Security Guides

I remember when the term "hacker" referred to a computer geek who could transform a mundane electronic device, with a few modifications, into something completely different from what the manufacturer and designer had envisioned for it. In some cases, these were cool improvements and more than one of these hackers made a fortune selling the rights to them. In other cases, the transformation just made you wonder if the guy's horn-rimmed glasses were a little too tight.

Current statistics show that e-commerce in online sales accounts for only 1% of the total retail sales in America. Surveys have shown that consumers still fear online fraud and consider this the number one reason they do not shop online, if they do not already do so. Fraud on the Internet is more common than offline, but current statistics show it only accounts for 1.14% of all transactions online (IT advisory from Gartner published November, 2001).

Cyber terrorism. Extortion. Malicious attacks. Rogue nations. No, this isn't the ad campaign for a big-budget Hollywood movie. It's the new reality for companies operating in an always-on online world.

Every now and then you read about identity theft. I am not talking about the theft of you personal identity, sure that happens too, I am talking about the theft of a website’s identity. The big question is....

It seems everyone has an opinion about the best software and advice for keeping your computer safe from viruses and online predators. The following will help you increase your online security and usually without spending a dime!

The ideal system that everyone is searching for – the silver bullet, is to have top security automatically regardless of who you are sending to and what product(s) they happen to be using. The reality is that many e-mail packages are not themselves secure, and do not interoperate cleanly with anything but their own products.

SSL (secure sockets layer) is the security technology everyone uses to ensure that their web connections are secure. An SSL connection is symbolized by a padlock icon in the right-hand side of the taskbar and a URL that starts with ‘https’, the ‘s’ standing for a secure http connection. What trust, however, should users associate with SSL?

The threat of violence whether it emanates from a disgruntled employee or the threat of terrorism require both a concerted and an individual response. Terrorism in any form is terrorism. Having been exposed to the daily taunts, acts of intimidation, verbal threats of bodily harm are as debilitating psychologically as the blunt strike or the piercing bullet.

The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for granted, eventually escalates into the more serious assaultive behavior commonly referred to as employee on employee workplace violence starts with innuendos, a bad word, or simple jokes taken out of context or used to inflame another. Initiation of a proper and thorough investigation is possible under the auspices of a Threat Assessment Team. Banter between employees if left alone by supervisors becomes tense and often results in a more aggressive response.

As recent virus and email-based worm attacks have shown, there is still great difficulty in preventing viruses from proliferating, despite significant investment in technology solutions, such as desktop and server-based anti-virus systems, and end-user education. Viruses continue to be brought into the corporate environment via many different channels or vectors, and remain a clear and present danger to IT security professionals.

Two is company. Three is a crowd. If one is not enough, use two, if two is not enough, use three. This is the credo behind the co-ordinated Trojan threat looming on the horizon. If you thought you've seen everything there was to see of virus threats, think again. Experts are saying this is "unprecedented", and could be the next big one.

Every time I attend a "Security Guru's" meeting, I'm amazed by how much time and effort is spent on discussing complex hacking and computer compromise of computer networks and systems.

Whether you realize it or not, there's a quiet little battle raging on your computer. In one corner you have your faithful PC; in the other are malicious agents such as spyware, adware, malware, viruses, worms, and Trojans.

A firewall is a system or gateway that prevents unauthorized access to your computer or private network. It is usually the first line of defense in protecting your private information or data.

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aim to disrupt the service of information systems by overwhelming the processing capacity of systems or by flooding the network bandwidth of the targeted business. Recently, these attacks have been used to deny service to commercial web sites that rely on a constant Internet presence for their business. The attacks differ from traditional DDoS attacks in the targeted nature and shear number of attacking hosts. Even hardened Internet companies such as the SCO group and Microsoft are not immune to attack, and historically high-profile e-tailers such as eBay have had their services disrupted.

Even though rootkits have been around for a very long time, they have only recently garnered popular view when Sony used a rootkit in order to maintain their CD copy protection.

When it comes to the data center, one of the highest priorities for the IT department is security. IDC's Frank Gens, Senior Vice President & Chief Analyst said, that security ”is always the number one concern of IT. Gartner and Forrester studies also put security up as one of the high priorities that a data center can provide its customers.