Business Security Information

Kaspersky Lab, an anti-virus/malware company, recently published a “Stop Cybercrime Guide” which I have read, and I think is an excellent overview of many of the computer security threats a business, home office or individual users may face.  Information covered in this short, 10-page document includes:

• Types of malicious programs and how to protect yourself against them.  Some of these protections you may have heard of before, such as installing security software, updating your software, backing up your data, and not using the administrator account except when needed, which I discussed in a previous article.
• Phishing scams and how to protect yourself.  This adds to what I wrote about phishing in a recent article.
• Explanation of  ransonware and how to respond to it.  This is an interesting read, and something a lot of businesses do not know about.
• Explanation of rogue dialers for those on dial-up internet connections and how to protect yourself and your computer from these dialers.
• Securing wireless connections.  With so many businesses, offices, and homes using wireless connections, this is an important security risk to understand.  A hospital that I was at recently had a number of wireless routers throughout their facility; it makes you wonder if they are  protected properly.
• What spam is, and how to protect you and your business.  This includes not clicking on the unsubscribe link since spammers then know it is an active e-mail and also to use multiple e-mails, different ones for different purposes.  I have a number of e-mails which I use for signing up for on-line information, newsletters etc.  If you have your own website or blog, you should consider using a contact form instead of posting a contact e-mail to cut down on spam.  The contact form hides the e-mail but still allows people to contact you via e-mail.
• Protection of  family members when they are on-line, and what to do if your computer does become infected or compromised by an on-line criminal.

One suggestion that stood out is regarding passwords.  When you receive an e-mail confirmation (which is usually unencrypted) from a site you just opened an account with, such as a webhost, forum, facebook or other type of account that includes your log-in and password info, you should go and change your password immediately.  The password is unencrypted and can be captured and read by anyone with the right skills and tools.  I have received quite a few of these types of e-mails which include my password when I have opened a variety of accounts.  Also, as I have mentioned before in my Phishing Update article, do not use the same password for all of your accounts.

As you can see, the 10-page document is full of useful information, and, best of all, it is free.  Go here and download it.  It will just take a few minutes to read but will provide more information than I can give you in a couple of articles.

Related posts:

1. Changes in Spear Phishing Attacks
2. Obfuscated What?
3. Phishing Update