DOCSLIB.ORG

Internet Safety: Keeping Your Computer Safe on the Internet

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Internet Safety: Keeping Your Computer Safe on the Internet Copyright © 2003-2010 Puget Sound Software, LLC and Leo A. Notenboom 1 Internet Safety Keeping your Computer Safe on the Internet 3rd Edition by Leo A. Notenboom http://ask-leo.com Copyright © 2011 Puget Sound Software, LLC & Leo A. Notenboom All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-937018-03-0 Copyright © 2003-2010 Puget Sound Software, LLC and Leo A. Notenboom 1 Copyright and Disclaimer This book is protected by US and International copyright law, and is Copyright © 2011 by Leo A. Notenboom and Puget Sound Software, LLC, all rights are reserved. Having said that, the PDF electronic version (only) of this book is FREE. In fact, I encourage you to share this book with others as long as you share it: In its entirety (the book, the whole book and nothing but the book) In its original form (no changes made and no markups added) You may not charge for this book when you share it. Furthermore, you may not incorporate this book into any product or collection that is not free. (Drop me a line for pricing if you want to do something along those lines.) This book is based on my experience and anecdotal evidence. I've tried to ensure that everything written here is as accurate as possible at the time of publication, but I cannot assume any responsibility for mistakes or omissions. On top of that, I know nothing about your specific computer, your specific experience and your specific abilities to understand and act appropriately on the information herein. The bottom line is that you, and only you, are responsible for using this information appropriately, safely and as you see fit, and for any of the consequences of having done so. Note that any trademarks, service marks, or product names are the property of their respective owners. There is no implied endorsement when I reference something by name. Endorsements, if any, will be clear and quite explicit. Finally, this book is intended to inform and entertain, but it's still not a replacement for common sense. Copyright © 2003-2010 Puget Sound Software, LLC and Leo A. Notenboom 2 Table of Contents Viruses & Spyware & Worms ... oh my! ......................................................... 8 Security Software ........................................................................................10 What security software do you recommend? ..................................................... 11 The Short-Short Version ............................................................. 11 Microsoft Security Essentials ....................................................... 12 Other Good Alternatives ............................................................. 12 Malwarebytes ........................................................................... 13 Anti-Virus ................................................................................. 13 Anti-Spyware ............................................................................ 13 Firewall .................................................................................... 14 What Else? ............................................................................... 14 Related Articles on Ask Leo!: ...................................................... 14 Scan for Viruses ...........................................................................................16 Viruses: How do I keep myself safe from viruses? ............................................ 17 Install and Run an Anti-Virus Program ......................................... 17 Update the Anti-Virus Database .................................................. 18 Run Regular Scans .................................................................... 18 Keep Windows Up-To-Date ......................................................... 18 Additional Notes ........................................................................ 19 Related Articles on Ask Leo!: ...................................................... 19 I run anti-virus software, why do I still sometimes get infected? ......................... 20 The Race - And Bad Luck ............................................................ 20 All Anti-Virus Software is the Same, Only Different. ....................... 21 The Internet - Wear Protection Before Touching It ......................... 21 The Harsh Reality ...................................................................... 21 Why? ....................................................................................... 22 Related Articles on Ask Leo!: ...................................................... 22 When do I actually need to run a virus scan? .................................................... 23 Copyright © 2003-2010 Puget Sound Software, LLC and Leo A. Notenboom 3 Real-Time................................................................................. 23 On-Demand .............................................................................. 23 Which? ..................................................................................... 24 Updates ................................................................................... 24 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 24 What’s wrong with scanning email in real time? ................................................. 25 Real Time Email Scanning .......................................................... 25 Real Time Email Destruction ....................................................... 25 The Alternatives: Common Sense and On-Demand scanning........... 26 My Recommendation ................................................................. 26 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 27 Kill Spyware .................................................................................................28 How do I remove and avoid spyware?............................................................... 29 1. Install and Run an Anti-Spyware Program ................................. 29 2. Update the Spyware Database ................................................ 30 3. Run Regular Scans ................................................................. 30 An Additional Recommendation ................................................... 30 Some Additional Notes ............................................................... 30 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 31 So just how sneaky can spyware be? ................................................................ 32 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 33 Use a Firewall ...............................................................................................34 What's a firewall, and how do I set one up? ...................................................... 35 Network-based threats ............................................................... 35 Hardware firewalls, like your router ............................................. 36 Software firewalls ...................................................................... 36 Choosing and setting up a firewall ............................................... 37 Firewalls are only a part of the solution ........................................ 37 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 38 Do I need a firewall, and if so, what kind?......................................................... 39 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 41 Does my router have a firewall or not? ............................................................. 42 Copyright © 2003-2010 Puget Sound Software, LLC and Leo A. Notenboom 4 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 44 Is an outbound firewall needed? ....................................................................... 45 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 47 So do I need the Windows Firewall or not? ........................................................ 48 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 49 How do I change my router’s password? ........................................................... 50 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 54 How do I secure my router? ............................................................................. 55 Change The Default Password ..................................................... 55 Disable Remote Management ...................................................... 56 Turn Off Logging ....................................................................... 56 Add a WPA Key ......................................................................... 57 Don't Forget The Physical ........................................................... 58 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 58 Stay Up-To-Date ..........................................................................................59 Are automatic updates a good thing? ................................................................ 60 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 61 How do I make sure that Windows is up-to-date? .............................................. 62 Related Articles on Ask Leo! ........................................................ 64 Get Educated ................................................................................................65
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The CLASP Application Security Process
    The CLASP Application Security Process Secure Software, Inc. Copyright (c) 2005, Secure Software, Inc. The CLASP Application Security Process The CLASP Application Security Process TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 CLASP Status 4 An Activity-Centric Approach 4 The CLASP Implementation Guide 5 The Root-Cause Database 6 Supporting Material 7 CHAPTER 2 Implementation Guide 9 The CLASP Activities 11 Institute security awareness program 11 Monitor security metrics 12 Specify operational environment 13 Identify global security policy 14 Identify resources and trust boundaries 15 Identify user roles and resource capabilities 16 Document security-relevant requirements 17 Detail misuse cases 18 Identify attack surface 19 Apply security principles to design 20 Research and assess security posture of technology solutions 21 Annotate class designs with security properties 22 Specify database security configuration 23 Perform security analysis of system requirements and design (threat modeling) 24 Integrate security analysis into source management process 25 Implement interface contracts 26 Implement and elaborate resource policies and security technologies 27 Address reported security issues 28 Perform source-level security review 29 Identify, implement and perform security tests 30 The CLASP Application Security Process i Verify security attributes of resources 31 Perform code signing 32 Build operational security guide 33 Manage security issue disclosure process 34 Developing a Process Engineering Plan 35 Business objectives 35 Process
    [Show full text]
  • Cybersecurity Guide: Hackers and Defenders Harness Design and Machine Learning
    Cybersecurity Guide: HACKERS AND DEFENDERS HARNESS DESIGN AND MACHINE LEARNING CYBERSECURITY GUIDE: HACKERS AND DEFENDERS HARNESS DESIGN AND MACHINE LEARNING TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 SECTION 1 THE SITUATION REPORT 9 SECTION 2 THINK LIKE DA VINCI: MORE ART IS NEEDED IN THE SCIENCE OF CYBERSECURITY 16 SECTION 3 THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: MACHINE LEARNING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 21 ENDNOTES PAGE 2 CYBERSECURITY GUIDE: HACKERS AND DEFENDERS HARNESS DESIGN AND MACHINE LEARNING Across the globe, lives and livelihoods are increasingly For information-security professionals, successfully moving online, physical and digital worlds are beginning to defending against the fire hose of now-nonstop online overlap, and digital currencies with no real-world equivalent attacks are both the stuff of nightmares and the reason to can buy real-world goods and services. Artificial intelligence get out of bed in the morning. Who’s winning — the is powering autonomous vehicle decision-making,1 finding attackers or the defenders? new drug candidates2 daily and personalizing lessons3 to help students learn. At the same time, doctors are Given the daily drumbeat of successful intrusions that often performing life-saving surgeries on the other side of the cripple companies’ operations and erase millions of dollars in globe via the internet4 and robot proxies while networked stock value,5 it’s hard to tell. sensors shake up industries from power generation to public transit. Every year, the list of industries being disrupted by To bring the current and future landscape of cybersecurity sensors, smart machines, and microprocessors expand. into focus, HP conferred with leading experts in the field to create this comprehensive, up-to-date guide.
    [Show full text]
  • Solarblizzard
    Security Now! Transcript of Episode #800 Page 1 of 27 Transcript of Episode #800 SolarBlizzard Description: This week we open the New Year taking a longer look at fewer topics since the bad guys were apparently enjoying their New Year holiday, too. So we look at an interesting kludge that's been forced upon Chrome by ill-mannered antiviral scanners. We need to warn all enterprise users of Zyxel network border security products of another recently discovered built-in backdoor. We look at the rise in IoT compromise swatting attacks and a series of new flaws and vulnerabilities in the PHP Zend and Yii frameworks. We have a quick bit of miscellany to share, then I want to explain a lot about the value of trimming SSDs and newer SMR drives. And we'll conclude by catching up with what will hopefully be the last news, for a while at least, of the disastrous SolarWinds breach and intrusions. High quality (64 kbps) mp3 audio file URL: http://media.GRC.com/sn/SN-800.mp3 Quarter size (16 kbps) mp3 audio file URL: http://media.GRC.com/sn/sn-800-lq.mp3 SHOW TEASE: It's time for Security Now!. Steve Gibson is here with a defunct football; a very bad AV security practice that Chrome has had to do something maybe even worse to fix. We'll talk about the built-in password access in 100,000 Zyxel firewalls, VPN gateways, and access point controllers; an update on SpinRite 6.1; and a whole lot more. Security Now! is coming up next.
    [Show full text]
  • Secure by Design, Secure by Default: Requirements and Guidance
    Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner Secure by Design, Secure by Default Video Surveillance Products Introduction This guidance is for any organisation manufacturing Video Surveillance Systems (VSS), or manufacturing or assembling components intended to be utilised as part of a VSS. It is intended to layout the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioners (BSCC) minimum requirements to ensure such systems are designed and manufactured in a manner that assures they are Secure by Design. It also contains certain component requirements that will ensure a configuration that is Secure by Default when the component is shipped, thereby making it more likely that the system will be installed and left in a secure state. This guidance forms part of a wider suite of documentation being developed as part of the SCC Strategy, in support of the SCC Code of Practice. Background and Context The nature of the Internet means that connected devices can be subjected to a cyber attack from anywhere in the world. Widespread attacks on connected products is a current and real threat, and a number of highly publicised attacks have already occurred. The Mirai malware targeted devices such as internet-enabled cameras (IP cameras). Mirai was successful because it exploited the use of common default credentials (such as a username and password being set by the manufacturer as ‘admin’) and poor security configuration of devices. Ultimately, this facilitated attacks on a range of commercial and social media services and included an outage of streaming services such as Netflix. An evolution of Mirai, called Reaper, has also been discovered. Reaper used publicly and easily available exploits that remained unfixed (patched) and highlighted the problem around non patching of known security vulnerabilities, allowing attackers to utilise them to cause harm.
    [Show full text]
  • A Home User's Security Checklist for Windows
    A Home User’s Security Checklist for Windows Andreas Lindqvist Stefan Pettersson Linköpings universitet, Sweden Email: {andli299, stepe955}@student.liu.se Checklists like this are quite powerful because of the Abstract ability to decide which items to include, the level of The user and her desktop are widely held to be one of knowledge required and which knowledge is provided the weaker links in the security chain. By letting the user via the text and links, all depending on the audience. secure their own workstation by following a set of steps The updated version of the checklist [2] was then used put forth in a checklist it could be possible to cover both to evaluate the security settings of at least ten Internet problems at the same time. An already existing checklist users (family and friends). This can be found in was revised to become more concise. Twelve users took Appendix B. this checklist concerning the security posture of them and 2.1 The revised checklist their workstations. It turned out that the majority of users largely used the default settings provided by the operating One impression we got from reading the old checklist system. This is also an obvious trend at Microsoft, to make was that it was too big and hence the first goal became to the default settings secure. It is reasonable to believe that shrink it without losing relevance. With the vision of a this will be even truer in Windows Vista. Checklists are more user-friendly list the number of items was especially good as inspiration for interested users seeking decreased from the original checklist’s 40 items and to increase their knowledge on the subject.
    [Show full text]
  • Prevent the Ultimate Nightmare
    PROTECT MICROSOFT ACTIVE DIRECTORY PREVENT THE ULTIMATE www.skyportsystems.com NIGHTMARE Overview Who Has Access to Privileged Credentials? Your organization probably uses Microsoft Microsoft has recently published detailed Active Directory — 90% of enterprises do so. guidelines for securing privileged access and mitigating credential theft. SkySecure makes it Unfortunately, Active Directory has known Assigned domain issues related to credential hijacking. In 2015, feasible for enterprises of any size to implement admins over 75% of all records that were compromised Microsoft’s advanced recommendations, such were the result of data breaches involving the as building a dedicated management domain, enforcing separation between authoritative loss or theft of a privileged credential. Attackers Anyone with access to use stolen administrative access for weeks and untrusted systems, and ensuring the VCenter Server without detection resulting in breach costs in applications run on trustworthy infrastructure. the millions. SkySecure Safeguards Active Anyone with access to Administrative credentials can be stolen by Directory server hardware any compromised system accessed by an Organizations have C administrator. Administrative workstations o S expertise managing e m e n c h m u t o i r that cache credentials and are vulnerable e t u e r a n their user policies c t u i ic h Anyone with access to the c l a e e p t S to phishing and website malware. Services p io in Active Directory, A n management network involved in domain controller management, but often encounter patching and backup are themselves subject challenges securing Secure the to vulnerabilities that can become attacks Platform Active Directory Anyone with access to against domain controllers.
    [Show full text]
  • Secure Enclaves for Dummies®, Anjuna Security Special Edition
    Secure Enclaves These materials are © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Secure Enclaves Anjuna Security Special Edition by Ayal Yogev and Yan Michalevsky These materials are © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Secure Enclaves For Dummies®, Anjuna Security Special Edition Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley. com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Anjuna and the Anjuna logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Anjuna Security, Inc. Intel SGX is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
    [Show full text]
  • Charney-Scott-Slides.Pdf
    Scott Charney Corporate Vice President, Trustworthy Computing Microsoft Corporation Social: Enabling a global village Economic: Easier, faster, cheaper commerce Political: Freer exchange of ideas Loss of data subject control over information Rise in identity theft Targeted attacks against businesses & governments Increases in other types of online and tech-facilitated crimes Users must be empowered to make informed trust decisions (including accepting the risks of anonymity) Strong identity claims and reputation must be available to enhance security, privacy, and trust Better accountability must be created to deter crime and facilitate responses © 2008 Microsoft Corporation Exponential Growth of IDs Increasingly Sophisticated Malware Identity and access management challenging Anti-malware alone is not sufficient B2C Number of variants from over B2E B2B 7,000 malware families (1H07) mobility Internet Number of DigitalIDs Number Number of DigitalIDs Number client/server mainframe Pre-1980s 1980s 1990s 2000s Source: Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (January – June 2007) Crime On The Rise Attacks Getting More Sophisticated Traditional defenses are inadequate Largest segment by $ spent on defense National Interest Spy Largest area by User $ lost Examples Fastest GUI Personal Gain Thief • Spyware growing Applications Spyware segment • Rootkits Drivers Trespasser • Application attacks Personal Fame Application attacks Personal Fame O/S • Phishing/Social Largest engineering Vandal Author Hardware area by Curiosity volume Physical Script-Kiddy
    [Show full text]
  • Download Cyber Security
    Why cybersecurity is crucial for today’s physical access control www.nedapsecurity.com Your protector needs protecting Many modern physical access control systems are IP-based, powered by smart software and able to process large quantities of data. This provides more functionality, flexibility, scalability and opportunities for integration. But it also means they’re part of your IT network, so it’s essential they’re protected and upgraded – just like your other IT systems. How could your physical access control system be compromised by cybercrime? Cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated every day and comes in various guises. It could, for example, involve retrieving or manipulating data sent between devices to reveal who has access where and when. Or it might involve access card data being collected and then copied or cloned. Taking a step further, cybercriminals may steal someone’s credentials to enable them to log into your access control system’s software. Once they’re logged in, they can enable unwanted access to all kinds of doors and locations. And, by gaining access to your database, they can manipulate or even remove events that show what they or others did, for example. What can you do to protect your physical access control system? Nobody can say that something is 100% cybersecure, but prevention is definitely better than cure. Key measures are to cybersecure your access control hardware and software. And also your data storage and the way data is accessed and transferred – not just within one building, but nationally and internationally. Many different components tend to be connected to IP-based physical access control systems, so it’s important every one of them is protected against cyberattacks – from cards to cameras, readers, databases, controllers and more.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rocky Relationship Between Safety and Security
    The rocky relationship between safety and security Best practices for avoiding common cause failure and preventing cyber security attacks in Safety Systems Abstract: An industry practice reflected in the international safety standards (i.e. IEC 61508) is the need for independence among the multiple protection layers on an industrial site “…the EUC control system shall be independent from the E/E/PE safety-related systems and other risk reduction measures…” however even the 1st generation of digital Safety Systems (Electronic/Programmable Electronic Systems) had communication ports with support for open protocols (i.e. Modbus RTU) in order to provide diagnostics and other information relevant for the operation of process (EUC). Users have connected (interfaced) safety systems to BPCS since mid 1980s and aimed to develop tighter connectivity at least since 1995. These efforts were based on proprietary protocols until the adoption of open network protocols and Windows on industrial control systems increased the connectivity to business systems and at the same (at least in theory) exposed them to the same issues (virus, cyber attacks, etc). This paper will discuss the methods used to ensure that the integration between the safety system and the BPCS DO NOT compromise Functional Independence and define best practices to secure an industrial system and in particular safety systems in this integrated environment. 1 1 Why do we care about safety (and security)? A report published by Aberdeen Research in November 2011 (Ismail, 2011) indicates that despite the difference in motivations, Best-in-Class companies must establish a formalized risk management strategy and ingrain safety as part of the culture through executive leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • Building Secure and Reliable Systems
    Building Secure & Reliable Systems Best Practices for Designing, Implementing and Maintaining Systems Compliments of Heather Adkins, Betsy Beyer, Paul Blankinship, Piotr Lewandowski, Ana Oprea & Adam Stubblefi eld Praise for Building Secure and Reliable Systems It is very hard to get practical advice on how to build and operate trustworthy infrastructure at the scale of billions of users. This book is the first to really capture the knowledge of some of the best security and reliability teams in the world, and while very few companies will need to operate at Google’s scale many engineers and operators can benefit from some of the hard-earned lessons on securing wide-flung distributed systems. This book is full of useful insights from cover to cover, and each example and anecdote is heavy with authenticity and the wisdom that comes from experimenting, failing and measuring real outcomes at scale. It is a must for anybody looking to build their systems the correct way from day one. —Alex Stamos, Director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and former CISO of Facebook and Yahoo This book is a rare treat for industry veterans and novices alike: instead of teaching information security as a discipline of its own, the authors offer hard-wrought and richly illustrated advice for building software and operations that actually stood the test of time. In doing so, they make a compelling case for reliability, usability, and security going hand-in-hand as the entirely inseparable underpinnings of good system design. —Michał Zalewski, VP of Security Engineering at Snap, Inc. and author of The Tangled Web and Silence on the Wire This is the “real world” that researchers talk about in their papers.
    [Show full text]
  • SQRL: Anti-Phishing & Revocation
    Security Now! Transcript of Episode #426 Page 1 of 30 Transcript of Episode #426 SQRL: Anti-Phishing & Revocation Description: After following-up on a week chockful of interesting security news, Steve and Leo continue with their discussion of SQRL, the Secure QR code Login system, to discuss two recent innovations in the system that bring additional valuable features. High quality (64 kbps) mp3 audio file URL: http://media.GRC.com/sn/SN-426.mp3 Quarter size (16 kbps) mp3 audio file URL: http://media.GRC.com/sn/sn-426-lq.mp3 SHOW TEASE: It's time for Security Now!. Steve Gibson has the latest - yes, another Java patch - and more information about Lavabit. More information about the NSA, too. What is a Ferret's Cannon? It's coming up next on Security Now!. Leo Laporte: This is Security Now! with Steve Gibson, Episode 426, recorded October 16th, 2013: SQRL, Anti-Phishing, and Revocation. It's time for Security Now!, the show that covers your privacy and security online. Somebody in the chatroom before we began the show today, Steve Gibson, Explainer in Chief, said we should call it "Insecurity Now!" since it really talks mostly about insecure. But not today. Today we're going to talk about better security. Steve Gibson: Well, yeah. Actually, this is one of those episodes where so much happened in the last week in security news that, I mean, we just - there's a whole bunch of really interesting stuff to talk about. And in the past when we've done that we've just said, okay, we're not going to have any major topic because too much happened.
    [Show full text]