Computer and Internet Security

Security, as I understand it, is all about preventively protecting yourself against data loss and intrusion.

Causes of data-loss
You may loose data (information/files/programs) stored on your computer for a couple of reasons:

• You accidentally delete files
• Your hard-drive fails
• You get infected by a virus
• Your computer is broken in to by a malignant individual (commonly but falsely termed "hacker").

There is a simple way to protect yourself against data loss due to any reason: Regular Back-ups! I consider it almost criminal that computers are sold without a back-up system that matches the capacity of your hard-drive and performs automatic back-ups. Have a look at my experience about not having a back-up in place at one time, when using a new computer here (opens in a separate window).

You can get reasonably priced, easy to use backup systems. They will potentially spare you big headaches. Read Back-ups to find out more.

Safeguards
Back-ups should only be (they are in case of a hard-drive failure) your last resort. A sound security procedure includes

• Password Protection
• Back-ups
• Software Updates
• Anti-Virus protection
• Intrusion Protection

With the exception of "Intrusion Protection", you should have all of these in place even on a stand-alone computer or local area network without internet connection. Once you are connected to the Internet, I consider it mandatory to use all of the safeguards.

The good news
To be protected is neither difficult nor expensive.

Password protection is already built into your operating system. You should have a decent one (Windows NT/2000, UNIX, LINUX, etc.) for this protection to be effective. See my notes on Privacy.

Back-up systems matching today's hard-drive capacities are around $530 (CDN) for a single computer.

Software Updates are free of charge (most of the time).

Anti-virus protection costs about $70 (CDN) for a single computer. Corporate solutions start at about $35 (CDN) per machine.

Intrusion-protection, at the moment, comes free of charge for private users. A big part comes free of charge for businesses as well. Software firewalls start as low as $39 (US).

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