Cybersecurity For The Small Business & Home User ( Geared toward Windows, but relevant to Apple ) Topics: Antivirus / DSSO/ Email Computer Backups Security On The Go Mobile Safety Your first line of defense is in your computer habits!
Antivirus / DSSO Only ONE antivirus running at a time on your computer Multiple anti-virus programs tend to conflict with each other. This can cause them to miss viruses, corrupt files, and drastically slow down your machine. Check online reviews of antivirus programs to get a sense of which program may be right for you. Multiple technology sites review antivirus software both paid and free antivirus programs. PC Magazine, for example, does an annual review of both free and paid antivirus software. A good strategy for finding reviews: Look for computer magazines on bookstore magazine racks then search online to see if they do antivirus reviews. If they're in print, they likely have resources to do good ones.
DSSO: What is it? DSSO is a simple acronym I developed for reminding yourself to use good antivirus practices with ANY file coming from outside your PC. It stands for: DOWNLOAD SAVE SCAN OPEN You should make this habit as second-nature as breathing, walking, or riding a bicycle. Get to where you do it every time without thinking about it. This single habit alone will protect you from most viruses and malware. Most good antivirus programs allow you to right-click on a file and scan it. The key to protecting yourself is scanning a file from anywhere outside your PC - BEFORE EVER OPENING it.
The Download and Save process looks different depending on what web browser you're using.
Really, however, the steps are mostly the same, only the presentation is different. 1.Click a download link or button 2.Choose SAVE rather than download/open/run. 3.Decide which folder to save the file in make it somewhere you can easily find. 4.Navigate to the file and right-click on it. 5.Choose SCAN from the right-click menu. 6.If the scan comes up clean, double-left click on the file to open it. This process may look slightly different in different versions of Windows, but it is essentially the same. ALWAYS scan any file storage media you attach/insert into your PC before opening anything on it. (Portable hard drives, USB flash drives, SD & Flash memory cards, CD's, & DVD's)
E-mail Safety
Regardless of whether you use an e-mail program on your PC or webmail application, the basic rules are the same. Number-one threat is e-mail attachments Number-two threat is being scammed for information Using the same DSSO practices used for downloading files from the web can protect you from most malware & ransomware embedded in email attachments. Using common sense can protect you from most scams.
Things to think about before replying to an e-mail: Did I ever give this person or agency my e-mail address? Would this agency really do critical notifications by e-mail? Would my friend write like this? Did I order any package delivery? Typical ways scammers & spammers try to get you to give out information or open a malicious file attachment: Pretend to be your bank, credit card company, or other financial institution. Pretend to be a shipping company trying to deliver a package. Pretend to be a government agency such as a Court, Tollway Authority, the IRS, State Tax agency, or others. Pretend to be a collections agency. Pretend to be coming from someone you know.
Many viruses and other malware can: Fake the from e-mail address when sending spam Steal e-mail addresses in the address books or stored contacts on an infected PC Pretend to be an antivirus scan tool Pretend to be a PC tune-up scan tool Be embedded in questionable free software such as games, music & video players, etc. Downloading, Saving, and Scanning ANY file that comes from any source outside of your PC, every single time, automatically and without thinking about it is your first and strongest line of defense.
How Backups Can Help You If Malware Gets Through
Backing up your entire PC is a very low-cost insurance policy. Once you have a portable hard drive (Often under $100), the software tools to perform backups have been included in Windows for several versions now. A full system image is a snapshot of everything on your PC all the files and folders, all the installed programs, all the software updates, and all the Windows updates. If you backed up your PC with a system image a week or two prior to getting a ransomware infection, you can restore your computer from the system image, and lose a week or two of work instead of everything. Keeping a backup at home can protect your data in the case of fire, floods, earthquakes, or theft of a computer. Cloud storage backups will not back up your installed programs, or Windows backups & software updates.
Cloud storage can take up to a few days to recover all your files from, depending on your Internet Provider's limit policies on the amount of data you can use in a single day. There are two main types of local backups you can do with only Windows and a portable hard drive. 1.Full System Image backs up the entire PC. 2.File backup only backs up your files and folders. You should do BOTH. Here's why: System Image: Can only restore everything or nothing. Can not be used with a different make/model of PC all the hardware on the machine being restored must be identical to the one the System Image was created from.
File and Folder Backup: Doesn't backup software updates or Windows updates Doesn't backup installed programs Doing both types of backup will let you: Recover to a point before a malware infection including ransomware Recover if your hard disk drive fails & you need to install a new blank hard drive Migrate to a newer computer while keeping all your documents, pictures, video, and music. Recover in the case of fire, flood, earthquake, or theft of your PC.
Backups should be: Done about every two weeks. Rotated out keep one copy at home, and one at the office. Swap them monthly. Portable hard drives should be: Scanned for viruses as soon as attached to the PC. Detached from the PC unless actually in the process of backing up or recovering. Rotated out keep one copy at home, and one at the office. Swap them monthly. Protected from strong magnets and extreme temperatures. Protected from shock or impacts. USB Flash / Thumb / Jump / Pen drives, CD's, DVD's, SD cards, and Flash Memory Cards do not generally have sufficient storage to back up an entire PC or do a System Image.
To start a backup in Windows: Click or right-click the Start button. Go to the Control Panel Select Backup and Restore Connect a portable hard drive, preferably to a USB 3.0 port for better speed. Look for the prompts in Backup and Restore You can search Youtube for how-to videos on doing the particular type of backup you wish to do, and for how-to videos specific to your version of Windows.
Mobile Security Laptop/Notebook, Netbook PC Tablet PC Smartphone
Mobile computing can be quite freeing, but it comes with risks that you need to know how to handle: Unsecured free WiFi internet can be monitored. Mobile devices can be stolen. People can look over your shoulder. The first issue, unsecured free WiFi, can allow nefarious persons to monitor your online activity with a device or software program called a WiFi Sniffer. WiFi is simply an internet connection that uses radio instead of wires. Just like in old war movies, the enemy can be listening to your transmissions!
Just like in World War II, you need to talk in code if you don't want the bad guys knowing things they shouldn't. In the case of WiFi, there is a tool called VPN, or Virtual Private Network that uses strong encryption of your WiFi connection to put everything in an unreadable code. This prevents people from monitoring what you're doing online. I personally use Avast Secureline VPN on both my smartphone and laptop. It costs around $35.00 per year on each device.
Lock Your Devices! Mobile device security
The first thing you should do is make sure that your device is locked somehow. Android, ios (Apple), and Windows all have methods of locking a computing device. In the case of both Android and ios, a locked device is also encrypted. Instructions: http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-enable-encryptionon-iphone-ipad-or-android-device/ In Windows, you can also encrypt the device, but it's more work. You should at the least set a Windows password and use a screensaver with on resume, require logon prompt checked in the screensaver settings. Windows 10 Mobile encryption: http://www.windowscentral.com/howenable-device-encryption-windows-10-mobile
Windows Laptop / Notebook Encryption: The best answer here is It's complicated. It's quite doable to encrypt a Windows PC, but you'll need a Professional version of Windows for the best results. See this article: http://www.howtogeek.com/234826/how-to-enable-full-disk-encryptionon-windows-10/ Additionally, many smartphones have applications available to track their location and remotely wipe all data on them should they be stolen. The last item, folks looking over your shoulder that just requires being aware of your surroundings, sitting in a spot that makes it difficult, and checking on what people around you are doing fairly often. Think strategically about where you're sitting before settling in.
Additional Basic Computer Security Considerations NEVER insert a USB flash / jump / pen / thumb drive you found into your computer. It can be full of malware by intent, or because its owner wasn't aware it was infected. It can also be a device designed to electronically fry a PC. If you work for a company with confidential information, be careful of social engineering attempts. People can pretend to be innocent or have some need for documents or other information that shouldn't be shared. https://digitalguardian.com/blog/socialengineering-attacks-common-techniques-how-prevent-attack
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