Starting up a Security Class for Students Created by: Beth Byrnes Larry James Zac Reimer For Information Services University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Identifying the Need In spite of required applications, constant issues with spyware, trojans and other malware. Already doing one on one instruction during pick-up. Spending all our time doing clean-up on Windows computers. No current resource for students to get the basics Something needs to be done to reach more people.

Creating the Class What ‘has to’ be in the class? Try to keep it under an hour Get a good space to have it Advertise Get input from: –Computer Help Center –University Networking –University Network Security –University Housing –ResNet Student Workers

Security For Beginners How to keep your computer safe on the Internet

Main Topics Microsoft Updates AntiVirus Firewalls Anti-Spyware Physical Security Passwords Best Practices

Microsoft Updates Should update from “Windows Update” to “Microsoft Update”. Should be set to “auto”. Decide if any “optional” updates are needed. Ex. Windows Media Player. Should be able to un-install any updates that cause problems.

AntiVirus Sophos – UNL has Campus-wide License and a local update server. McAfee Symantec/Norton Trendmicro AVG – no longer available ‘free’ Avast Kapersky (highly rated) Many others

What’s the BEST AntiVirus? All AV programs have Pros and Cons Typical Pros –Automatic updates of virus files –Automatic handling of infections –Quarantine of infected files

What’s the BEST AntiVirus? Typical Cons –Can be resource hogs –May not find new variants –May not be able to clean/quarantine/delete viruses it finds

What’s the BEST Antivirus? Remember: “Any AntiVirus is better than NO AntiVirus.”

Firewalls On or off campus, the Windows firewall should be all you need. But it has to be on.

Firewalls Firewalls are ‘built-in’ to packages like: –Norton Security Center –McAfee Security Center –Windows Live OneCare (requires special exception on the UNL ResNet.)

Firewalls There are lots of free ‘stand alone’ firewalls available. –ZoneAlarm –OnlineArmor –Comodo –Sunbelt –PCTools Firewall Plus

Anti-Spyware/Anti-Malware Windows Defender is ‘built-in’ to Windows Vista. For XP, it’s getting less useful as time goes by.

Anti-Spyware/Anti-Malware Many available free to download –SuperAntiSpyware Preferences>Scanning control check two boxes –“Close Browsers before scanning” –“Terminate memory threats before quarantining” –SpywareBlaster –Spybot Search and Destroy Don’t install “Tea Timer”

Physical Security Keep your dorm room locked. –Even if you’re gone for “just a minute”. Keep hold of your laptop when you’re out and about. Use a ‘good’ password. With a different one for the ‘admin’ account.

Passwords What’s a ‘good’ password? –Not your name. –Not your unlid number. –Not ‘huskers’ or ‘huskerfan’. –Not your birthday. –Not anything someone could guess.

Passwords A good password is a random string of letters, numbers and characters that you can remember easily.

Best Practices Don’t open from someone you don’t know. Don’t open attachments if you’re not sure what they are and what they’ll do. Keep your Browser Security level set to “Medium High”. Regularly scheduled manual updates and scans. Keep abreast of changes, new security tools and practices. And if you get a pop-up that says something like “Exploits have been detected on your computer. Click here to download a program that will fix them.” DON’T DO IT!

Phishing You might get an from your credit card company, your bank, ebay, paypal, or someone else asking you to ‘update’ or ‘confirm’ your account information. Especially your password and/or account number. They may want you to reply to the or will have a web link for you to click. This is Phishing. They’re trying to get you to give them your account/identity.

Phishing No legitimate business does this. –Ebay doesn’t do this. –Paypal doesn’t do this. –Visa doesn’t do this. –Nobody does this. Even if you think it is real, don’t reply to the , don’t click on the link. It may say ‘paypal.com’, but probably goes to a bogus site. Contact the company by typing the correct URL into the address bar of your Browser.

What if your computer is still infected? What do you do if your Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware finds something that it can’t clean, can’t quarantine and can’t delete? Or worse yet, if it finds them and says it has cleaned/quarantined/deleted them, but when you scan again, they’re still there?

What if your computer is still infected? Bring it to the folks at the ResNet office or the Computer Help Center. We can help. ResNet office is in the back of the Sandoz Computer Lab Computer Help Center is in the 501 Building

What We’ve Learned Don’t schedule anything after the class Smaller classes are better Put the details on the ResNet website for later reference The class is as dynamic as keeping a computer secure.