As prices for high-speed Internet access continue to fall and digital photography interest continues to rise, many people are getting high-speed Internet access, either DSL from the phone company or a cable modem. If you have either of these and don't have a firewall, you're asking for real trouble. (This applies to Mac users too.)
A firewall is a piece of software or hardware designed to control access between your computer and the rest of the Internet. Because the nature of high-speed services is that they are always on, your computer is always exposed to the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a unique numerically address. Yours is assigned automatically when you connect to your high-speed provider. Miscreants use automated tools to scan address ranges looking for open computers. "Humm, tonight, I'll attack Bell South users." Recently my work computers have had intrusion attempts from Korea, Eastern Europe, and Turkey.
A firewall acts like one-way glass, letting your computer see out, but other computers can't see in. If you've set up a home network, you probably have a router with a built-in (hardware) firewall, and you're probably in pretty good shape. If your computer is connected directly to the wall with DSL, or to a cable modem, you need a software firewall on your PC. A friend of mine had Bell South DSL. Their service tech installed it and got it working. But in an act of gross irresponsibility to their customers, Bell South doesn't install a firewall with their software or mention it. By the time I got there two weeks later, she had over 900 spyware files on her PC. Note that an anti-virus only product does not protect you against these.
Spyware is malicious programs that install on your machine and run. They range from the merely annoying (lots of pop-ups) to the seriously dangerous type that log your keystrokes as you type your password to your on-line banking site.
Spyware ends up on your PC in a variety of ways. Sometimes you give permission to install it without realizing it. Some "free" tools include spyware as part of the package. To get the cool free thing you also have to take the spyware. Thanks Gator! (you bastard) This is usually disclosed in such a way that only a lawyer with an electrical engineering degree would understand. And no one actually reads those license agreement you have to agree to. Other (the more malicious types) install themselves by exploiting holes in the operating system's security. And yes, even Mac and Linux users are vulnerable.
What can you do? You need security software. In fact you need three things: Anti-Virus software; a firewall; and spyware protection. The price ranges from free to under $100. Which is, well, free to worth-it. Here are the options:
- Get a suite from your Internet provider. Suites include at least anti-virus and a firewall. Charter, my cable company, offers a suite free to customers with their highest speed offering, and at a cost for the cheaper services. Bell South makes you pay extra no matter what service you have. $83.88 a year. Plus tax! Yikes! Suites from your Internet provider are a great deal if they're free or you need simplicity and phone help. They do offer pretty good support installing the software.
- Buy a suite. Norton Internet Security contains a full suite of products for $69.99. www.symantec.com. McAfee's product is $59.99. www.mcafee.com F-Secure is a Finnish company that makes an excellent product for $59.99. www.f-secure.com. Finally, consider GriSoft's AVG product. The company is in the Czech Republic but has good English email support. www.grisoft.com $48.95 for two years. (Other product require annual renewals.)
- Go free. It takes a bit more work and a bit more savvy, but free products are available. First, Windows XP includes a software firewall. If you have nothing else, turn this on. It's ok, but I recommend a more robust product. For a free firewall, try Zone Alarm, www.zonealarm.com. For free anti-virus, try GriSoft's AVG Free Edition. For free anti-spyware tools, try LavaSoft's Ad-Aware, www.lavasoft.com, AND SpyBot Search-and-destroy, (www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html) AND Microsoft's Defender beta (www.microsoft.com). They're free, and none are perfect, so use all three. Most of these companies also sell a commercial product, so you might have to do a little digging on their sites to get to the free product.
Finally, test your vulnerability. There are excellent free tools at
www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm
and
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
These are both safe and very helpful. They are also seriously geeky. You can pretty much ignore the geeky stuff and take the default settings. I implore you not to do nothing.
