Friday, November 19, 2010

Protect Your Data

Lately, a few people I know have lost their laptops. A rather devastating experience to say the least. Another person has had his PC tapped into via the net. That means that all all occasions, their data is now exposed to others. Here's a short article on the topic well worth the read. The best software I've used for data security is from ZoneAlarm and there is also a link to discount on some software.



Outsmarting the Emerging Cybercrime Trends

What can PC users do to stay ahead of cybercrime threats? Here are some good options:
1. At a minimum, use an excellent two-way free firewall with your antivirus. It can help by blocking hacker transmissions. So even if you are a victim, a criminal program may not be able to phone home to the hacker or send your personal information out.

2. Even better, use any security suite that includes an OS Firewall, which helps by detecting dangerous behavior that is often missed. (Also helpful: The ZoneAlarm suites that include an OS Firewall have Advanced Download Protection too, which is nearly invincible at detecting dangers hiding in downloads you initiate from the Web.)

3. Use browser virtualization that automatically neutralizes drive-by downloads before they can do damage. Drive-by download protection is not widely available, but you'll find it in ZoneAlarm Extreme Security and ForceField.

4. For Pete's sake, don't leave home without a spam filter,  and make sure you've got excellent anti-phishing protection. (A firewall should include advanced anti-phishing and several include anti-spam.) Avoid reading pharmaceutical advertising email, as there's at least an 80% chance it's spam, and it's likely to include a malware link or attachment.

5. And please, keep your software up-to-date, especially your Web browser, your OS, and any browser-related apps such as those by Adobe. Here are some good tricks for keeping your software up-to-date.
P.S. If you need new a quick way to select new security software, here are a couple of handy tools:

Save 25%  today on ZoneAlarm Datalock and keep your private data private even if your laptop is lost or stolen!


If your PC is stolen or lost, Zonealarm encryption makes everything on your computer's hard drive unreadable to unauthorized eyes - and we even secure deleted files too.

Easy and Automatic
– Encryption works silently in the background protecting all your data. Any new files you save or change are automatically secured. Even files you may not be aware of (eg. cookies, hidden files, recycle bin items) are automatically and transparently encrypted.

Password Recovery Assistance
– Worried about forgetting your password? Live customer support representatives are available 24/7 to help reset your password.

Enterprise Class Technology
– Hard Drive Encryption uses the same encryption technology that Check Point Software Technologies provides to major government and corporate customers to protect millions of computers.

Datalock works with any security software and it will not slow down your system. Once installed, DataLock encrypts your hard drive quietly over the course of a few hours.  After that, it silently updates the encryption while you work.

The software will encrypt all files including deleted files.   If only certain files were encrypted, you would remain vulnerable - temporary, deleted, and other files on your hard drive often have confidential information like credit card numbers.  DataLock keeps all your data encrypted so you don't worry about it.

FAQs

Can I make certain files "public" or send in email? You can use, send and share files the way you normally do.  You don't need to change your behavior in any way.  Once you log-in after starting your laptop, everything works as it always did.

 How does it work? Just log-in and use it.  DataLock automatically encrypts your entire hard drive in the background - including operating system files, temporary files, deleted files - to keep out anyone but you.  Even sophisticated hackers cannot decrypt it (AES 256-bit encryption).

Save 25%  today on ZoneAlarm Datalock and keep your private data private even if your laptop is lost or stolen!