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.
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
straightforward being comprised of just 2 - 3
Internet security
products. We'll look at each of these products in more detail
now:
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.
Firewall Software
The use of
firewall software by home
computer users is a relatively new occurrence. 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. Popup
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.
