Security in the Information Age

Some people warn about "danger" on the web. Many of the "danger" claims are exaggerated and create unnecessary fear. However, there are a few risks and remedies that people should know.

People interested in internet security and privacy should know about "encryption." A good encryption program will keep files private. The CRYP program provides strong encryption and is available for a free trial. You can return to the CRYP home page by clicking here.

People should also be familiar with other security issues: viruses and virus protection, and Trojan programs. These topics will be discussed briefly here.

Viruses: detection, removal, and prevention

Sadly, there are numerous computer viruses. The best way to make sure that you never fall victim to a computer virus is to obtain and install a full-featured anti-virus program. It is highly recommended that every computer user have a good anti-virus program installed on their computer.

Guarding Against Trojan Programs

Trojans are programs which perform an unauthorized (and sometimes destructive) act on your computer. A trojan program will probably not be detected by the available virus scanning software. Trojan programs do not necessarily cause damage to data. However, they are usually programs that you do not want on your system. A Trojan might try to capture and transmit a password. A Trojan program could, for example, contain an instruction to send various information to a URL "in the background." There are some intelligent yet rogue programmers who are always thinking of new ways of capturing or altering data. You would never want a Trojan to do any of the following things:

• format hard disks;
• write in system areas of a disk;
• change protected files or the FAT;
• write in sectors and partitions that are declared read-only;
• access hard disks
• access the hard disk controller via its IO ports

The good news is that it's extremely unlikely that a reputable company would make destructive code available to its customers. It's also unlikely that someone you know would send you a trojan via email or diskette because you would be able to get back to this individual. These factors limit (but don't eliminate) the threat posed by trojan programs.

Remedies against getting a Trojan program

• Do not accept programs from USENET news group postings
• Consider using a data integrity program
• Consider using a terminate and stay resident (TSR) program that detects writes to protected areas of the disk
• Do not accept software via email unless you know the sender and you have requested the software

Conclusion

Your goal should be to reduce your security risks by using the suggestions and remedies presented here. Some malicious code exists in the real world (e.g. viruses, and trojans) but you can reduce the risk by following a few recommendations. For privacy and encryption, the CRYP program is recommended. For virus protection, a full-featured virus program is recommended. To guard against a Trojan program, it is recommended that you not download any programs from USENET news groups.