Web Security Tips

Many other filtering can be done to protect computers and even in a home scenario with only a few computers, firewall software would be a good investment but as stated, it comes standard or as add-on options with anti virus software you may already have. Bigger corporations install a firewall appliance which is simply a stripped down computer installed with firewall software that is connected onto the main line before it enters the organization. This way, any blocked sites is prevented from sending information into the organization say email that comes from a social networking site, it then notifies system admin of the occurrence for proper action. That way, any unsolicited information is blocked from there preventing it from congesting the local network possibly gathering information about a lot of things.

Firewalls are software that prevents intrusion of certain information from entering your computer. A personal firewall protects you from suspicious access from outside such as hacking cases and filtering of addresses that prevents information from sites you block from getting in and bugging you. The name was given for as with a physical firewall, which protects your house from fire at a neighboring house the software type performs a similar task. Certain web pages bombard you with tons of information, most of which is not needed, the firewall prevents excessive data from getting into the system which would be a great idea in an office for say the firewall can limit access to FTP on certain or one specific computer.

Ever wonder how your user name and passwords are entered automatically as you go to a site, cookies too, and what about those pop up messages that keep bugging you about something you just searched for, them too. All of these pesky and annoying stuff just because of them, in a never ending battle for privacy in the wired world, they are a true threat that should be approached with caution and respect. Choose to get notifications whenever a site wants to run cookies so you get to decide which to and not to run. Most sites can be negotiated without them and if all you’re after is information, then do away with them so you keep private and anonymous as you go on surfing the waves of the internet.

The problem is in their nasty ability to record everything you do and then send the information they gather to other people. If you are using windows, set the security settings to medium and you’d be amazed to see just how much of these cookies run as you jump from site to site. Another problem is that they have the nasty ability to mimic cookies from legitimate sites as if they were real sending information in all directions to marketing firms and others who can benefit from your browsing habits. Ever wonder why you get all those unsolicited mail regarding sweepstakes subscriptions even with you not asking for them, blame cookies.

The security risks of cookies are quite hard to fathom but for most of us who simply know them as the type you dunk in milk, loaded with chocolate chips, they really pose a big threat. They have been around for a long time and have allowed internet companies to gather personal information from us without us even knowing about it, these small bits of code that come with web pages often result in security leaks and other forms of espionage. They can make life easier by not having you type usernames and passwords to the several hundred or so sites you visit in a month’s browsing and they record your search preferences allowing a search engine to provide you with the most probable results that are in line with your searches.

Access to such information can give them access to the whole system compromising most if not all the information that is stored within, say customer files, employee records and more. FTP can be easily secured between systems for the only benefit is that it allows the transfer of files that are too large to email or transfer through the internet. It is a simple file copy that divides the file being transferred into packets with header and footer which is reassembled on the receiving end of the system. Using HTTP 1.1 or SSL which can be deployed over the network can be a sure way of providing data security from both ends of the system. Organizations and businesses should conduct regular audits of their available ports to see if any are wide open for attack or is already being used for such activities.

Any user who wants to intercept a file being sent needs no special tools to open and read the file straight off the wire so to speak. Next, it is not subject to the exclusion and rights management of most operating systems which simply means it gets used anyway however strong the security of your computer system is. Older Windows operating systems designed for business deployment install the IIS automatically even if the users don’t know about it. Hackers often do probing tests to obtain usernames and passwords from data packets they manage to intercept through the FTP file transfer.

Many operating systems have in one form or another type of FTP or File Transport Protocol, Windows has IIS or Internet Information Server which comes standard in many of their operating systems. From Microsoft to other operating systems, the option to install this protocol can be done automatically or as a user selectable feature which is left for more advanced users. The problem is for those who do not know enough to know the intricacies of FTP and how dangerous that file sharing system can be. First of all, it is not an encrypted file transfer protocol which means all text, passwords and usernames are transmitted verbosely with no encryption.

Chain e-mail is a form of mail that tells you to send them out to a number of users for say a miracle to happen. The only miracle would be a virus or something nasty that came with them as you spread the infection to more users. All important documents, spreadsheets should be backed-up in regular intervals to prevent losing them in the event of a system crash. The many services and applications that may be installed on your computer by default may be exposing you to threats without you even knowing about it. Take time to learn the intricacies of the operating system and disable all unnecessary services that are installed.

Email is believed to be one of the best propagation means of malware on a computer network, with the advent of firewalls and anti-virus systems that filter them they have indeed gotten a lot safer but simple steps should always be observed when dealing with email in or out of the workplace. First, never open email which you do not have any idea of; simply delete them without opening them to prevent any malware from unloading their payload onto your computer such as keystroke loggers and other crazy stuff. Most anti-virus software have email scanning capabilities so make sure they are active and have the virus definitions updated to the latest versions (these operations are done automatically if set to do so when the software is first installed).