How to Keep Your Information In and the Bad Guys Out

Secure computing is more than just a catch-phrase. Theft of your data could compromise your company's reputation or result in the theft of your personal identity. The information stored on your PC could provide others with your credit card numbers, your bank account numbers, or a plethora of other information that could be used in ways that you don't want it to be used.

Some quick tips to keep your computer secure are:
 

• If your are using wireless connections, use the highest encryption level possible.
• Make sure that you change the default passwords on your router, modem, and computers.
• If our PCs are connected together in a Workgroup, change the default name of the workgroup.
• Avoid using the most commonly used passwords like:
  Admin
  Secret
  Love
  P@ssword
  password
  nimda
  god
  the computer's name
• If you have a home router, read the manual and pay attention to how to block unused ports
• Only open the ports that you need open to get your work done (i.e. port 80, 110, etc.)
• Set your password on your computer to expire at regular intervals.
• Set a limit for how many unsuccessful login attempts it takes to lock the computer.

 
It is amazing how many home computer networks that I can leech a wireless connection with my laptop and climb into the router with minimal effort. I can then lock the people out of their own computers, access their shared files, and own their data. At that point, if I desire, I can open a port on their router, install a script that will bounce certain files to my server. If I put everything back the way that I discovered it, the unsuspecting user will never even know that I was in the system. Whenever I want access to their updated data, I can just access MY server at my own leisure.

If you would like to see just how vulnerable your system may be, try going to Gibson Research and follow the links for ShieldsUP! Have the site "Probe Your Ports." The site is totally safe, and will offer suggestions about how to improve the security on your system.