h0jNtp6xb6Wyg8rqpHE0TYk0bdiETUtd: 2012

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Ways Through Which the NGFW Acts on the Cyber Security Systems

When we use web based applications for network traffic, we come across a number of security threats. And with the rising consumption of network bandwidth, there is also an increase in the demand for a next generation firewall (NGFW).

Since the next generation firewalls use an integrated network platform that performs a comprehensive inspection of incoming traffic and blocks threats that leave your PC vulnerable, the next generation firewall includes all the standard capabilities that you can find in first generation firewalls-specifically Network Address Translation, packet filtering and state full packet inspection.

The NGFW will follow the below mentioned criteria to offer the best network security for you: Scanning- like first gen firewalls, the NGFW has the capability to detect potential threats in the form of deep packet inspection often known as DPI. They can scan applications against a growing database of signatures and provide real-time visualization into the network by taking custom applications into account. Also, the next generation firewalls extend application intelligence and control to wireless endpoints.

Performance- the NGFWs have the capability to support in line, bump-in-the-wire configuration without disrupting network operations. With the help of the state full packet inspection, the NGFW procurators each file and network connection so that it can enable DPI and degrade the performance significantly. Therefore, an ideal NGFW will provide real time DPI.

Management- to achieve excellent cyber security and strong ROI, next gen firewalls need proven distributed management solutions. By implementing the intrusion prevention system, the management platform distributes the solution effectively. If the vendor lacks the cohesive distributed management platform, it complicates the management process and adds to the solution's total cost of ownership (TCO).

Reporting- the NGFW provide support for NetFlow/IPFix. These are two industry standards used for reporting on network traffic flows to external collectors that are typically meant for switches and routers. The NetFlow exports data such as IP address source and destination, source and destination ports, Layer 3 protocol type and class of service. Both the IP Fix and NetFlow version 9 can be extended to export traditional data off the network device including application data, user data and URL data.

By integrating the intrusion detection system and intrusion prevention system, the next generation firewall will help users and the companies to regain control and provide the best network security. Before finding the best NGFW make sure that it fulfils all your cyber security requirements to ensure that it performs effectively.

Why You May Want to Hide Your IP Why Having a Secure Wireless Network Is Important SSL Certificates Help You to Secure Yourself and Website to Prevent Holiday Hoaxes This Christmas How To Avoid Credit Card Fraud Software License - How to Avoid Future Hassles

How Dangerous Is Phishing?

Have you posted in an advertisement online recently? You may soon be a victim of Phishing scam.

The way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masking as a trustworthy entity through electric communications is known as Phishing. Social websites, online payment processor, auctions sites or IT administrators are commonly used to attract the innocent people.

Hundreds and thousands had spread the threats of the internet (phishing) dangerous websites, serving viruses, spyware, stealing passwords, credit card numbers, bank account data etc. Users are recommended to have an anti virus download for you to be secured against unsafe pages with Trojans, viruses, phishing, stealing passwords etc. With antivirus, each page you load in your browser will be checked in an internet anti-phishing database. Which can probably cause your internet speed to go slow, but it's quite worth to be safe.

Having an anti virus download in your browser will notify you whenever you accidentally visited a wrong page. Scammers had been able to duplicate pages with a high degree of accuracy with the intention of stealing user information. That's why users may sometimes think that it is the real website but it is definitely not, it is a scam. Those who fall for this scam will have their accounts compromise and they may never know it.

As technologies grow more in progress, the scammer's phishing techniques being used are also moving ahead. To prevent this internet phishing, one should have Antivirus download and should have the knowledge of different types of phishing techniques and be educated about anti-phishing techniques to protect you to be a victim of phishing. Here are some of the phishing techniques:

Email / Spam

Phishing with email and spam is a very frequent phishing scam. Majority of the messages have an insistent note which obliges the user to enter identification to update account information, verify accounts and change details.

Web Based Delivery

One of the most complicated techniques. Also known as "man-in-the-middle," the hacker is connecting the original website and the phishing system. The scammer traces details throughout the transaction among the legal website and the user. As the user keeps on passing information, it is assembled by the scammers, without the innocent user knowing about it.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is the process in which the user receives a message attached with a link leading them to a fake website, which definitely have the same look and seems as the valid website. If the user won't notice to look at the URL, it's really hard to tell the dissimilarity between the true and the fake one. Antivirus download would be beneficial to you as mentioned above.

Session Hacking

In this technique, the phisher utilizes the web session control mechanism to take information from the user. With their simple session hacking procedure known as session sniffing, in this situation, the phisher can use a sniffer to catch significant information so that they can access the Web server illegally.

Database Security - Multi-Level Access Security

Application software would fail to meet its objective if there is no controlled access to information in its database. Database is a repository of data. The information contained is not meant for the consumption of just anybody and should not be accessible by just any user. Those that are highly sensitive and confidential should be viewable and updatable only by trusted users deemed worthy of such privilege while those that are less confidential should be viewable and updatable by users deserving lower privilege. Thus, it is reasonable to grant users different levels of access to database information so that while some users can only view and search certain records, those with higher privilege can insert, update and delete records and even alter table structure. This situation is called multi-level access security. The result is giving different levels of authority to users over the records in the database for effective control, accountability and security enforcement purposes. This is achieved by granting users certain privileges based on available user groups.

On your stand-alone personal computer, you can afford to create only one user account for a user who will be the only one that will be capable of accessing the database with his username and password. However, in a multi-user system, it is a different ballgame. There are multiple users accessing the database and due to this, there must be some varying levels of restrictions among the authorized users to the database depending on the level of authority the user is entitled to. The responsibility to authorize use of Database Management System (DBMS) rests with the Database Administrator (DBA) staff or the Database Administrator who must set up individual user identifiers and create individual accounts in the process. Each user identifier is associated with a password that should be known only to the user and DBMS uses this information to authenticate the user. The administrator can also set up group identifiers and create user members for each group.

Authorization is the granting of a right or privilege which enables a user to have legitimate access to database objects. The privileges are granted by an SQL GRANT statement. Authentication is a mechanism that determines whether a user is, who he or she claims to be.

Privileges are the actions that a user is permitted to carry out on a given base relation (table) or view. Examples are:

ALL PRIVILEGES - user is allowed to do anything. USAGE - user is only allowed to log in. He cannot do any other thing. ALTER - user can modify existing tables structure and indexes. CREATE - user can create new databases and tables. DELETE - user can delete table entries. DROP - user is allowed to delete tables and/or databases. INDEX - user is allowed to create and/or delete indexes. INSERT - user can add new table entries. SELECT - user can view/search table entries. UPDATE - user is allowed to modify table entries.

Consider the following SQL statement:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON assets.* TO admin identified by "adminpass";

When the SQL is run, it would grant all privileges to a user created with username admin and adminpass password. The user will have all privileges on all the tables in the assets database. In this way, you can create an admin user group which will be for the database administrator(s). There is an omission of the KEYWORD WITH GRANT OPTION in the SQL statement. This prevents user admin from automatically passing all its special privileges on to other users when he (the administrator) is creating other user accounts. When the administrator connects to the DBMS with his username admin and password adminpass using a script also having an SQL statement like the following:

GRANT SELECT, UPDATE ON assets.* TO marketing identified by "mkt" WITH GRANT OPTION;

a user account marketing is created with username marketing and mkt password and with the capability of doing only 2 things on all tables in the assets database- select and update records. This is a way of creating another user group called marketing. There is the addition of the WITH GRANT OPTION clause. This enables the user group marketing to pass privileges SELECT and UPDATE on to other users like members of the marketing user group. The users receiving the privileges may in turn grant them still to other users. With the WITH GRANT OPTION clause omitted in SQL GRANT statement creating the admin account, the administrator can maintain tight control over who has permission to use the object and over what forms of access are allowed.

Creation of user accounts can be done manually by the administrator directly in the database or programmatically using a script that connects to the DBMS with his credentials and that runs SQL GRANT statement that contains variables that can hold new usernames and passwords passed to them. He can, for instance, add more users to the user group marketing by running such script or do it manually. The SQL GRANT statement will grant same privileges granted to the marketing user group.

All previously granted privileges to a user can be removed from the user by the use of the SQL REVOKE statement. For instance, the following statement:

REVOKE SELECT, UPDATE ON assets.* FROM marketing; strips user group marketing of its SELECT and UPDATE privileges.

Copyrights reserved.

6 Key Considerations For Printing Companies Implementing a Secure File Transfer Solution

The service that printing companies offer both consumers and businesses alike seems relatively straightforward on the surface - they take graphics files and print them. This is however, as you'd expect a very simplistic overview of the business processes that a printing company goes through to produce the final product.

The business process follows a certain pattern which is the same across most printing businesses. Someone requiring a brochure, business cards, magazine or some other document will make contact with the printer. The printer will provide a price for the job, generally created from within a Management Information System (MIS) and is assigned a job number. At this point the printer anticipates the receipt of a file from the customer, but how?

Many printers have in the past received files as email attachments. However, with the increasing problems caused by email attachment limits, no guarantee of delivery and frequent file corruption taking place, email is not suitable for this purpose. Many printers now happily use FTP for receiving files but these systems don't tend to be particularly user friendly. Perhaps more importantly they don't offer much in the way of integration capabilities, depending upon the solution and the way in which it's been deployed.

So, what are the key considerations for a printer when implementing a file transfer solution. Well there are a number of things to consider, these are;

1. Keep it simple

When implementing a solution it should cater for a wide range of customers with different technical abilities. Generally a web browser based system is considered better than FTP for user adoption, which also offers branding opportunities.

2. Flexibility is key

Whilst a web browser might work for some customers, FTP or email based delivery will work for others. A range of delivery protocols is a must for non-technical customers.

3. Make sure your customers data is secure

Customers may send commercially sensitive documents or depending upon the type of printer, financial documents, reports and accounts, credit card statements and more. Providing a secure file transfer solution is essential and consideration for the security of data whilst in transit and at rest after delivery should be taken into account.

4. Auditing & notification

Tracking and logging who sent what and when, is a necessity for printing companies. All too often, disputes can arise relating to when a file was sent in, or not, specifically if they have missed a print run or a deadline. A full audit trail negates any dispute and when coupled with automated email notifications and file manifests on receipt of files, the printer can rest assured that the outcome will be better relationships with their clients.

5. Automation using XML/JDF

The problem that many printing companies have with their existing FTP solutions is the lack of integration capabilities. Printing companies rely on automation to streamline operations in a marketplace where margins are slim. Providing XML/JDF Job Tickets and workflow forwarding to integrate with CTP workflows or MIS systems is more often than not a necessity, rather than a nice to have.

6. File sending

Once files have been received, often the printer needs to send a PDF proof, preflight report or the file back to the client for changes to be made. Therefore, a printers file transfer solution needs to provide a simple way to get the files back to customer with the minimum of fuss. Using embedded links within emails for a simple one-click download is considered the norm and if it can be integrated with the workflow to further automation, even better.

If a printer manages to tick all of the above boxes when implementing a file transfer solution, the technology in most cases will be deemed to be successful. Rather than proving to be the bottleneck to the business, which many cheap online services tend to be, the file transfer solution becomes an integral technology that assists them in providing a more streamlined and automated business workflow.

Are All VPN Services Created Equally?

What is a VPN

The concept of Virtual Private Networks, also known as VPNs has continued to drive modern business. And, with the technological expansion arises VPN services that are perfect for personal or individual use. However, the use of an organizational infrastructure that relies solely on the user's ability to access the system from remote locations has opened the proverbial flood-gates to uncensored Internet access that spans continents. There are security issues that must be considered, though, and because of the varying degrees found through VPN service providers, research should always be conducted before settling on the VPN service that will maintain your personal communications and protect sensitive information.

Important Elements

Exploring the VPN marketplace should be an extensive task, as individuals looking to utilize the technology will want to keep five key points in mind: speed, reliability, encryption, customer care, and of course cost. Any provider that lacks in one of these areas can leave you frustrated.

Simply hearing how fast a VPN can be means little in the grand scheme of things. Instead, inquire about any speed limitations and learn how the system will perform when being used in less-than-optimal conditions. Further, encryption quality is always important, as much of the information being delivered across the digital infrastructure is sensitive in nature and must be protected at all costs.

VPN Providers: Free vs. Paid

Free VPN providers have raised quite a few eyebrows since emerging in the marketplace and the competition that rages with paid VPN organizations continues to escalate. There are a few key points that users should be aware of, however. Free VPN providers still cost money to operate, which means that corners are generally cut through the use of advertisements, lacking customer care, and a digital network that is very crowded. Further, they may not protect your information, as it has incredible value - beware of how your information is being used or sold!

Paid VPN companies, on the other hand, are able to use the fees to provide a quality experience to each of their clients, ensuring that privacy policies are stringent and properly implemented and that speeds are always top-notch. Even more, customer service is usually top notch with paid VPN services. Eager technical engineers are ready to solve your every issue. Even if you are a non-technical user the customer support will guide you through any steps you might have to undertake to connect your VPN.

The Importance of Intrusion Detection System Software for Internet Security

Generally, a network security system provides security and fulfills the data requirements on one's system with features that exude a sense of reliability, usability, integrity and safety at the same time. Since online hackers develop stratagems to outwit firewall security networks on a regular basis, it directly influences large firms as they become vulnerable to such threats online. Firewall protection software is specially designed to obstruct any illicit access and security threat or to deny or decrypt any random harmful information that travels through different domains online.

The best thing about a firewall internet security system is that it creates a network address translation, which directly influences one's identity behind a private address and can be utilized by proxies. It helps in regulating and spreading effective traffic and thus people who can default their internet security probably aren't making the best use of their firewall security software.

A bit of modification or the advanced use of firewall security tools can make a whole lot of difference and can subsequently hinder common problems associated with computer systems that take place frequently if they are not equipped with a dynamic firewall protection system. In the meantime, proxy servers deal with connecting two computer networks separately. This role allows them to serve different functions to protect a private network as a whole.

Firewall intrusion system helps in minimizing the vulnerability of threats thus drastically minimizes risk factor on one's PC effectively. It protects precisely and doesn't override authorized outbound connections as it can report its creator anytime to process treats on system. Since there are varied choices to choose from firewall protection software one can considerably choose the one that certainly matches with your requirement. Firewall plays an import role it helps with the concept of communication between network devices and thus breaks it down to different precise small packets. These packets enclose original messages from originator of threats to recipients and thus firewall interprets threats effectively and read it authenticity to avoid problems later.

.On the whole, firewall protection safeguards one's system from illicit and unauthorized networks and thus is an essential part of one's PC. Be cautious when going online without the protection authorized firewall protection as working without it is simply asking for trouble. Firewall protection is necessary as vulnerability to Trojans and spyware may enable unauthorized access of your system and thus risking its security to the extreme. A failure to defend your computer may indicate a failure to protect your business identity, which may ultimately steer a person towards disaster.

VPN Networks and Security

On computer networks, information can be protected by encryption. Encryption means replacing the information with a scrambled string of nonsense. This nonsense can be turned back into the original information using the key shared by the two machines. This encryption is virtually unbreakable and, when it's used for business communications, it greatly increases the level of safety that the business enjoys. It's also great for personal communications. VPN services use encryption, among other methods, to keep information safe.

Under the Radar

A VPN is oftentimes described as providing a way for users to create a secure tunnel over a public network. This analogy is actually pretty accurate in terms of describing what's going on. The information exchanged over the VPN isn't visible to people on the Internet. This means that people on a VPN connection can reach their work resources, applications on a private computer and many other types of information without having to worry about their information being intercepted. There are plenty of uses for this technology, as you can imagine, but businesses are particularly heavy users.

Untraceable

The other form of security that VPN services provide is that of masking your IP address. Your IP address is the numerical address that servers use to send you the information you request. The VPN service routes you through a server that gives the websites you're visiting its IP address instead of yours. This prevents those websites from betting personal information from you and, of course, it makes it impossible for anyone snooping to say where you are.

Why This Matters for Security

There are plenty of ways that your IP address can be used against you. If someone with bad intentions knows that there's a business network set up at your IP address, they have a target. That target might be tested with a port scan, be the subject of DDoS attacks or have all kinds of other mayhem released upon it. Concealing your IP address is a very important way to protect your security online.

Having your data encrypted is also a big part of staying safe online. Until the computer revolution came around, it was impossible for everyday people to get the type of security that's provided by modern encryption. Today, you can get encryption levels from VPN providers that make it nearly impossible for anyone to see your information.

If you're interest in upping your levels of security when you're surfing, consider adding a VPN service to the tools that you use. It's a powerful, meaningful and effective way of increasing the level of security on your network and, for your employees or for you, it's an easy way to access the information on your servers from anywhere in the world without exposing them to attack. These services are remarkably affordable and, if you need to access information from remote locations, it's a great technological feature. Surfing for business or for pleasure is much safer when you have control over your personal information and how it appears to others online.

How Is Your Personal Data Protected Online - Technologies

There are plenty of people out there in the physical and online world's that would like to get their hands on your personal data. Some to improve their ability to market new products and services to you, but some, more worryingly to steal your identity in order to commit further crimes. Fortunately there are also plenty of technologies to help you stay secure and by taking a few simple steps you can massively reduce your chances of becoming a victim.

Internet Browsers All major browsers have built in security features which help to minimise the chances of your personal information being compromised. Whenever you supply sensitive information you should check that you are doing so on a secure connection and that the data is being encrypted to prevent anyone 'eavesdropping' and intercepting it. You will be able to tell if a page is secure because your browser will show the start of the address for the web page as "https" rather than just "http" (which tells you information will be encrypted) and there will be a full padlock symbol somewhere beside or in the address bar (signifying that the web server your information is being sent to is certified as belonging to the correct organisation). If the certificate that the web server has to provide is missing, invalid or (more commonly) out of date, your web browser will show you a warning and you should avoid supplying sensitive information in case it is actually being sent to another more dubious server.

Browsers also provide you with the ability to easily turn cookies on and off so if you wish to prevent websites from leaving them on your PC you can do so. There will be a setting which turns off all cookies but there will usually be a setting which allows you to specify which sites you do want to accept cookies from so that your favourite and trusted sites can still remember your preferences.

VPNs When it comes to transferring sensitive information, email should not be thought of as a secure medium. Even though more and more of the main email providers are making their services secure you never quite know what security is in place at the other end for your recipient. Another option, especially if you need to regularly communicate securely with a second location such as work, is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which in affect creates a secure tunnel across the internet from one machine to another. The information that is sent across is encrypted whilst each end of the tunnel will require authentication so that you know the information is secure in transit and only accessible at to the correct recipients. VPNs can be set up on any device so for example from a smartphone to a work computer.

WiFi The other vulnerability when it comes to people eavesdropping on your online activity is when you are connecting to the internet on a wireless network. On an unsecured network anyone can join the network and then hack onto you device (laptop, smartphone). However, wireless networks can be secured using a combination of encryption and a secure key or password. The most effective of these methods you should look out for use the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA & WPA2) protocols. Wireless networks can also be configured so that the id (MAC address) of each individual device must be specified by the network's administrator before you can access it.

Parental Controls If your children are likely to be using the internet it is always a good idea to educate them about the risks of sharing information or having it pinched. However, if you still have concerns there are plenty of parental control programs (Windows 7 has one built in) that will allow you to control which sites your children can access, what type of content they can see and even when they can be online (so that you can then supervise).

Anti-Virus All computers should have an anti-virus program installed (there are free ones available). Regular scans should be run to ensure that malware is less likely to end up on your computer and if it does, it is found, quarantined and deleted. Up to date anti-virus programs will identify any malware which is likely to access stored information on your PC or that is attempting to record your activity such as keystrokes in the hope of logging valuable information that you are supplying to other people.

Ultimately, as a user on the internet you need to be aware of the potential risks it may present from unwarranted marketing to identity theft. By being sensible with who you supply your information to and being up-to-speed with the latest tactics that cyber-criminals are employing you can still have a worry free online experience.

The Password Is Dead

Gawker, Sony, Zappos; the massive fallout from these and other data breaches involving weak password authentication schemes show that the current password system is dead. Let's face it - people simply can't remember a different complex password (consisting of eight or more letters, numbers and symbols) for each online account they have - especially when the average Internet user has more than 25 online accounts that require a password. Add to that the rapidly growing number of mobile applications that also require a password or PIN and people are quickly feeling overwhelmed. It's time we recognize that the current system is not sustainable or secure. New forms of authentication for websites and mobile applications must emerge.

Many organizations lay the burden of secure authentication at the feet of the users, telling them to simply choose harder passwords. Yet, users have proven time and time again that their nature is to choose weak passwords and use the same password for multiple online accounts. Rather than telling people to remember ever-more complicated passwords, online businesses need to completely move away from the archaic password practice and instead adopt advanced authentication technologies that are both more secure and easier for people to use.

The interconnected nature of the Web creates a domino effect whenever there is a large password breach like the ones at Gawker, Sony and Zappos. Knowing that people often use the same password on multiple accounts, fraudsters take the passwords leaked from Sony or Zappos and use them the try to access accounts on other websites, thereby harming security at a number of other, unrelated websites. This domino effect, coupled with the vast amount of sensitive information people shared and stored online means that the burden needs to shift from consumers to the online businesses themselves. Websites must start making strong authentication standards on their consumer-facing websites a priority.

Fortunately, strong online authentication is easier to achieve now than ever before. The availability of cloud-based authentication solutions make it easy for websites to employ technologies that generate one-time passcodes for each login, which can be used to replace traditional passwords completely or be added to the password to strengthen the security of the login if the user chose a weak password.

The widespread use of mobile phones and mobile applications now make it possible for websites to employ multi-factor authentication without using hardware tokens, smart cards or biometrics. Some online banks and other security-minded businesses have begun using SMS text messages to send authentication codes to users' phones or "soft token" applications on user's smartphones. The touchscreen capabilities of smartphones and tablets also make it possible to use pattern-based or image-based authentication, allowing users to simply tap a few pictures or draw a pattern on the touchscreen to authenticate. All of these methods are ways for organizations to provide users with easier yet more secure authentication.

Until more websites eliminate "dead" password schemes in favor of strong authentication methods that are easy for users, we'll continue to see poor password practices on the web, making it easy for hackers to take a data breach at one website and use the revealed credentials to compromise user accounts and commit fraud on a number of other websites.

WordPress - 4 Ways to Protect Your Site From Hackers

Building a website takes time and effort. You install the site, configure and write content to give your readers a rewarding experience. Unfortunately there are people out there who want to inflict maximum damage to your work and bring your site to a grinding halt. It could be a jealous rival or someone who has nothing better to do with their life.

It has been known for sites to become infected with Malware. Hackers will make changes to your website files by changing some of the code in files. For example they may enter a line which links to a malicious site.

So what can you do about this?

You need to have a recovery plan for when things go wrong. It will not happen to everyone, but these days it is an increasing occurrence. Generally hackers target the index.php file, but you should aim to protect all your files and data. Better safe than sorry.

1) Keep original copies of your content

When creating content use some kind of text editor. This could be notepad or your favourite Word processing package. Many people use Microsoft Word to type their content. Ensure you save each document with a good title so you can refer to it easily. If your website is hacked or damaged you still have backups of your content and can post it back onto the site. The same goes for any images you loaded up to the site. Ensure you have all images stored somewhere.

2) Backup your content

If you have all your content stored on your computer make a backup of it and store it on disc or on another backup drive.

3) Backup your site files.

If your WordPress installation has cpanel hosting then this is how to backup your site files.

First go to your cpanel.

Now click on File Manager

In the dropdown box select your domain

Click on the option "Select All" files

Now choose 'Compress'

Now check zip for file format and give your file a name

Finally click go

And that's all there is to it. You will now find that your files are backed up.

To restore your files simply

Go back into file manager

Now click on the zip file you created

Choose the 'Extract' option.

It will now overwrite all the files there and they are restored to their normal state.

4) Backup Your WordPress Database

Chances are your site will have a database, most WordPress sites do. The database is of extreme importance to WordPress and you will need to back this up also.

To back up the database do the following:

First go to your cpanel.

Now click on phpMyAdmin

Select the database you wish to back up

Now click on 'Export'

Finally click go

Make sure you save it to a folder for your site on your computer's hard disc

That's all there is to it.

The security of your website should be taken seriously, especially in this age of hacking. Take all possible steps to protect yourself so that your visitors can continue to benefit from your site content.

Save Your Online Identity With Great Computer Virus Protection

When we are working on our computers or surfing the internet, the most venomous fear that comes in our mind is the repeated attacks of the viruses on our computers. The aftermath of which is so deadly that sometimes we lose important documents, data and, never to forget, online identity. While we get annoyed with our work being interrupted by these viruses, they easily trap information and cause so many harms to us.

Therefore, if a user wants to stay protected and work uninterruptedly, the best way to get online protection is through virus removal software. A computer virus removal program is so designed to make you aware of the constant attacks of the viruses and to provide regular alerts regarding the same. The antivirus software installed scans your computer and your incoming and outgoing mails by detecting the viruses and, consequently, removing them completely from your computer.

But the most important question that arises in your mind before getting the antivirus download is about the quality and functionality of the antivirus software. Presented here are some of the amazing performances of the best virus removal software and other criteria required for overall protection of the computer:

1- The best known antivirus should be able to detect and scan all kinds of viruses including Trojans, malwares, spywares and many more. Some of the average antivirus can remove 80-90 % of viruses from your computer, but the ideal antivirus software can support you with overall protection by detecting and removing all kinds of viruses.

2- If you select the average antivirus for your computer, it will be unable to detect the spyware or cracker tools. The most effective antivirus is able to incorporate the antispyware within the antivirus program since the most affective of all the viruses are the spywares, and the best antispyware should be capable enough to trace them and remove them.

3- Most of the viruses can find their way through emails. Therefore, the antivirus product you will select must include an email scanner that can check all incoming and outgoing mails and is able to protect your vital information.

4- If you are a home user and want to spend less behind the regular protection of your computer, the best way to find is to ask for the best free antivirus which should be equally beneficial to you as the subscribed version of the antivirus software.

5- With the quality of the cloud antivirus, the best virus removal software should be able to work in a community and not disturb the normal performance of the computer. That means it should not slow down the functionality of the computer and should work compatibility with the existing antivirus installed in your computer.

Therefore, if you are a keen user of computers and want to stay shielded from harmful virus attacks, the best way to remain secured is by getting the most beneficiary antivirus download. You can find many online companies offering the superfine computer virus protection with the help of great services of the best antivirus software. Search them and you'll find them to be the most efficient and secured user for best online performance.

The Necessity of Network Risk Assessment

Electronic information systems and network security go hand-in-hand for businesses and organizations. Because these systems are commonplace for storing files and data, industry regulations have specific standards for them, including network security implementation and risk assessments. If appropriate controls are not put in place and assessments not conducted frequently enough, an intruder can enter your system to usurp data and possibly exploit it.

Network security, regardless of industry standards, encompasses all activities for protecting system data, including technical, physical, and social. Small and medium-sized businesses are particularly vulnerable to security threats, and to take precautions, such organizations need to conduct regular network risk assessments.

A network risk assessment involves penetration testing, social engineering, and vulnerability audits. Vulnerabilities, or weak points present along a system's perimeter and in the interior, allow intruders to enter, and a network engineer identifies and tests these points for their strength. In assessing your network, the engineer may interview employees to test judgment, perform vulnerability scans, examine operating system settings, use ethical hacking techniques, and analyze past system attacks. As he or she examines these aspects of your network, the following information is gathered:

• How security policies are used and implemented • Access control lists and their location • Audit logs and their review • Passwords and how easy they are to retrieve • Security settings • Compliance with industry best practices, such as HIPAA or FFIEC • Unnecessary applications and their removal • Operating systems, including consistency and being up to current levels • Backups, such as how all information is stored, if it is up to date, and how easy information is to access • A disaster recovery plan, if one is in place • Sufficiency and configuration of cryptographic tools for data encryption • Any custom-built applications and if they correspond with network security policies • Documentation and review of configuration and code changes • Review of past security breaches

After a network risk assessment addresses all aspects, a report is produced by the engineer. The report lists all vulnerabilities found along the perimeter and inside the network and provides solutions for mitigating the possible risks of each. While network risks are never eliminated, they can be reduced to make intrusion and stealing data far more difficult for an outside party.

Regular network risk assessments are recommended. However, the degree in which they are needed depends upon the frequency of network and security updates. Ideally, a network risk assessment should be performed whenever these structures are modified or upgraded.

Penetration Testing - A Must for Website Security

Penetration testing is the active analysis of the system, its network and the entire website for both known and unknown vulnerabilities arising out of inaccurate system configurations, hardware or software defects, inactivity of automatic updates and other flaws while processing and actively evaluating your information security measures. It's a form of testing by means of which a mock hacking activity takes place and malicious codes are entered by the tester in order to ascertain areas that are more susceptible to such attacks and those that are secure enough. A periodic report is prepared and forwarded to the admin along with full analysis report and technical solutions. The testing procedures therefore involve methods implemented as it would have been done by the potential hacker with active utilization of security vulnerabilities and accessing business losses that can take place in cases where security breach takes place.

User interfaces, network interfaces, APIs and in places where possible input values are entered becomes vulnerable especially when they have a poor design or are implemented incorrectly. Penetration testing is then conducted and inputs under possible threats are identified and interfaces are documented accordingly. Often error messages and unwanted dialog boxes appear that pose a probable threats that transfer information from the software to external sources for hacking to take place. In such a scenario it becomes a necessity to assess sources that make this possible and remove it from its root.

Penetration testing helps in the formulation of information security strategy that involves identifying vulnerabilities and measuring the possible impact and making possible error resolution plans that can be implemented along with budget assessments. It curbs organizational failures caused due to security breach. Disaster scenarios are also prepared that help in judging the effect that a possible hacking can make in the system and network security zone by the help of prior attacks that happened earlier if any or willingly injecting some of the malicious codes to the system, analyzing the effects, creating the scenario and finding solutions to come out of the server or network security threat.

Penetration testing procedures prevents financial losses through lost revenue and data due to unethical processes such as hacking penetration testing help in building good relationship with the clients by regular assessment for vulnerable threats on their website, server and network security as any possible hacking might prove dangerous and may result in losing business, payment of heavy fines, bad online reputation leading to gradual closing. Penetration testing is something that needs to be conducted quite often to secure a website and enabling smooth function so as to generate profits and utmost customer satisfaction.

Is Online Backup the Most Efficient Way to Protect Your Files?

As the digital age progresses, we become more and more reliant on computer systems to store important and valuable files. Whether it's your record collection saved onto your desktop in the form of MP3s, or a large corporation storing vital business information on their servers, the digital format has become the preferred method for housing files and data. The days of visiting dusty old storage rooms with creaky filing cabinets and colour coded systems is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Any modern business professional will understand the importance of keeping company data, financial records, and administrative materials safe. Whilst storing information on computers instead of as physical files, which are susceptible to all manner of potential dangers - fires, flooding, theft, and other such disasters - is safer method of storage, it is not without its own risks. Computer hardware is also prone to damage and failure. Computers also crash, and this can happen at the most inopportune moments - when this happens, important data can be irretrievably lost. It goes without saying that this can be very detrimental to the running of a business, and can have a damaging effect on one's credibility and future profit. With this in mind, businesses large and small understand the importance of backing up crucial data, to safeguard against such unfortunate eventualities.

Not backing up company computer systems opens the door to liabilities and huge losses in revenue and reputation. There are several solutions available to businesses for data protection. Files can be backed up physically on CDs, DVDs, tapes, flash drives or external hard drives, and stored securely at a different location. The downside to these options is that they can be very time consuming to set up, taking up to several months to arrange. It can also prove to be rather expensive and can require thousands of pounds in hardware costs.

More recently, an alternative solution has become available in the form of online backup. Utilizing "cloud computing", a company's entire database of servers and files can be backed up via the internet and stored securely. A backup client is installed on each server or computer that requires protecting. The specific data which needs backing up is then selected and the data is backed up using an encrypted connection over the Internet to storage located in our datacentres. Files are then replicated between datacentres to ensure there is no risk of data loss.

Online backup has several advantages over more traditional methods such as CDs and external hard drives. For starters, it is far more cost-effective to the customer, as no purchasing of hardware is necessary. This is especially good news for small businesses that may not be able to afford expensive backup equipment. It is also much quicker to set up, and once online backup is in place, computers and servers can be scheduled for automatic backups as frequently as required. This tool detects both new files and any changes to existing files and automatically backs up the information as you go along. And online backup often employs the highest security standards, protecting files and data with military-grade encryption before moving them offsite, and ensuring that sensitive company data remains private. Should a disaster occur at the business site, the data from the backup computers or server can be restored almost instantly and transferred to a different machine.

Weighing up all the information, it is clear to see that online backup is a superior solution to data protection compared to physical file storage. It is far more economical and efficient, and should an onsite disaster occur, it allows the business to get up and running again much more quickly. The digital solution is the way forward for secure data storage, and any business, large or small, would be well advised to switch over to the online backup revolution.

Identification of DDoS Attacks, Symptoms and Possible Solutions to Prevent Them

A Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) occurs when many systems flood the bandwidth of a system. Web servers that host elite websites and mail servers are the most common victims of this kind of attack. These attacks obstruct users from accessing the victim website. The customer who tries to access a website under attack is likely to face a website that apparently seems forever to load. This can severely deteriorate the image of the company whose web site is under attack. It can turn away potential customers and is likely to create a negative word of mouth. This can seriously damage company revenue and result in loss of valuable customers. To overcome the malicious effects of these attacks, security professionals have come up with an anti-DDoS solution to protect the online environment and eventually protect businesses.

What exactly is this Attack? This attack targets few websites at the same time and injects huge numbers of commands on the target servers where the website resides. The sudden rush of commands at the same time obstructs the computer from performing normally and breaks the communication between the user and the website (victim of the attack). Every time an attack is attempted, each system on the network receives the effects of the attack.

What are the Symptoms of This Attack? Various symptoms can help you identify the attack. Some of them are as follows: 1. One sign of this attack is the slow performance of your computer and network. This implies that whenever you try to open up a file or website, it take longer than usual. 2. In addition, at times, this attack makes it difficult for you to access certain websites, and sometimes prevents you from accessing them at all. 3. Another possible sign for this attack is an increased amount of spam emails. 4. These attacks can also slowdown the entire network in a certain geographical area.

What are the Solutions? Several anti-DDoS solutions are available to protect your network from these attacks. Some are as follows: 1. Intrusion Prevention System is a great tool to stop these attacks if they have a particular sign attached to them. The IPS can locate and deny the attacks automatically. 2. Rate based intrusion prevention system regulates and monitors the traffic on the network and website. It identifies the attack and blocks it. It filters the attack content and only allows actual useful traffic to pass through.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

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