Computer Security Programs - Bad Security Symptoms and Causes

As you probably know, the majority of computer security programs out there rely on regular virus definition updates to detect known Spyware and Malware. What if your computer is infected by a brand new, unknown Trojan or virus? Your existing computer security program will not stand a chance of stopping it as the threat is unknown to the program.

That is why we need innovative, pro-active solutions in order to counter the ever-present threat of new Malware infections. Malware meaning viruses, Trojans, Spyware or Phishing techniques. The dangers posed by Spyware, Trojans and Phishing are very real and omni-present in this global online world.

Trojans and Worms attacking consumer PC's are a real problem these days. Most of these PC's are running an antivirus program or internet security suite. So how did they get infected? Suffice to say that it is mostly the user himself who is responsible for the infection.

Some common causes

• Downloading from P2P networks
• Visiting and downloading from adult sites
• Clicking on an e-mail link from somebody unknown
• Downloading illegal software
• Not using common sense

Some of the most common symptoms

• Annoying pop-ups
• Windows Regedit and Taskmanager disabled
• Hijacked wallpaper
• No or intermittent internet connection
• Slow PC

There is no way in the world that any one security program is going to protect you if you engage in this kind of activity. Common sense really goes half way in protecting you from Malware on your PC. When it is freezing cold out there, you also don't go walking around in just a T-shirt and shorts and be amazed you got a cold the next day.

However, fraud on the internet has undergone a rapid evolution and is very real. Even the most careful surfer should not go online with at least an antivirus program and preferably also an anti-malware program in place. It is not because you are a safe surfer that you won't get infected. The worst and most sophisticated infections don't display any of the symptoms above. They just sit quietly in the background, leaving the user unaware that he or she is in great danger of identity theft while online.

It could be a highly advanced keylogger, recording every keystroke you make or taking pictures of your PC's screen and sending it to an attacker over the internet. Wouldn't you like to be able to scan your PC for such threats and have them removed? Even if your PC got infected, wouldn't you like a program which would prevent the keylogger from uploading your precious data to the cyber-criminal?

Hardware mechanisms that protect computers and data

Hardware based or assisted computer security offers an alternative to software-only computer security. Devices such as dongles may be considered more secure due to the physical access required in order to be compromised.

While many software based security solutions encrypt the data to prevent data from being stolen, a malicious program or a hacker may corrupt the data in order to make it unrecoverable or unusable. Similarly, encrypted operating systems can be corrupted by a malicious program or a hacker, making the system unusable. Hardware-based security solutions can prevent read and write access to data and hence offers very strong protection against tampering and anauthorized access.[citation needed]

Working of hardware based security: A hardware device allows a user to login, logout and to set different privilege levels by doing manual actions. The device uses biometric technology to prevent malicious users from logging in, logging out, and changing privilege levels. The current state of a user of the device is read both by a computer and controllers in peripheral devices such as hard disks.

Illegal access by a malicious user or a malicious program is interrupted based on the current state of a user by harddisk and DVD controllers making illegal access to data impossible. Hardware based access control is more secure than logging in and logging out using operating systems as operating systems are vulnerable to malicious attacks. Since software cannot manipulate the user privilege levels, it is impossible for a hacker or a malicious program to gain access to secure data protected by hardware or perform unauthorized privileged operations.

The hardware protects the operating system image and file system privileges from being tampered. Therefore, a completely secure system can be created using a combination of hardware based security and secure system administration policies.

Security Computer Programs - Why Security is Crucial

One thing everybody should be aware of in thinking about security computer programs is how the Internet and its technologies work. This will give you a means of using the Internet more safely and responsibly.

Human nature, being what it is, is heavily reliant on trust. The Internet was built on trust. Connecting computers in the 1960's was a very straightforward thing, relying on everybody playing by the rules. A lot has changed since those days. The way we use computers has changed and a lot more people have access to a computer. The Internet has literally exploded since the days that just a few researchers tried to connect their very slow PC's together.

Let's make a comparison. When you receive a landmail, most letters contain a sender's address. Did you ever stop and wonder if these addresses are really valid. How would you go about finding out if the return address was valid? Most people wouldn't bother, I think.

Here comes the - now so popular - email message, how are you to know where it comes from? An intruder can easily fake the return address, which is called spoofing. Not only can email messages be forged, the information packets that contain data and get sent all over the Internet are susceptible to forgery as well.

What does this mean for you and why should you be concerned? Think about it. It means that you should never unconditionally open an email from which you do not know the sender. You should never trust any information from an unknown source. Paranoia big destroyer, like the Kinks worded it in one of their songs. Better to be safe than sorry while using the Internet.

If you click on a link in an email message that turns out to have some harmful virus or Trojan attached to it, you are not only putting yourself at risk, but possible also all the people in your address book. That is a serious responsibility and that is also why you should care about your computer's security.

There is no need for paranoia, but being a bit critical and cautious will surely not do any harm while using the Internet.

Computer Program Security

Not everyone wants or needs to run a full blown internet security suite. As a bare minimum, however, you should be running an antivirus software

Every computer with access to the internet is vulnerable to attack by cyber-criminals. These intruders are interested in what you have stored on your computer like credit card numbers, bank account details, passwords and so on. By stealing this information they can either use this information themselves or sell it to other criminals.

This is only one part of the picture. The other being that some of these attackers are just interested in using your PC as a means to attack other computers. This way if an attack gets traced, your computer will be the culprit. A lot of spammers work this way.

With the majority of home users using always on, fast cable or DSL connections attacks have been on the increase. It is much easier for a cyber-criminal to target a home user than a corporate network. Corporate networks are usually highly secured while the average home user is not.

Computer program security should be a priority to all of us surfing the internet. A lot of people neglect to pay attention to their computer's security while online. This not only puts themselves but also other people in danger. And the results may come to haunt you.

Maybe you clicked on an email attachment or a link in a webpage containing malicious code. Once you are infected, the spyware program might start to download extra malware to take over your computer. If you are lucky you will see the signs of an infection. The malware will often advertise itself by incessant pop-ups, changing your desktop wallpaper or urging you to download an antivirus program to disinfect your PC.

These are the most common type of infections which are easily detected. You could try to cleanup your PC by scanning it with the appropriate antivirus or antispyware software. If you want to be a 100% sure you got rid of these malicious programs you better format your harddisk and reinstall the operating system.

The most dangerous spyware however is the kind that doesn't announce its presence and quietly sits in the background preying on any information it can capture. It is therefore advisable to scan your PC regularly, but this is a routine most home users do not apply.

You would ideally have a program in place that protects your data, even when you are infected.

Fortunately, these kind of programs do exist. Have a look at http://pcuserinfo.com/reviews/sentrybay-personal-data-protection/ to take your computer program security into you own hands.

Computer Security Products - What Product Do I Need?

Even if you are new to computers and the internet, you have probably heard that you should at least have an antivirus or internet security suite in in place while surfing the internet. Does it stop there, do you need extra computer security products?

That depends on how much you value your online safety and security. The purpose of antivirus programs is to protect your home computer against a virus infection in the first place. Protection against malware and spyware comes as an added bonus. This is just one part of computer security.

There are new cyber pests being developed every hour, so you better get an anitivirus with a built-in proactive defense mechanism. Proactive meaning that the program can defend itself against viruses that are not in its virus database yet.

Malware comes in different forms and flavors such as Trojans which usually contain spyware or even worms. The definition of these terms is beyond the scope of this article, but let it be suffice to say that you do not want any of these pests on your computer.

As mentioned before, most, if not all anivirus programs also provide some sort of malware protection.

It is however advisable to have a dedicated antispyware program running in combination with your antivirus software. If one cyber-pest tries to get through your protection it will at least have two programs to deal with.

The final -and most complicated- computer security defense product every consumer should have in place is a firewall. The complexities in configuring a firewall are even difficult to understand for IT professionals, unless he or she is a network administrator of course.

I would not recommend software firewalls to the average user. These kind of firewalls traditionally are a part of internet security suites. Some of them constantly ask you if you want to allow this or that program to access the internet. Deny access to the wrong program just once and before you know it you won't be able to access the internet yourself. The reason being that you locked yourself out because of on an incorrect firewall configuration.

Just use a hardware firewall like a router which comes with the basic security settings already configured. Just having an out of the box router is a much better protection than a software firewall.

There is however one more piece of extra software to strengthen your computers security, visit http://pcuserinfo.com/reviews/sentrybay-personal-data-protection/ where you can find out how to protect yourself against online security fraud.