- Table of Contents
- Overview
- Web Application Security
- Operating System Security
- Network Security
- Hardening Your System
- Wireless Security
- Mobile Security
- Data Forensics
- Legal and Ethical Issues of Security
- Home User Security
- Protecting Your Children (and Yourself)
- Protecting Your Children, Part 2
- Protecting Your Children, Part 3
- Spying with the SnoopStick
- How to Catch a Cheating Spouse
- A Beginner's Guide to Encryption
- Encryption Strength
- Encryption Algorithms Overview
- Components of an Encryption Solution
- Encrypted Networking
- Home Routers, Gateways, and Firewalls
- Home Routers, Gateways, and Firewalls, Part 2
- Protecting Yourself from Internet Fraud
- Protecting Yourself from Internet Fraud, Part 2
- Online Shopping FUD
- Free Security Software, Part 1
- Free Security Software, Part 2
- Migrating to Opera for Better Security
- Optimizing the Opera Web Browser for Security
- The Home Users' Guide to Backing Up, Part 1
- The Home Users' Guide to Backing Up, Part 2
- Practical Home Computer Security: Personal Firewalls Explained
- Practical Home User Security: Blocking Unwanted Sites by Using a Simple hosts File
- Windows Start Up Security
- Quick Tips for Securing Windows XP, Part 1
- Quick Tips for Securing Windows XP, Part 2
- Quick Tips for Securing Windows XP, Part 3: The Security Impact of Software Monoculture
- Quick Tips for Securing Windows XP, Part 4: Rootkit Scanners
- Practical Web Security for Beginner Web Masters
- Understanding Malware, Part 1
- Understanding Malware, Part 2
- Is Online Banking Safe?
- Sick of Spam?
- Keeping Your Data Safe in a Shared Home User Environment
- Choosing Strong Passwords
- The Sony Rootkit: What it is and How to Remove It
- Instant Messaging and Security
- Keeping Your Applications Updated
- Work from Home Scams
- Wiping Data from Hard Drives
- P2P and File-Sharing Security
- How to Make Email More Secure, Part 1
- How to Make Email More Secure, Part 2: Risks in the Workplace
- Secure Email with OpenPGP, Part 1
- Secure Email with OpenPGP, Part 2
- Messenger Spam and How to Stop It
- Virus Hoaxes are as Damaging as Viruses
- Auditing Home Computer Networks, Part 1
- Auditing Home Computer Networks, Part 2
- Inside a PayPal Phishing Site
- OpenID: Single Sign-On Web Identity Management
- Security Advice for New Laptop Owners
- Additional Resources
- Job Security for the IT Security Industry
- A Biased Book Review: Chained Exploits: Advanced Hacking Attacks from Start to Finish
- Security of Mechanical Locks
- Information Security in Academics
- Holiday Security: Hackers Don’t Take Holidays
- Gary McGraw on Building Secure Software
- Gary McGraw on Exploiting Online Games
- A Student-Hacker Showdown at the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
- The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Year 3: Revenge of the Red Cell
- Questions from RSA 2007
- How to Steal 80,000 Identities in One Day
Free Security Software, Part 2
Last updated Aug 26, 2005.
In part one we discussed free antivirus and antispyware software; in part two we will look at more security software for free. Protecting your home computer doesn't need to be a costly exercise; often the best things in life are free.
Free Firewall Software
Firewall software is essential on all internet connected computers. A firewall will protect against internet borne attacks and a good firewall will block malicious scripts and executable programs from installing without a users knowledge. Without a firewall you are a sitting target for a hacker and you probably wouldn't even realize you where being hacked.
Agnitum are a well known security software company and have been around for many years. The Agnitum Outpost Firewall is a free firewall that includes system and application filtering. It has many advanced features you would find in the expensive firewalls. It comes ready to use straight from installation and does not need any tricky configuring to get it working. The software is very customizable and features a system of plugins that allow the software to be easily updated for new threats.
It is important to note that the version listed is the last freeware version that Agnitum have produced; newer versions are not freeware. You will also find that this firewall may cause conflicts with other firewalls, so it is best to remove other firewalls before installing this one.
Zonealarm is one of the more popular free for non-commercial use firewalls. There are many reasons for this, the main being the detailed installation and configuration tutorials that come with it. This software is also ready to use immediately after it has been installed, making it great for novice computer users.
Color coded alerts help you to easily identify attacks and intrusions. This software offers simplicity but with very strong security. Zonealarm hides your computer on the internet, hiding open ports from would-be attackers. Zonealarm drops incoming packets from unknown sources so your computer looks like it doesn't exist.
Kerio Personal Firewall is another firewall that is free for non-commercial users. Kerio offers good security for the average home user. What makes Kerio stand out against its competitors is the fact that it has been designed to stop attacks not only from the internet, but to also thwart local network based attacks. The other firewalls may not offer this protection as they sometimes consider local network traffic to be friendly.
Kerio also allows you to block all communication to the computer if you need to. This makes it an ideal tool for a computer that is infected with a Trojan. By stopping the flow of data in its tracks you could save important information from being stolen like passwords and even credit card numbers.
While not exactly a firewall, this software acts on a similar basis to a firewall, and it does deserve a mention here.
AnalogX script defender intercepts requests to execute scripts on a computer and makes sure that a user does not accidentally execute a script. It targets scripts that can be used to infected computers with malware including Visual Basic Scripting (.VBS), Java Script (.JS), etc. The great thing about this software is that it can even be configured to target new extensions so in the future if a new scripting language emerges, it can be added for monitoring.
This software is freeware and should not cause any conflicts with existing firewalls. It can stop a virus even before your antivirus scanner has a chance to find it!
Other Free Security Essentials:
Security doesn't stop at firewall and antivirus software. Most users don't realise the amount of good free software available to them. It may be daunting to look at a piece of software and try and work out what exactly it does. This list will feature software that we feel is essential to the security of the home user. It will also explain in easy terms what the software does and why you would benefit from it.
A cookie is a small file that is stored on your machine with information from a website. This information can be anything from the date of your visit to passwords or unique user names. Most websites use cookies in good ways, but some rogue websites use cookies to track users all over the internet, building up a database of a user's surfing habits.
Cookiewall is an excellent privacy protection tool. Cookiewall acts in a similar way to cookies that a firewall acts towards connections. When a new cookie is introduced to your machine from your web browser, Cookiewall will allow you to decide whether or not you want to let the cookie in. Cookiewall lets you see the cookie's information in real time so you can make reliable decisions without stabbing in the dark.
Have you ever sold an old computer to someone and thought that simply wiping your hard drive would remove all your files? There is plenty of software that is available for free on the internet that would allow all your personal data to be retrieved. To remove your personal files you must use a proper secure file deletion program. Darik's Boot and Nuke is exactly that. It allows you to run the program directly from a floppy or a CD-ROM and securely wipe the entire contents of a hard drive.
You may think that your personal data wouldn't be of any use to a hacker anyway, but hackers can use your information to build themselves a new identity. The more information the can gather from your old hard drive the easier their identity theft will be. This software is a must have for anyone serious about their security.
When a hacker attacks a computer they will often install a rootkit. A rootkit is a group of tools that the hacker can use to maintain his or her administration status on a machine. It is similar to a Trojan but will often be a lot harder to detect then a normal Trojan.
Sysinternals RootkitRevealer is a tool that will scan your computer looking for telltale signs that a rootkit may be present. This software has been designed to detect all the major windows rootkits, and even novice users will find it a breeze to use. Advanced users will also appreciate the depth at which discrepancies are reported.
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