Released earlier this year, the National Strategy for Homeland Security is designed to protect us from terrorism in the United States on Federal, State, local and private levels. Accordingly, the President has now implemented a strategy for the protection of cyberspace, which is essential to defense and economic security, as well as critical infrastructures. The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, which supports both the National Strategy for Homeland Security and the National Security Strategy of the United States, promotes secure U.S. information systems and protects against malicious attacks in cyberspace.

Broken down into six levels, the strategy gives recommendations on how to assist the government on combating cyberterrorism to categories such as home user/small business to government to large corporations. This month, Level 1, home user/small business recommendations, will be highlighted.

Level 1: The Home User and Small Business

Level 1 of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace is intended to empower both the home user and small business to contribute to the protection of all cyberspace by protecting their own space and preventing others from using their computers to attack others. The report gives the following suggestions:

• Raising cybersecurity awareness of the home user and small business, including children and students
• Making it easier for home users and small businesses to keep current with anti-virus software, software patches, and firewalls, perhaps through activity by the Internet service providers
• Encouraging and helping facilitate the installation and use of firewalls, on all broadband Internet connections, such as cable modems, DSL, satellite and wireless
• Bringing cybersecurity resources closer to the users through local organization and educational courses

Because many home users and small business owners think they are too small for cyberterrorists to have any interest in attacking their computers, they often don’t have security concerns and don’t protect themselves. In fact, many home users and small businesses do not employ firewall or virus protection at all. The reality is that many cyberterrorists and hackers use smaller systems to hack into larger systems or to spread viruses.

The report also lists several possible outcomes (taken directly from the report) of cyber attacks in homes and small businesses:

• Hard drive crashing – A common problem caused by computer viruses on home and small business computers has been extensive damage to files, software and operating systems that can leave the user with a blank screen and costly repair bills. Often, more importantly, the small business owner or home user may lose irreplaceable data, such as customer records or personal correspondence.
• Identity theft – Information stored on a home computer may provide a hacker with enough personal data that the thief could apply for a credit card or identification in the user’s name.
• Credit theft – Rather than applying for a new credit card, a thief might just use credit card data on the hard drive of a home user or small business to buy products online and have them shipped to a drop site, such as a commercial “mail box” store.
• Tunneling – When employees work at home and then transfer files to a computer at the office, there is a potential that someone could remotely gain access to the home PC and place a secret file in a document that ends up on the company system.
• Extortion – For small businesses, someone may access customer names and credit card numbers and threaten to post that information on a Web site, unless the business owner pays up.
• Zombies – Automatic programs search for systems that are connected to the Internet, but are unprotected, take them over without the owner’s knowledge, and use them for malicious purposes.
• Compromise of Private Information – Some viruses send private or confidential files from a user’s hard drive to people in the user’s e-mail address book.

The report also outlines five steps to safety for home users and small business owners:

1. Use a Tough Password: Hackers use software that is designed to crack passwords and gain access to computers. Not protecting passwords can have disastrous results in today’s electronic world. Protect them as you would your bank account and credit card numbers, and create them to be as secure as possible. Passwords are best created to include the following attributes: at least seven characters in length, uses upper and lower case letters, contains symbols and numbers, as well as punctuation marks and has several different characters in the password. Also make sure to not use cliché passwords, such as names, common words, consecutive letters, etc.

2. Maintain an Updated Virus Protection Program: Because new viruses are being created continuously, it is recommended that every computer have an updated virus protection program. The program must be updated as often as possible because often the newest viruses cause the most damage, due to virus identification problems.

3. Update Patches: Many commonly used software programs, such as operating systems, web browsers and others, regularly exhibit previously unknown holes and flaws. When this occurs, the software companies issue notices, often via their own company website. Many times, the user never receives the notice, so it is important to routinely check back with the software companies for updates and solutions. The solutions usually consist of downloading “patches,” a small amount of software from the Internet.
4. Filtering: Most ISPs allow users to filter by listing the e-mail addresses from which they are willing to receive e-mail, including all e-mail accounts they maintain. This can prevent spamming, as well as many intrusion problems.

5. If you Have a Cable Modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Satellite or Other High Speed Connection: Many hackers use “bots,” or programs that search the Internet for insecure connections. High-speed connections that are always connected to the Internet (or more often than with dial up modems) make it easy for hackers to get into systems, often without the user ever knowing it. To avoid this, homes and small businesses should construct a firewall, which is hardware or software that protects your computer network from intruders. A user can specify what Internet programs are trusted to enter, and require all others to “knock” and be granted permission.

Source: The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. United States Government.

How Cebic Technologies Inc. Can Help

Cebic Technologies Inc. provides affordable, real-time IT management for small businesses. Cebic helps to establish and maintain healthy, secure computer networks by providing computer system management, real-time diagnostics, virus/intrusion protection, emergency support and strategic IT planning.

Remote Intelligence™ is a service sold by Hybinette’s sister company, Cebic Technologies Inc. For more information on how you can protect your small business, please visit www.cebic.com or call us 303-987-3679.

Source: National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, U.S. Government – Department of Homeland Security, September 2002.