If you are only talking about your computer hooked up to a cable modem,
and wanting to protect your computer from invasion, there are several
things you can do.

First and foremost is to get yourself a firewall.  Depending on your OS,
you may already have a firewall.  HOWEVER, I only recommend using an OS
firewall IN ADDITION to a "real" one.  For example, Windows XP
(Professional) comes with a built in firewall, but it's not all that
great.  I additionally run Norton Personal Firewall, which you can
purchase just about anywhere for around the $50 range.  A generic
description of a firewall is that it will only allow traffic in one
direction.  Most normally, this mean you are able to surf the web, etc,
but no connections may be made from outside machines to yours.  You
could go one step further, and add a physical firewall as well.  I have
cable modem access at my house, but I also have more than one computer.
For this reason, I purchased a router, with a built in firewall, 4-port
hub and a WAP all in one.  Now I'll admit the level of protection this
router provides does not rival that of a dedicated firewall device
(which can run in the 10's of thousands of dollars), but between my
router having a built-in firewall, my router supporting/performing NAT
(Network Address Translation), and my personal computer running firewall
software, I'm not too concerned.

You could also go one step further and encrypt the actual information
you wish to protect.  You can do this with off-the-shelf software (I'm
sure Norton has some), or you can once again use the OS.  Again, Windows
XP (Professional) has built-in capabilities to encrypt specific files or
folders.

If any one sees anything that I have misspoken about, or has anything to
add, please feel free!!

Jeremy Brown



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org] On
Behalf Of Phillip Perry
Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 8:20 PM
To: hwg-business(at)hwg.org
Subject: Handling sensitive info on clients.

Hi,

I was wondering how everyone stores sensitive info on their clients
(credit
cards, bank account#'s, etc..). Do you keep it on your computer system
or
just kept in a file on paper? If stored on computer how do you keep it
safe
from hackers? This last question is because I'm on a cable modem and I'm
wondering how safe it is. I'm not talking about a e-commerce type of
situation, just for things you are involved with directly.

Thanks

Phil

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