Shawn Altman
E-Commerce, Security, and Managing Risk … Part I
Published April 21, 2010 | 
Find out how to protect your computer and businesses while managing online risk.
This is a preview of the Table of Contents for the E-Commerce, Security, and Managing Risk eBook. Found only at Team Altman Dot Com!
Table of Contents.:
Introduction
How Hackers and Crackers Can Cripple the Internet and Your PC
Getting into the mind of the intruder
Managing Your e-Risk
What are Viruses, Trojans, Malware and more!
Three Common Security Methods Used in Web Communications
Wireless Security (Wifi security) The good and Bad!
Implementing Fire Walls and Available Configurations
Encryption Technology
Hot Tips and Web Links
Introduction .:
First, we should first realize that the internet’s very nature opens up to harmful attacks. It was designed to allow free information to exchange –success followed quickly growing far beyond the designers wildest expectations. However, this comes with a price! Hackers and virus writers try to attack using the internet and computers connected to the network. I have seen many different large viruses attack servers and databases while working for some large companies as technical support for MSN. I was amazed at how many people were affected by these viruses. I have noticed and learned that many virus writers are targeting Microsoft products like servers and data bases. These same programs can detect and turn off your antivirus software or this was the case once upon a time.
I should state, hope that this is obvious, that the internet is different from the World Wide Web and was started by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. More servers were put online, and with the Mosaic web browser released in 1993, followed by Netscape in 1994, more and more people installed web browsers and began participating in the Web. The amount of the world that uses the internet and web is simply amazing as we enter into the world of web 2.0!
Wow! What a large topic to cover. Take a moment and think about all the different computers in the world and all the possible security risks that might be involved. This is a tad over whelming for many. I will do my best to provide enough details about what types of technologies are out in the world and strategies for security and managing your risk. We should start off by looking at what are the types of security that we should be thinking about.
Well, there are in fact two types of general security which are:
- Physical
- Logical
What is physical? Generally speaking physical is tangible. This type of security is hard to know and difficult to place a value on. Still, it is important to look at even the intangible. You would think that physical is easy to see and easy to implement security, but it may be that you need less or more security than you would have thought true.
What is Logical? Logical is protection using nonphysical means. We would use programming for instance to help logically protect or add a layer of security. A sensory in your car can detect a person that is walking to close to your vehicle. The logical sensors in the computer will signal and react depending on the logic of the programming. Each area is important as a general guide. During this course I would like to help you see the different types of threats, ways to think about measuring the risks, and ways to see how we use the internet. There are many built in features to the internet but many we must implement ourselves at home or on the job.
A few more computer security concepts to think about are the following:
- Confidentiality…..: Protecting Data
- Integrity……………: Data and System functions
- Availability………..: Service is Not denied to authorized users
- Authenticity………: Being Genuine
- Accountability……: Security Goals are Met
Well, time to dive-in and I hope that I can keep this all simple and straight forward.
Next on the Agenda!
How Hackers and Crackers Can Cripple the Internet and Your PC
Stay tuned… more will be added soon!
======================== HOT Tips =======================
Hijack This
http://cnettv.cnet.com/quick-tips-permanently-delete-malware/9742-1_53-27657.html
Encrypting your Thumb Drives
http://cnettv.cnet.com/thumbdrive-encryption/9742-1_53-32304.html
Tips to Protect Biz and Home Computers from Cybercrime(part2)
Published March 15, 2010 | TeamAltman :: Cybercrime and Tips to Protect Business and Home Computers
So what are some simple things that a business or home user can do? The first thing is to shut down your computers when not using. This will keep any infected machine from being used when not in use. If your business operates from 8am till 8pm that is only 12 hours. What about the other 12 hours?
Most business should also have some sort of security system set-up that will include a firewall at a minimum. Larger companies that are using wifi run a risk of intrusion and should consider using a Virtual Private Network to log into from the wifi computers. Never except free software from anyone that you know unless you can 100% confirm that the product is free of hidden programs. [6]
Never open email unless you know the sender. Some email addresses can be copied and the senders can pretend to be another company. I have personally received an email or two from a Bank of America email, but was in fact a hijacked email. It did look real, but something felt funny. These are normally referred to as Phishing Scams. Use your intuition. Check out the Federal Trade Commission’s website for additional details on Phishing Scams http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm [7].
Something simple that can also be done is setting up a secure router. You can assign each individual machine to connect to the router using the MAC address. Each machine, all computers, will have a MAC address and this will prevent others from accessing your wifi of your home or business. [8] This will also prevent employees from using personal laptops in ways that are mischievous or against company policy. Often people drive around neighborhoods looking for free wifi to access. At a minimum set up a password on your router.
Cyber Crime is a serious issue at this point in time. There are many more things that we can do as consumers to protect ourselves when accessing the web and using wifi. Use common sense, ask questions, research your best options, or try to talk with a computer friend. There are plenty of resources and most often there are nerdy friends nearby willing to give you a hand.
References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybercrime
[2] http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/cyberhome.htm
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHmFiueQm5A
[4] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100302/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_botnet_busted
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Managing-Cybercrime-Sam-McQuade/dp/020543973X/ref=pd_sim_b_4
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_%28computing%29
[7] http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm
[8] http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessproducts/qt/macaddress.htm
Team Altman:: Beginner PHP Web Development Links!
Published March 14, 2010 | Beginners Guide to PHP programing! Start HERE!
Beginners Course in PHP for those wishing to program dynamic websites and blogs. This is a must see site loaded with lots of great lessons! Down load XAMMP for a web development and start working on your projects today!
While you are at it you need to start looking at these two sites for MySQL and PEAR. These are invaluable resources for learning how to use PHP with a database. PHP in combination with MySQL can be used to create a shopping cart, blog, Content Management System, and more.
Tips to Protect Computers from Cybercrime (part1)
Published March 13, 2010 | TeamAltman :: Cybercrime and Tips to Protect Business and Home Computers
So much is happening in the world of Cyber Crime and non-technical people accessing the web may not realize the dangers that exist. Each time you accept any type of data from someone via an email or software download can open your computer to the world of “cyber crime”. This is scary considering the amount of spam that I see in my email inbox or all the free types of software downloads on the web. There are a few resources that are worth checking out, plus there are simple things that we can do to protect ourselves and our data. What is Cyber Crime? Take a look at this Wikipedia Article for more details. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybercrime [1]
The first thing that I would look at is the http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/cyberhome.htm [2] website. This website was created by the FBI to help out citizens seeking additional information on cyber crime, potential risks, and things you can do if you feel that you are a victim. There is a whole section on Protecting one’s self located on the right side of the page. I found the information to be very valuable and worth taking a moment to research and see what is listed. Take a look at this youtube video that addresses someone committing a cyber crime and how they were caught. It is very interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHmFiueQm5A [3]
Recently on Yahoo News, March 2, 2010, 3 suspects have been caught for one of the largest network of virus attacks called a “botnet”. The virus was on nearly 13 million machines that stole credit cards and banking information. Botnets, according to Yahoo, “are networks of infected PCs that have been hijacked from their owners.” [4] The most impressive part of this whole operation was the fact that the people involved were not your typical computer nerds or “Hackers”. They actually were not really well versed in computers, no criminal record, and received helped from others to create this botnet. You never can tell who is behind these cyber crimes.
10 Steps to Becoming a Great Web Developer!
Published March 6, 2010 | TeamAltman :: How to become a Web Developer in 10 steps
Learning to work on web sites is actually pretty easy and will certainly not take years of schooling, but becoming a developer will take time and energy. We have included 10 steps that you will want to take in order to become a Web Developer. Development comes in two flavors. The first is in front end development, which would be what the user sees when going to your site. That would include the graphics and style. The second part is the back-end web development or server side. As you can guess this would be development in database, webserver, and similar technologies. Below is a road map to becoming a web developer. Spread the knowledge!
1. Learn HTML
HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language is the markup language for web pages, it is the heart of web pages, so this is what
you should aim for first. HTML is easy to learn, but also easy to misuse. Learn it right, and you’ll get one of your fundamentals as web developer.
Resources
2. Learn server side scripting
Learning server side scripting is fundamental for web developer, pick one of server side scripting language and try to master it. Here some of your choices :
3. Learn SQL
Building dynamic web pages will get you to learn about database. While there are so many database engine, most of them understand SQL language. If you want to speak with your database then learn this language.
Resources
4. Learn CSS
When it come to presentation of your web pages, use stylesheet. This is where CSS will help you. So put some of your time to learn this stuff.
Resources
5. Learn Javascript
While most of today web programmer love jQuery, learning basic syntax and how to program in javascript will give you more skill in the long run.
Resources
6. Learn regular expression
While it is not as important as the others, but knowing about regular expression, and how to use it will definitely save you a lot of time. From validation to highlight words, you can do it easy enough in regular expression.
7. Get yourself basic knowledge of UNIX/Linux
It is optional, but knowing some of basic linux command won’t hurt you. Maybe you don’t know, but most of web server is running on unix/linux platform. If I were you, I’ll get started learning this basic command.
8. Knowing web server
You don’t need to be a master on this part, but it is really nice to know about basic apache configuration, .htaccess tricks. Learning one or two about apache web server won’t waste your time.
9. Get a hand on version control
Learning on how to use version control is one good thing to do. You’ll thank to for yourself for learning this.
10. Learn web framework
After get your hand on HTML, server side scripting language, css, javascript, then it’d be better to choose a web framework to speed up your development. Using framework can save you time. If you’re into PHP, you can go with CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Zend, and many more. Python lovers can go with Django, webpy, RoR for Ruby programmers.