Websites 4 Small Business Newsletter
1 November 2006

Two Steps Toward Computer Security
By Trevor Bauknight

So, you've heard enough horror stories about viruses, 
Trojan-horses, spyware and their cousins that can really make your 
Internet surfing a dismal experience. Confucius said: "A journey 
of a thousand miles begins with a single step," but the road to 
computer network security begins with two steps. Below are the two 
most important things you can do to keep from getting buried in 
this online garbage:

1) Keep Your Computer Up To Date.

No matter if you use Windows, Mac or Linux, keeping software on 
your computer up-to-date is extremely important. Many viruses use 
known security bugs already discovered in software but not yet 
fixed or patched on individual computers. For example, the 
well-know "Blaster" virus (W32.Blaster.Worm), which attacked 
millïons of computers all around the world, exploits something 
called the "DCOM RPC vulnerability" in some versions of Microsoft 
Windows. The Blaster virus didn't even rely on your e-mail program 
to propagate; but rather, it scanned the Internet for vulnerable 
computers and copied itself to the unpatched machines where it set 
up shop repeating the process, causing a tremendous disruption in 
overall Internet usage and untold headaches for owners of infected 
machines.

This vulnerability was discovered and patched by Microsoft *4 
weeks* before Blaster was created, but the virus was still able to 
wreak havoc because so many people failed, for whatever reason, to 
apply the necessary updates before its release. Not only did those 
people become victims, but the virus running wild on their 
commandeered computers went on to victimize countless others.

So, you know the importance of keeping your software up to date, 
the next question is how to do that. The answer is simple. In 
recent versions of Microsoft Windows there is an "Automatic 
Update" program which will handle the task for you. If you run 
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 on a computer with a connection 
that is "always on," you can set it to update your Windows 
automatically without even notifying you. You can set Automatic 
Update to do its work from the Control Panel.

Automatic Update takes care of security bugs like the one 
described above, which are the most important; but there are other 
updates for your Windows installation which you can apply by 
selecting the "Windows Update" option from the Start menu. This 
will launch Internet Explorer and take you directly to a Microsoft 
website from which you can install security updates and also 
optional recommended updates such as new versions of drivers for 
hardware devices such as your graphics card, for installed 
software like Windows Media Player and DirectX and to Office if 
you have that installed.

2) Trust No One.

No, I am not advising you to be a paranoiac like Fox Mulder 
(X-files anyone?); but being a little paranoid while you're doing 
certain things via the Internet is a good habit to develop. Most 
viruses spread through e-mail. You might have heard about the 
so-called "Love Letter" worm, which was carried by a nice e-mail 
message with a Subject header like "I love you." There are many 
malicious e-mail attacks like this one. Some of them pretend to be 
your ISP sending you new "account information" or Microsoft 
sending you updates attached (something Microsoft nevër, ever 
does). Some of them pretend to be your friend sending you a "new 
screen saver" or something like that.

All of these are a type of what is called "social engineering," a 
technique that relies on the reality that the human user is almost 
always the weakest link in the chain of computer security. The 
famous hacker Kevin Mitnick wrote a fantastic book about the 
subject, "The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of 
Security." This is my own "better safe than sorry" strategy. Do 
Not, under any circumstances, open any kind of attachment sent to 
your e-mail, even from a friend unless you expect something 
specific, and arrange that in advance.

Some viruses send fake header information, so even if e-mail 
"says" it is from someone you know and trust, that's not 
necessarily the case, so be very careful. I also highly recommend 
that you do business with a service provider such as cafeid.com, 
the one for whom I work, that offers server-side anti-virus 
protection on their e-mail servers, so that messages carrying 
virii will be detected and deleted even before they get to your 
computer. Another good measure is to use an e-mail provider that 
uses IMAP instead of POP3 for its e-mail servers. These enable you 
to view and delete messages on the server without ever downloading 
them to your local machine unless you want to.

If you are stuck with an ISP that doesn't have e-mail virus 
protection and/or use an IMAP-based mail server, there are 
third-party providers who provide these services at a low cost, or 
you can try using software like MagicMail which enables you to 
review message headers directly on your ISP's POP3 mail server and 
remove suspicious ones before you download them.

These simple steps will drastically improve your computer 
network's "immune system" against Internet nasties. You should 
also install at least one of the excellent frëe spyware removal 
tools and a good anti-virus system and keep them up to date 
similarly to the way you keep your OS updated. Internet virii and 
spyware depend upon the poor practices of computer users for their 
lives, and the easiest way to begin taking back the 'Net from the 
malicious is to make sure you have the latest fixes installed and 
remain vigilant against possible attempts to manipulate you into 
defeating computer security through human intervention.

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About The Author

Trevor Bauknight is a web designer and writer with over 15 years 
of experience on the Internet. He specializes in the creation and 
maintenance of business and personal identity online and can be 
reached at trevor@tryid.com. Stop by CafeID.com for a frëe tryout 
of the revolutionary SiteBuildingSystem and chëck out our 
Flash-based website and IMAP e-mail hostïng solutions, complete 
with live support.

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