Network Security
What is computer security?
Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized
use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known
as "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps
you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were
successful, and what they may have done.
Why should I care about
computer security?
We use computers for everything from banking and investing to shopping and
communicating with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not
consider your communications "top secret," you probably do not want strangers
reading your email, using your computer to attack other systems, sending forged email from
your computer, or examining personal information stored on your computer (such as
financial statements).
Who would want to break into my
computer at home?
Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not
care about your identity. Often they want to gain control of your computer so they can use
it to launch attacks on other computer systems.
Having control of your computer gives them the ability to hide their true
location as they launch attacks, often against high-profile computer systems such as
government or financial systems. Even if you have a computer connected to the Internet
only to play the latest games or to send email to friends and family, your computer may be
a target.
Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on the computer, or cause
damage to your computer by reformatting your hard drive or changing your data.
How easy is it to break into my
computer?
Unfortunately, intruders are always discovering new vulnerabilities
(informally called "holes") to exploit in computer software. The complexity of
software makes it increasingly difficult to thoroughly test the security of computer
systems.
When holes are discovered, computer vendors will usually develop patches
to address the problem(s). However, it is up to you, the user, to obtain and install the
patches, or correctly configure the software to operate more securely. Most of the
incident reports of computer break-ins received at the CERT/CC could have been prevented
if system administrators and users kept their computers up-to-date with patches and
security fixes.
Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other
users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples
include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers
that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you
click on them.
Click
here for full CERT Home Network Security Checklist.
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