Jimmie Cole's List: Computer Prodject

• • Your antivirus will not protect you from everything. It will try to stop everything that it can but sometimes it just can't see the virus.
• Email security is an essential part of a company's overall network security strategy.
• organizations need to invest in the right security tools such as anti-spam and antivirus technologies.
• The most prevalent form of email-based threats to any network is malicious software such as exploits and Trojans transmitted through executable files as email attachments.
• A good antivirus will scan, analyze and detect viruses or other malware in executable file attachments passing through the Exchange Server.
• This enables the antivirus engine to block a harmful file attachment containing an exploit, virus or Trojan before reaching the user within the network.
• It's good to have an antivirus engine on your Exchange Server but it's even better to have more than one working in tandem.
• Different antivirus engines have different strong points and respond to threats in different ways. Having more than one scanning engine will give you a more robust and fail-safe protection.
• When a new virus is discovered it is added to the library so it can be easily detected by the antivirus engine; but what about a virus that has not yet been identified or listed in a virus library?
• Most antivirus engines scan and detect known virus signatures by reference to an updated virus library.
• A clever solution to the problem is running the suspected file through a sandbox or a virtual environment emulating a real network and observing its behavior. If the file contains malware, it can then be quarantined and recorded for future reference.
• Viruses, Trojans and exploits are not the only email-based threats. Spyware can potentially steal personal or corporate information for the advantage of third-party users.
• Apart from the potential risk of losing sensitive information, spyware and adware can cumulatively slow down the network's performance.
• There are other ways in which email-based malware can make its way through the network besides executable files.
• Some hackers can embed malicious scripts in the html code of an email. A good feature to have is a specialized module that identifies these scripts and strips them if they are found to be malicious.
  
• These are the essential components required for a good antivirus protection for Exchange Server. Keeping the company's email and network safe at all times can be a real challenge for admins, but finding the right solutions can lighten the load by a large degree.

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• • Antivirus is a technolog that helps try and control the transfer of dangerous and maliceous software on to your data base.
• It is essential to have good antivirus software in order to keep your computer safe, however there are some things you must consider before buying it.
• Nearly all antivirus software comes as a suite of many programs, like firewalls, virus and malware scanners, parental controls, among others.
• find out which programs and features you really need.
• It is also wise to select a suite that is continually updated, since new viruses and other malicious software will appear regularly.
• It is also important to determine if a free security suite would be able to meet your requirements. Vpn Costa Rica
• The main objective of antivirus software is to scan a computer for malicious code.
• It can then quarantine it or eliminated it.
• Consequently, before you purchase antivirus software, it is important to check into how comprehensive the virus database is and how often it is updated.
• Keep in mind that outdated antivirus programs may not provide the kind of protection you need.
• Several antivirus suites also come with a wide variety of programs in addition to basic virus scanning.
• Firewalls for instance are very popular, because they can control the flow of information into and out of your computer as they prevent unauthorized connections.
• Another option that it might include is malware protection, which can handle spyware, adware and other threats for which basic virus scanners do not look.
• Additionally, some security suites include parental access controls, which can be a useful feature, particularly when you have children and need to control their access to the Internet.
• When choosing an antivirus program or suite of utilities, you should know how much you can afford to spend, the type of home or business network used, typical Internet usage and system properties.
• Figuring out what you need will prevent you from purchasing a more expensive suite of utilities when a simple standalone program might be the best antivirus software solution.
• You should consider factors like the type and age of the computer system, how often files are downloaded and available system resources or disk space. Take into consideration the kind of network that you have and if you need multiple licenses for multiple computers.

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• Were you turn it off, many routine infections from contaminated websites, that nowadays are more likely to ask you to give to the poor than to pay for a live nude webcam show, would quickly turn your computer into a gold mine for a lazy identity thief armed with simple viruses.
• your antivirus software is not useless.
• Really advanced and powerful malware using zero day exploits, however, will always elude it because that’s the nature of the arms race between virus writers and antivirus makers.
• the companies and researchers who discover a security breach either patch the vulnerability if possible, or add a new algorithm to look for the threat signature in the future, such a self-modifying files or local services suddenly trying to open an internet connection.
• But having an antivirus suite decompile and check the code of every application you run for possible threats is not much of a solution because the decisions it makes are only as good as the judgment of the programmers who wrote it, and because a lot of perfectly legitimate applications have potentially exploitable code in them; a rather unfortunate but very real fact of life.
• Remember when your antivirus asked you if a program you installed just a couple of minutes ago could access the internet or modify a registry key? Just image being faced with a dialog asking you to decide whether some potentially exploitable function call in one of your programs should be allowed to run or not, faced with the following disassembly snippet to help you make a decision
• Certainly you can see why an antivirus suite that tries to predict malicious behavior, rather than simply watch if something suspicious starts happening on your system, simply wouldn’t be practical.
• No user, no matter how advanced, wants to view computer-generated flowcharts and disassembly dumps before being able to run a piece of software, and nontechnical users confronted with something like the scary mess above may just turn their computers off and sob quietly as they imagine their machines crawling with viruses, worms, back doors for identify thieves looking for their banking information, and other nightmarish scenarios.

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• Having an antivirus software is a gold standard in the Windows world. But what if you are using a Mac?
• The prevailing opinion is that there aren't enough viruses or malware in the wild to merit having an antivirus.
  
• But in reality, while very few will name 5 viruses for Mac off the top of their heads, Mac has a lot of issues.
• For instance, Safari does not have a stellar reputation on security. In March of 2011, at CanSecWest, a Mac with Safari fell victim to a security exploit in under 10 seconds.
  
• Also, social engineering attacks can be easily used to con the user into running malware code on their Mac.
• So having an antivirus and antimalware package on your Mac is a very wise choice.
  
• But this brings us to another problem: What antivirus software packages have a Mac version.
• As of June 2011, Wikipedia lists that only 16 out of 62 antivirus software packages support the Mac. In a very interesting marketing move, some antivirus manufacturers actually offer free use of antivirus packages for Mac.
• has another very interesting combination product - one that runs on the native MacOS and another that runs on the Windows environment available through BootCamp.
  
• Norton

  • When Norton antivirus runs out it actually will send a virus so you have to buy thier product again.
• The policy of implementing an antivirus on Mac is a very wise choice for corporate environments. If a corporate environment is just starting to adopt the Mac platform, one can start 'light' with the free antivirus packages.
• These are not manageable through a central console, so you will soon be looking for a corporate antivirus platform that includes Mac antivirus software. But while you are using a couple of Macs, the free stuff will help immensely.
  

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• • All this is good information on the anti virus that comes default with the Mac. Also known as Mac OSX
• Many Mac users believe that their computers are safe from viruses, spyware and other kinds of malware, however this is a dangerous assumption.
• Any Operating System is vulnerable, and if not maintained, the computer could soon be in serious risk of being hacked or compromised by a malicious program. It only takes one un-patched vulnerability to lead to a compromise. A vulnerability discovered in 2004 was soon exploited as the following extract demonstrates:

• "The SH/Renepo worm (also known as Opener) can turn off the Mac OS X firewall and other security software; will download and install hacker tools for password-sniffing and cracking…"

  http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/renepo.html 25 October 2004
• The first step in securing your computer is to make sure that your software is up-to-date. This is often referred to as "Patching your software" or "Applying security fixes". Apple Software Update will provide both security fixes as well as product upgrades, therefore you may receive a new version of iTunes and security updates both at the same time.

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• Wait aren’t Macs supposed to be immune to viruses? Can Macs really be attacked by malware? Should you be protecting yourself?
• Today we’re going to take a look at five popular Mac AntiVirus utilities and jump head first into the raging debate about whether or not they should even exist. No matter which side you’re on, you’ll definitely want to check out the information below.
• One of the most amazing benefits of being a Mac user is that you simply aren’t as prone to malicious virtual attackers.
• The primary reason for this is that the core architecture of OS X is designed to be secure right out of the box.
• So why is this architecture so secure? One of many answers is that OS X heavily restricts global actions that can be performed by third party applications and utilities.
• What this means on a practical level is that if you hypothetically downloaded something that was tainted, it shouldn’t be able to get at your important system files.
• This technique, known as “Sandboxing,” essentially blocks those silly people who sit around and create viruses (seriously, get a life man!) from doing too much damage.
• Keep in mind that just because most infected files won’t hurt your machine doesn’t mean you can’t act as a carrier and pass them along to your less fortunate PC brethren.
• There will always be Chicken Little Mac users screaming about how the sky is falling and that our hubris will lead to our eventual demise via some new Mac virus that will eat our very souls.
• Likewise, there are also plenty of users that stubbornly claim that Mac viruses are about as real as the Toothfairy and will always remain strictly in fantasy.
• So who is right? Perhaps a more realistic view is to take the advice of the very people who created OS X: Apple inc. Here’s a screenshot of a friendly cautionary message from their site:
• • That is perfectly correct. You can try to stop the people from doing it, but they will always find a way around it.
• There you have it, straight from the source. Granted this message is quite vague and was probably included on the advice of Apple lawyers just to protect them from any litigation, but it still holds a bit of truth in the area that I highlighted: “no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat.”
• Whether or not you believe that you’re more likely to get hit by a bus while being struck by lighting during a fatal heart attack induced by over-exhaustion on a unicycle than to get infected by a Mac virus, there are still several precautions that you should consider.
• First of all, the most important thing you can do on a regular basis is to always install OS X Software Updates when they pop up (especially the Security Updates).
• It’s never a convenient time to take a break and let them run but I can’t stress enough that you need to make time for these.
• Apple is awesome about recognizing security threats and addressing them as immediately as possible.
• This is yet another reason Macs are so resistant to outside intervention. When someone does come up with a clever way to manipulate a weakness, the issue is quickly solved and sent to you in the form of a Security Update.
• While OS X goes about its business of automatically protecting your important system files, they leave it up to you to decide how much protection you want for your personal documents.

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• • Good information on maleware and what it is.

• Let’s be honest, passwords are annoying. These days, we need a password or PIN everywhere. We have so many that we can’t keep track of them all. We forget to update them; and when we do, it’s difficult to come up with effective ones that we can still remember, so we procrastinate changing them for months, even years.
• While we may find them annoying, and even take them for granted, it is important to remember why passwords are important: passwords are often the first (and possibly only) defense against intrusion (MacGregor). They protect personal information – information we don’t want anyone and everyone to know.
• Passwords are simpler and cheaper than other, more secure forms of authentication like special key cards, fingerprint ID machines, and retinal scanners. They provide a simple, direct means of protecting a system or account.
• For the sake of this article, we’ll define a ‘password’ as a word, a phrase, or combination of miscellaneous characters that authenticates the identity of the user.
• Passwords are generally used in combination with some form of identification, such as a username, account number, or e-mail address. While a username establishes the identity of the user for the computer or system, the password, which is known only to the authorized user, authenticates that the user is who he or she claims to be. This means that their function is to “prove to the system that you are who you say you are” (Russell).
• While passwords are a vital component of system security, they can be cracked or broken relatively easily. Password cracking is the process of figuring out or breaking passwords in order to gain unauthorized entrance to a system or account.
• Passwords can be cracked in a variety of different ways. The most simple is the use of a word list or dictionary program to break the password by brute force.
• If cracking codes seems like science fiction, search “password cracker” on Packetstorm or Passwordportal.net. There are also numerous password cracking tools available that any average person can use. (For more information on password cracking tools, please see the SecurityFocus article Password Crackers - Ensuring the Security of Your Password.)
• Another easy way for potential intruders to nab passwords is through social engineering: physically nabbing the password off a Post-It from under someone’s keyboard or through imitating an IT engineer and asking over the phone. Many users create passwords that can be guessed by learning a minimal amount of information about the person whose password is being sought.
• . “A sniffer can read every keystroke sent out from your machine, including passwords” (University of Michigan). It’s possible that someone out there has at least one of your passwords right now.
• Now that we have established the importance of passwords and some of the ways in which they may be vulnerable to cracking, we can discuss ways of creating good, strong passwords. In creating strong, effective passwords it is often helpful to keep in mind some of the methods by which they may be cracked, so let’s begin with what NOT to do when choosing passwords.
• As has already been mentioned, password cracking tools are very effective at processing large quantities of letter and number combinations until a match for the password is found, as such users should avoid using conventional words as passwords. By the same token, they should also avoid regular words with numbers tacked onto the end and conventional words that are simply written backwards, such as ‘nimda’. While these may prove to be difficult for people to figure out, they are no match for the brute force attacks of password cracking tools.
• One of the frustrating things about passwords is that they need to be easy for users to remember. Naturally, this leads many users to incorporate personal information into their passwords.
• As such, it is strongly recommended that users not include such information in their passwords. This means that the password should not include anything remotely related to the user’s name, nickname, or the name of a family member or pet. Also, the password should not contain any easily recognizable numbers like phone numbers or addresses or other information that someone could guess by picking up your mail.
• strong, effective password requires a necessary degree of complexity. Three factors can help users to develop this complexity: length, width & depth. Length means that the longer a password, the more difficult it is to crack.
• Simply put, longer is better. Probability dictates that the longer a password the more difficult it will be to crack. It is generally recommended that passwords be between six and nine characters. Greater length is acceptable, as long as the operating system allows for it and the user can remember the password. However, shorter passwords should be avoided.
• Width is a way of describing the different types of characters that are used. Don’t just consider the alphabet. There are also numbers and special characters like ‘%’, and in most operating systems, upper and lower case letters are also known as different characters.
• Windows, for example, is not always case sensitive. (This means it doesn’t know the difference between ‘A’ and ‘a’.) Some operating systems allow control characters, alt characters, and spaces to be used in passwords. As a general rule the following character sets should all be included in every password:
• • uppercase letters such as A, B, C;
   
  • lowercase letters such as a, b,c;
   
  • numerals such as 1, 2, 3;
   
  • special characters such as $, ?, &; and
   
  • alt characters such as µ, £, Æ. (Cliff
• “A good password is easy to remember, but hard to guess.” (Armstrong)
• ‘ImuKat!’ (instead of ‘I’m a cat!’) or the first letters of a memorable phrase such as ‘qbfjold*’ = “quick brown fox jumped over lazy dog.”
• All of the good password cracking programs include foreign words, backwards words, etc. And the easiest way to steal a password is by asking for it, so it’s simpler to never give it away.
• In some cases, a good password is enough protection to keep out intruders. In others, it’s just a start. Encryption and one-time passwords add extra protection to systems. Encryption means garbling the password to protect from sniffers or other onlookers, through a particular scheme that can be deciphered from the other end of the connection. One-time passwords (S/key is the most commonly used) are just that.
• There are always extraneous circumstances where we must write down passwords. This is not recommended, but if it must be done, it should be done with forethought, not haphazardly.
• In order to ensure their ongoing effectiveness, passwords should be changed on a regular basis. Changing passwords securely is fairly simple. Windows passwords are changed through the Control Panel and in UNIX, the ‘passwd’ command generally does the trick. A good rule of thumb is to change passwords as close to the actual account as possible.
• How often one should change passwords really depends on the account. Online financial accounts should be changed every month or two. Corporate network passwords should be changed every 3-4 months. A recent 2600 article recommended considering the “sensitivity of the resources which you are trying to protect” and suggested “enforcing password changes somewhere between once per fiscal year and once per fiscal quarter” (Thomas).
• Managers and administrators can enhance the security of their networks by setting strong password policies. Password requirements should be built into organizational security policies. Network administrators should institute by regular changes/updates of passwords. They should also regularly remind users of how easy it is for hackers to get their passwords through social engineering and online attacks
• Systems administrators should implement safeguards to ensure that people on their systems are using adequately strong passwords. They should set password expiration dates on all programs being run on the organization’s systems.
• Keep your individual account passwords updated as well. Finally, when installing new systems, make sure default passwords are changed immediately.
• Obviously, passwords are just one piece of the puzzle. Other pieces are general user education, good physical security, plugging network holes, and installing strong firewalls.
• These provide much more global protection in the controlled corporate environment than passwords alone, but in areas where the only method of control users have is a PIN or password, the best thing we can do is be aware of security risks and keep up with their password controls.

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• Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.