Home Based Business Security – you and your Computer

The plethora and ingenuity of attacks coming through our computers can seem overwhelming to those of us without technological expertise. Reports in the news of new and massive virus attacks often create nervousness, even a sense of helplessness: what can I, the little guy, do in the face of that!

But, if you recognize this sort of overwhelming attack is a technique, deliberately trying to stare you down, it becomes easier to take action. And, yes, the threat is very real and if it strikes you in your home office or business, disruption could be significant.

Yet, when it comes to what that action might be, as with many things in life, the best policy is to keep it simple and as low cost as it can be for the situation’s requirements. Again, sustainability is your aim, your best option.

What are those requirements? It’s nice to have a computer expert to provide that information so I’m including a link below to a free ebook that gives you exactly that. This will help you identify the technological component of your computer security plan.

Winning the Online Battle – How to stop spam, viruses and hackers dead in their tracks is by Greg Reynolds, a 23-year veteran of the computer industry. Needless to say, Reynolds has worked for some of the largest companies in America and now runs his own computer business. At the end of this article is the link where you can get your free copy of his ebook on Winning the Battle Against Spam, Viruses and Hackers.

There are other sites you can look at for computer protection advice. I have listed these on my website in the Links section under Computer Security. See the URL below for these information sites and more.

One other computer security technique that I picked up from an expert a long time ago is to avoid keying in valuable information onto any site. To do this, you need all of this information already on a file in your hard drive. It is from this that you then copy and paste onto other sites, giving you secure use of vital information.

The point of this approach is to avoid letting any snooping technology “read” your keystrokes as you key in this valuable information. Using copy and paste instead from a prepared file avoids those giveaway keystrokes.

To set this up, you need to have your computer in a secure state with up-to-date anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-adware and anti-malware systems (see the free ebook below). When you feel sure you have cleaned your computer out and you aren’t harboring any nasties including Trojans, ensure you are offline - not connected to the internet – and set up a simple word document where you store your vital information. Use this as your base “copy and paste” document for everything thereafter.

You might include:
• your personal information - name, DoB, address, phone numbers, fax;
• one or two Q&A examples, often required by sites where you sign up as a member – your mother’s maiden name, your first car;
• a bunch of password options you can use over time for various functions and sites;
• even your banking information and credit card details if you like to purchase goods online or are running a PayPal account or merchant payment processor on your website;
• a list of all the letters in the alphabet and numbers 0 to 9 are also useful (though avoid putting this and other information in consecutively). You can use these down the track with your copy and paste function to create new information without exposing that information by using keystrokes.

The key here is to set this up when you know your computer is in a secure state and you are offline. Thereafter, you need only copy and paste all sorts of information for use on other websites, email systems or even your own word document without risking exposure.

Also note: avoid listing this precious information against obvious and traceable key words like Login, Username, Password, ID.

Suggestion:
Make it part of your annual planning assessment process to run a Quick Check of your security risk levels in relation to your home office:
• physical assets security, and
• computer security
as outlined in this and Part 1 of this Work-From-Home-Security series.

Set these up and adopt a sensible, professional mindset (see Part 3 of this series) and you should find yourself markedly reducing the risk of intrusion and theft in your home business.

It is worth remembering to take yourself seriously. Thieves and attackers take their property and people targets seriously, assessing them against a set of criteria. Do the unexpected, take a leaf out of their book and be a step ahead of the game.