The Very Basics Of Home Computer Security

In the world of information technology there are many forms of terminology that flies through the atmosphere. Individuals who work within the industry understand it quite clearly. Other users who are casual Internet individuals or are content to utilize applications such as Windows, a browser, an e-mail application and possibly a word processor, listens to the various terminology without a complete understanding. One of the areas where understanding needs to be increased is the protection of information and computer security. The majority of users today employ their systems in situations that involve critical data, such as e-commerce and banking. You may not feel that the information you pass back and forth in social networks, chat rooms, and e-mails does not deserve a classified stamp, but threads and snippets of your conversations and correspondence can be pieced together to determine a great deal of information about you. This information can compromise your personal and professional data as well as your assets. Even though hackers may not care about who you are they may want to gain access and control of your system in order to use it to infiltrate other systems and launch various attacks. Your computer system can also be used as a hiding place of their malware.

You may feel you have the strongest defenses available, but there is always a hole to exploit. Third-party software applications contain their own vulnerabilities and can be used without your knowledge. Plus, if you do not download install the latest fixes and security patches as they are available, or install the latest revisions of a piece of software, you're leaving yourself wide open for attack or exploitation. Many users refrain from purchasing or downloading the first version of a software application, as it may contain many bugs in the software. Others who do purchase a first version not remain aware and up to date when revisions are available.

IP, or Internet Protocol is a form of language all computers use on the Internet. Your protocol addressing is basically a unique address or location of a computer, a server, or a website. These addresses can be spoofed, or fooled through various means where a user will not realize they have been directed to a malicious website. Even though a user may have the latest and greatest antivirus and anti-malware installed, inadvertently clicking on a hidden link or shortened URL can and will have consequences. Therefore as users, you should always be aware of your actions whenever you are connected to the Internet in any manner. Your personal information is one of your greatest assets and there are many methods hackers use to either access your information or gain access to other systems.

Through the use of social engineering or Trojan horses, you can easily be tricked into providing information without your knowledge as well as alter the configuration of your system or install malware. There many back doors and ports that can be used to gain entry, especially if you use an administrative password instead of a regular password on your system.

A denial of service attack occurs when your system is inundated with so many processing instructions and data processing that it becomes unusable. Once a hacker has gained entry your system can be used to perform denial of service attacks on others.

Whenever a security notice is given advising users disable JavaScript, ActiveX, or Java in their web browsers, it is to prevent a vulnerability from being exploited until a proper fix can be administered. These pieces of program code exists in browsers, webpages, and in e-mails. If you have heard of the term cross site scripting, this is where a script of code can be transferred from a location such as a webpage, a URL address, an inquiry or other method, from a response back to your system. This can happen when a user enters data in an interactive form from a site that is not trustworthy, they can happen by following a link in an e-mail or website, and it can even happen when a user is on a page where content is dynamically generated, such as a discussion group or a forum.

E-mails can be spoofed, as a message you receive appears to have arrived from a trusted source when in fact another source delivered it. Spoofing is a technique that is used to trick you, the user, into revealing sensitive data that can be exploited. For instance, they are very many spam and e-mail messages appearing to have arrived from a bank requesting your personal login and other information for verification and if you do not provide this information your account will be suspended. E-mails have also been known to ask for this information from individuals in authority such as system administrators. E-mails of this type should be regarded as suspicious as administrators do not request this information in this manner.

Pieces of malicious code can arrive in the form of an e-mail from someone you know such as a friend or relative, who have had their systems compromised and a virus or malware is sending replicated e-mails to everyone from their contact or address book. Various software applications that allow instant messaging and chats have also been used to spread executable malware code. You should always be aware of the individual on the other end of your chats. If you have ever heard of the term packet sniffing, this occurs when information is sent back and forth over a network, including wireless networks, and a hacker is attempting to access the traffic or insert malicious code of his own. This can also occur over broadband and cable modems.

Methods and practices you can employ to protect yourself and your home network include the best virus protection application available, preferably a software suite that performs a variety of duties. Firewalls must be turned on and used in conjunction with a white list that will allow certain areas access while a black list will prevent access to your systems. Any shortened URLs or e-mail attachments from an unknown source should not be opened. If a file extension is hidden it should be disabled. You should be able to see all file extensions and know what the file extension represents. It cannot be stressed enough that your operating system and all third party software should always be updated with the latest patches and security fixes. If not needed, JavaScript, ActiveX components, and Java should be turned off. You should be keeping regular and consistent backups of your hard drives and your critical information, and you should have a boot disk at the ready in case you need to restart your system.

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