children wondering into some strangers house not knowing what’s inside, the same can be said about URL addresses. Each website is someone’s home; don’t enter unless you know the safety of that home. Stay away from fraudulent fronts and make sure what you typed in is where you want to go. You can never be too safe.

Second, invest in a URL scanner. There’s no doubt mistakes may be made. When you’re typing sixty to seventy words a minute you’re bound to make mistakes. URL scanners give you that second opportunity to check yourself and make sure what you have type is really where you want to go. Don’t be stingy, spend the extra money and protect your money and your identity. Many of these types of URL scanners can be purchased online or in most of your local office supply stores or retail stores. These scanners should definitely be installed in all large and small businesses alike to prevent anything you don’t want coming through your network. Again you can never be too safe.

Third, take a look at malicious URL lists and compare them with a legit URL list. These lists are readily available to pretty much anybody who wants to look at them. They can be found by simply searching any major search engine, but again be careful you are not entering any deceptive websites fronting help spotting the fakes. Some fake URL addresses are obvious in comparison to legit URL addresses and can be easily spotted, however, taking a look at several different lists should help you recognize the pattern that most deceptive URL addresses look like. And if I haven’t said it enough maybe a third time will get the point across, you can never be too safe.

The truth of the matter is that nowadays you can never be too safe. The typical identity theft recovery can take hundreds to thousands of hours to clear up, not to mention the money lost due to the time spent in recovering your identity. So, one way to look at investing in a URL scanner and making an effort to avoid the faulty URL addresses is to see at as a sort of insurance to protect from the enemies schemes to lure you into enticing web addresses that could possibly steal much of your time, money, and identity.

There are some very simple ways to protect your information when using the internet and most do not cost you a penny. The first thing you should always do is change your passwords on a regular basis and never give your password for any site to anyone. By doing this you will avoid the possibility of someone getting your passwords with a Trojan that is designed to capture passwords and other information. Also when making purchases online always use one credit card for those types of purchases should your credit card information be used by someone it is more likely that it will be caught by the issuer and reversed. It is also much easier to dispute a credit card charge and get it removed than it is to do on a debit card.

One rule of thumb everyone should follow is to never enter your social security number on any site. If a social security number is required to do the transaction you should do that transaction by phone so that you know who you are talking with. You Should also never click on links in e-mails from people that you do not know. Even question suspicious looking links from people you do know because their ID and passwords may have been hijacked along with their contact lists.

Set up a spam folder and have spam mail go there automatically by setting up criteria for mail to go to that folder. Most ISP’s provide this ability with their basic service and have a site policy to protect you. Always delete your spam folder on a regular basis to avoid problems with unauthorized access to your information. Keep in mind that some SPAM will always get through so be very careful of the e-mails you open. If you don’t recognize the sender don’t open it and send it to your spam folder or delete it. On a regular basis, clear the cookies and temporary files from your system. This will help assure that your system is safe from infiltration from something lurking in those folders. This takes only a few minutes on most systems and really is one of the best defenses against invasion into your privacy via the internet.

These are simple no cost steps that can help protect your information while using the internet. Of course, there are additional ways to protect your valuable information that can be combined with the simple steps to make you feel safer. There is no better way to protect your computer and the information there than to have a very good virus scan program. If you ever have had a virus infiltrate your computer you already know the value of a good program. Along with virus scan programs you can add a firewall, spam detectors and other programs that have a cost. These programs are very effective when used with common sense and the simple no cost steps that have already been covered. Taking these precautions will make your internet experience much more enjoyable and will protect your good name at the same time.

Information Technology has opened a dazzling world new world of INTERNET before us. All the business, banking and other sophisticated commercial transactions have become just a mouse click away. Everything has become more effective and less time consuming. While web is a boon to us in a way, it has also proved its negative powers in several ways.

The benefits of the information technology are used maliciously by a specific group of people who can be called cyber criminals in general. These cyber criminal include hackers and crackers who make illicit use of internet services. These so-called criminals are able to gain unauthorized access to other computers to steal worthy or useful data from the database to make personal profit. This is completely against law.

The most important tool of the criminals is obviously the computer. The medium that they make use of, to gain valuable information from reputed companies is nothing other than the word wide web. The ways that are usually employed by them are phishing, wire transfer, spoofing and pharming. The criminals can also enter private net accounts by way of many techniques, thereby hacking Domain Name Server and Internet Provider’s (IP) address.

The twisted term ‘cyber crime’ has no boundaries and limits. It has wide coverage in all the nations as hackers can be found anywhere in the world. The use of information technology by the cyber terrorists with a view to make destructive effects is called cyber crime. The key factor behind this stream of crime is low rate of traceability and time-consuming persecution. Hackers can work from anywhere in the world peacefully and devastate the economic and political structure of a country as a whole.

In such a scenario the only feasible solution can be to safe guard oneself against such misuse of advanced technology. Yet it’s a fact that the legal system has to be more sophisticated and intrigued to combat the activities of cyber terrorists. More advanced and systematic methods shall be formulated to curb the crimes in time at all.

The severity of the situation can be understood more clearly when we come to know that many of the financial and banking institutions world wide pay money to these criminals to avoid their malpractice. They are compelled to do so for saving their name and fame among their customers.

Even though we have succeeded in tackling many of the cyber crimes and blocking their efforts we still are threatened by the fact that the grave problem still continues to exist amongst us in varied forms. As this problem has its root in all the nations in the world, there has to be better understanding and co-operation among the international agencies that deal with the thwarting of cyber crimes and criminals. The body of law should ensure that the new technology is used for the benefit of the people only and take necessary measures to prevent misuse of advanced technology..

Computer security remains a serious issue for both professionals and the casual enthusiast. Whether one seeks to protect a corporate server, a valuable workstation with sensitive data, a home computer used for personal accounting and taxes, or the kid’s laptop used for social networking and game playing, there are several common security threats. Nefarious hackers have used different approaches to try to penetrate computer defenses and circumvent firewalls. These include computer viruses, piggyback applications related to Trojan horses, and other pieces of undetectable malware. This article reviews the phenomenon and discusses some ideas you can use to protect yourself.

Piggyback applications are similar to Trojan horses in that they are packaged with a desired program and are often, but not always, designed to be undetectable. Sometimes the programs are openly disclosed on installation with the user explicitly granting them access, and sometimes they are covertly included and surreptitiously install themselves alongside the desired application, but without user permission. The programs can be used for different tasks, including keyboard logging, password scanning and upload, providing a base for denial of service attacks, or anchor nodes for spam delivery. Fortunately, many security programs can detect such applications and allow a user to remove them or quarantine them.

A computer virus is a very small piece of code that is often embedded in an executable program, such as an .EXE or .COM file. However, the design of the computer virus has evolved to the point that they can now manifest in many other file types, including word processing and spreadsheet documents, dll and similar libraries, and even archives. The goal of these programs much like the infectious bugs that we associate with colds and sickness. They can spread through social engineering approaches, such as packaging them with a widely disseminated email, perhaps in the current times – a news bulletin about the Haiti situation, or by technical engineering in which case they would spread as a function of their programming and by exploiting holes in network security. As with other types of malware, the programs can be used for various nefarious purposes or sometimes are just exercises to see what the hacker can do or to feed the hacker’s ego, but without any clear instrumental goal.

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself from nefarious applications. Never install a program you obtain from a user or website that you do not trust. Be sure to read every word of the installation process as you install applications that you like; do not be afraid to uncheck boxes that say they will be installing a companion program. Keep your security and malware software up to date with the latest updates. Scan your task manager report for unfamiliar programs, comparing process names with google searches of the process name. And finally, run programs that can detect and log code that is installed into memory on startup. Good luck staying safe out there!

Simply defined, phishing is the act of tricking you into believing you are having a normal transaction with a trusted and well known internet merchant. Of course, what’s the bait and subterfuge required for this to work (you should already be asking)? What skulduggery and ne’er-do-well could carry out this trick on unsuspecting internet users like yourselves? Here, we’ll need to define another term to complete the picture. Fortunately, this term isn’t as technobabble as the previous one, but the term to spoof means to pretend to be someone else well-known and trusted, when in fact they are internet criminals with malicious intent. Yes. If this has not become clear to you already, alarm bells should be ringing loudly in your head right now. Together with viruses, trojans, adware and other forms of malicious software (all lumped under the term malware), spoofed emails in your inbox provide the bait to an impersonation attack.

Let’s now run through an example. Suppose you are a long time loyal and trusting customer of Bank A. One day you receive an email informing you to change your password (passwords should be changed once every three months in standard secured computing environments, of course). You often get reminders like this at work from the system administrator, so you think nothing of it and follow the advice given. The email sender even provides you a link (saves you having to find that bookmark somewhere) to help you with this, how considerate of them! Right now, picture yourself as the fat catch of the day for the internet criminal. The damage isn’t irrevocable but once you click on the link, quickly try to log in (we’ve done this nth times before right?) and FAIL, you may start suspecting that something is wrong. Unfortunately, because the internet moves literally at the speed of light, and your login and password has already been captured, stored and forwarded, there’s a very high chance that through the distributed power of the internet, a mechanism has already been automated to log in at the REAL banking website, with the login details and passwords you so kindly provided, and every last cent in your account has been pilfered!

This is a simplified example of course but it demonstrates the working theory and practice of an impersonation attack. You should be thinking about countermeasures immediately and they fall broadly into two categories. Category One is all about safe online conduct. The internet is literally a virtual Wild West frontier (not unlike the real thing). Trust no one and certainly not just any email sent purportedly from your bank. If you’re technically minded, you may notice that clicking on the link will direct you to a DIFFERENT website (www.bankof-a.com as opposed to www.bankofa.com) and the spoofed login page may not be a 100% replica to what you’re used to. Category Two belongs to the technical tools at your disposal to combat these threats. Always upgrade your browser to the latest version, because new vulnerabilities are being discovered and fixed all the time, and also because most recent browsers have new tools and technologies to detect attacks of this sort.

Finally, make sure you have an up to date anti-virus, anti-malware and internet security software. Even the free ones do a good job and you can google them easily online.