Importance of Computer Security

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Protecting our private information is an important part of computer security. There are a myriad of different methods used to attack our computers today. The potential security threats a home computer faces include viruses and spyware, social engineering attacks, packet sniffing, back door remote administration programs, denial of service, mobile code (Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX), cross-site scripting, email spoofing, hidden file extensions are all techniques or methods an attacker might employ to access information on your home computer. While it is important to protect your home computer from all of these attacks for the purpose of this discussion the focus will be on viruses and spyware, back door remote administration programs, and social engineering attacks. In order to protect our home computer from a virus or spyware application we would need an antivirus/antispyware protection program installed. Spyware refers to software that is installed unknowingly, that gathers information about an internet user's browsing habits or intercepts personal data, transmitting this information to a third party for commercial gain. A virus is self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network. Most often these two types of software go hand in hand, a virus will install some spyware and spyware is used to download viruses into a system with the intent on hacking the system and compromising information. Antivirus/Antispyware software is designed to detect and remove or destroy computer viruses/spyware applications. Without this protection a hacker could comprise your information on your home computer. Back door remote administration programs are applications that are installed without the knowledge of the user with the intent on taking control of the computer from the user. On Windows computers, three tools
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