About the Computer Security Guides

Before the Internet, data security was easier and depended largely on simple, physical security. Along with connected networks came viruses, worms, trojan horses, data theft, denial of service attacks, and attempts to disrupt internet enterpises. Today, not many computers are "stand-alone" and not connected to the internet. Computers which are not connected to the internet are obviously more secure, but, unfortunately, such computers can not perform many of the tasks that make computers and the internet a necessity.

Computer security is concerned with the prevention and detection of unauthorized use of your computer (often referred to as hijacking). Security prevention measures stop unauthorized use and detection will help you determine if someone attempted to break into your system and what they might have done.

We use our computers for everything from online banking and investing to shopping, using email, and chatting with our friends. Although you may not consider these activities as "top secret", you likely don't want complete strangers reading your personal email, using your computer to attack other systems, or sending spam to others from your computer. Certainly no one wants strangers gaining access to sensitive financial data that might be stored on your computer.

Intruders (also referred to as hackers) may not even care about your personal identity. They might simply want to ccontrol your computer in order to launch attacks against more high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems. Having access to your computer allows them to hide their true identity. Just being connected to the internet makes your computer a target.

Hijackers are always finding new security holes to exploit and the complexity of software development makes it increasingly more difficult to completely test software running on your computer. When these security holes are discovered, computer vendors will usually develop patches to the software but it is usually up to you to obtain and install the latest patches. Also, be aware that some software applications that you install will have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings. Some typical examples of this would include chat programs that allow outsiders to run commands on your computer, allowing them to install harmful applications.

The Computer Security Guides site will introduce security concepts and help you understand what they are and the choices you have for taking action to secure your computer systems against unauthorized access.