When your connecting to the Internet you must realise that are certain security issues. The main one people think of is hackers. There are three main ways a hacker can launch an attack against your system,

Internal Intrusions - usually the most hurtful, this where an employee of a company or friend or family member accesses the company network or personal computer to cause damage. This can only be stopped by physical measures and not by computer software.

External Intrusions - this where a hackers tries to attack and access computers over the Internet and this can be stopped by installing security software such as a Firewall.

Social Intrusions - this is where hackers pose as things such as system administrators asking for your password. No computer software can stop a hacker armed with accurate stolen information.

Therefore we will concentreate on external instrusions. The problem with the Internet is that the orignal designers didn't consider user privacy and data. Home computers can hold such things as credit card numbers, account numbers, business contacts, and other confidential information for online commerce, banking, or stock trading.

Even if your system does not hold your credit card number, a hacker can use your computer to obtain this information from others. Furthermore, home computers are easy targets. Therefore it is a good idea to implement software to protect yourself. The best way to protect yourself from unauthorized access is by installing a firewall on your PC.

For hackers to break into your system, they must first locate your computer and this is where a Firewall works. A good Firewall package will analyze each individual packet received or sent from your computer and detect and identify attacks by hackers. Some Firewall packages may also collect information about the hacker, such as the attacker’s IP, DNS and MAC addresses.

You can find a wide variety of good Firewall packages from companies such as Symantec Norton or McAfee, they also make virus scanners as well.

Latest Questions

• Someone is attempting to scan the ports on my computer

  • Question - I am receiving, on almost a daily basis, a message stating, that someone is attempting to scan the ports on my computer.
    
    (Attacker address - 217.**.***.31) Modem.

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    Answers - When you’re connected to the Internet, there is some level of exposure inherent to online connection. What is visible is your ports and your IP address. Ports are how information transfers between your computer and the Internet. A ill-intentioned individuals can scan your ports and if some ports are open, they can use those ports to exploit your computer. The best way to protect your computer is by using a firewall which aims to block these exploits and make it hard for individuals to scan your ports. You can also use programs such as IP Lookup to find the owner of an IP block