The following are some security measures that you need to pay special attention to it:
1. Physical security
This security measure is often overlooked because people do not think that this is a risk but actually it is. Anyone who has access to the computer can try and find out the password of your computer.
2. Learn your System
It is important to know something about your networks, printers, routers, hubs, and computer workstations that make up your current computer configuration around you. If you know these aspects, you will know what services need to be turned on and what services need to be turned off for the security reasons.
3. Make a list of all hardware and software
A detailed list all hardware and software will not only document your equipment, but it will also serve to document all systems and software that must be protected and maintained. The list will be very useful when the need for implementing upgrades, patches, and maintenance comes around.
4. Email
A few things to keep in mind when checking your email is to never open attachments that you receive in your inbox. If you receive a attachment from your friends, check with them to make sure that they did send it to you before you open it and use your antivirus software to scan incoming e-mail before opening it. Email Attachments are the big cause of your computer infected!
5. Make backups of all-important data
Making regular backups and testing of the backups of all the data is very important because you never know when you will have a hard drive failure and have no chance of getting the data back unless you send it to people who Specialize in data recovery, but it will be very expensive.
6. Secure your backup data
Backups should be placed in a fire proof safe in a locked room or in another safe location with very few people having access to it. It is suggested that the same data should be stored in two different location. Any old backups that are no longer needed should be destroyed.
7. Encryption
Encryption should be used when sending or storing documents on your harddrive and through e-mail that you don¡¯t want unauthorized people to view.
8. Hard drives
If you want to give your hard drive to others, you need to wipe clean of all your data. If you want to be sure that the data contained on the drives is "Completely" gone, you should destroy the platters in the hard drive if the drives are not going to be reused because others can easily recover the data you deleted, even if you did the reformation.
9. Cd¡¯s and Dvd¡¯s
Cd and dvd backups should be kept in a saft place. If you do not want them, you need to shred them so that nobody else can get the data from it.
10. Backup power supply
Power outages and spikes using a ups (uninterruptible power supply) will protect your equipment from damage and allow enough time to shutdown the system to ensure there is very little or no data loss.
11. User security
Do not leave your computer on without the password protection when you walk away from your desk, even a little while.
12. Creating passwords
All passwords should be tested with a password cracker to ensure that users are not using easy to guess passwords such as their kids names, favorite hobby, last name or their pets. They should be changed often.
13. Bios passwords
Using a bios password, you can prevent the computer from booting up. If you decide to use a bios password, check to see if your motherboard has the option to reset it by changing a jumper setting on the board. If not, you will have to use a program that will either clear it or show you what the password is. But keep in mind that this won¡¯t prevent someone from getting data out of your computer.
14. User accounts
Use User accounts instead of administrator account. These accounts should have some security settings that prevent programs from being installed the user account should be used for everyday tasks such as checking e-mail, surfing the web etc there is less chance of messing something up when you use a user account.
15. Guest accounts
Use guest accounts often for the guests. Guest accounts have tighter security than the user accounts and should be deleted when the guest is done using the system and with the account
16. Antivirus
Make sure that the definition of your antivirus program is always up to date and do full system scans every week and scan downloaded files before opening them.
17. Firewalls
It is important to use a firewall if your computer is connected to the internet with broadband, Dsl, Isdn or a dial-up connection. Dial-up users usually don¡¯t need to run a firewall but running one will make your computer a bit more secure when you are on line.
18. Routers
Routers are hardware devices that not only allow you to share a internet connection with more than one computers, it may also have firewalls that can be used to block internal users access to the Internet. When setting up the router, you need to make sure to change the default password and the login name to prevent people from changing the settings on your router.
19. Operating systems
Whichever operating system you use, you should have the latest patches and security fixes installed to prevent your computer from being compromised when you connect to the internet. A computer that has no updates installed on it will be got the virus faster than a computer with the patches.
