How to Stay Secure on Web - Hackers Guide

You already know the basics of internet security, right?

You know to keep your antivirus program and patches up to date, to be careful where you go on the Internet, and to exercise online street-smarts to resist being tricked into visiting a phishing site or downloading a Trojan horse.

But when you've got the basics covered, but you still don't feel secure, what can you do? Here are a few advanced security tips to help you thwart some of today's most common attacks.

Remember, however, that security is all about trade-offs. With most of these tips, what you gain in security, you lose in convenience. But hey, it's your computer. Be as paranoid as you want to be.

Avoid Scripting

This may be the one piece of advice that will do most to keep you the safe on the Web: Steer clear of JavaScript, especially on sites you don't trust.

JavaScript is very popular, and for good reason. It works in almost all browsers, and it makes the Web a lot more dynamic. But it also enables bad guys to trick your browser more easily into doing something that it shouldn't. The deception could be something as simple as telling the browser to load an element from another Web page. Or it could involve something more complicated, like a cross-site scripting attack, which gives the attacker a way to impersonate the victim on a legitimate Web page.

JavaScipt attacks are everywhere. If you use Facebook, you may have seen one of the latest. Lately, scammers have set up illegitimate Facebook pages offering things like a free $500 gift card if you cut and paste some code into your browser's address bar. Code is JavaScript--and you should never add it to your browser. "Scammers use this technique to open up unwanted surveys, fill your social networking profiles with spam or even to send you to phishing pages," says Chris Boyd, a security researcher with Sunbelt Software.

But miscreants can add JavaScript to hacked or malicious Web pages, too. To avoid attacks there, you can use a free Firefox plugin called NoScript that lets you control which Websites can and cannot run JavaScript in the browser. NoScript goes a long way toward preventing rogue antivirus programs or online attacks from popping up when you visit a new Website.

Source: itbusiness.ca

Firewall Configuration

A firewall is a device or a set of devices, which can be implemented in any of the hardware, software or both. All the messages passing through the firewall are verified to meet some level of security criteria.

It acts as a computer security barrier, which analyzes all the incoming and outgoing traffic to and from your computer or network based on the firewall settings. There are some common types of firewalls like: Application level gateway, Packet filtering firewall, Circuit gateways and Hybrid firewall.

Application level gateway firewall works on the application layer of the protocol stack. It works more intelligently than the packet filtering firewall. Packet filtering firewall examines the information contained in the header of the message packets.

There are some factors based on which the filters can be added or removed from the firewall:

1. IP address

2. Ports

3. Protocols

IP address: Every computer connected to Internet has a unique IP address. The firewall configuration can be customized to block any IP address so that your computer will not allow any kind of communication to take in between.

Ports: The firewall can be configured to allow or block messages from any port number.

Protocols: There are some commonly used protocols like IP, HTTP, TCP, FTP, and SMTP etc., which can be included in the firewall filter.

Some operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows offer built-in firewalls that are turned on by default to block all the incoming threats from Internet. There are several other third party firewalls available. You can choose any one the firewall to replace the default firewall in Windows.