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Free 15-point Security Checklists
In the US, it's currently National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which is an initiative sponsored and promoted by the Department for Homeland Security. The Department was created in 2001, in response to a series of attacks far more deadly than anything which the internet has ever been responsible for.
If you haven't done an overhaul of your PC security in recent years, why not make this the month that you do? It doesn't have to cost money. Just check out our famous list of free security software at http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm.
But before you install software, you need to review your current security precautions to ensure that the security software you use is actually solving the problems which you have. To help you in this, I've created a checklist of 15 simple tips. Actually, there are 6 separate checklists, specifically designed for PC users at home and in the office, for parents, for children and young people, for college/university students, and for company bosses. You'll find them all at http://www.defeatingthehacker.com/securitysavvy/freestuff.html.
If there's a Hot Find you want to tell me about, please see http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/submit-product-review.htm.
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Comments
The checklist pages state "To use the checklist, we suggest that you print it out" but the pages are formatted for web display not for printing and no printing instructions are given. Copy/Past into a word processor seems to work OK.
I have to take issue with a few points in the '15' lists.
First, Adaware is NOT free for commercial use.
Second, suggesting users introduce foreign USB sticks to work computers, even for backup purposes is NOT recommended.
Third, there is no mention of physical security whatsoever.
Finally, I was pleased to see the suggestion that children should be monitored while using the Internet. If I can add to that, I use TightNC to remotely monitor my son. He knows I do it and as he does not know when I'll be looking, he has not put a foot wrong (yet)
Did you mean to say TightVNC?
As advice goes the one list I checked seemed generally good, but this one item (from PC Users at Home) seems a bit old and dated: "Spybot Search & Destroy" and "AdAware".
I personally like Spybot for privacy (it finds a few more misc. tracking cookies that other don't if you turn on all of its filesets) and locking the Host file, but Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware, Prevx, etc. are better for malware scanning nowadays.
Plus it's a good idea to have more Internet facing protection or, at least, general preventative protection. If not Sandboxie/GeSWall, then at least: LUA, WOT, ClearCloud, HostMan, HIPS.
I tend to follow your thoughts about Spybot but the latest Ad-Aware has been getting some quite favourable press. Amongst other things, Ad-Aware Free promises to protect you against malware that tries to restore itself after a system reboot. And it now integrates with Internet Explorer to scan files as you download, alerting you to any malicious files you may send to your system. So, not the full real time protection we all need and calling it "Internet Security" is misleading at least. That said it's a highly useful specialist tool if what it seeks to target is a threat to you :)
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