Computer Security Tips for Small Business and Home Computer User

Computer Security Tips for Small Business and
Home Computer User

Use strong passwords. Choose passwords that are difficult or impossible to guess.

Give different passwords to all accounts

Make regular backups of critical data. Backups must be made at least once each day. Larger organizations should perform a full backup weekly and incremental backups every day. At least once a month the backup media should be verified

Use virus protection software. That means three things: having it on your computer in the first place, checking daily for new virus signature updates, and then actually scanning all the files on your computer periodically.

Use a firewall as a gatekeeper between your computer and the Internet. Firewalls are usually software products. They are essential for those who keep their computers online through the popular DSL and cable modem connections but they are also valuable for those who still dial in.

Do not keep computers online when not in use. Either shut them off or physically disconnect them from Internet connection.

Do not open email attachments from strangers, regardless of how enticing the Subject Line or attachment may be. Be suspicious of any unexpected email attachment from someone you do know because it may have been sent without that person's knowledge from an infected machine

Regularly download security patches from your software vendors.

Tips for Children
• Do not give out identifying information such as Name, Home Address, School Name or Telephone Number in a chat room.
• Do not send your photograph to any one on the Net without first checking with the parent or guardian.
• Do not respond to messages or bulletin board items that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent or threatening.
• Never arrange a face to face meeting without telling parent or guardian.
• Remember that people online may not be who they seem to be.

Tips for parents

• Use content filtering softwares on your PC to protect children from pornography, gambling, hate speech, drugs and alcohol.
• There are also softwares to establish time controls for individual users (for example blocking usage after a particular time at night) and log surfing activities allowing parents to see which sites the child has visited. Use these softwares.

Protect Yourself and Your PC

• Use the latest version of a good anti-virus software package which allows updations from the Internet.
• Use the latest version of the operating system, web browsers and e-mail programs.
• Don't open e-mail attachments unless you know the source. Attachments, especially executables (those having .exe extension) can be dangerous.
• Confirm the site you are doing business with. Secure yourself against "web- spoofing". Do not go to websites from email links.
• Use hard to guess passwords that contain mixes of numbers and letters. They should not be dictionary words. They should combine upper and lower case characters.
• Use different passwords for different websites.
• Send credit card information only to secure sites
• Use a security program that gives you control over "cookies" that send information back to websites. Letting all cookies in without monitoring them could be risky

Protect Your Website

• Stay informed and be in touch with security related news.
• Watch traffic to your site. Put host-based intrusion detection devices on your web servers and monitor activity looking for any irregularities.
• Put in firewalls.
• Configure your firewalls correctly.
• Develop your web content off line.
• Make sure that the web servers running your public web site are physically separate and individually protected from your internal corporate network. • Protect your databases. If your web site serves up dynamic content from a database, consider putting that database behind a second interface on your firewall, with tighter access rules than the interface to your web server.
• Back up your web site after every updation, so that you can re-launch it, immediately, in case of a malicious defacement