how to secure network and computers

[lion cave]

I have task assigned to me that my boss want the best security software that prevent from the hackers, spammers, spy, and any kinds of viruses. What is the best software to use?

Before, my boss experience that his account was hacked. So, thats why he assigned me this kind of tasks.

Additionally, I want to know how the network and computers for a company to be secured? How our network system will secure from a hacker?

[sicarie]

Security isn't a program - it's a mindset. It's educating yourself and keeping that knowledge up to date.

I'd recommend starting with 3 things:

1) anti-virus AND anti-spyware
This usually causes managers and financial people to cringe, but you can find good free options out there for both. The two anti-virus I've heard the most about are Avast and ClamAV

For spyware I've used previous versions of AdAware (there is a free link on there somewhere), and liked it, though I haven't used it recently

2) computer patching and 'hardening'
I would recommend updating/patching all desktops to the 'latest and greatest' versions. This is, of course, after testing such updates/patches on a low-priority system to ensure it won't break any of your applications.

Windows systems can be updated from here
Linux/Unix systems differ per version, but you can google '<version> linux update' and find good links

Hardening each computer merely means doing 'standard preventative measures' (like having fire exits clearly marked in buildings). There are many methods, and the important things are to pick the ones that apply to your systems. I'd recommend starting here

3) Knowledge
Passwords - Write down a clever sentence or phrase that you use frequently. Mash it all together so there are no spaces. Use 'leet' speak to play with the combination of letters/numbers/capitalization. Pick out noticeable fragments.

For example:

The TV show Chuck is hysterical
TheTVshowChucki shysterical
7heTVsh0wChuck! shyst3r!c@l
7TVsh0wC!hy

I have several of such passwords for different uses (accounts I don't care about I re-use one of such passwords) That's 10 characters, mix of letters, numbers, and capitalization, and will be a good standard password, plus is a show I've watched for 3 years and thoroughly enjoy.

SSL - if a website doesn't use SSL, it's probably not secure (though there are exceptions such as VPN). Research what SSL is and what makes it secure - what certificates are good/bad, and how to look for 'phishing' attacks that use common misspellings or similar-looking letters

As an example, yourbank.com yovrbank.com - one letter difference, but also the difference between losing your identity and not

The last thing for a 'quick' education I can recommend is NEVER click links or enter info into an email. Even if a friend sends me something, I type the URL in manually and then search the site for the link they want me to see. A person can link ANYTHING to a set of text. For example http://www.chase.com does not go to chase.com, but rather disney.com. Hackers can get even more complicated and do various things like URL masking (if you see instead something like htp://10.129.186.58, but chase.com loads - it's a compromised copy of the site), or redirection where it'll show chase.com/abunchofstuff and then after the 'abunchofstuff' scrolls off the screen there is a 'redirect' command to the compromised site, or even use the method I showed earlier about sending to a similar site

My final recommendation is to assume your boss' computer has been compromised. I'd suggest having him write down for 3 days everything he uses to ensure that you've got everything, and the folder path to all such information. Backup that information, and any other 'known' info on the box, and completely reinstall everything - that'll wipe out the virus (hopefully), and get him going on a 'hardened' system

There are lots more things I could recommend, but those are the basics I recommend starting with - I'm sure other people can chime in and post suggestions as well

[Denburt]

Very well put Sicarie as an FYI (maybe I shouldn't put this but hey) I haven't used spyware since forever. I have never particularly cared for them but I do use a host file (basically a blacklist) and I find that takes care of most of the spyware and many other issues (should I knock on wood now?) I will say that it knocks out most of the advertisements when you are surfing and some links but I usually don't want to visit them anyhow and if I do I would type in their site manually as Sicarie suggested. If you would like more info on a host file the site I prefer to visit keeps the host file updated quite well and they are very informative on this topic. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

BTW this file is great if you have children and you want to keep them off of a certain site 127.0.0.1 redirect is awesome .

[lion cave]

thank for all your help, both of you. it really helps!