Firewalls - A critical addition to increase computer security
Firewall software takes your internet security to another necessary level. Its like a virtual pocket protector stopping worms and computer viruses from getting inside your wallet.
A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication. It is also a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria.
Firewalls are a crucial part of your computer's security system. They do not come pre-installed on your PC. For home users they are installed on your machine while for corporate computers they sit on the company server. Firewalls work by preventing or allowing traffic to go between your computer and any other computer. Their main aim is to prevent malicious computers or malicious traffic from accessing your PC.
A study by a computer forensics specialist revealed that 92 per cent of credit card involved small retailers and 70% of cases were actually instore. This means that over the counter fraud on EFTPOS machines and similar merchant terminals is still massive and a major source of identity theft.
So what happens when a fraudster can get hold of your credit card details? Its pretty easy from there for them to run up large credit card bills, something which they easily perpetrate online. Many small websites use cheap insecure web hosting and off the shelf ecommerce baskets. These are easily detected by hackers, allowing fast and easy transactions to be run up on your credit card once they have stolen the details (there is a big industry in the illicit sale of credit card names and numbers too).
But this type of limited identity theft is also prevalent online as computer hackers are continually building more malicious computer viruses such as and . are programs that hide inside other programs and emerge once the original program is run. Users who like to download and install free programs from the internet or on file-sharing networks such as Limewire are at high risk of being infected.
You should note that viruses can be avoided because you have to open or run the infected file in order to get infected. The best way to avoid computer viruses is to not run any program or file attachment that you aren't absolutely sure about. One of the signs that a file may be dangerous is if it has a ".EXE" extension. You should never open or run an EXE file that you receive unless you are absolutely certain it is clean.
A computer worm, unlike a virus, doesn't need a person in order to spread. A worm is capable of worming its way from computer to computer through a network without the assistance or knowledge of the infected party.
You also need to install an anti- virus program and you must keep your anti-virus program up-to- date. This should detect the virus before it can attack your computer if you do run the program.
The best way to defend against worms is through the use of a firewall.
Most routers act like a hardware firewall and should provide sufficient protection though a software firewall, such as that installed in Windows, add an extra layer of protection. It's a constant competition between antivirus developers and virus spawners to get ahead of each other and the latest offering from the virus camp is a combination of all of the above.
A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication. It is also a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria.
Firewalls are a crucial part of your computer's security system. They do not come pre-installed on your PC. For home users they are installed on your machine while for corporate computers they sit on the company server. Firewalls work by preventing or allowing traffic to go between your computer and any other computer. Their main aim is to prevent malicious computers or malicious traffic from accessing your PC.
A study by a computer forensics specialist revealed that 92 per cent of credit card involved small retailers and 70% of cases were actually instore. This means that over the counter fraud on EFTPOS machines and similar merchant terminals is still massive and a major source of identity theft.
So what happens when a fraudster can get hold of your credit card details? Its pretty easy from there for them to run up large credit card bills, something which they easily perpetrate online. Many small websites use cheap insecure web hosting and off the shelf ecommerce baskets. These are easily detected by hackers, allowing fast and easy transactions to be run up on your credit card once they have stolen the details (there is a big industry in the illicit sale of credit card names and numbers too).
But this type of limited identity theft is also prevalent online as computer hackers are continually building more malicious computer viruses such as
You should note that viruses can be avoided because you have to open or run the infected file in order to get infected. The best way to avoid computer viruses is to not run any program or file attachment that you aren't absolutely sure about. One of the signs that a file may be dangerous is if it has a ".EXE" extension. You should never open or run an EXE file that you receive unless you are absolutely certain it is clean.
A computer worm, unlike a virus, doesn't need a person in order to spread. A worm is capable of worming its way from computer to computer through a network without the assistance or knowledge of the infected party.
You also need to install an anti- virus program and you must keep your anti-virus program up-to- date. This should detect the virus before it can attack your computer if you do run the program.
The best way to defend against worms is through the use of a firewall.
Most routers act like a hardware firewall and should provide sufficient protection though a software firewall, such as that installed in Windows, add an extra layer of protection. It's a constant competition between antivirus developers and virus spawners to get ahead of each other and the latest offering from the virus camp is a combination of all of the above.
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Norton Antivirus 2009 |
Norton Internet Security 2009 |
Norton 360 |