The battle for safety

The Battle for Internet Safety Vic Laurie vlaurie.com

What We Will Cover
What has changed and why the Internet security problem is so serious
The minimum defenses that the home PC owner must use
Steps for additional safety

The Bad News
Security problems are inherent and getting worse
Organized criminal gangs involved
Defenses require work and vigilance
Greater security means less convenience
There is no perfect defense
No one has yet written software that guards against gullibility or greed

The Good News
With reasonable care, most PC users can probably avoid any serious problem
If a system does get infected with malware, regular backups will help

The Problem Is Inherent
The Internet was designed with an idealistic concept of a completely open community where everybody is equal and anonymous
Sociopaths, criminals, and stupidity were not considered
The design did not take into account billions of untrained users
Windows was not originally designed for the Internet
Millions of old unsafe Windows PCs remain
Social engineering is now the main threat

Types of Threats
Downloads to your computer
Steal passwords- key loggers
Extort payments
Phony anti-virus
Run your computer
Phishing
Nigerian and similar scams
Phony bank sites

Bad Statistics
In 2009, more than 25 million different unique malware programs were identified, more than all the malware programs ever created in all previous years.
Some antimalware vendors report that 48 percent of the computers they scan are infected

An ad online showing bulk credit card numbers for sale

How Much Security Is Enough?
Trade-off between security and usefulness
The more security, the less convenience
How to strike the proper balance?
Depends on skill and usage habits of PC owner

21 ZoneAlarm Internet Security 35 Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 19 PC Security Shield 24 Panda Internet Security 15 Norton Internet Security 2010 26 Norman Internet Security Suite 19 McAfee Internet Security 15 Kaspersky Internet Security 40 BitDefender Internet Security Boot Time Increase (sec) Suite

Different Types of Protection
Firewalls
Antivirus- signature and heuristics
Anti-spyware
Anti-trojan
Rootkit detectors
Link scanners
Intrusion and behavioral detection
Sandboxes

Criteria for Basic Defense for Average Home User
Has to be simple
Has to be unobtrusive with few judgment calls
Has to be automated as much as possible
Has to be easy on system resources

Minimum Defenses for Average PC User
Windows firewall
Microsoft Security Essentials
Automatic Windows updates
Latest Internet browser with site filters
Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.6+, Chrome
Anti-spyware program
Malwarebytes
In Windows Vista and 7, use limited accounts
With children, use parental controls
Regular backups
Monitor all online accounts

Additional Defenses
Use strong passwords
Password managers, e.g ., LastPass
Intrusion detection software
WinPatrol
Rootkit detector
Sophos
Use update software to check applications
Secunia Personal Software Inspector ( http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ )
Turn off scripting
NoScript extension for Firefox

More Security
Two-way firewall
Use Sandboxie
Scan all downloads
Virus Total ( http://www.virustotal.com/ )
View email in text mode
Use DNS provider with filtering
Use virtual machines
Surf from a USB key
Run Linux

Useful References
The Best Free Security Software for PC
http://www.techsupportalert.com/pc/security-tools.html
How to Block Bad Websites
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-block-bad-websites.htm

Menu from “Safety” button in Internet Explorer 8

Firefox Site Filtering

Network Security
Encrypt wireless router
Change wireless router password
Do not access sensitive information while using public wi-fi

Privacy Issues
Settings for private browsing on browsers
Blocking cookies
Blocking Flash cookies
Anonymizers

The End vlaurie.com tips.vlaurie.com

The battle for safety

by Joel May on Sep 08, 2010

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The battle for safety Presentation Transcript