Nt1330 Unit 3 Assignment 1
Setting up my new computer, with the Window 7, operating system was fairly simple. The setup directions were easy to follow, in order to get me up and running. Upon setting up my new system I took care of establishing my internet connection, from my Internet Service Provider, which happens to be Comcast. Now that I’m connected to the internet and ready to take on the World Wide Web the fun part begins, making sure it’s protected against any harmful attackers, and any virus threats. First off I decided to check my firewall settings on Windows before attempting to go out on the internet in case someone wants to try and hack my new system before I even get to enjoy it. Most commercially available firewall products, hardware or software based,
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come configured in a manner that is acceptably secure for most users. Each firewall is different so this meant looking at the paperwork that came with the operating system to find out just how secure the default settings were once turned on. This gave me a chance to look around the system and see what kind of security settings were set as the default already straight out of the box. Upon investigating the basic Windows firewall default settings were fine for now but after downloading any patches and updates for my Windows 7 operating system I might search for an alternative to find out if there are better types out there. Reports dictate that from the date you buy a computer system there is already something better to take its place with the rate of technology in today’s generation. Keeping this in mind my next thought is to check and make sure my computer has the latest updates. There are a few ways to do this, but my choice was to click on the start menu, then click control panel, system and security, windows update. The system took a few minutes to download a few updates and listed them out as critical or optional, giving me the choice of which ones to install. This is good to check in order to make sure my system security settings are current and up to date. Once complete I made sure that my settings were set for windows to do an automatic update so that I stay current. It also makes sure of any security paths for internet explorer, and that I have the latest version. Internet explorer is my browser of choice, because I’m more familiar with it than anything else out there, but I’m trying to get into the habit of using Google chrome based on a lot of good reports that this is a safer browser. I do know from reading internet explorer is the most used browser, which in turn also makes it the one most hacked and targeted for cyber crimes. The web browser has a privacy setting that allows you to adjust the level of security. Sometimes pushing this level of security up to high can block cookies so your computer won’t accept them enabling you to get on certain websites and causing them to work improperly. To start off with before I have my virus software installed I’ll push them up to a high level, instead of the medium level default, but I can change them at any time should this cause some sort of issue with me getting on a website. Now that I’m current on all the latest security patches, updates, and my firewall is running, my next plan of action is to find some software to protect my new system from any viruses that I might pick up out there while surfing the internet.
My firewall may be effective at blocking some attacks and offering a certain amount of protection. But a firewall does not guarantee that your computer will be attacked. In particular, a firewall offers little to no protection against viruses. However using a firewall in conjunction with other protective software and safe practices will strengthen resistance to attacks. Anti-virus software details vary between packages but basically it scans files on your computer’s memory for certain patterns that may indicate an infection, looking for signatures, or definitions, of known viruses. Authors for viruses are continually being updated and released, so it’s important you have the latest definitions installed so the software can tackle any threat new or old. Each virus software has its own method of response once it locates a virus, and the action may vary according to when it finds the virus either during an automatic or a manual scan. Most software produces a dialog box alerting you if it has found a virus and asks whether you want it to clean the file or remove it. Some software may attempt to remove the virus without first asking. A good user should familiarize themselves with the features so they know how to handle such a
situation.
There are many brands of anti-virus software deciding which one to choose can be time consuming and confusing. The software basically performs the same service so you have to pick your battle wisely based on recommendations, particular features, availability, and price. Regardless of which software you choose you can feel safe your level of protection has increased. Be aware of scams about anti-virus software coming from emails with attachments this can be in fact the very thing you’re trying not to get “a virus”.
After doing some comparison shopping, and reading a few reviews for a couple of different options I decided to go with Norton 360 for my overall antivirus protection software. This software offers some good features such as, 24/7 technical support free of charge, which can be a great thing to have should there ever be an issue arise. Norton delivers up to the minute protection with rapid pulse updates ever five to fifteen minutes, faster scans when needed, a silent mode that suspends alerts and updates to avoid interrupting any computer task that’s current being performed. The program has a cloud-based management allowing me to install, transfer, update or renew the product anywhere right over the internet. They also offer, me the luxury of installing the program on up to three household personal computers, this could also come in handy if something happens and my system crashed in order to reinstall the program without having to pay for it again. Apparently there is also a safe web feature for Facebook that scans your news feed for dangerous downloads and warns you and your friends about them. This feature will come in handy once I get my system up and running because my thirteen year old son has already asked if he can use the new computer to setup a Facebook page. The software detects and removes spyware and any unwanted monitoring software, in addition to blocking internet worms at the point of entry and block hackers from accessing my computer. Norton even has a feature called smart startup manager which turns off unnecessary startup programs for faster personal computer startups. Another key feature is the tightly integrated spam filtering that checks every email before being sent. It also can provide monthly reports showing details of any activities, such as threats caught, tune up tasks performed and files backed up. Norton also offers backup and recovery to any type of basic disc, and it includes 2GB of online storage, should I want to store any pictures, music, documents, or videos in a protected an secured offsite location. There are also parental controls that can manage and track where my son goes, he is young and doesn’t know of the online dangers some sites can offer. Once installed on my system I did a quick automatic scan just to make sure everything was working properly. There are options to configure how often it does an automatic scan or it can be set to perform complete scans of the entire system. Also there is an option for doing a manual scan. This is a good procedure to do with any outside source file you may receive before opening it. This includes saving and scanning email attachments or web downloads instead of opening them directly from the source. Scanning media, including compact discs or digital versatile disc, for viruses before opening any file they contain.
Now that my system is safe to do some internet browsing, I want to setup some online banking through my current bank that is affiliated with my checking account. I’ll use this to keep an eye on my account in order to make sure proper funds are in there, to pay bills online, and to make sure there aren’t any fraudulent charges going against my account from any identity theft that might be out there. Online banking uses several different methods to protect my information. All information within Online Banking uses the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol for transferring data. SSL encryption creates a secure environment for the information being transferred between your browser and banking establishment. At a high level, SSL uses public key cryptography to secure transmissions over the internet. My browser sends a message, with the SSL to the banks sever, and in return the bank responds by sending a certificate which contains the banks public key. The browser authenticates the certificate agreeing that the banking establishment’s server is the correct one; then generates a random session key which is used to encrypt data traveling between my browser and the bank’s server. This session key is encrypted using the bank’s key and sent back to the server. The bank decrypts this message using its private key, and then uses the session key for the remainder of the communication. There are three basic Secure Socket Layer key ways, authentication which ensures that you are communicating with the correct server. This prevents another computer from impersonating the users banking establishment. Second type of key is encryption which scrambles transferred data. The third type of key is the data integrity which verifies that the information sent by you to the bank wasn’t altered during transfer. The system then detects if data was added or deleted after you sent the message, and if any tampering has occurred, if so the connection is dropped.
My online banking requires me to choose a password, to safeguard my online banking so no one can access this without me knowing. Most people wouldn’t think much about this and just pick some random number like their social security number or their birthday. That is a mistake the user needs to think about the number even though it may be frustrating at times with all the different passwords that everything requires. All these precautionary measures are in your best interest to protect you from identity theft. You wouldn’t want some random stranger having access to your social security number or your medical records, you only want those authorized to have access to this type of vital information. Intentionally misspelling a word may offer some protection against certain type of attacks, or an even better method is to rely on a series of words and use memory techniques to help you remember how to decode it. The best defense is to use a combination of numbers, special characters, and both lowercase and capital letters. The longer the password the more secure you are this makes more characters to guess. Once you have established a good password make sure not to use it for every site, if someone cracks that password your just opening yourself up for some to come right in and have free reign on anything associated with that password.
Now that my personal computer is running smoothly and secured to a fairly decent level with all the updates and protected with some virus software, and I got a chance to do some banking on it. Maybe it’s time to sit down with my thirteen year old son and make sure that he knows some basic security guidelines to follow since he wants to set up a Facebook account. Users can control who can see just about anything they post from photos, text, or whatever the information may be. Facebook has setting specifically designed for minors under the age of eighteen offering more levels of privacy protection. Some information is always public, including, user’s names, profile pictures, and the networks they belong to. Even with these you have some control, and posting a profile picture is an option not mandatory, leaving it blank is acceptable. Setting up requires you to provide your real name which is a safety feature in itself to hold the user accountable for what they post and discourage them from pretending to be someone they are not. Privacy can be a double edged sword and turning on maximum privacy settings could also block parents from accessing that information. There also has to be some sort of line you don’t want to cross as a parent in order to allow your child some freedom without knowing absolutely everything they’re posting in order to give them a little privacy of their own in order to communicate with friends. Anything posted in public, as long as you’re their Facebook friend, can be seen and this can give you a pretty good idea of what they’re doing on the service in order to determine whether they are abusing their privileges. Some of the special safeguards for teens include, the limited search menus where teens can’t be listed in public searches only adults. There are special safeguards with tagging where friends and friends of friends are allowed to tag teens. Also there is a maximum audience that a teen can share with, where adults can share with the public. Teens can, however, post in a public forum, and any comments they make to a post can be seen by anyone else who can see the post. Location sharing is turned off by default, but they have the option to turn it on. It’s not possible for a teen to subscribe to a teen’s post or timeline because they can’t post to the public from their timeline. Teens can, however, subscribe to anyone’s posts. Only friends and friends of friends can send messages to teens based on the settings. Messages are turned off by default, but teens can turn it on, in addition teens can only chat with friends. Facebook will not display advertisements to teens about adult content including, alcohol, dating, gambling and lotteries, health and fitness and subscription services. The privacy settings, called inline privacy settings, that controls who gets to see each post, photos or other contents. The users have an option to decide who can see based on your Facebook friends, friends of friends, a particular list such as family or close friends, and even a setting for, only me, which means you’re not sharing it with anyone. Something for parents to keep in mind if their teen accesses Facebook from their mobile device, indicating they’re often away from home or any adult supervision. The parental controls you might have on your home computer won’t necessarily affect the mobile device, but there are some mobile parental control apps to assist in safeguarding this also. One of the features on Facebooks mobile application is the ability to “check in” to a location, which is a way of telling people where you are or have been. While it can be fun to share your location, it can also be dangerous in some situations, so young people need to understand that this feature should be used with caution. As long as you’re an underage teen being monitored with some supervision and are aware of the dangers that lie out there on the net it can be a fun and interesting means of social networking with friends and family.
One of our great founding fathers of the United States is famous for a saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This expression means that it’s better to try to avoid a problem in the first place, rather than trying to fix them once they arise. This should be every users theory when setting up their personal computer to safeguard them from cybercrimes, hackers, or any identity thefts. Whoever is out there most likely will use any means necessary to try to hack or steal something that isn’t theirs. Taking a little extra time during setup to prevent something in the future is just common sense to me, hopefully everyone thinks along those lines when protecting their computer.
come configured in a manner that is acceptably secure for most users. Each firewall is different so this meant looking at the paperwork that came with the operating system to find out just how secure the default settings were once turned on. This gave me a chance to look around the system and see what kind of security settings were set as the default already straight out of the box. Upon investigating the basic Windows firewall default settings were fine for now but after downloading any patches and updates for my Windows 7 operating system I might search for an alternative to find out if there are better types out there. Reports dictate that from the date you buy a computer system there is already something better to take its place with the rate of technology in today’s generation. Keeping this in mind my next thought is to check and make sure my computer has the latest updates. There are a few ways to do this, but my choice was to click on the start menu, then click control panel, system and security, windows update. The system took a few minutes to download a few updates and listed them out as critical or optional, giving me the choice of which ones to install. This is good to check in order to make sure my system security settings are current and up to date. Once complete I made sure that my settings were set for windows to do an automatic update so that I stay current. It also makes sure of any security paths for internet explorer, and that I have the latest version. Internet explorer is my browser of choice, because I’m more familiar with it than anything else out there, but I’m trying to get into the habit of using Google chrome based on a lot of good reports that this is a safer browser. I do know from reading internet explorer is the most used browser, which in turn also makes it the one most hacked and targeted for cyber crimes. The web browser has a privacy setting that allows you to adjust the level of security. Sometimes pushing this level of security up to high can block cookies so your computer won’t accept them enabling you to get on certain websites and causing them to work improperly. To start off with before I have my virus software installed I’ll push them up to a high level, instead of the medium level default, but I can change them at any time should this cause some sort of issue with me getting on a website. Now that I’m current on all the latest security patches, updates, and my firewall is running, my next plan of action is to find some software to protect my new system from any viruses that I might pick up out there while surfing the internet.
My firewall may be effective at blocking some attacks and offering a certain amount of protection. But a firewall does not guarantee that your computer will be attacked. In particular, a firewall offers little to no protection against viruses. However using a firewall in conjunction with other protective software and safe practices will strengthen resistance to attacks. Anti-virus software details vary between packages but basically it scans files on your computer’s memory for certain patterns that may indicate an infection, looking for signatures, or definitions, of known viruses. Authors for viruses are continually being updated and released, so it’s important you have the latest definitions installed so the software can tackle any threat new or old. Each virus software has its own method of response once it locates a virus, and the action may vary according to when it finds the virus either during an automatic or a manual scan. Most software produces a dialog box alerting you if it has found a virus and asks whether you want it to clean the file or remove it. Some software may attempt to remove the virus without first asking. A good user should familiarize themselves with the features so they know how to handle such a
situation.
There are many brands of anti-virus software deciding which one to choose can be time consuming and confusing. The software basically performs the same service so you have to pick your battle wisely based on recommendations, particular features, availability, and price. Regardless of which software you choose you can feel safe your level of protection has increased. Be aware of scams about anti-virus software coming from emails with attachments this can be in fact the very thing you’re trying not to get “a virus”.
After doing some comparison shopping, and reading a few reviews for a couple of different options I decided to go with Norton 360 for my overall antivirus protection software. This software offers some good features such as, 24/7 technical support free of charge, which can be a great thing to have should there ever be an issue arise. Norton delivers up to the minute protection with rapid pulse updates ever five to fifteen minutes, faster scans when needed, a silent mode that suspends alerts and updates to avoid interrupting any computer task that’s current being performed. The program has a cloud-based management allowing me to install, transfer, update or renew the product anywhere right over the internet. They also offer, me the luxury of installing the program on up to three household personal computers, this could also come in handy if something happens and my system crashed in order to reinstall the program without having to pay for it again. Apparently there is also a safe web feature for Facebook that scans your news feed for dangerous downloads and warns you and your friends about them. This feature will come in handy once I get my system up and running because my thirteen year old son has already asked if he can use the new computer to setup a Facebook page. The software detects and removes spyware and any unwanted monitoring software, in addition to blocking internet worms at the point of entry and block hackers from accessing my computer. Norton even has a feature called smart startup manager which turns off unnecessary startup programs for faster personal computer startups. Another key feature is the tightly integrated spam filtering that checks every email before being sent. It also can provide monthly reports showing details of any activities, such as threats caught, tune up tasks performed and files backed up. Norton also offers backup and recovery to any type of basic disc, and it includes 2GB of online storage, should I want to store any pictures, music, documents, or videos in a protected an secured offsite location. There are also parental controls that can manage and track where my son goes, he is young and doesn’t know of the online dangers some sites can offer. Once installed on my system I did a quick automatic scan just to make sure everything was working properly. There are options to configure how often it does an automatic scan or it can be set to perform complete scans of the entire system. Also there is an option for doing a manual scan. This is a good procedure to do with any outside source file you may receive before opening it. This includes saving and scanning email attachments or web downloads instead of opening them directly from the source. Scanning media, including compact discs or digital versatile disc, for viruses before opening any file they contain.
Now that my system is safe to do some internet browsing, I want to setup some online banking through my current bank that is affiliated with my checking account. I’ll use this to keep an eye on my account in order to make sure proper funds are in there, to pay bills online, and to make sure there aren’t any fraudulent charges going against my account from any identity theft that might be out there. Online banking uses several different methods to protect my information. All information within Online Banking uses the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol for transferring data. SSL encryption creates a secure environment for the information being transferred between your browser and banking establishment. At a high level, SSL uses public key cryptography to secure transmissions over the internet. My browser sends a message, with the SSL to the banks sever, and in return the bank responds by sending a certificate which contains the banks public key. The browser authenticates the certificate agreeing that the banking establishment’s server is the correct one; then generates a random session key which is used to encrypt data traveling between my browser and the bank’s server. This session key is encrypted using the bank’s key and sent back to the server. The bank decrypts this message using its private key, and then uses the session key for the remainder of the communication. There are three basic Secure Socket Layer key ways, authentication which ensures that you are communicating with the correct server. This prevents another computer from impersonating the users banking establishment. Second type of key is encryption which scrambles transferred data. The third type of key is the data integrity which verifies that the information sent by you to the bank wasn’t altered during transfer. The system then detects if data was added or deleted after you sent the message, and if any tampering has occurred, if so the connection is dropped.
My online banking requires me to choose a password, to safeguard my online banking so no one can access this without me knowing. Most people wouldn’t think much about this and just pick some random number like their social security number or their birthday. That is a mistake the user needs to think about the number even though it may be frustrating at times with all the different passwords that everything requires. All these precautionary measures are in your best interest to protect you from identity theft. You wouldn’t want some random stranger having access to your social security number or your medical records, you only want those authorized to have access to this type of vital information. Intentionally misspelling a word may offer some protection against certain type of attacks, or an even better method is to rely on a series of words and use memory techniques to help you remember how to decode it. The best defense is to use a combination of numbers, special characters, and both lowercase and capital letters. The longer the password the more secure you are this makes more characters to guess. Once you have established a good password make sure not to use it for every site, if someone cracks that password your just opening yourself up for some to come right in and have free reign on anything associated with that password.
Now that my personal computer is running smoothly and secured to a fairly decent level with all the updates and protected with some virus software, and I got a chance to do some banking on it. Maybe it’s time to sit down with my thirteen year old son and make sure that he knows some basic security guidelines to follow since he wants to set up a Facebook account. Users can control who can see just about anything they post from photos, text, or whatever the information may be. Facebook has setting specifically designed for minors under the age of eighteen offering more levels of privacy protection. Some information is always public, including, user’s names, profile pictures, and the networks they belong to. Even with these you have some control, and posting a profile picture is an option not mandatory, leaving it blank is acceptable. Setting up requires you to provide your real name which is a safety feature in itself to hold the user accountable for what they post and discourage them from pretending to be someone they are not. Privacy can be a double edged sword and turning on maximum privacy settings could also block parents from accessing that information. There also has to be some sort of line you don’t want to cross as a parent in order to allow your child some freedom without knowing absolutely everything they’re posting in order to give them a little privacy of their own in order to communicate with friends. Anything posted in public, as long as you’re their Facebook friend, can be seen and this can give you a pretty good idea of what they’re doing on the service in order to determine whether they are abusing their privileges. Some of the special safeguards for teens include, the limited search menus where teens can’t be listed in public searches only adults. There are special safeguards with tagging where friends and friends of friends are allowed to tag teens. Also there is a maximum audience that a teen can share with, where adults can share with the public. Teens can, however, post in a public forum, and any comments they make to a post can be seen by anyone else who can see the post. Location sharing is turned off by default, but they have the option to turn it on. It’s not possible for a teen to subscribe to a teen’s post or timeline because they can’t post to the public from their timeline. Teens can, however, subscribe to anyone’s posts. Only friends and friends of friends can send messages to teens based on the settings. Messages are turned off by default, but teens can turn it on, in addition teens can only chat with friends. Facebook will not display advertisements to teens about adult content including, alcohol, dating, gambling and lotteries, health and fitness and subscription services. The privacy settings, called inline privacy settings, that controls who gets to see each post, photos or other contents. The users have an option to decide who can see based on your Facebook friends, friends of friends, a particular list such as family or close friends, and even a setting for, only me, which means you’re not sharing it with anyone. Something for parents to keep in mind if their teen accesses Facebook from their mobile device, indicating they’re often away from home or any adult supervision. The parental controls you might have on your home computer won’t necessarily affect the mobile device, but there are some mobile parental control apps to assist in safeguarding this also. One of the features on Facebooks mobile application is the ability to “check in” to a location, which is a way of telling people where you are or have been. While it can be fun to share your location, it can also be dangerous in some situations, so young people need to understand that this feature should be used with caution. As long as you’re an underage teen being monitored with some supervision and are aware of the dangers that lie out there on the net it can be a fun and interesting means of social networking with friends and family.
One of our great founding fathers of the United States is famous for a saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This expression means that it’s better to try to avoid a problem in the first place, rather than trying to fix them once they arise. This should be every users theory when setting up their personal computer to safeguard them from cybercrimes, hackers, or any identity thefts. Whoever is out there most likely will use any means necessary to try to hack or steal something that isn’t theirs. Taking a little extra time during setup to prevent something in the future is just common sense to me, hopefully everyone thinks along those lines when protecting their computer.