computer securty tips

computer security tips

2009-09-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

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www.computersecurityguide.blogspot.com

computer security tips

2009-09-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Securing your business means having a plan

1. Start by assessing your hardware and software assets

If you were forced to protect only one device in your company, would you choose the accounting server, e-mail server, or the e-commerce server? It all depends on what is most important to your company. If your business mostly does business over the Internet, the latter is probably the critical machine to safeguard.

When creating your security plan, pay attention to securing the IT assets that impact your business the most, and work your way down the prioritization list from there. But don’t just think about devices, warns Tim Keanini, CTO of San Francisco-based security vendor nCircle. He recommends thinking about business processes as well — that is, the flow of information, as opposed to just the location of information.

This means you have to get your trading partners involved in the security discussion. For instance, if your shipments rely on getting inventory updates from your suppliers, you need to think about two things: the reliability of the network connection, and how your suppliers are addressing information security themselves.

Need additional help in assessing your company’s IT security risks? Check out the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool, designed for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees.
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2. Develop enforceable policies

To keep security costs down, focus on the probable more than the possible. It is a lot more probable that an employee will keep a password on a piece of note paper than a malcontent is going to launch an attack on your networks. (That is one advantage of being a midsize company — you’re probably less likely to be a target than a larger company with a household name.)

Therefore, you need rational policies, and a management team willing to spend the time explaining clearly to employees the reasons for those policies. A few guidelines for developing a policy include:
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Ensure that your employees keep their Windows and Office systems and business applications up to date, with the latest downloads, security bulletins, and tools from Microsoft. See this article for a checklist of security tips for employees, as well as the Microsoft Security page for software updates.
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Require strong passwords (those that contain numbers, letters, and characters), but don’t require that employees change them every two weeks: 45 to 90 days is a standard range.
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Make sure your policies employ the concept of role-based security by allowing access based on job responsibilities.
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Be clear in your policy document about the ramifications of noncompliance, and follow through if and when that happens.
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Review policies on a regular basis, and inform employees of changes.
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When employees change jobs, review and change their access privileges accordingly.
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When employees leave the company, erase their passwords from the system.
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Know that employees can be your biggest security risks, and often because of lack of proper training rather than malfeasance. (For more on this topic, see this article.)
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Include a mobile security policy, for employees traveling or working off-site. See more on this in Step No. 5 below.

Finally, make sure the policy lays out a plan of action if a security problem arises, and designate responsibility for certain decisions, advises Mark Mattis, a principal at Bellevue, Wash.-based Ascentium, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
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3. Invest in multiple servers to help protect data

Once you have determined your priorities and policies, then think about protection. One way to protect important information is simply to segment this data on separate servers, with each server separated by an internal firewall. In addition, be sure to segment your public Web server from your internal network.

If you began as a small business, you probably didn’t think about the ramifications of giving employees access to multiple servers but now that you are larger, it’s time to do so. "There's no reason your salespeople and support staff need access to the accounting servers," explains Jeff Jones, director of Microsoft's security and technology unit.
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4. Choose the appropriate systems for securing different devices

While Microsoft has increased the level of safeguards built into its products, it has also developed a line of business security products to protect all of your network and systems. Microsoft Forefront is a family of products that protects client machines, server applications, and the network edge, and can be centrally managed and scaled to reach thousands of users. (Download this datasheet for detailed information about Microsoft Forefront.)

At a time when there are more and more choices and niche products within the security technology market, experts say that an integrated security system such as Microsoft Forefront is often the easiest to manage.

When selecting your security technology suite, consider that certain devices require certain tools:
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Desktops and laptops require antivirus, spyware, and firewall protection (see Microsoft Forefront Client Security).
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E-mail servers require antivirus protection, such as Microsoft Antigen, within the Forefront family.
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Servers and networks require firewalls and intrusion detection systems (Microsoft's ISA Server, also within Forefront, incorporates these capabilities).
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5. Develop a mobile security strategy

With more and more employees telecommuting and working from the road, it becomes increasingly important to have a mobile security policy strategy that guards against simple human error as well as viruses, vandals, and malicious hackers. Gary Chen, an analyst who focuses on midsize business issues at Boston-based Yankee Group, recommends using virtual private network (VPN) technology for remote access, as it includes encrypted and secure authentication.

Make it a point to invest in mobile devices that have what is known as a "kill" capability, Chen recommends. If the devices are lost, the server they are designed to connect to can send a signal that renders the mobile operating system useless. That way, data can’t be taken off the device, and the device cannot access the host.

For more on mobile-device security, see these articles from the Microsoft.com Windows Mobile site.

These are some basics to get you started. See our Security section for more resources. Then make sure your business has a plan.

Howard Baldwin is a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based contributing writer to the Microsoft Midsize Business Center Web site. His work has appeared in CIO, Optimize, and InfoWorld.

What to Do If Your Computer Security Has Been Compromised

2009-09-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Security is something that is certainly foremost on the mind of many individuals that keep personal information on their computer. Some people have even stopped keeping private information on their computer but this can be extremely inconvenient, especially if we tend to use it for almost everything in our lives. That is why it is important to make sure that we are properly taken care of in case there should be some kind of compromise as far as computer security is concerned. What kind of things need to be worried about in these particular situations?

The most important thing for us to worry about is spyware that may be downloaded to your computer without your knowledge. These little programs tend to piggyback on other downloads that we may have and once they install themselves, they run silently in the background and we are typically unaware of their existence. Sometimes, they may tip their hand to a certain extent by redirecting our browser whenever we are surfing the Internet or perhaps adding toolbars that we did not authorize. There may be other times, however, whenever spyware ends up on your computer and it simply runs in the background, watching everything that you do. Why is this such a risk?

If you use your computer in order to log in to private websites, such as for e-mail, these spyware programs will steal your password and use your e-mail account in order to send out spam messages. They will also be able to recognize whenever you are typing in a credit card number and will record all of that information as well. Once it has compiled this information, it uses your Internet connection in order to forward it all to unscrupulous individuals that are waiting to use it for their own gain. Without your knowing it, all of this could be going on in the background.

That is why it is important for you to make sure that you are running an anti-spyware program regularly. This is not only to cleanup the spyware once it exists on your computer, it is to constantly scan what is going on on your computer in order to stop it before it begins. This is your best line of defense against this type of security breach and if you're not running one now, you should make sure that you download one and began running it immediately. Most people are surprised to find out that they have these programs running on their computer, even if they are extremely careful with the things that they download.

Of course, you always need to be concerned about security and you should never give your credit card numbers or passwords out without understanding who you are giving them too. In order to keep ourselves from having these things stolen from us without our knowledge, however, running these small computer programs is the best way for you to stay as safe as possible.

Faster Computer 101

2009-09-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

We all want a fast computer it is the one thing that we all really want when buying a new computer. We are very happy with how fast it was running when we first buy it from the store. It started up without a hitch or any error windows and any time we opened a program there was absolutely no hesitation. Over time your computer will always begin to slow down and this is when you will start getting annoyed. There are various causes of this but there is also three very easy ways for you to remedy this problem.

You can always add additional memory to start, this is a reason that your computer may simply be cheap when you buy it first up because it actually has very little memory in it and simply needs more to function in a reasonable manner. You may feel as though all the numbers sounds like it is actually a lot of memory when in reality it is not even enough for it to function normally, you must add more if you want your computer to run really well. You can buy your own memory from many places and install it yourself or have someone who actually knows what they are doing to install it for you. This may be a better option, as you don’t want to stuff up your computer even though it is quite easy to do.

There are other things other than buying memory that can help your computer speed up. You can get rid of spy ware stuff on your computer, as this tends to take up a lot of space when it is running on your computer. Thee generally only show themselves through pop up windows however they are running silently in the background all the time. People often have many different spy ware programs running unknowingly and this really halts and clogs up the system in a big way. You can easily get more than you think running. Get an anti spy ware program and run it and this is simply the easiest way to clean up your system and have it running faster than ever. It will both more secure and faster.

There is one more way that you can clean up your computer and make it run faster that is often overlooked my most people. You can clean up the errors in the Windows registry. Sometimes people are a bit worried about tampering with this part of the system however it is quite easy to do and is actually very effective. You don’t have to do this all by yourself there are many programs which you can download and will do this for you automatically the trick is simply to find the best one. This will clean up your computer get rid of those really annoying pop ups and stop system crashes occurring.