Security - What do I need?

[Cowboy]

I'm a regular poster on UK420 but I have no security on my computer. What do I need to stop "the bad guys" knowing who and where I am?

I'm not technical at all, so please make replies suitable for a computer idiot?

Cheers

Cowboy.

[love_a_good_smoke]

if your downloading files such as music or films this is a good prog to get as it stops the agenceys from knowing wat your up to.

its called peerguardian.other than that i dont put much trust in firewalls.

[Dr Jenoli]

I'm a regular poster on UK420 but I have no security on my computer. What do I need to stop "the bad guys" knowing who and where I am?

I'm not technical at all, so please make replies suitable for a computer idiot?

Honestly,

It depends how paranoid you are.

In truth there is no security which can prevent a hack attempt when somone knows what they are doing. The moment you open your browser (i assume you still want to do that.. your online and open through the same "port" which the browser uses - a port is an area which your PC talks to the other Computer or server).

You should at the very minimum use something called a firewall; this (as the name implies) throughs up a wall of fire and smoke to prevent script attacks (automated hackers) and also stops your IP address (like a phone number for your PC which is unique) being broadcast which could allow you to be tracked - in truth this is only partially effective, since you can be traced no matter how good your security is if you have the right tools (thats because of the way IP - Internet Protocol works - too technical).

As a start point use ZoneAlarm - there is a brilliant Freeware version:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp

The Upgrade to the full version "Pro" is advisable if your increasingly paranoid.

IF you are totally paranoid, go for a hardware router (only if you have broadband), this will use a process called NAT, which in essence can stop all port traffic without an origin point from your PC (this is very technical), this should stop all but the the most persistant of hackers and all script attacks. (Linksys do a good line - I have one myself )

http://www.linksys.com/

But note, you cannot prevent attack by worms, these are code which wait on websites, when you connect they channel through the browser to your OS and enable access to certain functions/files etc on your PC. A typical example of a worm (if not somewhat crude - and termed something else) was the backorifice program, which tricked you into downloading it. Then it lay in wait for a script to communicate with it, and then allowed full access to your PC and all the files.

As I said, your security is only as good as the man trying to break in (just like your home). Typically every PC connected to the net gets 1000 hack attempts every few hours from script files (which are just casing the joint). Most of these can do nothing, unless you have a program installed which can talk back to the script.

If your worried about "Big Brother", you should be, he is out there and watching. - your stuffed against "them" - honestly!

If you really want complete protection, (as used by governments) Cyberguard is recognised as "THE" firewall, but expect to pay a premium:

http://www.cyberguard.com/HOME/home.cfm

That said even Cyberguard is ultimately breakable (bloody difficult though), but then, there is no code, no encyption, no secret which cannot be got to by somone with the right skills.

Enjoy!

[NPK]

Dr Jenoli is right that a firewall won't protect you completely. The way Zonealarm , for instance, works is it has a list of trusted programs which it allows to access the internet. If a program which isn't on the list trys to acces the internet an alert will popup and give you the choice whether to allow it or not.

Trojan writers have recently been developing ways to make a trojan inject itself into the memory space of a trusted program thereby bypassing the firewall and its protection.

Most of the worms and scripts that attack from malicious websites and Emails rely on known bugs in Internet Explorer not being patched.

You should visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com and apply all the critical updates you are offerered.

There remains a slight danger of a unpatched or unknown bug being exploited by hackers. Your best protection against this is to turn off all active scripting in your browsers options. Turn off preview in Outlook if you use it. In fact for better security use a diferent email client like Eudora.

Most importantly never ever download executable files from the P2P filesharing sevices. Even if you download 'WinZip 8.1 Cracked.exe', for example, and it appears to install correctly when run, there is a very high chance that a trojan has been installed in the background. If this trojan use's the firewall bypassing I mentioned before, you will never know its there.

npk

[mickle]

As well as the good technical info above I would say its very important to be careful - little things like not running unfamiliar programs (even the joke exe your mate sent) and switching from insecure software (like Internet Explorer and outlook express) to more secure alternatives (e.g opera, mozilla).