Staying Safe - Computers
Computers seem to evoke extreme reactions - either you love them or you hate them. Either way you need to take care when using them. They can access vast amounts of information, allow you to buy and sell from the comfort of your own home and allow you to keep in touch with friends and family in any part of the world for free (or at least not much cost). However, they can be taken over by unscrupulous gangs and made to do their bidding and leave you with the bill. What follows is not an exhaustive guide to keeping you safe on-line, but the basic ideas should defend you a little.
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Basic Security
Doors and windows allow access to your property. For computers it is ports and "wi-fi" that allow access. A computer system must be protected in the same way as a building albeit that the names for the individual parts are different. What follows is a list of MINIMUM requirements that should be in place and the use for each component. If you don't understand these components, you should consult somebody who does understand and get them to set up these components.
- Router - You will need one of these to connect to the Internet if you have Broadband at home. These devices translate your requests and the returned data into a form that can be understood by your computer. It also "routes" the requests for specific types of data through specific ports. If you only connect using mobile broadband (you have a mobile broadband "dongle"), the mobile broadband supplier and the dongle do this work for you.
- Firewall - You should always use one of these when you are connected to the Internet. These come in two forms - a hardware firewall and a software firewall. A software firewall is the minimum that you should have set up but most routers have a hardware firewall within them. Use it! A firewall prevents requests coming in from other ports that are not yet set-up and which might compromise your computer.
- Anti-Virus Software - This is essential if you are connected to the Internet. Many pages and emails have viruses coded into them and a properly configured and up-to-date anti-virus software package will protect you. There are free anti-virus solutions as well as paid for services but you should pick and install one. It is thought that around 10,000 new viruses are released each year, so there is no room for complacency! Viruses can take over your email, steal your personal information or stop your machine from working. Whatever the type of attack, it will cost you time and money to put it right.
- "Wi-fi" security - If you have a wireless router you should make sure that security is enabled, preferably WPA-PSK as a minimum. The shared password should be a combination of upper and lower case characters and numbers. In addition, you should consider using MAC address filtering to keep out all but your computers. This is because other people can use your internet connection for their own ends. This may cost you money but worse, if they indulge in (e.g.) child pornography, you will be deemed to have been the source of the requests and may be prosecuted.
- A Back-up device - You should back-up your computer regularly. How regularly depends upon how often you use it and what you use it for. For someone who writes the odd e-mail or uses the internet occasionally to collect information, the computer needs to be backed up about once per month (or even less if the person is happy to lose everything since the computer was last backed up), but for someone working from home who can not afford to lose the information, once per week (or more frequently for documents, spreadsheets or presentations that are work in progress). Back-ups allow the computer to be restored back to the state it was in when it was last backed up. If your computer is stolen or suffers a catastrophic failure, the peace of mind of having the back-up can be priceless. You can back-up your computer to another disk, to a DVD or to a tape. There are even some internet based back-up services but you might be happier with the back-up where you can control it. One final comment on back-ups - keep them off site - arrange with a neighbour or friend that you will hold their back-up and they hold yours or use a different building - anything to ensure that should your house burn down or thieves remove all of your computer equipment, you can still recover your computer's contents.
Once the basic security is set up, it will not need much maintenance provided you are careful (see below).
Email and Attachments
Email appears to be ubiquitous nowadays. The art of letter writing seems dead. But email is not without it's uses nor risk free.
Email has a great advantage over spoken communication in that you can attach to it a picture or file or video or website link. This saves time and allows the recipient to easily open the attachment and view the contents. However, not all email is well intentioned. A plain text email (basically, just the letters in the message) is safe but if it has buried code (normally known as HTML style email) it may not be. Similarly, attachments may have buried code in them - pictures, videos and web links can all be suspect. The following list is designed to help you decide if you can safely open the email and any attachments:-
- Does the email come from someone you recognise and have they been given your email address? If the answer to either question is no, don't open the email - delete it. If the email purports to come from someone you recognise, talk to them and find out - better to be safe than have to attempt to get rid of any possible virus.
- Does the email come from your (or any other) bank? If so it is likely to be suspect - there are a lot of bank related scams out there all targeted at getting your personal and secret information.
- If it is from your bank and suggests that your account has been suspended or that they need you to enter information to unlock a problem, delete the email. Banks will NEVER ask for this information in this way - they have seen the issues that result from these emails.
- If the email is offering you something free (or something very cheap), it is likely to be a scam. Sadly, you get nothing for free.
- If the email contains a link and you don't recognise the link and your friend does not state why the link has been provided, don't click on the link. Check with the email's sender first - they might have a virus.
Websites
The internet is truly powerful. There is information available on just about any subject that you can think of (and information on subjects that you would not want to know about). Safe browsing is easy but a little thought can get you to the information you need quickly without putting yourself or your computer at risk.
A number of websites contain viruses and just clicking onto them can download code designed to subvert your computer. The more dubious the website or search topic, the more likely the page will have buried code. So how do you know what sites you can and can't visit safely? The following list is designed to help:-
- If you use a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft Bing, good and modern anti-virus software (see Basics above) will indicate whether or not the site is safe to browse (actually it indicates that the anti-virus software company have not received any information indicating that it is not safe to browse). Don't click on sites which are not safe.
- When searching the internet using such search engines, try to define exactly what you want - you are more likely to find it that way. For instance, if you wanted to find the Butlins in North Wales, entering Butlins would return all Butlins' sites, but "Butlins North Wales" will be more specific. If searching for Paris, you will get a lot of sites, the majority for "Paris, France" but there will be a site or two (if you look hard) covering "Paris, Texas".
- Following from the previous point, searching for the word "bomb" might bring you to the attention of the authorities. It is suggested that you think about what you want to look for before you start and also think of the possible implications. A search term of "blow up" might bring back more answers (in different subject areas) than the tyre inflation device you were originally looking for.
- Where the household includes children, consider using parental control software which should filter out websites and links which lead to adult content, no matter how innocently the original question was framed.
- Social networking and blogging sites are very popular and can be fun. However, remember that what you put on these sites will be available forever in one form or another. Particularly, do not give out information about your address (Newcastle is as detailed as you should go), your exact name, upcoming holidays or parties, the abilities (or otherwise) or your boss or work colleagues or other information that can lead to you directly. There are many examples of parties being gate crashed by thousands, homes robbed while the owners were away, people losing their jobs - all because of such sites. Be careful.
- It should not have to be said but never use language that can be interpreted as discriminatory, libellous or inflamatory - these are illegal and can lead to prosecution.
- It is suggested that information should never be given to websites that is not necessary for the purposes of that site (e.g.) don't give out your NI number to a site that is advertising lollipops - it is irrelevant and could, in the long term, harm you by allowing someone to steal your identity.
- Whilst it is convenient to let a website remember your access details and passwords, recognise that if someone stole your computer, they could access all the same sites (including banking sites) that you access. It may be slightly less convenient to type the password in each time but it protects you in the long run.
- Never download software or files from the internet without virus checking them first. There are just too many viruses out there.
Buying On-Line
You can purchase virtually anything over the internet, as the old saying goes, "from a pin to an elephant". Not everything for sale is legally permissable everywhere where the internet reaches (e.g. you can't purchase guns over the internet from America whether or not you are able to do it there). Also there are treaties and agreements which require that certain materials are not legally traded (e.g. ivory). So, assuming that what you want to buy is legally possible in this country, how do you stay safe? The following is a list of suggested strategies:-
- Only buy from recognised sites. If you have bought from a specific site before without incident, it is more likely that they are a reputable dealer. If the site is of a known company (e.g. Thomas Cook), then it is more likely to be reputable. However, you should check their main website to make sure you have not been hijacked BEFORE handing over your hard-earned cash.
- If paying, pay by credit card. This is safer and the credit card companies have mechanisms to reclaim money if the goods delivered are not as advertised.
- Do not supply information which is not relevant to the purchase. It may seem an innocuous to supply your mother's maiden name but that is a piece of information used by the banks for identification - why is it needed to purchase a £2.50 paperback? Be suspicious - it will keep you safe.
- If you don't know the supplier but they have what you want, search the internet for reviews of the supplier. If they are good or bad the reviews will be there and you can make your choice. If there are no reviews, ask yourself why not?
- Never enter or supply your bank details to a third party including someone purporting to be from the banks. This is almost always a scam.
- Check the authenticity of the websites before making any purchases. Conduct a ‘whois’ search on the website which will identify when the website has been created, be wary of newly formed domains. You can conduct this search using the following website - https://who.is/
- If the item advertised seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
The internet is a great place to find things but be cautious and your experiences will be good ones.
You can find more information about all aspects of computer security from:-
Northumbria Police - Computer Security
BBC website advice and hints (pdf - 245k)