If you are truly looking for first-hand information on Personal Computer Security Guide, plus a lot more, you've come to the right place, a place where information security is demystified.

With Information, man could achieve a lot. He can only be limited by the level of his imagination. With internet, the world is at your finger tips. The world is now said to be a global village because of the impact of internet. In summary, the benefits of internet are unquantifiable.

Why should a site be dedicated to Personal Computer Security Guide?

Yes, greater number of companies now make use of the internet, even more now have their own websites, even including small companies. In short, the benefits of internet are unquantifiable but so also the risks.

According to a report on information security incidents recorded by companies in the U.K in 2004, it was discovered that three-quarters of large companies had at least one security incident in 2003.

By 2006, it has reduced slightly. The report concluded that malicious incidents are driving the occurence of these incidents. These malicious incidents include viruses, unauthorised access, misuse of systems, fraud, theft, just to mention but a few.

Also, there were significant cases of incidents arising from accidental systems failure or data corruption.

This is a lot of scarce resources being wasted - money and time (man-hour). What about the reputation which can't easily be quantified. Why all these? In 2004 alone in the U.K, it was estimated that the total cost of a typical worst incident to a company range from 7,000 and 14,000 GBP. Though, in the 2006 report, a reduction in the occurence of incidents were reported, however, the cost per incident went up by about 50%. Could you imagine the impact of this on business performance and by extension, the country's economy! What of the unreported cases of incidents (corporate or individual)?

Another unconfirmed source - U.S, put the loss due to internet fraud and computer security flaws (both personal and corporate) at between $555 million to $13 billion. What a staggering figure again!

These costs could be in the form of:-

- business distruption and by extension, lost of business orders.

- lost of asset (e.g. server and/or programs), it could be the cost of repair or their outright replacement.

- it could be fines or penalty payments as a result of the outcome of court judgement or fines imposed by the regulatory authorities.

- it could be the cost of time needed to respond to information security incidents in investigating the incidents and implementing remedial actions to forestall future occurence.

- it could also be from the compensation payment to customers either voluntarily paid or otherwise.

The intention here is not to scare you. Our ultimate aim is to take the burden off you by sharing our experience with you on this site - Personal Computer Security Guide. We would highlight the need for personal computer security in a simplified manner.

Companies do have some resources, whether adequate or not, to put controls in place to prevent information security incidents. Our focus is to help both individuals and corporate organisations (especially small businesses) who could not afford the same level of resources put in place by big companies, to understand what could go wrong due to the activities of fraudsters, hackers and intruders.

There is no rock science but simple personal discipline. As a small organisation, a little investment could, in fact, save your organisation a loss of a lifetime. As individuals, you need to protect the confidentiality of your information, your credit card number etc

To ensure adequate security of information and the resources on which they are kept, you must amongst other things;

1) understand and anticipate what could go wrong, and

2) take adequate care to prevent it. And if unexpected happens, to

3) control it so as to minimise the loss associated with it.

You may ask, why should a site be dedicated to Personal Computer Security Guide. Is it about firewalls, antivirus or what? If not, then what is Personal Computer Security all about?

Personal Computer security is all about adopting appropriate security safeguards.

All these will be revealed in Personal Computer Security Guide website. In doing this, we shall, amongst other things, cover the following topics plus a lots more:

- History of Computer Security

- Information management and computer security

- Home computer security

- Hardware Security

- Small business computer security

- Physical Security of computer

- Desktop Computer Security

- Laptop/Notebook Computer Security

- Wireless Computer Security

- Computer security authentication

- Logical Security of computer

- Data Security

- Antivirus software

- Biometric and Computer Security

- Firewalls and computer security

- Intrusion Detection

- Spyware and Computer Security

- Data Encryption

- Digital Certificate

- Password Management

Information Management and Security Effective information management and security go together. Government at national and international levels invests money, human and material resources to manage information security.

History of Computer Security The history of computer security dated back to the 60s when the mainframe computer was in use. It was a scarce resource.

Firewalls Firewalls as part of computer security, is a component or set of components that restricts access between a protected network (your computer) and the internet, or between other sets of networks

Intrusion Detection Intrusion detection system is a combination of programs and/or hardware put in place for the early detection of security problems.

Antivirus An antivirus software is a software written for the purose of removing a virus. The word Virus is a generic term applied to a variety of malicious computer programs.

Biometrics Biometrics is a method of automatic identification or authentication of a person using one or more of his/her physiological or behavioural characteristics.

Spyware Spyware is software that is placed secretly on a computer in order to track the user’s behaviour with the intention of reporting back to a central source.

Encryption The term encryption simply means the process where a message in a readable form (the plain text) is transformed into second message with the help of a key thereby making it unreadable

physical security By physical security of computers, we mean the physical access controls put in place to protect the computer’s critical information assets.

Logical Security of Computer Logical security of computer are measures (computer hardware and software security), put in place to safeguard information against unauthorised use, disclosure or modification, damage or loss.

Small Business Computer Security Small Business Computer Security. Though, small companies might not be able to afford the services of a full time CSO, still information security is a must.

Home Computer Security Home computer security, Why? The number of people either workers, retirees or baby boomers who now take advantage of the internet has increased significantly.

Data Security Data Security consists of measures put in place to protect your data. There are mainly two ways of protecting any resource-Control the paths and safeguard the resource itself.

Laptop Security The growth of mobile computing and increase in the cases of laptop theft have led to the increase in the need for laptop security.

Wireless Technology Wireless technology is expanding with the acceptance of wireless technology. This is primarily due to low cost/affordability, ease of installation, mobility and flexibility e.t.c

Identity Theft Identity theft can simply be defined as the unauthorised use of victim’s personal information for financial gain.

Desktop Security Desktop Security is influenced by the value of information on the destop computer. Destop Computer can be defined as “a single computer commonly refers to as a PC (Personal Computer)”.

Hardware Security The major goal of hardware security is that of availability.

Password Management Password is the oldest, simplest and most common way to ensure that only those that have permission can enter (access) your computer or computer network. Hence, password management is very important