Protecting Your Computer

This blog is about protecting your machine from unauthorized access and protecting your stored data for machines that are connected to the Internet.

Every machine has some kind of software on it that receives access requests from the Internet (called daemons) that put your machine and your data at risk. These come included in the Operating System you run (e.g. Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc.) Straight out of the box, you're already vulnerable. There are a few things you can do right away to mitigate these risks:

• Use strong passwords for all your users. By strong passwords, we mean at least 7 characters long with a mix of upper case, lower case, symbols and numbers. Try to avoid using words - "admin", "hello" and "password" are terrible passwords.
  
• Buy an Internet router with firewall capability. Firewall capabilities are available in just about any consumer Internet router you can buy. Please remember to change the password on the router - default passwords are usually the first things hacked.
• Keep your operating system software updated with security patches. All the OS vendors find vulnerabilities with their software and continually patch them. It's best to keep up to date with those patches.

That's not all. There are other software that you install on your machine (knowingly or not) that include daemons. So here are some other things you should do to mitigate those risks:

• Install an anti-virus software
  
• Back up your data regularly.
• Make sure you're installing software from reputable vendors. Usually, if their website has an address (not a PO box), a phone number, a board of directors, you're usually OK.
  
• Update your installed software too with patches. Software you install could have daemons as well. That's why it's a good idea to patch these when updates are available.
  

After you've done all that, there is one weak link that could yet be exploited - the user themselves. Unethical netizens could deceive you to install malicious software on your machine.

• Buy your software. I've mentioned this in the previous blog and there is good reason for this. If you don't have a legitimate license to run your software, you are probably using cracked software or running some kind of a cracker or key generator. Cracked software, crackers and key generators are usually malicious viruses. You would never have known as it was masked as something useful.
  
• Be aware when something is being installed on your computer. When your browser asks you "Do you trust content from XYZ Inc?" it means that it is trying to install software on your machine. If you don't know what that's for, click on "No".
  
• Do you open all those email attachments? MS Office documents, VBS, JS, HTML, WMV, can all hold tiny daemons in them. So don't open them unless you know what it is.

If your machine is completely compromised, your only hope left is to reimage your PC, i.e. reinstall everything from scratch. Best to install your PC while it's not connected to the Internet.