8 Layers of Security Every Computer Should Have

Product FRED · 27 Mar 2010

The single most important thing to understand is that 99% of all attacks now originate from the Web. When you start a web browser, it starts from a trusted place .... _inside_ the firewall, so that creates a trusted tunnel thru the firewall, and if a victim visits a website of hostile intent, the attack code is able to go right through the firewall, and has a chance of executing on the pc.

8 Layers of Security Every Computer Should Have | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

whs · 27 Mar 2010

Hmm, they only recommend data backup. I would go one step further and recommend imaging for the system and the data.

JordanJP · 27 Mar 2010

whs said:

Hmm, they only recommend data backup. I would go one step further and recommend imaging for the system and the data.

what program do you use to image your system and data ?

pparks1 · 27 Mar 2010

I use Acronis True Image Home 2010 for imaging my OS at home. I've also used Macrium Reflect Free Edition as well which does a great job. Even Windows 7 has a built-in "System Image" feature which i have used numerous times without an issue.

As far as my data, I don't image it. I just use robocopy and keep a copy on a pair of external USB hard drives.

whs · 27 Mar 2010

JordanJP said:

whs said:

Hmm, they only recommend data backup. I would go one step further and recommend imaging for the system and the data.

what program do you use to image your system and data ?

Imaging with free Macrium

I also use Norton Ghost on Vista. But that is a LOT more complex and slower. Took me a year to really understand it and needs a dedicated 640GB disk.

antharr · 27 Mar 2010

I stand behind the recommendation of imaging your system drive. It's also a good idea to have one partition for just the operating system and another for files that should be copied to an external in case of hard drive failure. I use Macrium Reflect and I can have my system back in full working condition in a little more than 10 minutes if something happens.

Once you have all this in place then the security part is not that hard. Just use common sense when browsing and have your normal security apps installed. In addition I would never plug into any device that connects to the internet without a NAT firewall.

whs · 27 Mar 2010

antharr said:

I stand behind the recommendation of imaging your system drive. It's also a good idea to have one partition for just the operating system and another for files that should be copied to an external in case of hard drive failure. I use Macrium Reflect and I can have my system back in full working condition in a little more than 10 minutes if something happens.

Once you have all this in place then the security part is not that hard. Just use common sense when browsing and have your normal security apps installed. In addition I would never plug into any device that connects to the internet without a NAT firewall.

It is good you mention the seperate data partition. I consider that also very important. Data Partition

Creer · 28 Mar 2010

Regarding to this article I could say - it's not about layers it's about softwares. But If we are talking about layers here is how it should looks (based on this article of course):

1. Prevention (Firewall, Newest version of your favorite browser, Network-based restrictions and user management software and Data encryption software.)

2. Detection (A traditional scanner, such as antivirus, antimalware, and antispyware software, A specialist Web-scanning layer to block most of the attacks immediately, A behavior monitoring layer.)

3. Cure (Online backup system)

Summary, we have 3 layers of protection not 8.

Jaxryley · 29 Mar 2010

Have deliberately downloaded and run several gigs of malware samples here using my Sandboxie, Returnil and VM setups on XP, Vista and Win 7 which are installed on different drives that I plug/unplug as to what I feel like using.

The above setups have never been breached but I still create two or three partitions where only system and needed files are on C with data, vm's and images saved on the other partitions.

Data and images are also saved to an external drive as I would be mighty upset if I ever lost my malware samples.

Even have a coupla drives with linux distros but I really don't like using those.

atomicwedgie · 29 Mar 2010

I have always had separate drives for OS's, data and programs. Not a partition but drives. Operating Systems installed on one drive, programs installed on the next, data on yet another.

The problem I see with a separate partitions for programs/data is that I've had more partition problems than anything else. This is exacerbated by the fact that at any point I have no less than 3 OS's installed and while it requires installing every app twice, I install the same app to the same location. Right now I have Vista and Seven sharing the same apps (where possible) and Linux on it's own drive.