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Archive for December, 2009

Digital Cyber Warfare

December 31st, 2009

Cyber Warfare

Recent media reports suggest that there has been an increase in Cyber warfare or electronic assaults from hostile governments as well as drug lords. The reality is that many developing nations are vulnerable and cannot protect themselves and their infrastructures such as stock markets, communication and transport systems against such attacks.

Furthermore, with all these growing threats there is a need for nations to come together and sign a legally binding digital asset treaty. A treaty such as this would make it an offence for a hostile government to use cyber attacks or electronic espionage against another country. In November 2001 UK, the European Union States, Canada, Japan and the United States signed what is known as the Council of Europe Agreement on digital crime activities. The significance outcome of this agreement is cross border investigation of cybercrime between these nations. This makes it easier for law enforcement agencies of these nations to cooperate on extradition requests for offenses against one country committed from within another country. In addition, these countries went further to adopt common ground on criminal laws such as hacking, forgery, digital related fraud, unauthorised access to computer systems, infringements of copyright and child pornography.

The agreement stopped short of including developing countries such as the G20, however the UN should take a lead in enacting a digital asset treaty that will cover offenses such as fraud, unauthorised computer access, child pornography, data privacy and copyright. Although, computer crime is truly international, differing Acts in different jurisdictions inhibits prosecution of international digital crime.

For more information please visit our network security website at http://www.honeyjet.co.uk/. There we have an extensive selection of network security articles, tools and network security solutions.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/digital-cyber-warfare-1641474.html

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Get In Touch With Norton Antivirus

December 31st, 2009

While buying a new computer we get a CD that helps us to automatically install a program known as Norton Antivirus. It is a security software that keeps your computer safe from viruses, spywares and other malwares that can almost damage your computer. There are many people veteran in this field may suggest you security software that are better than Norton Antivirus.

Experts may differ but Norton antivirus is one of the most popular antivirus software. If you want to install Norton antivirus in your computer or simply want to collect information on it you have to contact Norton antivirus support team. Here are some tips following which you can easily communicate with them.

Occupies too much computer resources

If you go through the website of Symantec to know how to get in touch with Norton antivirus support team you may not get sufficient information. You can only get an overall view of the resources that will be utilized to run the program. Most of all computer users install Norton antivirus to ensure the safety of their computer. But if you get in touch with them you may get lots of information regarding this program. It may take too much resource while running at ultimate speed.

You will not get refunds

Most of all computer users opt for Norton antivirus for the security of their computers as it is relatively cheaper than the other security software. Those who do not know much about the software may contact Norton antivirus.

The support team of the Norton is helpful enough to solve all your queries and offer a number of links through you can visit their website for more information.

Everything is fine till now but after a few days you may have pop ups like you need to upgrade Norton Antivirus to protect your PC. Once you opt to upgrade it they will charge a certain amount of money from you.

When you purchase the software from a Norton store you should make it clear that whether you have to pay to upgrade it. Otherwise you will not get any refund later. It is specially suggested for those who are buying it for the first time. Otherwise you may not get respond from their end later when you call them for help. Though it is not their fault you may feel frustrated.

Other options

There may a number of reasons due to which you may want to contact Norton customer support team, or sales department but before that you should do a little research on the internet for other options i.e. other anti spyware applications. Though Norton is considered as the most reliable and effective there are a number of antispyware programs are available online. Some of them are even free. You can easily download and install one of them and enjoy computing. But before downloading and installing an antivirus online you should check whether it itself is a spyware. Otherwise in spite of protecting it may further damage your computer.

If you are unable to find any solution yourself you may get in touch with remote PC support company. There ate many such companies that provide remote PC support that includes antivirus support to the customers worldwide.

James Anderson, from Georgia, is a passionate technical writer. He writes on myriad versatile subjects related to hardware and software issues. His articles have been published across the web. His topic of discussion is remote support of PC’s. Industry experience provides him with profound knowledge about the subject.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/get-in-touch-with-norton-antivirus-1648028.html

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Got Security?…Is your PC As Secure As It Can Be?

December 31st, 2009

The environment in which we conduct our home computing tasks, particularly using the Internet, is becoming more and more hazardous to our computer’s health. In recent years the threats to our computing environment have gone from relatively harmless recreational hacking of Web sites to today’s mass crime waves by organized criminal groups. No, it’s probably not the Mafia as we know it, but these groups are just as organized and very skillful at perpetrating theft and other crimes using the Internet, and in some circumstances our computers. Let me explain…the groups I’m referring to, typically located in Russia, Romania and North Korea, have developed techniques and software that place software programs on millions of PCs across the world that will use them to commit crimes on command. When these machines become infected and controlled they’re called bots, short for robots. This technique was used in a recent theft of money from bank accounts here in the US. We have seen reports that these bots are even being rented out to other criminal groups for short periods of time to be used in similar unlawful activity.

At this point I hope I’ve captured your attention. Now how do you protect your PC from becoming a bot and other harmful conditions? There are several things you can do to help protect your computer…none of which will completely protect you, but the aggregate of the techniques will make you as safe as you can reasonably be. What I mean is that these criminals…you notice I don’t call them hackers—because they are skilled, hardened criminals and should be addressed as such…are good enough to break into banks, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, so they have the capability to break into almost any home PC they desire to. So we must be vigilant in the protection of our computing environment in the following ways:

Use a good Anti-Virus (AV) package that will alert you of all software programs on your computer that don’t belong there, including software that will turn your computer into a bot. I say a good AV because there are some packages that are only fair when it comes to effectiveness. Among these “fair” packages are the free ones. I’d look first at the AV industry leaders such as Norton, Kaspersky, and McAfee (I have no affiliation with them). Primarily because they have lots of resources to apply to identifying and neutralizing viruses and other malware like that mentioned above and will send automatic updates to your computer to protect it from the latest attacks.
Use a firewall (a software program that can be configured to refuse access to your computer from undesirable sources) and make sure it is configured properly. Microsoft’s firewall and most security suite (Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee) firewalls will suggest a default or recommended set of configuration choices. I’d use their suggested settings at the minimum.
Use a strong password on all your Internet accounts. These criminals have sophisticated software that is used to guess your password and the stronger the password, the less likely it will be guessed correctly. A strong password (see my previous articles titled Passwords Part I: Why Do We Need Them?, and Passwords Part II: What Are Strong Passwords Anyway?) will cause the “password breaker” software to take longer to be successful and consequently, the criminal sometimes will move on to other, easier, less strong passwords which will break much faster.
Don’t open emails from anyone you don’t know…let me repeat, don’t open emails from anyone you don’t know. I’d also add to this list anyone you do know who sends you forwarded emails because the forwarded email may be malware and the person who sent it to you may not know it. Much of the viruses and other malware today are sent via email messages. Many of these emails have enticing subject lines and may even come from someone you know. However, you must be careful to send a separate email or call the known sender and ask if the email is legitimate before opening it. Sound like a pain…too much trouble? I think not, because should your machine be infected or controlled by one of these malware, you could lose much more time (and money) recovering from the loss of personal information such as banking accounts and passwords, etc.

Put these protective techniques in place as soon as possible so that you can enjoy your time on the Internet with some peace of mind that you’ve done all you can to have a safe computing environment.

Paul Lubic is a seasoned IT guy who’s used computers at home for more years than he’d care to say. His objective is to use this article and his blog site to pass on lots of valuable information that you can use in your home computing endeavors. Check back often to see what he’s up to at Paul’s Home Computing Blog at http://www.paulshomecomputingblog.wordpress.com.

Remember, home computing is a blast…keep it productive and enjoyable.
Paul E. Lubic, Jr.
paulshomecomputing@yahoo.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/got-securityis-your-pc-as-secure-as-it-can-be-1642510.html

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