US PCWORLD MAGAZINE BUYING GUIDE PC World PC Security Buying Guide: "PC Security Buying Guide


Buyers' Guide to PC Security
Part 1 of 2 pages


Unless you are a serious electronics buff, there is a good chance your home PC is the most expensive piece of equipment in your home. Or if you've got a notebook, it is likely to be the most expensive thing you carry around in a bag.

Although your insurance policy may cover the costs of replacing hardware if it is stolen, there isn't anything that money can do to retrieve your precious or personal data. Nor is there anything you can do to stop the thief from finding those confidential details you keep on the system. Maybe the thief isn't interested in physically stealing your PC from your home; instead, they just want that 16-digit number from your credit card. Or perhaps they want to steal your processor time and network bandwidth to attack someone else.

These are but a few of the reasons why all computer users should take the time to consider how to mitigate their PC security risks.

The threats to your home PC or notebook can be correlated to the multitude of security products available. Physical security products are used to deter theft of the computer hardware. Network security products include personal firewall software, hardware devices and, to some extent, antivirus applications. These are important to anyone who uses the Internet, and are vital for users with broadband connections at home. Access security products involve software or combined hardware and software solutions which control who has access to your computer. Data security covers password protected files, encryption and secure deletion.

Faced with the sheer volume of products now being offered, and with many computers and operating systems now including some of these security capabilities, it is important for users tounderstand their needs first before they decide in which products to invest.

First things first: Nail it down (Back to contents)

The idea of physical PC security is as simple as it is essential. Keeping people you don't trust away from your PC by locking the door is a great start - just being able to get to a PC's floppy drive and power button makes it quite easy to break into many systems. But if you've left your PC somewhere public or a would-be thief is already in your home or office, then there is still the idea of locking your computer to something immobile.

Most notebooks have a small opening on the side or back which is intended for third-party locks. There are many options on the market - some as simple as a lock with an attached steel cable for looping around a table-leg, others with locking plates and super glue to create anchor points. For the gadget fans, there are also many cables and locks with in-built motion-sensors and high-decibel alarms. Cables and locks are available in the $60-90 range, with motion sensors around $90-100.

For desktop systems, there are versions of the same - anchor points with special glues, cables and alarms. And to prevent access to drives, there are locks that attach to the case and physically prevent anyone from opening the CD/DVD drive or putting in a floppy disk. There are also chunkier enclosures available that physically surround the PC or PC and monitor, requiring a lot more effort than a pair of bolt-cutters to remove.

Should the thief manage to steal your computer anyway, several companies offer a tracking and recovery service. The recovery services work using software agents installed on your computer. Each time the computer is connected to the Internet it contacts the recovery service and sends either its current IP address or the phone number from which it is calling, allowing the computer's new location to be identified and police informed.

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