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The Basics | Virus, Worms, Trojans & Backdoors | Spyware, Adware, Ransomware, Dialers & Cookies | Spam and Phishing (Identity Theft) | Backup | Using a Wireless Network | Next on Your Mind | Keeping Private and Confidential Data Safe | Passwords |  Secure Deletion | Secure Emailing and Email Deletion | Safe Surfing | "Window Washing" - Deleting Unwanted & Unnecessary Files | Help - Where Do I Begin?

The Basics

Virus, Worms, Trojans & Backdoors

These nasty small snippets are made to give you trouble. There are thousands of varieties, and the result of being attacked can range from a mere nuisance to complete disaster. Apart from the damage they do to your system, they are likely to make you PC slow and quirky. Apart from that, viruses are made to infect other computers that are in contact with yours - most often by way of email. It is no small embarrasment to find out that your computer has been sending infected emails to all your contacts and friends and thus infected those who (like you) are not well protected.

The difference between these categories are not important to most users, and on a daily basis we usually refer to the whole malaise as viruses. But for those who want to be in the know: Viruses infect a host file and are activated when the host file is run. Worms are independent and do not need a host file, which can make them replicate themselves very quickly and bog down both your computer and whole networks. Trojans are malignant programs that appear to something other than they are (and may indeed do what they promise while doing damage at the same time), A backdoor seems to be benign, but opens up a channel on our computer or network so that it can be remotely controlled.

There are numerous ways of becoming infected. Email is the most common one, followed by installing infected programs, file sharing, instant messaging, gameplaying, having a teenager in the house...

In ancient times (before 1995) being careful with which programs you ran could keep you out of trouble. Now tests show that a completely unguarded PC connected to the Internet is likely to be infected in less than one minute. This means that having an antivirus program and a firewall is absolutely required. There are a large number of alternatives: Most good, some bad, and at varying prices. For private use, there is no need to pay at all, as there are excellent free programs. More on this under solutions .

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Spyware, Adware, Ransomware, Dialers & Cookies

Just because you are paranoid it does not mean that nobody is watching you. They are!

These programs can be installed through backdoors. But more often they are installed by you, because you have been duped into doing so, or because you did not read the long and legal garblegook when installing a new program, and thus are unaware that along with this program came a bundle of unwanted stuff. Once installed, these programs work in the background, spying on your activities and reporting this to someone, somewhere. The intention can be simply to expose you to tailored advertising, but just as well to steal your passwords, access your bank accounts or gather confidential information such as credit card numbers and expiry dates. In 2005, 80% of all office computers were infected with spyware, and the average was 27 programs per computer ("State of Spyware Report", Webroot.) Private PCs are likely to be worse affected. Note that spyware is often camoflaged as anti-spyware!

Ransomware kidnap your data by encrypting these. You have to pay to get the necessary password to open them again. If you do pay, you may or may not get this password, so the realistic way of looking as this is to compeare it to an unrecoverable hard disk chrash.

Dialers, once installed, will automatically call very expensive connections, usually abroad. You will not be happy once you get your phone bill.

Cookies are small information capsules that are placed on your computer when you visit Web sites, so that you are recognized the next time you visit. They do no harm by themselves, but can be used in dubious ways (and to a smaller degree be useful, for instance when visiting your favorite online shop). They also provide others with a way of tracking your Internet activities, which is not at all necessary.

How common are these programs? When we scan a computer that has been relatively unprotected on the net for a while, we often find less than ten viruses, but more than one hundred problems stemming from spyware and dialers. Many of these can be quite severe. In addition to making the system run slowly and less stable, this often means that the user has been well tracked by outsiders for quite some time. That could easily have been avoided, without spending a dime. We'll tell you how .

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Spam and Phishing (Identity Theft)

Viagra, porn, undervalued stocks, lottery winnings and Nigerian fortunes waiting to be shared: Spam is a well known nuisance for most of us. Apart from being annoying in itself, it represents a method of spreading viruses and wasting your time as well as system and network resources.

Phishing is more serious. You receive an email that apparently is from a known and trusted service, such as your bank. You are asked to provide some personal information, such as your account number and/or password, or to follow a link to their Web site, where such information is required. This Web site probably looks very much like you would expect, and can even be an identical copy of your bank. So you do as requested, and only some time later you find bank transfers or credit card charges that you have no knowledge of. Or you may never notice.

There are many ways of protecting yourself from spam and fraudulent emails, and excellent free solutions. What is difficult is achieving the right level of protection, so that your legitimate email is not deleted in the process. We will show you which programs to use, but also how common sense will reduce your spam related problems substantially.   

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Backup

Goes without saying, right? Truth be told, the backup habits of most private users and quite a few small and midsize companies leave a lot to be desired. This is a recipe for disaster. Yet complicated programs and scheduled backups can be a waste of time and money too, if the copy and original are not physically separated. What you need are routines so simple that you'll actually keep up the good work, and that may well just mean a DVD recorder or external hard disk plus a free program and some common sense. We'll help you get organized .

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Using a Wireless Network

No wonder they are becoming so popular. Wireless networks are incredibly practical to use, cheap and very easy to set up. But you should be aware that the security is by default very poor. To make them easy to install, most brands are completely open to any user within physical range, unless specifically restricted with passwords or other security measures.

As this text is being prepared, we have access to three wireless networks in addition to our own. Two of these are completely open, while the third is secured with WEP encryption. This is an old standard that could easily be broken by a suitable program while we watched a movie. Fortunately, compromising networks is not our line of business (protecting them is).

Open or poorly secured wireless networks are vulnerable and thus popular for any kind of online criminal activity. The reason is simple: If tracked, the online trail leads right back to you, not to the one actually doing the deed. In addition to this, you provide others with access to data and resources on your system. They can rob your bandwidth, run programs from your PC instead of their own, log your keyboard looking for passwords or codes, and much more. And this is not sience fiction. Since so few resources are needed (a laptop with some free software, some computer interest and a midsize brain) it is an everyday occurence anywhere wireless networks are common.

We recommend using wireless networks. They're a great tool. But you need to know how to use them safely . 

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Next on Your Mind...

Keeping Private and Confidential Data Safe

Most people have information they want to keep private. Letters, financial records, private pictures, videos, etc. It would be inconvenient if this were to fall into the wrong hands, which can happen in many ways: Backdoors or poorly secured networks can give hackers access, burglary, or simply necessary repair on the computer. Or it can be as simple as several users working on the same computer; each is likely to have a need, or at least a wish, for some privacy - and quite understandably so.

Information belonging to businesses is often even more vital, and having this compromised can be anything from embarassing to completely disastrous. This is true for hacked networks or the more common case of some untrustworthy employee, but often all that is needed is for one poorly protected laptop to be stolen. The value of the computer is often negligble compared to the value of information it contains.

Securing private and confidential information is best done through passwords in combination with encryption. Simply using passwords, such as in BIOS, logging on to Windows or a network, opening Office documents etc, is nowhere close to the necessary level of security. Your neighbour's teenage son can work around such safeguards just for kicks - others will do it for profit.

Encryption secures data on any computer system, and should be used by anyone who has information that needs to be protected. That's most of us, but especially laptop users, since laptops are naturally more likely to be stolen.

There are many kinds of encryption, or more correctly: Many encryption algorithms. Some can easily be broken with modern tools, while others are virtually impossible to crack no matter the resources. For the user, it is important that strong encryption comes in an easy-to-use package that works fast and does not offer any "backdoors". There are numerous alternatives, most unfortunately hyped and overpriced, but also some excellent free alternatives. More on this under solutions .

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Secure Deletion 

To delete a file, you push the Delete button, right? Sorry, it's still there. Empty the thrash bin? Nah, still there. True, the reference to the file is gone, so you may have a little trouble finding it. And in time, maybe tomorrow, maybe two years from now, or maybe never, the whole file may be replaced by a new file in the same location on the disk - and finally gone. But until then, it can easily be recovered. In fact, if you do not know how to securely delete files and have the right tools, chances are your disk is full of old information that can easily be brought back. And though the expensive specialist companies - often pictured in white spacesuits and goggles - use sophisticated software and hardware (as do tax authorities and law enforcement, among others), some computer knowledge and free software downloaded from the Internet usually is enough to get the job done. Even if the disk has been reformatted.

We find it unreasonable that users are prevented from securely deleting files on their computers. That is true in general, but even more so when the computer is to be sold, given away or otherwise put as someone else's disposal. And while a lot of companies (ironically also some of those specializing in data recovery) will charge you an arm and a leg to do so - we've seen 30 bucks to delete one disk - there are free programs that perform to exactly the same standards on as many disks as you would like. On the other hand, there are many "Cleaner" programs that do not delete securely at all. We know the difference and will help you choose .

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Secure Emailing and Email Deletion

Sure, email is data also and thus covered by what we have said above. But there are some special concerns, as is frequently reported in the press. A lot of problems (and embarassements!) have and will come from use of emails, and also from employers taking liberties which they are not supposed (or allowed) to with regard to employee emails. Because of this, it is important to know that the emails you have received, sent or forwarded can easily be recovered long after the fact, even if you have deleted it and emptied the folder with "Deleted items" as well as the thrash bin. This is true for Outlook and Outlook Express as well as many other programs (in outlook also notes, calendar entries, tasts etc). 

Secure use of email can sound like a contradiction in terms. After all, sending an ordinary email is like sending a postcard with no envelope. What you send can be read on the computer you are sending from, the system receiving it, as well as enroute to its destination. Yet these shortcomings can easily be overcome, and the key word again is encryption.

For secure emailing and email deletion you need some knowledge on the email program you are using. You also need some tools for secure deletion and encryption. We'll help you with both in a few, easy steps .

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Safe Surfing

Most people use a browser that is riddled with security holes and on top of that poorly configured. This means running an unnecessary risk of catching viruses as well as spyware. In addition, they leave tracks of all their Internet activity that are easy to follow. Depending on your surfing habits as well as your personal situation, that may or may not be a problem for you. We're just here to tell you it is not necessary.

You can also go one step further, from safe to anonymous surfing. This will prevent information on your surfing habits from being gathered by your Internet service provider, search engines and others.

Safer surfing is easy and free. You just need to know how.

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"Window Washing" - Deleting Unwanted and Unnecessary Files 

There are at least three good reasons to perform regular "Windows washes":

1)
Normal use of Windows leaves a lot of history and tracks: Which programs were run, which documents opened, which Web sites visited etc. Many will find this perfectly OK, others less so. Window's own functions for doing so fails miserably.

2)
Many programs leave temporary files. Over time, these can occupy a substantial amount of space on your disk, slow down your computer, make it unstable, and provide a great hiding place for viruses and other malware that you don't want to host.

3)
During installation a lot of programs set themselves to load as your computer starts up. As more programs are added to the startup process it becomes slower and slower, and more programs loaded in the system memory also negatively affects general performance. Handling the startup process is therefore important, but Windows is poorly equipped to do so.

There are excellent programs for Windows washing, and several are free. Unfortuately, there are also programs that are sub par, and many spyware programs camouflaged as Windows washers. Some programs even harm your privacy by gathering sensitive information and then unsecurely deleting it so that it can easily recovered. We help you choose the right programs .

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Help - Where Do I Begin?

At the top - with the basics! Most people need to pay attention to the areas mentioned above, but of course to varying degrees. It is simply a matter of protecting your computer from outside attacks occurring to anyone connected to the Internet, maintaining an acceptable level of privacy, and making your system perform as it should. You want to keep your "lean, mean & secure machine"...

Now the good news: Achieving this is quite easy and will not consume a lot of time. And what will it cost? Less than one hyped "premium" anti virus program.

We'll show you what to use, and how to use it.

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Don't be sorry - BeCyberSafe!