Protecting Your Computer &

Your Information

Threats

• Virus• Worm• Trojan horse• Rootkits• Blended methods• Spyware & Malware• All of the threat can have varying levels of

impact from annoying to disabling.

Virus

• Attaches itself to a program or file.• Has the ability to spread from one computer

to another.• Almost all viruses are attached to executable

files and will not infect your computer until the executable is run.

• Usually require some form of human action to spread.

Worm

• Really a sub-class of virus but significant enough to be classified separately.

• Spreads from computer to computer without any human interaction.

• Capable of replicating itself until it consumes all available memory or processing capacity.

Trojan Horse

• A program that hides inside of another program.

• Usually embedded in software that appears legitimate that the user download and executes.

• Embedded program often activates in response to an event or date.

• Does not reproduce by infection other files nor does it self-replicate.

Rootkit

• Infects the system kernel or disk boot record.• Typically very difficult to detect and remove.• Sometime spread as a DRIVE-BY download

where just visiting an infected website infects your computer.

Spyware & Malware

• Often tracks users movements.• Creates logs of keystrokes, emails, websites

visited, etc.

Regular user vs. Administrator

• For day-to-day use of the computer you should be logged in as a regular user.

• Only log into an administrator account when you need to perform an action that requires administrator rights.

• Always be cautious when an application asks for administrator rights.

Updates

• Perform regulars updates of your operating system (OS) and your applications.

• Turn on automated updates.• Make sure updates are scheduled to run.

Backups

• Ideally back up your full system.• Back up your data on a regular basis.• Back up to a separate physical device.• Back up to a removable media.• Test your backups to make sure they are good.• Encrypt your data on removable flash drives.

Useful Software

• Virus Protection– Microsoft Security Essentials (free, full version)– MalwareBytes (free limited version for home use)

• Spyware/Adware– Ad-Aware Personal (free limited version)– Spybot-Search & Destroy (free limited version)

• Firewalls– ZoneAlarm

• The software listed above is (or at least was) free for personal use.

Useful Software Links

• McAfee VirusScan @ NDSU– http://www.ndsu.edu/its/software/

• Ad-Aware– http://www.lavasoft.com/

• Spybot Search & Destroy– http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

• ZoneAlarm– http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/home.htm

• A Guide to Firewalls & other software– http://www.firewallguide.com/

Phishing

• Anti-Phishing Phil– http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/antiphishing_phil/– A game based tutorial that teaches users how to

identify phishing URLs, where to look for cues in web browsers, and how to use search engines to find legitimate sites.

– This is now a commercial product but you can still play the first round for free.