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Why
Care About Security ?
Accessing
information today has become so easy you just have to key in your key phrase
into a popular search engine and hit the “enter” key. On the flip side, accessing information
one is not supposed to access is also well within means of the typical
whiz-kid on the next block. Yes, it has become remarkably easy to gain
unauthorized access to information in an insecure home computer or an
insecure commercial networked environment. Seemingly
innocuous information can expose a computer system to compromise. Generally,
information that intruders find useful includes what hardware and software is
being used, system configuration, type of network connections, phone numbers,
and access and authentication procedures. This Security-related information
can enable unauthorized individuals to get access to important files and
programs, thus compromising the security of the system. Important information
includes passwords, access control files and keys, personnel information, and
encryption algorithms. It is known that
intruders often use highly deceptive means to block sources(s) of access,
hence It becomes practically hard to locate and catch them. Even if you
should think you have nothing stored on your computer, which you consider
important, your computer can still be a "weak link", allowing
unauthorized access to your personal or your corporate network and
information. The most alarming fact is that your insecure computer could even
be used to participate in a DOS (Denial Of Service) Attack using the
Internet, that is your computer may be used and made to simultaneously
participate along with a thousand others to attack a more larger, prominent
target computer system or network. All this takes place in the background and
you may be oblivious to the whole event. Sounds frightening, isn’t it? But
the reality is it’s very true! Recent data and
the computer abuse reported in the media indicates no one on the Internet is
immune. The consequences
of a break-in cover a broad range of possibilities which are loss of time,
money & resources in recovering from the problem, a decrease in
productivity, significant financial loss, a devastating loss of credibility
or market opportunity, loss of copyright data, or business no longer able to
compete, legal liability and under extreme cases even loss of life. Whether Home,
Personal or at a Corporate level a compromised computer or network could
leave the doors wide open to intrusions and put your personal data or your
Business at an even bigger Risk. If you thought you
didn’t need protection THINK AGAIN! Why Installing a Software
Firewall on a computer makes absolute sense
There is a way one could
considerably diminish the intrusion risk. It is by implementing atleast some
minimum security and that is by installing a software Firewall. The primary
role of the Firewall is to act much like a sentry or guard. It looks at
network traffic destined for or received from another computer. The firewall
determines if that traffic should continue on to its destination or be
stopped. The firewall “guard” is important because it keeps the unwanted out
and permits only appropriate traffic to enter and leave the computer. Hence
unauthorized intrusions are prevented. Generally with a firewall, you get to
control or program it’s rules to exactly decide what is allowed to enter your
computer and what is allowed to leave. Importantly a good firewall will
restrict unauthorized intrusions make it invisible to hackers and deny your computer
being a safe haven for a malicious intruder. That is why installing a Good
Software Firewall is worth the one time price you could be paying. A good easy to use software firewall, which we recommend is
the popular Zone Alarm (from Zone Labs) and is available free for personal
use only, it can be downloaded here For Business use you can download a more advanced solution,
ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall at a special discounted price available here IT’S BETTER TO BE
SAFE THAN SORRY !!! |
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