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Qatar Today Editorials - Is your PC a spy-glass into your life?
Rogers was in Qatar to conduct a workshop for internet security for home PC users. The workshop focussed on key high-level concepts that home users needed to understand about security, before moving on to the actual tasks home users needed to carry out to protect their systems.
BY ARYA RUDRA
SECURING your home computer is no trivial task. It is a thing that most people don’t take seriously, though the dangers of intrusion into your privacy is very real. Qatar Today spoke to Lawrence R Rogers, an expert in computer security systems and senior member of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute. Rogers is one of the key figures of Carnegie Mellon’s Cert-CC programme. Rogers was in Qatar to conduct a workshop for internet security for home PC users. The workshop focussed on key high-level concepts that home users needed to understand about security, before moving on to the actual tasks home users needed to carry out to protect their systems. This workshop was a part of a training outreach in information security offered by Q-CERT (see box on 109) in conjunction with the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie-Mellon University.
Beware of hackers
Home computers are under attack from hackers, cautions Rogers. Why? “Because intruders want access to information you have stored there. They look for credit card numbers, bank account information, anything else they can find. By stealing that information, intruders can use your money to buy themselves goods and services. But, it’s not just money-related information that they’re after. Intruders also want your computers resources, meaning your hard disk space, your fast processor, and your internet connection. They use these resources to attack other computers on the internet. Infact the more computers an intruder uses, the harder it is for law enforcement agencies to figure out where the attack is originating from.This a genuine threat that home computer users have to be geared to face,” he says.
According to Rogers, home PCs are easy targets for prospective hackers. “The reason is simple. Home computers are typically not very secure and easy to break into. When combined with high speed internet connections that are always turned on, intruders can easily find and then attack home computers.” In this context, Rogers points out that intruders attack home computers connected to the internet through dial-in connections and high speed connections (cable modems). He is of the opinion that most home PC’s are sitting ducks for intruders.
How do hackers break into computers?
“In some cases hackers send a home PC user an e-mail with a virus. Reading that e-mail activates the virus, thereby creating an opening that intruders can use to enter and access a home PC. In other cases they take advantage of a flaw or weakness in the computer programmes – a vulnerability – gain access. Once they’re in, intruders install new programmes that allow them to continue using the computer – even after the user plugs the holes the intruder used to get in, in the first place. These backdoors are usually cleverly disguised to blend in with the other programmes running on the computer,” Rogers points out.
Choosing a technology
Before selecting a specific technology to do a job on your home computer system, it is very important to first understand what you want that technology to do. “In the workshop, I emphasise thinking about risks and threats to home computer users independent of a piece of software that could be used to address those risks and threats. Technology changes quickly these days and all too often home computer owners and even the professional systems administrator in the office lose track of the problem they are trying to solve. They become captivated by what the technology can do instead of what they want it to do. “For example, if you know how to cook and you know what your favourite meal should look and taste like, then the choice of cooking technology – gas, or wood – is of secondary concern. While some of these cooking technologies make your job easier, your goal is that you are trying to cook a specific dish ,” says Rogers. No matter which technology has been selected, the owner must be able to control that technology.
“The workshop gives a taste of representative technologies so that participants can see how to apply the educational foundation I present to address the problem at hand. In most cases, free, public-domain applications are used to demonstrate the principles explained in the workshop. Vigilance and a commitment to home computer and Internet user security are the keys to building safe computing habits. Remember: when you are connected to the Internet, the Internet is connected to you.” ?
Get Hacker-wise ROGERS recommends a nine-point programme to protect home PCs from the prying eyes of intruders.
Here it goes: 1. Install and use anti- virus software: A virus is a programme that runs on a computer without the user’s permission. This means that when the virus runs, somebody else is using the computer’s possessions. A virus may also be destroying the user’s files or disclosing them to others who aren’t otherwise allowed to see them. An anti- virus programme attempts to stop this intrusion.
2. Keep your systems patched: Programmes that need to be patched are weak spots through which intruders can more easily gain access to a computer’s possessions. To protect one’s possessions one needs to keep all the software one has purchased patched with all of the patches one has purchased from the vendors. Each vendor usually clearly mentions where the patches need to be installed.
3. Install and use a firewall programme: A firewall programme attempts to keep outside access out and limits inside access to outside resources. That is, it works like your locked front door that keeps out unwanted people out and your toddler in. If intruders can’t get to the computer resources they can’t use them.
4. Install and use a hardware firewall: A hardware firewall does the same job as the firewall programme. It provides another layer that keeps unwanted outside access out and limits inside access to outside resources. A hardware firewall sits between the internet connection and the computer systems in the home or office. Most hardware firewalls come bundled with the internet connection software. Just like an airplane with two engines, where if one fails a person can still fly, a combination of a hardware and software firewall provides home and office computer systems with two layers of defence against intruders.
5. Use care when reading an e-mail with attachments: E-mail attachments that a user wasn’t expecting are usually viruses. Even if they aren’t viruses they are most often programmes that run on a user’s computer systems without his/her permission. By using care the user can attempt to stop running unwanted programmes on their computer systems.
6. Use care while downloading and installing programmes: The internet is a powerful resource for finding and using the work of others to enhance one’s computing resources. Programmes are one example. However, not all programmes on the internet are what they say they are. By taking care before downloading and installing these programmes, one can improve the chances that these programmes are what they say they are, and do the computer resources what they are meant to do, and nothing more.
7. Make backups of important files and folders: If a file or folder is destroyed by accident, by an intruder, or in some other way, then a backup provides another copy. This way the user can guard against unforeseen exigencies and protect vital data and information.
8. Use strong passwords: Most computer resource access users use a login and a password. Selecting a strong password makes it harder for intruders to access computer resources, because those passwords are harder to guess.
9. Install and use access controls and file encryption: Access controls are attributes of files and folders that limit access to only those who should have access. Encryption scrambles the file contents so that only those that have access to a file can know its contents.
Why install a Firewall?
A firewall protects you against a number of different online threats:
Hackers breaking into your computer.
Some viruses, called “worms,” that spread from computer to computer over the internet.
Some firewalls block outgoing traffic that might originate from a virus infection.
What a firewall does: Because the internet is a public network, any connected computer can find and connect to any other connected computer.
A firewall is a barrier between the public internet and your private computer system. Think of it as a really paranoid bouncer who stops anyone coming into your computer if they’re not on the guest list.
What is Spyware?
Spyware is like a virus that it is an unwanted program that runs on your computer. However, it does not try to replicate itself to other machines. Infection usually occurs when it is installed alongside another program such as a peer to peer file sharing application. However, increasingly, spyware is blending with viruses making it harder to eradicate and harder to avoid. Surveillance spyware is the most extreme version.
In common with some viruses, spyware can:
Scan your hard disk for private data such as credit card numbers.
Log the keys you type scanning for passwords or credit card numbers.
Take screen shots of the sites you visit to capture personal information.
Upload this information to criminals over the internet. The whole point of spying on people is to remain undetected.
The very worst kinds of spyware tend to operate in stealth mode and you may not even know you have them.
Spyware can:
Let strangers see what you are doing online.
Weaken your computer’s defences.
Make you a target for online criminals.
Make your computer slow and unreliable.
Why update Windows and Office applications?
LIKE locksmiths and burglars, hackers and software manufacturers are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game. Hackers try to find and exploit bugs and loopholes in popular software in order to get a back door into people’s computers. Developers try to close these loopholes as they are discovered. If passwords are the door key and a firewall and anti-virus software is your alarm system, installing patches is like making sure that you don’t leave any windows open.
What updating does?
Patches and updates
Rather than distribute a new CDROM every time a piece of software is updated, software companies distribute updates using patches. This is like inserting five new pages in an encyclopaedia rather than shipping 24 new volumes every time there’s a change. These patches can be downloaded over the internet.
Benefits of updating
Protects against some viruses.
Protects against some hacker tricks.
Improves performance. Fixes bugs.
Adds features.
Updates must be combined with anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software to be effective.
This article is reproduced with special permission from Qatar Today - Qatar's only news, business and lifestyle magazine
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