Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 1 Practical Computer Security See the notes section throughout the slide presentation for additional information.

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 2 Choosing Strong Passwords Do: –Choose passwords at least 8 characters in length –Use upper/lower case characters as well as numbers and symbols –Keep them in a safe place, if you must write them down  Don’t: –Use dictionary words –Stick them to your monitor with a post-it note –Use easily guessable words (e.g. phone number) –Ever tell anyone your password –Re-use the same password for important systems

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 3 Passphrases If there is no limit on a password length, use a pass-phrase. e.g. “Europe is beautiful this time of year.” 36 characters and easy to remember  All dictionary words with no special characters If you have to pick a smaller password, just use the first letter and swap some characters: “E1bTtof7.”

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 4 Safe computing practices Apply software updates –To your operating system and –All other programs you have installed and –Any other devices (Routers, Phones, PDAs) –Ideally automatically Run as a non-privileged user (ie. not with ‘Administrator’ access) when surfing the web, reading or for computer based activities that do not require an Internet connection

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 5 Security software Essential: A personal firewall Anti-virus that is kept up to date Highly Desirable: Anti-spam filter Anti-spyware

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 6 security  Do not open attachments if you don’t know the sender  Do not open messages that seem out of character for a sender you do know Be careful about clicking on links in s and instant messages Turn off preview pane and view in plain text

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 7 Online transactions Always type in the address of the website you want to transact with - never follow a link in . Make sure you use a strong password (as described) for online services you care about (such as banking)  Don’t purchase items from websites you are unsure of - check the credentials of the business first and confirm that you are indeed looking at their website. Check the status of your online transactional accounts regularly and contact your transaction service provider immediately in the event of any problems.  Do not use ‘shared’ PCs you don’t control for online transactional services

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 8 Family Safe online Make sure you know what sites your children are visiting online. Ensure that your children get your approval before downloading programs. Educate your kids not to provide ANY personal information to people they meet online - not even their name. Monitor your kids interactions with people online - the people they are talking to may not be who they appear to be. Consider installing parental lock software, or better still consider placing the computer in a shared space (such as the living room).

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 9 For broadband users Highly Desirable: Use a hardware modem-router which gives the computer or home network private addresses

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 10 Wireless security On your computer: –Turn off your wireless adaptor when not in use On your access point: –Enable encryption: WEP is weak (but better than nothing) and WPA2 is stronger. –Allow only a set of MAC addresses –Don’t broadcast your SSID

Copyright © 2008 AusCERT 11 Additional Information For additional information on security, look at: –Protecting your computer from malicious code –national.auscert.org.au – – – – – –