Computer Security

This week, I will focus on a new area never addressed in this blog, but it is very important to nearly everyone - computer security and privacy. Nearly everyone in this day under the age of 60 use computers, probably on a daily basis. Even if you do not use the computer for vital financial information, there are people that can easily obtain personal information about you that could devastate you.

Let's start with the basics - what is computer security and why is it important to you? Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures helps you stop unauthorized users (or "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.

The typical person uses a computer for everything these days from banking and investing to shopping and staying in touch with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not consider your communications "top secret", you probably don't want strangers reading your email or online bank statements. Even worse than that, they can use your computer to "invade" or attack other computers, covering their tracks and implicating you. They could also send forged email from your computer.

Naturally, these situations are not fun to think about the implications. Why would anyone do such things? Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not care about you personally or your identity although computer ID theft is a growing problem. Most often they want to gain control of your computer to launch attacks on other computer system. They can hide their actual location so they can have anonymity while they attack high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems. Some merely want to play the latest online computer games for free while you get the bill. Some may be malicious, cause damage to your computer by erasing data and computer files or reformatting your hard drive. Some may simply watch your movements, or an 'electronic voyeur' if you will.

Now that I have your attention, you are probably asking yourself just how easy is it for hackers to do this? Unfortunately, as technology progresses, they are always discovering new vulnerabilities (also called "holes" to exploit computer systems and software. The more complex computer software becomes, the harder it is for companies to thoroughly test their software prior to releasing it to the public. This is sad, but very true.

When holes are discovered, the computer vendors will usually develop patches to address the problem(s). However, it is up to you, the computer user, to obtain and install the patches. Furthermore, you must correctly configure the software to operate the most securely. Many have no clue on how to do these things, so their computer is even more at risk to these computer attacks. Most attacks are preventable if the patches are kept up-to-date with the security fixes.

Tomorrow, we will get into more detail on how hackers get access to your system. Stay tuned ...

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:19 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com