GH-Solutions (Security)

Security.

Internet Security

If you're among the growing population of small office/home office users who have "Broadband" Internet service, you are enjoying a level of Internet access that, only a few years ago, was only available to large corporations at a cost of thousands of pounds per month. But a high speed connection to the information highway does not necessarily mean smooth sailing for Web surfers. Some of the problems you'll encounter will be mere annoyances. You may discover that performance is more uneven than before because, while your Net connection is now fast, the connections of many of the websites you access are still often congested or slow enough to cut your browsing speed. But the most serious of threats, one that ISPs and cable companies rarely acknowledge, is that of security breaches.

High speed, "Always On", connections also allow unwanted intruders to get in and out faster and use more sophisticated methods of attack. The high speed connection itself makes you a more tempting target. Even if the attacker isn't human, that is, if it's a Trojan horse or worm, it can do far more damage to you and others when it exploits a broadband connection to spread itself.

Viruses & Threats

Click Here to check for the Latest Viruses or Security

Securing your PC.

Protecting Your Data
One aspect of having broadband is that you need to take more care of the security aspects of being always connected to the Internet with a high bandwidth connection. Hackers can potentially gain access to your office without your knowledge, and then either access or destroy data on computers on the network.

The good news, is that there are many things that you can do to protect your network from this kind of abuse.

Anti-Virus Protection
By far the most common form of attacks are viruses. These are most often spread by email, sometimes without the knowledge of the person whose machine sent you a virus. There are two main forms of virus-protection options..

External Anti-Virus Filters
With this option, all email incoming to your company is redirected via a third party company who will check the email (and any enclosures) for viruses and remove them before they get to your network. This service typically costs a few pounds per user on the network.

PC or Server based Anti-Virus Filters
You can alternatively install anti-virus software on the your PC or server on your network as well as the other individual computers on the network.

When the software detects a virus, it will either remove the virus if possible, or quarantine the file so that the virus cannot infect your network. Be sure to purchase software that updated itself automatically over the Internet so that any new viruses that are discovered are caught by the software.

Direct Attacks
Some attacks will try to target known vulnerabilities on computers on your network. There are 2 complementary ways to reduce the vulnerability of your network.

Firewall
You must install some form of firewall. Firewalls vary in cost and the security that they provide, but a standard configuration provides a "De-militarised Zone" where servers such as your company webserver (which needs to allow incoming access) sits, as well as a private network with very restricted access where your office or home computers sit.

A firewall need not be expensive, an old PC can be configured to provide a firewall with free software. This will require some knowledge to setup, but will be quite adequate for a small company.

The other option is to install Firewall software on your PC. This can be a product purchased such as Norton Firewall or a Freeware software product such a Zone Alarm.

Security
All good virus protection software now has the option to update itself automatically. With a high bandwdith always-on connection, you can set this up and never be out of date with the latest anit-virus software.

Software updates
Most Computer software manufacturers, provide updates to your software on their website. Some of these, including Microsoft provide an automatic update facility, so that your PC will periodically check for updates (particularly security issues) and download them automatically to your PC for installation. The updates are often large.

A Broadband connection makes it easy to get these when your PC isn't otherwise busy and with a flat-rate charging, you don't need to worry about the bills.