In my first two Industry Insights in this series, I wrote about six affordable technology foundations for a more secure digital world. To summarise, they are:
1) Use a good router
2) Implement a reverse firewall
3) Maintain Windows Update up-to-date
4) Use a not-so-common anti-virus solution
5) Use Windows Limited User privileges
6) Implement OpenDNS
In this part, allow me to share some preventive measures:
7) Use Google for searches
Although this may be obvious or most people`s favourite search engine already, the major security benefit of using Google for Internet searches is found in its partnership with StopBadware.org. If one of the results links to a page that contains unwanted software or scripts, the user is first served with a warning page. While the user is able to continue and visit the page in question, at least the warning cannot be missed.
8) Scan e-mail for viruses or spam before reaching the inbox
One of the primary reasons anti-virus software is so ineffective in the prevention of further spreading of viruses, Trojans and malware by e-mail can be found in the growing sophistication on behalf of the authors. As discussed in an earlier point, one of the authors` primary goals is to disable any anti-virus software first, through any means necessary. For this reason, it is of high importance to have e-mail scanned for viruses and other malicious software well before it reaches a computer`s inbox. It is essential to have at least two checkpoints to maximise the chances of actually catching unwanted stuff.
Internet Explorer is just there. Always is and probably always will be.
David Redekop, co-founder of Nerds On Site
Many Internet service providers or hosting companies already offer this service, so check with the provider first. Often it can be implemented without any change to the existing configuration of e-mail. If mail privacy is an important consideration, or if hosting this scanning facility in-house is a requirement, I cannot think of a more economical, yet effective way, than to obtain a suitable VMWare image to have e-mail pass through.
At the time of writing, there are several ready-made, free VMWare images that virus-scan and spam-mark/quarantine before delivering mail into mailboxes. A great place to start to look not only for this solution, but other complete virtual machines that are designed for specific tasks is: www.vmwarez.com. The use of VMWare or other virtualisation software is not covered in detail here. That`s a topic for a future discussion.
9) Use Firefox to browse the Web
Old habits die hard. The vast majority of computers still find Internet Explorer as the primary Web browser. I`m often guilty of this myself, especially if I`m temporarily using someone else`s PC and I don`t want to take the time to install an alternative browser. Internet Explorer is just there. Always is and probably always will be. It`s convenient, and it works. It even works very well!
For all of those reasons, most people just haven`t had enough compelling reasons to change their habit and take a few extra minutes to do so. Until now. Remember that Internet Explorer users are the ones targeted the most. I won`t even discuss whether it is less or more secure than its competitors. Just because it is targeted more, makes me want to look for alternatives.
I would argue that from a security and privacy standpoint, the most effective five minutes that could be spent is to download and install the latest Firefox browser (www.getfirefox.com). Ok, so maybe a little more than five minutes, depending on bandwidth. Over the years, I have taken the time to install this for many colleagues, friends and clients. It is always an affirmation when a year later I still get thanks for the installation of Firefox. I don`t know of anyone who has ever abandoned Firefox to return to using Internet Explorer.
Firefox has a "Clear Private Data Tool", ensuring no potentially compromising information is left behind.
The Portable Firefox may be of interest if wanting to remain even more private and secure, especially while on someone else`s computer. Portable Firefox can be run directly from a USB memory stick, and leaves absolutely no traces of any activities on the computer where it is used.
Aside from the security benefits, such as automatic blocking of many known viruses, spyware and popup ads, tabbed browsing can dramatically improve productivity if many sites are opened simultaneously.
My next Industry Insight will be the conclusion to this four-part series.
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