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We're all connected to the internet or we wouldn't be in this forum. I thought that, as a system administrator, I'd start this thread. It's not meant as an end-all cure-all, but thought I'd start by defining some areas of digital OPSEC we could discuss.
Note here that, although I am a system administrator, that doesn't mean I know everything about everything nor am I trying to be condescending. If this article sounds that way, I appoligize. I specialize in unix/linux (a lot of folks haven't heard of these) and am NOT a windows guru, so be aware of that up front.
1) Our online connection. This consists of our ISP (Internet Service Provider).
2) Our home network. (How we get the data from the ISP in-home connection to our computers.
3) Our computers and other things we have connected. Could be printers or security cameras, etc..
4) The data on our computers.
5) Our passwords to our computers or other online accounts.
To keep this posting from becoming a novel, I'll pose a few questions on each of the 5 topics with some comments and see if/where it goes.
1) The online connection. Most ISP's give you a modem/router as an interface to their network. The firewall on these have a log that keeps track of failed attempts to get to your network. I've found ddos (distributed denial of service) attempts from Russia, China and California. All being blocked, but nice to know who's after me through the ISP.
2) The home network. A lot of people use the wireless interface on the home network. Have you set up encryption on this or is it open? How easy is your password to guess?
3) The computers. Most of you run Windows. Do you have the Windows firewall enabled? Do you even know what it is? Have you taken the defaults or modified them?
4) The data on your computers. Some people use money management software and/or have inventories for various things. Is this data safe? Is it encrypted? There are freeware open source applications to do this (veracrypt for one).
5) Passwords. Are yours easy to guess? Where do you keep them? Spreadsheet, peice of paper? There are freeware 'password vaults' to keep your passwords in an encrypted database (keepass is one).
Note here that, although I am a system administrator, that doesn't mean I know everything about everything nor am I trying to be condescending. If this article sounds that way, I appoligize. I specialize in unix/linux (a lot of folks haven't heard of these) and am NOT a windows guru, so be aware of that up front.
1) Our online connection. This consists of our ISP (Internet Service Provider).
2) Our home network. (How we get the data from the ISP in-home connection to our computers.
3) Our computers and other things we have connected. Could be printers or security cameras, etc..
4) The data on our computers.
5) Our passwords to our computers or other online accounts.
To keep this posting from becoming a novel, I'll pose a few questions on each of the 5 topics with some comments and see if/where it goes.
1) The online connection. Most ISP's give you a modem/router as an interface to their network. The firewall on these have a log that keeps track of failed attempts to get to your network. I've found ddos (distributed denial of service) attempts from Russia, China and California. All being blocked, but nice to know who's after me through the ISP.
2) The home network. A lot of people use the wireless interface on the home network. Have you set up encryption on this or is it open? How easy is your password to guess?
3) The computers. Most of you run Windows. Do you have the Windows firewall enabled? Do you even know what it is? Have you taken the defaults or modified them?
4) The data on your computers. Some people use money management software and/or have inventories for various things. Is this data safe? Is it encrypted? There are freeware open source applications to do this (veracrypt for one).
5) Passwords. Are yours easy to guess? Where do you keep them? Spreadsheet, peice of paper? There are freeware 'password vaults' to keep your passwords in an encrypted database (keepass is one).