Own Your Space Chapter 01 Protect Your Turf

8/8/2019 Own Your Space Chapter 01 Protect Your Turf

1/9


2/9


3/9

Braden is a typical 14-year-old. Over the past 6 months, hes grown three inches,gained four shoe sizes, and eaten his way through nearly a ton of pizza. Hes alsounintentionally trashed his familys computer no less than 12 times. First, he down-loaded some cool emoticons to use with his IM messages. Those smiley faces camewith embedded adware that overwhelmed him with pop-up ads and slowed down thespeed of virtually everything. Then Braden installed a free video game that containeda Trojan program that let spammers in Russia take over his computer and use it toforward junk email. A few weeks later, Braden responded to what looked like a legiti-

mate email asking him to confirm his Facebook login information. That phisher thenused Bradens login to post links to adware toBradens Facebook friends. Not long afterthat, Braden clicked Yes to installsecurity software when a pop-upannounced that his computerwas infected with adware. Asyouve probably guessed, thatsoftware installed more adware.Bradens mom has spent so

much time, and money, havingthe family computer fixed thatshes beginning to wonder if the Internet is really worth theaggravation. What she is sure of is that Internet security has be-come a LOT more complicatedthan it used to be.

Chapter 1Chapter 1

Protect Your Turf

Protect Your Turf

Except where otherwise noted, content in this publication is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution-Noncommercial-No De rivative Works 3.0 United States License, availableat http://creative commons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/legalcodeISBN 978-0-615-37366-9


4/9

2 Chapter 1

Since the Internets inception in the late 1970s, the number o people who use theNet has doubled every 9 to 14 months. Do the math and youll see a phenomenal

growth chart rom 281 computers on the Internet in 1981 to a dazzling 400million in 2000. By 2009, worldwide usage passed 1.5 billion netizens . Internetusage in the U.S. is nearing saturation levels.

Netizen A citizen of cyberspace (i.e. the Internet). A netizen is any person using theInternet to participate in online social communities. When you confirm a new friend onFacebook, you are expanding your online social group. You are being a good netizen!

While Internet usage among adults has risen steadily, Internet usage among teen-

agers has soared. As o June 2009, 90% o American teens lived in homes withInternet connections. I youre part o that 90%, it is especially important or youto understand how to protect your computer rom nasty code.

As youll learn later, your computer is at special risk. Adware sites target teenag-ers just like you by ocusing their e orts on websites you and your peers tend tovisit. Online orums are targeted by pedophiles posing as teens. Even identi y the t,another potential consequence o nasty code, can be especially nasty or teenag-ers still in the process o de ning their nancial and business identities. I you useyour parents computers, you may also put their nancial and personal in orma-tion at risk.

For now, just keep in mind that theres a lot more to Internet security than run-ning antivirus so tware. And, its a lot more important than you probably realize.Over the next ew chapters, well talk about what you need to know and do to helpkeep yoursel , your computer, and maybe even your parents sa er when using theInternet.

1.1 A Survey of MalwareMalware is a generic term or a piece o malicious code. That is, programmingcode speci cally developed to harm a computer or its data. I youve studied Span-ish (or Latin, or that matter), youll know that mal means badlike malcontent(an un-contented, unhappy person) or Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I (the


5/9


6/9

4 Chapter 1

You are no doubt also amiliar with antivirus so tware. Most, but not all, newcomputers now arrive resh rom the actory already preloaded with at least a trial

version o one o the major antivirus packages. Usually, thats Norton AntiVirus,Trend Micro, McA ee, or Webroot. For virus protection, they are all excellentproducts.

You may not be aware, however, that antivirus so tware cant protect you againstall types o attacks. Many people think as long as they have antivirus so twareinstalled that they are protected. Thats not true because several layers o securityare needed to protect you. Antivirus so tware is only one o those layers.

Be ore we take a look at the other layers o security, it is important to understandwhat antivirus so tware can and cannot do. Think o your antivirus so tware asa series o vaccinations. Having a polio vaccination wont keep you rom gettinghepatitis. Likewise, having antivirus so tware wont necessarily protect your com-puter rom spyware or adware. In act, i you dont routinely update your antivirusso tware, it may not even protect you rom viruses. Like their biological cous-ins, computer viruses mutate. Just as you may need a new fu shot each winter toprotect against new viral strains, you also need to update your antivirus so twarecontinuously. For other types o malware, you may need other types o protection.Well explain these as we discuss the speci c types o malware.

1.2 Protect Your Turf, Then Surf!When you buy a computer, it is not secure. You should never pull a computer out o the box and connect it to the Internet unless you take steps to protect it. Think o your PC as a world traveler who needs vaccinations to avoid diseases in its travels.

In act, your new computer most likely is plagued with numerous security holes ,which are faws in the way your computers programs have been written thatwould make your computer vulnerable to attack. Just how serious the faws inthe code are determines how much access an attacker or that attackers malwarecan gain.

Warning!

Uneducated programmers + programming mistakes = security holes!


7/9


8/9

6 Chapter 1

could make o with enough personal data to steal your identity. I you use nan-cial so tware to track the bank account you opened or college savings when you

picked up that a ter school job, keep in mind that your data isnt just in ormation.It could be cash as well. And just to add another twist, a hacker could even useyour computer to launch an attack on other computers! For these reasons (andmany more well get to later), dont ever sur the Internet without security patches,antivirus so tware, and a rewall installed.

When you bought your computer, you probably startedwith a list o requirements: how much memory, howmuch disk space, what kind o graphics youd need or

your avorite games, whether you want to burn DVDsas well as view them. Be ore you go online, you alsoneed a Computer Security shopping list. This list is a ba-sic list. You should not leave any one o these items o your list. Virus protection must be on that list. You haveto install it and con gure it to update your computer au-tomatically. You also need to install any security patches

that have been issued or the operating system and the so tware you plan to use.

Security Patch A fix to a program to close a known security hole. Patches are rou-tinely issued for operating systems (like Windows 7) and Internet browsers (like InternetExplorer and Firefox) as well as other software applications.

The Internet is an in nitely cool place, but so is the vampire royal court inVolterra. We think it would be great to actually visit such a place, but only i weunderstood the Volturi laws, knew about Aro and Janes gi ts in advance, and alsobrought our own immortals. The Internet is exactly like that! There are wonder ul,

new, and exciting things going on therebut you really shouldnt show up withoutknowing the risks, understanding how to de end yoursel , and arming yoursel with the right protection.

Internet Security List:

Anti-Virus

Anti-Spyware

Personal Firewall

Security Patches


9/9

A collaborative project to provide free security learning to teens and families online, made available under the Creative Commons Licensing, and made possible by the support of individual and

corporate sponsors.Every day, millions of American school children log on orlog in and make decisions that can compromise their safety,security, and privacy. Weve all heard the horror stories of stolen identities, cyber stalking, and perverts on the Internet.Kids need to know how to stay safe online and how to usethe Internet in ways that wont jeopardize their privacy ordamage their reputations for years to come.

Learn how to

n Kill viruses, worms, Trojans, and spywaren Deal with cyberbulliesn Give SPAM the curb and smash web bugsn Understand just how public your private blogs aren Keep wireless freeloaders off your network n Prevent sexting from ruining your life

About the team

linda McCarthy , the former Senior Director of Internet Safety at Symantec, wrote the first edition ofOwn Your Space . With 20+ years experience in the industry, linda has been hired to test security oncorporate networks around the wor d. For the 2010 edition, lindas expertise is backed up by a futeam to provide the best security experience possib e for teens and fami ies on ine. That team inc udessecurity experts, design experts, anime artists, and parent reviewers, as we as a dedicated group ofteen reviewers, web designers, and test readers.

www.100pagepress.com

Cover design: A an C ementsCover artist: Nina MatsumotoCover i ustration 100pagepress page press

Smart Books for Smart People

Genera Computing

$19.99 US / $24.99 CAN

Documents

Own Your Space Chapter 01 Protect Your Turf