Internet Security Basics 101
The explosive growth of the Internet has meant that
thousands of people are today experiencing the joys
of being online for the first time. With growth there
always comes pain. Be it your growing pains as a child
or the growth and development of this part of our
culture called the Internet.
Firstly we need to quickly explain what the Internet
is and where it came from. The Internet is the offspring
of a military project called Arpanet. Arpanet was
designed to provide reliable communication during
global nuclear war. A vast network of interconnected
computers was set up all over the world to allow the
various branches of US and NATO forces to communicate
with each other.
Nuclear war never came (thankfully) and the world
was left with a massive network of computers all connected
together with nothing to do. Colleges and universities
started to use these computers for sharing research
internationally. From there it grew and spread outside
colleges to local homes and businesses. The World
Wide Web was born and its father was a guy called
Tim Berners Lee.
When you're connected to the Internet you're sharing
a vast network with hundreds of millions of other
users. This shared network provides resources that
15 years ago were never thought possible. Unfortunately
when something is shared its open to abuse. On the
Internet this abuse comes from hackers and virus creators.
Their sole intent is to cause chaos and/or harm to
your computer system and millions of other computer
systems all over the world.
How do you combat this? You need an Internet security
system. This might sound complicated but your Internet
security system will be quite straigtforward being
comprised of just 2 - 3 Internet security products.
We'll look at each of these products in more detail
now:
AntiVirus Software
The first and most critical element of your Internet
security system is antivirus software. If you don't
have up-to-date antivirus software on your PC you're
asking for trouble. 300 new viruses appear each month
and if you're not constantly protecting your system
against this threat your computer will become infected
with at least one virus - it's only a matter of time.
Antivirus software scans your PC for signatures of
a virus. A virus signature is the unique part of that
virus. It can be a a file name, how the virus behaves
or the size of the virus file itself. Good antivirus
software will find viruses that haven't yet infected
your PC and eliminate the ones that have.
Antivirus software can only protect your computer
from viruses trying to infect it via email, CD-Rom,
floppy disk, Word documents or other types of computer
files. Antivirus software alone will not keep your
computer 100% safe. You also need to use firewall
software.
Firewall Software
The use of firewall software by home computer users
is a relatively new occurence. All Internet connections
are a two way process. Data must be sent and received
by your computer. This data is sent through something
called ports. These are not physical things rather
aspects of the way your computer communicates online.
Firewall software watches these ports to make sure
that only safe communication is happening between
your computer and other computers online. If it sees
something dangerous happening it blocks that port
on your computer to make sure your computer stays
safe from the person who is trying to hack into your
system.
An easier way to understand a firewall would be to
picture your computer as an apartment complex. At
the front door of this complex there is a security
guard. Every person who enters the complex must pass
this security guard. If the security guard recognizes
the person entering as a resident he allows them to
pass without saying anything. If, however, the person
entering the complex is unknown to him then he will
stop that person and ask for identification. If they
have no business being at the apartment complex he
escorts them from the building.
If you are not currently using firewall software
your computer will get hacked into - that's a guarantee.
PopUP Blocker
You can get a good popup blocker at no cost. An easy
way to do this is to install either the Google or
Yahoo toolbar. Both of these come with popup blockers
built in. Popups are not necessarily dangerous but
are a nuisance and using either of these toolbars
will make your life that bit easier.
A simple rule for practicing online security is:
"If in doubt then don't". If you don't recognize
the file, the email address, the website or if your
gut feeling says "no" then don't click that
button.
About the author:
This article was submitted courtesy of the Spyware
& Malware Guide. This site is dedicated to spyware
removal and just generally helping users keep
their PCs spyware free.
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