“I had a virus because I was using an open network [at home],” said Jenna Davis, an interior design student. “After a while, I started to notice glitches, and it wouldn’t work properly.”

If the home network has a wireless router, basic protection against Internet threats exists automatically. But following the manual to set up a username and password on the router will protect the network from advanced intruders.

“A lot of people don’t want to go to through the hassle of figuring it out,” says Dwayne Harapnuik, manager of educational technology at Lethbridge College. “Turn wireless security on and use the highest level of encryption [WPA].”

Protection comes from having the username and password set up on the computers. It won’t stop a determined hacker, but it can act as a deterrent.

“In an unsecured network, if they find a computer that hasn’t been secured, files on your system can be accessed,” says Harapnuik. “But they have to know what they’re doing. Have a username and password, it’s like locking your doors.”

Lethbridge College uses two wireless networks, LC Guest, which is open to everyone, and network for staff, which isn’t open to everyone because of a username and password and encryption.

Anyone with issues regarding the LC Guest network is encouraged to visit the Library Commons with their questions. Employees won’t be aware of a problem with the network unless students bring it to their attention.

Originally posted 2008-11-27 14:12:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Students are using USB thumbdrives to carry a lot of their work between school and home, but those handy devices might accidentally carry a virus that could infect another computer if the user isn’t careful.

“I know the antivirus is supposed to be doing its job. It’s like a security net, you know there’s something there to protect [the computer],” said Tyler Tzech, a student at Lethbridge College.

Having an antivirus program as a primary means of protection on any computer in today’s world is important, but people should be careful not to solely rely on it to be reactive to possible threats. We need to be proactive to prevent any problems in the first place.

“User behavior is important. Don’t go to sites that seem to be faulty or phishing for something. That’s as important as the software itself, I think,” says Tyson Wiebe, who works in the Library Commons at Lethbridge College.

Websites that look real in every sense, but are in fact only imitating reputable websites, such as eBay or YouTube, and are designed to collect personal information for malicious purposes. This technique is called ‘phishing’, as in fishing for information.

Being proactive against internet threats such as viruses and spyware can help prevent incidents such as the Lethbridge College virus outbreak in 2004.

“The last one was September of 2004,and I think it was called ‘Blaster’,” recalls Dean Johnson, manager of network services at Lethbridge College.

According to a message sent to IT managers at the time of the outbreak in 2004, “the Help Desk received calls from various areas on-campus that some staff/faculty computers were popping-up with virus alerts.” “The problem was limited to the staff/faculty areas and the academic labs were only seeing a slow-down of network/Internet traffic.”

The message continued to explain that computers located around the college campus were tested and cleaned if infected. It took a few days to locate and clean staff and student computers, an experience the college quickly learned from.

“We now have a McAfee server that forces updates to all college owned computers, so this type of problem has not happened since then,” says Johnson.

Users should make it a habit to make sure their antivirus is updated and that anything going from their computer to another computer is virus-free, but the most important thing of all is to be smart about what you download and the websites you visit.

SIDEBAR:

Partial source: techguylabs.com

1. Don’t open email attachments

2. Don’t click links in email.

3. Don’t download files from places you aren’t absolutely sure are safe.

4. Update your Operating System regularly!

5. Use a firewall (hardware router).

6. Never run as an administrator

7. Use an effective and updated antivirus program

Originally posted 2008-12-04 18:34:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter