Your PC - Personal Security & Safeguards

Assess Your Risk

What Would You Like to Protect?

Take action to help safeguard your privacy, help protect your computer software and data from damage or misappropriation by others, and help protect your children (and their friends) from objectionable content and contacts on the Internet.

Checklist for Assessing Risk

Evaluate the likelihood that a threat will affect you and the levels of risk you're willing to accept. How would you answer the following questions?

Who uses your computer?

Auto insurance companies know that the risk that a car will be involved in an accident varies according who's behind the wheel and how people use their cars. Cars that are on the road all the time or that are driven impulsively are heading for the greatest risk. This applies to who's driving your computer, too.

• Do young children or teenagers have unsupervised access to your computer?

  When it comes to youngsters and the Internet, risk is a two-way street. Kids with unfettered access to the Internet may encounter Web sites and make contacts you consider objectionable. They also may download seemingly innocent content and inadvertently bring home a virus. For more information, read:

  • What do I need to know about the safety of children online?
  • How to configure Microsoft® Internet Explorer Content Advisor settings
     

• Do visitors or friends use your computer?

  Friends, relatives, and colleagues who check e-mail or download files on your computer might open a virus-infected attachment. Questionable Web sites may introduce "malware" to your computer.

  No matter who uses your computer you can minimize the risks of intrusion and virus infection by taking these steps:

  • Use antivirus software
  • Keep your software up-to-date
  • Use a firewall
  • Check your security settings
  • Create strong passwords
  • Conduct routine security maintenance
  • Use Anti-Spyware software

How do you connect to the Internet?

• Are you always connected (using cable modem or DSL)?

  If you leave your connection to the Internet always on and you don't have a firewall, your computer is a more available target. Take these steps:
   

  • Use antivirus software.
  • Keep your software up-to-date.
  • Use a firewall. If you're using Microsoft Windows® XP, you can set the level of protection you desire with the Internet Connection Firewall.
  • Check your security settings.
  • Conduct routine security maintenance.
  • Turn off your "always on" connection when you don't need to be online.

What do you do on the Internet?

The same basic rules apply when you meet people or conduct transactions online or in person—know who you're doing business with, be cautious with strangers.

• Does anyone shop, bank, pay bills, invest in stocks or mutual funds, or manage an IRA online?

  While you need to be wary of fly-by-night Web merchants with too-good-too-be-true offers, online electronic security protocols and practices can make purchasing online safer than reading your credit card information over the phone. To help verify that the site is legitimate and takes steps to help protect your transactions:

  • Click on the seals of approval links to verify their authenticity: TrustE, BBBOnline (the online version of the Better Business Bureau), and BizRate.com which uses a 10-point rating system to evaluate online retailers.
  • Call the company on the phone and judge whether they sound legitimate.
  • Read the privacy policy: what will they do with your personal information? If it's difficult to understand, move on.
  • Learn how to tell if transactions are encrypted. Before you enter your credit card or personal information: check for "https" instead of "http" in the Address bar and for the "lock" icon at the bottom of your browser's screen on the taskbar.
  • Check your monthly statements, watch for unrecognized transactions.

Read about Microsoft's privacy policies.

• Send and receive e-mail?

  Sandwich Test Unsure about whether or not to risk opening an e-mail attachment? Use the "sandwich test." If a stranger on the street handed you a sandwich, would you eat it? No. If your brother handed you a sandwich, would you eat it? That depends: did he get it from the same stranger or did he make it himself?

  Attachments are the most frequently used vehicle for spreading viruses. Just opening a message that contains a virus can unleash it. Take these precautions:

  • Make sure you have installed Microsoft Outlook® E-mail Security Update for Outlook 2000 or Outlook 98.
  • Do not open messages with attachments unless you know the sender. Delete them.
  • Be wary of attachments forwarded to you even by names you recognize. If you do decide to open attachment, save them first to your hard drive so your antivirus software can act on it.
  • Check your security settings
  • Keep your software up-to-date (antivirus and e-mail software)

  If you are sending e-mail that you want kept private, encrypt it. Unencrypted e-mail messages are as private as a letter sent in an unsealed envelope.
   

• Visit chat rooms or use instant messaging (IM)?

  Although chatting is an engaging activity, there are many dangers involved, including persons masquerading as someone they are not. Online chats may feel like a conversation between three or four friends, but hundreds of people may be lurking and listening. If children are using chats or IM, caution them never to reveal any personal information.

  Instant messaging is convenient and fun, but not private or protected. If you need to send private information, use your regular e-mail account and encrypt the message to help protect it.
   

• Play online games?

  Online gaming is now a worldwide experience, and presents worldwide security issues, especially if you download an attachment or file from another gamer during game play that infects your computer.
   

• Download or swap free files, such as music, video, pictures, or software programs (freeware)?

  Downloading files from the Internet is fine—as long as you know what you're getting. But they can contain viruses or other dangerous intruders like worms or Trojan programs. Worms can "burrow" into your computer and duplicate themselves until they cause your computer to crash. Trojan horse programs are seemingly useful programs (like games or utilities) that act destructively when activated. This is especially a problem in peer-to-peer file sharing.

  Before you download:

  • Make sure the file has a digital signature
  • Accept files only from individuals or companies you trust