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Tips for keeping your Windows computer safe.
Keep your computer up to date with automatic software updates and patches. See
http://security.anu.edu.au/sus
Install anti-virus software AND keep it up to date. Sophos anti-virus
software can be used free of charge by all ANU students and staff,
on-campus and at home. Download the latest anti-virus definitions from
http://security.anu.edu.au/sophosinfo/windows.html
Use a firewall, like the Windows XP builtin firewall or ZoneAlarm from
http://www.zonelabs.com, which is free
for non-business use.
If your computer is not in use, turn it off.
Make sure that your data is backed up.
never click on an attachment in an unsolicited email, even if you
know the sender address. Viruses use and collect email adresses from
the harddisks of virus infected machines and use them both as sender
and recipient addresses for virus infected email. Other viruses send
email with sender address admin@anu.edu.au, helpdesk@anu.edu.au etc.
Avoid being a phishing victim. Don't follow weblinks in unsolicited
email, especially not to banking websites. Also avoid visiting
dubious websites. Crucial security flaws are discovered in
both Internet Explorer and Firefox every few
weeks. It is highly likely that your browser is vulnerable to some
security exploit on a malicious website. US Cert has issued
tips for securing your web browser.
Take care, when downlading and running software. While browsing,
a pop-up window might appear, offering to install free software that lets you browse the
Internet faster, but you might end up with spyware on your computer instead.
Even if you click the cancel button, the software might install itself
anyway. Closing the window by clicking on the x-button is usually safer.
Installing browser toolbars is not recommended either. It can cause considerable
network traffic and problems with the webcache. Reputable spyware
removal tools are AdAware from http://www.lavasoft.com
and Spybot-S&D from http://wwwsafer-networking.org.
Here are further tips to guard against spyware.
Do not share files via Microsoft filesharing, except to bondi.anu.edu.au.
Do not share copyrighted material. Running Peer-to-Peer filesharing
software to download music or videos exposes you, the Hall and College
and ANU to lawsuits and causes considerable costs for download traffic.
Here are a few
words from ANU Pro Vice Chancellor Robin Stanton on this subject.
P2P programs like Grokster, Imesh, Kazaa and others come with an enormous amounts of bundled spyware
that will slow down your system and clash with other installed software.
Another "network hog" is Skype, the P-2-P telephony application.
While great for home users, on a university network with big Internet
pipes, a machine running Skype will turn into a supernode after a while.
Supernodes negotiate calls and filetransfers for thousands of Skype users.
Choose hard to guess passwords, with uppercase and lowercase characters,
numbers and special signs.
If your computer gets infected with a virus and starts sending out
infected email or scans other machines, ANU IT Security will block
the machine either on the router or directly on the switch. Talk to your
local support person, to get the machine unblocked. Blocked student
machines are listed here.
In this case, it is best to reinstall Windows from media. You can
attempt to clean the machine of the virus with help of the antivirus
software and instructions on www.sophos.com or with a tool like stinger from
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger.
Most modern viruses install an IRC bot, which connects back to a botnet
controller. The controller can then tell the bot to start logging
keystrokes, do DOS (Denial of Service) attacks, run scans to find other
vulnerable machines or upload porn, pirated software or movies. You will
be the one paying the traffic bill.
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