Internet Interests

Cyber Terrorism by Virus

Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Spoofs, Hoaxes...  The attacks on your computer can come from virtually anywhere including other innocent victims.  Sometimes harmful and sometimes only annoying, computer viruses are being sent out daily by bad guys and intermittently by people who fail to protect their computer software.

Anti-virus software, computer firewalls, and "safe data" handling procedures can not only reduce your chances of being damaged in an attack, they can also help combat the spread of these viruses to other computers.  But it is common sense and attention to security procedures that prevents even more viruses from being spread.  Establishing this line of defense includes the computers at work and also those at home especially because of how many people work from home these days.

Good Practices and Explanations

Anti-Virus Software

Anti-Virus software can be installed on your computer and used to remove or repair infected files.  However, anti-virus software offers its greatest protection when you allow it to be run constantly in the background.  With anti-virus software checking every file when it gets used by your computer, you are bound to see some performance degradation.  But the few milliseconds that are lost here or there are certainly well worth the tradeoff when compared with the time lost from losing your entire system.

The most important part of any anti-virus software is the updates.  New viruses are always being released and old viruses are re-circulated and/or modified.  Without recent updates to your detection and repair files, you cannot expect to be able to prevent infection and damage from any viruses that have been released since the last time you updated your anti-virus files.  If your anti-virus software offers automatic updates, it is advisable to let it do so but you may wish to force it to wait to begin installing the update until you have had a chance to gracefully exit any other software that you may be using at the time.

Anti-Virus software usually attempts to protect your most critical files by preventing unauthorized modification to them.  Unfortunately, this protection can prevent some software from being properly installed if the anti-virus protection is running at the same time.  If you are forced to temporarily disable your anti-virus software during an installation and the subsequent reboot in order to be successful, then it is always advisable to immediately inspect your system and reinstate the anti-virus software before beginning to use it or anything else on your computer.

Computer Firewalls

Firewall software monitors your computer's online connections and tightly controls the access that is granted in both directions.  Using the Internet to browse web pages or occasionally submit an online form uses only a scant few of the many ports that are opened during an online connection.  A firewall prevents bad guys from taking advantage of your unused ports to invade your computer system without your knowledge.

Firewalls can alert you to when you are under attack.  The term "attack" however is somewhat misleading because the attack can come from either an individual, a group of individuals, or from a software-only source.  Fortunately, most firewalls can shut down an attack after or while it is notifying you.  Unfortunately, firewalls can also misunderstand the nature of an "attack" and become suspicious and protective when it encounters some types of innocent situations; for instance, during streaming video.

Firewalls give you the ability to pick and choose which software can use your online connection and how they are able to use it.  Firewalls can allow you to shut down individual port invasions without having to completely close down your entire connection.  For full protection, firewalls should be placed on all computers with Internet and/or Intranet connections to reduce internal attacks.

Safe Data Handling Procedures

Perhaps a good approach to thinking in terms of handling data safely is to treat data like you would your own food.  You wash your food to prevent viruses and you should "wash" your computer to prevent computer viruses.  Take a look at the list of similarities below and you will quickly see how common sense plays a big part in Safe Data Handling Procedures.

bulletYou shop at clean grocery stores.
You should try to use reputable companies and try to obtain authenticated software.
bulletYou invite your guests to clean their hands.
You should always advise guests to use virus-free practices when using your computer.
bulletYou make sure that the other cooks are also clean.
You should make sure that all computers that use or are connected to your computer are also protected from viruses.
bulletYou use soap and/or water.
You should always use anti-virus software to disinfect your computer.
bulletYou use fresh ingredients.
You should always make sure that you are using the most recently released anti-virus detection and removal files.
bulletYou wash your kitchen.
You should always clean your computer of viruses before beginning to use it.
bulletYou inspect the food.
You should virus-check all software before beginning to use or install it on your computer.
bulletYou wash your cooking utensils.
You should always start with virus-free floppy disks, CDRWs, tapes, and other media.
bulletYou clean up as you cook.
A computer firewall monitors your online connections and allows you to keep your connection clean from Internet or Intranet attacks while you continue to work.
bulletYou store your leftovers in a clean refrigerator.
You should regularly inspect your backups and then isolate them from contamination so that you have virus-free data "restores" when you need them.
bulletYou clean up afterwards.
You should always inspect your system for viruses after running suspect or shared software.

Summary

Protecting ourselves from Cyber Terrorism begins by taking security precautions and then following up on them constantly.  Protection from viruses and cyber attacks are only two types of Cyber Terrorism, but they are at least two types that you can actively protect yourself from if you are willing to make the commitment.  We wiped out Small Pox, let's try to wipe out computer viruses and cyber attacks by using similar methods of vaccination and vigilance.

By Steve Duell
ARVP Chapter Internet Development
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