How many of you practice good security when it comes to your computer? Or do you know if how your using the tools that came with your computer properly? Sorry I am not asking to insult anyone.
From time to time I am asked about virus software, malware tools and how can I safely send email or hide my signature. These questions are generally centered on protection of privacy. But there are a lot of other security practices and tools that can help keep you and your computer safe from harm. Both physical and on-line.
Today I thought I would just touch on a few simple things that you might be interested in;
eMail Usage and Security
Lets start with one of the most used tools on our computer. Email communication is one of the essential tools we use 100’s of times a week to communicate with our friends and business associates. We receive news letters, RSS Feed notices, junk and spam. We send documents and notes including photos and the list goes on.
Email has become a social vehicle for sharing most everything digital and with that comes responsibility that sometimes gets obscured in our delight to send on email message that we receive. This social pattern means we spread in some cases our personal information and malware that is hidden within the email code out of view but in plain site to those who look to steal it. Recently a friend of mine forward an email message to me that really tells all and contains some very good advice. Now I don’t know where this information started but there are some really good tips to consider.
This is really important information regarding “forwarding emails”. For you who already comply, please disregard this insult email, for those do not already comply, please read and then comply. Just remember to click the “forward” option, else you’ll lose the whole message the first time you try to delete the addresses, or anything else..
A computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below, even if you’re sure you already follow proper procedures.
Do you really know how to forward emails? 50% of us DO NOT.
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail?
Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their email addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail
to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit.
That’s right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!
How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps. Try the following if you haven’t done it before:
(1) When you forward an email, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). _That’s right, DELETE them._ Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the ‘Forward’ button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don’t click on ‘Forward’ first, you won’t be able to edit the message at all.
(2) Whenever you send an email to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding email addresses. Always use the BCC:(blind carbon copy) field for listing the email addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If you don’t see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that’s it, it’s that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say
‘Undisclosed Recipients in the ‘TO:’ field of the people who receive it.
(3) Remove any ‘FW :’ in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.
(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading. Ever get those e- mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many emails just to see what you sent.
(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein.
DO NOT put your email address on any petition. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (And don’t believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just ain’t so!)
Some of the other emails to delete and not forward are:
1. The one that says something like, ‘Send this email to 10 people and you’ll see something great run across your screen.’ Or sometimes they’ll just tease you by saying ‘some thing really cute will happen.’ IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! (We are still seeing some of the same emails that we waited on 10 years ago!)
2. Don’t let the bad luck ones scare you either. Trash them.
3. Before you forward an ‘Amber Alert’, or a ‘Virus Alert’, or some of the other emails floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them.....
Most of them are junk mail that’s been circling the net for YEARS! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at Snoops. Just go to www.snopes.com http://www.snopes.com
It’s really easy to find out if it’s real or not. If it’s not, please don’t pass it on.
Let’s stop the junk mail and the viruses. Finally - Send this to everyone you know (but strip my address off first, please). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded !!!!
Protecting your physical computer assets
One of the best ways to protect your computer and your personal belongings is to buy home or renters insurance with a rider that covers your computers if they are lost, stolen or destroyed. Now this protects your investment in the cost to replace the physical hardware but not the data that is on it. To me the data on my computers is years in making. I shutter to think what this data is really worth to me in physical dollars. So I protect my data by keeping two separate backups using portable hard drives. This way if I lose one of my computers or it is destroyed I can quickly return to normal.
Now along with insurance the next suggestion is to install a personal alarm system to protect your home. The alarm system can serve many functions besides protecting your property. They are tied to central systems that can instantly call the police, fire department or medical response in an emergency. Plus your insurance company will give you a discount on your home or rental insurance because it helps reduce their risk.
With the alarm approach you can leave your home in most cases without worry that your hardware and data is secure. But of course this is not fool proof. When a crook wants your stuff, they will do just about anything to get it. So always be prepared that you are safe up to 95%.
Now if you can’t afford an alarm system the next best option is to purchase cable locks for your hardware and keep your portable devices locked inside a metal cabinet when your not home. Now cable locks can be cut off but most burglaries occur in less than 5 minutes and any device that is cable locked will stop the snatch and grab routine. At the very least will slow the burglar down. Now these devices are not fool proof but rest assured they will take what is easy to walk out the door. Anything they have to work at to get means they run a bigger risk at getting caught. Remember most burglaries happen in under 5 minutes and they know exactly where to look.
So lock it up when your not home. That way it will most likely be there when you return.
Keeping your personal data safe and secure when your gone
How many of you start your computer and let the operating system log you in automatically? This is a common practice and a very unsafe habit. If someone wants to steal your data, all they have to do is simply restart your computer and they have free rain. Now I personally leave my 2 desk top computers on all the time and let them go to sleep when I am not using them. All modern computers today have this energy saving process. Not the trick is to let this energy saving feature lock your computer so when your not there using it you don’t have to worry about your data.
Now on Windows the standard process for locking your computer is simply pressing CTRL/ALT/DELETE and chose logout or lock computer. On a Mac computer you must press SHIFT/CMD/Q and this will logout the user out. Now there is no built in function to lock the computer. Don’t ask me why but there is software built in to the MAC that will lock it if you supply the proper code. Fortunately for us we don’t have to learn how to program we can simply download a widget that will execute the lock sequence. 
For me I use the widget on my MAC to lock it before I leave home and then I put the system to sleep after the computer is in lock mode. Now if a burglar tries to steal my data he will have to unlock the computer and restarting will not break either as you must login to gain access.
Using secure passwords
How many of you use your name, pet name, family name or some combination? This is OK so long as you mix some special characters with it. Security experts will tell you the best secure password should be a phrase like “Mary-Had_a.little.lamb” This password would take a hacker using special software months to break. So don’t be afraid to mix it up. With this kind of password you most likely will never have to change your password or at the very least only once in a while or when you got tired of the phase. The more special characters the better. For more on passwords check out this past article.
That’s my short list today. If you have a tip to share drop us a note or leave us a comment.
