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Computer Security Basics: A Partial Checklist

The following is partial checklist of some of the most basic, essential computer security precautions to take that I originally wrote for family and friends. I welcome comments and corrections.

Regardless of anything else, always make sure that all of your essential data is properly backed-up: Keep at least two copies in two separate, secured locations. Three for anything truly irreplaceable that you can’t stand the thought of losing. External drives are generally the most practical media to use for backup. For a little more on back-up, see my post Backup Should Always Come First

1.) Use Strong Passwords

Protect all of your accounts with secure passwords.

It is also essential, for any hardware (such as a router) that comes with a default password, to change it to a secure one.

Dial-Up Users Forgotten by Linux

Post I just made to LinuxForums.org :

Why do so many distros (most?) not include a dial-up GUI? (Even among those that are otherwise GUI-intensive and “newcomer/user- friendly”)

And why is it generally so difficult to even find-out whether or not a distro has a dial-up GUI in advance?

Gmail vs. Fastmail vs. Yahoo!

I finally sent the following to Gmail, using the suggestion form.
______
1. )In “basic HTML” mode, one should be able to select ALL of the messages in a list with ONE-CLICK.

Esp. for emptying the trash, where currently one has to click each individual message separately, which can be quite tedious and time-consuming.

This is one example of the greater functionality that Fastmail.fm provides in certain areas. (Though the lack of conversation threading and the far lesser storage space and bandwidth allowance are major areas in which Fastmail is inferior to your service. Also, far inferior spam and virus filtering on free accounts and perhaps even the lowest-priced ones as well)

Low Prices- At What Cost?

Something I wrote regarding the current unprecedented low prices for computers that is also applicable to many other goods as well as services.
………

But these enticingly low retail price-tags are deceptive, hiding
the _real_ costs and implications –not just _economic_ but also
_social_ ,_environmental_ and, ultimately, _moral_– of these products
and their continually increasing proliferation.

What are the conditions and wages

Keep Wild Animals in The Wild: Another Reminder

From State of FL Archives (No known copyright)

Public domain photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org

Skimming through news.google.com, as I often do to get a quick overview of what’s going on in the world, this New York Times review of a program scheduled to air this Sunday (tomorrow, Feb. 21) on PBS called Invasion of the Giant Pythons caught my attention:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/arts/television/20pythons.html

Below are excerpts, with my comments interspersed and following.

The news that Burmese pythons are loose and breeding in the Everglades and other parts of Florida has been known for a few years, but this program makes clearer the extent of the problem and some of the consequences.

Keeping ALL of Your Programs Updated

This is the first in what will hopefully be a series on some of the basic essentials of security.

1.) Keep your Operating System Up-to-Date

Download and install critical updates and patches as soon as they become available.

-Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of each month. Set Automatic Updates in Windows to notify you.

- GNU/Linux and other operating systems also require regular updating. Keep alert for announcements.

2.) Keep ALL of Your PROGRAMS Up-to-Date- Not Only Antivirus/Antimalware

Surprising as it may seem, there are still people out there who don’t realize that in order to remain effective*, all  anti-virus/malware/spyware/adware software must be continually updated.

(Antivirus programs should update at least daily. The best ones, such as Kaspersky, update continuously throughout the day)

*Note, however, that no antimalware or other security product or program can ever protect you fully or serve as a substitute for prudent behavior and good practices on the part of the user.  The right programs can play an important role in keeping one’s system secure– sometimes even an essential one– but real security is an approach and a process- not a product.

The number of people who don’t realize how critical it is to also keep their web browser and email program updated is probably far greater.

(You should be able to set both to automatically update — or at least notify you when updates become available.)

When it comes to the risks of not keeping all of the programs installed on a computer up-to-date, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were actually a majority of people who are unaware.

Updating programs is essential because critical security vulnerabilities are continually being discovered and (often not as rapidly) patched in all kinds of programs.

Secunia regularly issues advisories concerning these vulnerabilities and offers two ways to scan your computer for them (both free-of-charge):

The Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI) (requires no download or installation. See the  system requirements here ) and the Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI), aprogram that you download (under 1 MB) and install to your system.

You can read reviews of this utility here

(In contrast to the modular GNU/Linux model, Microsoft Windows has no built-in, centralized mechanism for keeping all of the installed programs updated.)

In general, the more widely-used a program is, the more vulnerable it is likely to be.

Of late, the Adobe PDF Reader that is installed in nearly all computers running any version of Microsoft Windows may have been at the top for the number of vulnerabilities discovered in a program.

You can not only lessen your risk but also enjoy much faster performance by switching to the much lighter Foxit Reader for viewing and editing PDF files. The basic version, with which you can view, annotate and print any PDF document is offered free-of-charge. It is also available as a Portable App at http://portableapps.com/apps/office/foxit_reader_portable

There are also alternatives available (most free-of-charge) for many other popular and widely-used programs. I hope to write more about this in a separate post at some point.

For now, let me just mention OpenOffice , the full-featured, free, open source office suite comparable to Microsoft Office.

Backup Should Always Come First

Before Anything Else, Be Sure to BACKUP All of Your Essential Data

Regardless of the operating system or programs you use, the hardware you run them on, whatever other precautions you take and anything else you may or may not do, it is absolutely essential to properly backup your data regularly.

There are a number of programs that allow one to easily set-up a regular backup routine that can be synchronized across multiple computers and media copies. (CD/DVD or external flash or hard drives)

Once you’ve done that, it  should take little time and effort to backup regularly and doing so can save you not only much time later but also financial loss and aggravation.

For essential data, the rule is to keep redundant copies in at least two separate, secured locations. For absolutely critical data, having redundant copies in at least three different locations, with the use of a fireproof safe in at least one of them, is advised.

Locations to consider for keeping copies of your data  can include your car, workplace, the home of a trusted friend or relative and a bank safe deposit box.

Obviously, the amount of effort and expense that is reasonable to spend on backing-up and securing data will depend upon its value and the consequences of losing it.

Avoid Aggravation by Saving AS YOU WORK

An Often Overlooked Part of Backup

Have you ever spent considerable time and energy working on something, only to have it vanish forever due to a crash, dropped Internet connection or an accidental click or press of a key? I think most people have had this happen to them at some point or another.

To avoid such aggravation, I recommend continuously saving anything of any length while you are working on it.

When I find I’m working on something for any extended period of time, I try to make sure to save it to at least two different destinations at intervals. For example,  If I’m writing a document in a text-editor, I’ll alternate between saving it to my hard drive and saving it to an external USB flash or hard drive. If I’m composing an email in Gmail’s web interface, I will continually click on ‘Save Draft’ but if I really dread the thought of losing what I’ve written at any given point, I’ll periodically copy and paste back-and-forth and save to a text-editor as well.

This is especially relevant when writing a comment to post on a web site or feedback to send via a web-based contact form; if you accidentally navigate away from the page or if your browser crashes, whatever you had written vanishes into the ether never to be recovered.

(I had read somewhere that there is an option in Firefox to automatically save text entered into such web fields but I never followed-up on it.)