Older Means Wiser To Computer Security 181
An anonymous reader writes "Growing up in the digital age, 18 – 25s may appear to be a more tech-savvy generation, but that does not translate into safer computing and online practices. A new study reveals that they are the most at-risk group, and prone to cyber-attacks. That makes this group even more vulnerable to online security threats. Younger users tend to prioritize entertainment and community over security, perhaps due to overconfidence in their security knowledge. For example, they're more concerned about gaming or other social activities than their online security. They also have less sophisticated security software, and hence, have reported more security problems than other groups."
Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, non-obnoxious, and works well. The Windows Firewall is fine. No need for extra stuff.
Linux: There aren't really any noteworthy Linux-specific viruses that affect desktop systems. Keep things up to date. For server systems, things like tripwire are handy to see if things are getting modified. The built-in firewall is again excellent.
Hosts File: DO NOT SUMMON APK.
Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
This seems like a good place to ask: What is the best firewall and antivirus software available for Windows?
For home users, there's little reason not to go with Microsoft Security Essentials as your antivirus: it does a good job of detecting most malware, it's free, and it's faster and less intrusive than most third-party solutions.
Regarding firewalls, I've heard good things about the Comodo firewall, but personally I've never had a problem just using the standard Windows firewall in conjunction with a NAT device.
Make sure to keep Windows Update set to automatic, and install the security updates when they become available. More importantly, be sure to update Flash and Adobe Reader, since these are actually a bigger vector for infection now than Windows and IE. Don't install Java unless you really need it, and even if you do need it for a desktop app, make sure the browser plugin is disabled, and that you keep the VM up to date at all times. It's a big attack surface.
Re:Still true, as it always has been (Score:5, Informative)
"When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. When I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."
-Mark Twain
Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
For windows.
McAfee I'd not select. It's an absolute pig on resources.
Norton is ok, but also rather piggish.
AVG is actually not bad, or Avast I hear is pretty good.
Windows 7 antivirus that they include also isn't too bad.
kaspersky isn't bad either.
You'd also want an anti-spyware/adware. My suggestions:
spybot search & destroy
malware bytes
ad-aware
For manual checking/removal:
hijack this!
wireshark
For firewalls:
I'd honestly set up a linux box as a firewall proxy for your windows system. But if you must have a windows firewall:
zonealarm - free, and it 'works', but not the best
Comodo is actually pretty nice and I believe their firewall is free
For Linux:
Generally, you don't need to worry much about viruses, but I won't be so arrogant to say Linux can't get them. A PEBCAK error makes Linux vulnerable like any other OS, so with that in mind, my suggestion:
samhain -- this is very nice protection against rootkits as it does md5 checksums of all your binaries/libraries and alerts you of any system changes.
clamav -- antivirus for linux/unix
iptables -- this is your built in linux firewall. Very very powerful.
fail2ban -- this (or other software like denyhosts, blockhosts, etc) good for brute force attacks on your services (like ssh, httpd, etc)
ACL -- check into setting up acl restriction on binaries as well as mounting partitions nosuid or noexec.
You can find various graphical/web frontends for iptable configuration. It's pretty complex so if you're a newbie to Linux or unix in general you may want to search around for a good front end. Otherwise, I suggest just doing it by hand and set up your own iptable rule sets as it gives you more flexability.
Make sure to also apply all the recent patches, disable any services/daemons you don't need running, and for any remote access you enable to your system, lock it down to the specific set of users you want to connect to your system.
Hope that helps.