Transcript Purchasing a New Computer - UIUC College of Veterinary

General Security Basics
Your Responsibilities for Safe Computing
September 2007
Agenda
1. Change Your Mindset
2. Patch Frequently
3. Antivirus, Firewall and Spyware Protection
4. Passwords, Laptops and Backup Data
September 2007
Change your Mindset
“Let us not look back in anger or forward in
fear, but around in awareness.”
— James Thurber
“The user's going to pick dancing pigs over
security every time.”
— Bruce Schneier
September 2007
Why Should You Care?
 What does the audience think?
 Quite simply, you should care about
computer security because it will save you
time in the long run.
 In addition, your home computer is a
popular target for intruders.
September 2007
What They are Looking For
 The average Internet miscreant doesn’t
care about your research or email


Looking for credit card numbers, social
security number and more personal
information
Loves new operating systems that are behind
on security patches
September 2007
Security Patches
 Operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux)
have patching tools that automatically
request vendor-supplied patches
 Up to the user to tell how frequently you
want to check for updates and have them
installed
 At CVM we approve these on your behave
(yellow shield in the System Tray)
September 2007
Antivirus software and firewall
 CITES offers free antivirus and spyware
protection

Keep it up to date and turned on
 Antivirus software available for personal
use
 Latest OS comes with built-in basic firewall
September 2007
Spyware
 What is spyware?


Spyware is malicious software that can track
your computer's Web usage, slow your
system to a halt, and in some cases even
report personal information like passwords
and credit card numbers to unauthorized
sites.
Spyware is different than viruses, and is
spread differently. However, like viruses,
spyware most frequently targets the Windows
family of operating systems.
September 2007
Passwords Safety
 Guard your passwords. Choose a
password that's hard to guess but easy to
remember and memorize it.
 If you absolutely must have a written copy
of your password, do not leave it
anywhere near your computer and do not
include your NetID or what application it is
for on the same piece of paper.
September 2007
Laptops
 Laptops = Convenient mobile devices and
large security risk


Try not to keep important or personal data
stored of the laptop’s physical hard drive.
Save it to external hard drive to isn’t mobile or
on a secured network.
 Wireless communication and internet
sharing
September 2007
Backup your data
 Backing up your system data regularly is
an important part of overall security
strategy.
 Provides you with peace of mind if
anything were to happen to your computer
 Do you have a
“spare tire”?
A way to continue computing when you
have a “blowout” caused by a
malfunction or an intruder
September 2007
Questions
Any Questions???
September 2007