There are a lot of different threats that are on the internet right now but the one that anyone who has a popular web site fears is the dreaded botnet. Sure, your server may be able to be taken down by a virus or any other piece of malware but they are easy to recover from. A botnet is a whole different story. A botnet has the ability to shut down your web site without ever having to touch one piece of your hardware. It can send its zombie bots to do that. If this is the first time you have heard of a botnet then you might not know how it is able to do this and why it is such a big threat. In the following article we will explain the dynamics of the threat to you and your web site and how it is able to spread.

A botnet is a network of computers that are able to take commands from one central location. The amount of computers can be as little as a hundred or go up to as much as 100,000. They are able to get control of these computers by placing malware on the unsuspecting victims system. Once the malware is activated, it sits quietly waiting for the person who created it to give it commands. The person who is in control of these networks of computers is able to get them to do whatever they like. This means that if they want to send a large amount of spam email, they can without being detected. And the important part if you are a web site owner is that they are able to get these computers to focus on committing a DDOS attack. A DDOS attack is a Distributed Denial Of Service attack. They are able to do this by getting all of the computers that they control to focus on one server. They then start to make request to this server for certain resources. The amount of request become so much that they start to overwhelm the server. Now other people who are trying to get to the server are not able to get on. They have no idea that there is an attack happening to your server and they think that your site is broken. This makes the user not trust your now.

As you can see, a DDOS attack is a good reason for a web master to fear a botnet. You never know why someone is going to attack you with a DDOS attack. It might be a competing web site or it might be someone that is upset with you. Whatever the reason why someone is trying to attack you, they picked an effective way to do it. A DDOS attack is very hard to stop but there are ways to combat it. Make sure you check with your web site host to see if they know how to stop one.

When you have an operating system with as many features in it that Windows 7 has, there is a lot that you have to look over. You have to make sure that your decisions allow you to keep certain components of the system safe from being compromised. This attention to security also has to be paid to your home network as well. You have to be sure that you are able to keep all of the threats that you possibly can, out of your system. So we have put together a couple of tools that will allow you to keep your home network safe and as an extension, your personal computer as well. When it comes to the threats to your network, you have to worry about both the internet and the physical threats that can happen. Most people only worry about the threats that come from the internet. They never think about the threats that can come from your next door neighbor.

Some of the tools that we mention may be overkill for a small network but they will help keep you and your network safe. Other tools that we mention are easy to use and made for normal consumer usage. We do not expect you to use every tool that is at your disposal to protect your home network but we want to let you know that the option is available just in case you need it.

One of the tools that you can use to keep your network safe is a tool called NMap. It is a free piece of software that you can find on the internet. This tool will scan your network and tell you what computers are connected to it. This can help expose if someone is connected to your network that should not be. You can also use the tool to help expose any weakness in your network. It will show you open ports that are vulnerable to someone being able to get into your network. Seeing which ports are open on your system will allow you to be proactive against any threats before they happen.

Another tool that you can use to help protect your home network is the firewall that already comes with your router. Most people will plug the router in and never mess with it again. If you actually explore all of the options that are available, you will find that it has a whole suite of applications that will be able to keep your network safe. It is up to you to actually turn these features on. On the newer routers, the firewall is turned on automatically. But it still may not be optimized to best protect your network. Read your manual and see what you will need to do to make sure that the router is using all of its abilities.

Unlike in the past, there are certain tools that you must have so that you can surf the web in relative safety. But even if the web site does not have any dangerous malware on it, it can still be invading your privacy by having spyware installed onto your computer. This is the type of infection that can cause someone to be able to collect a lot of data about you. Some spyware is even installed by legitimate companies but they collect information about your surfing habits and not anything that is personal. There is a fine line between the illegal types of spyware and the legal kind. No matter if the spyware is illegal or not, this is something that you do not want on your computer. In this article we will show you several ways that you can either get rid of the spyware that has already been installed on your system or keep new spyware from being introduced.

To stop a web site from installing spyware into your system, one of the more popular ways is to change the browser that you use. If you are still using Microsoft Internet Explorer then this means you. Internet Explorer has many holes in it that a lot of the spyware authors use to introduce exploits into your system. A popular browser to switch to is the famous Firefox. Not only is the browser inherently more safe than Internet Explorer, it has a lot of plugins that are available, that will help keep spyware off of your system as well.

Besides changing the browser you use, you can also avoid going to sites that will cause your computer to become infected as well. There are certain sites that are more prone to introducing spyware than others. Sites like this include adult sites, warez sites, and other sites that are considered on the fringe of the internet. When you want to keep your computer safe, then you definitely want to avoid going into the places that will set the most traps. If you do go to one of these types of sites, make sure that you go to one that is trusted and the members give it a grade “A” review.

If you already have spyware on your system you must do what you can to make sure that it is off of your computer. The longer that it stays on your computer, the more information it is able to build up. To get it off of your computer, you can start with a program like Ad-Aware. This program has been the number one way to get spyware and rogue cookies off of your computer for years. All you have to do is install the program, let it do a quick update, and then let it scan your system. It will be able to find most if not all the spyware and eliminate it from your system for good.

You want to get rid of all the spyware that you can that is on your system. Once you do this, then you will be able to surf the internet without worrying that someone is spying on you.

Unfortunately, when it comes to software security, there are many fronts on the battlefield. There are a lot of ways that black hat hackers are able to expose your computer to software that will harm it. They have to be tricky in their attacks because if they used the same way every time, then security researchers and the companies that make the operating system would be able to catch on. So to avoid that from happening, there have been many different methods of attack created. We will list the different types of malware that are out in the wild and tell you how you can watch out for them. If you use common sense and the right software then you can avoid any trouble.

Malware types

We will start off with the most basic type of malware infection and that is the virus. A virus is a piece of software (malware) that will run through your computer and start to infect it in different areas. It travels from computer to computer by regenerating itself onto other systems. It keeps doing this until the antivirus companies are able to match its signature. Unfortunately by the time that happens, it has already infected thousands of computers.

The second type of malware we will talk about is the Trojan. A Trojan is a piece of software that hides another piece of software underneath it. The software that it is hiding is the one that will do damage to your system. The job of the Trojan malware is just to deliver the package and make sure that the antivirus software is not able to detect it. Trojans will fool you by looking like innocent pieces of software that you may know already. But fooling you is only half the job of a Trojan. The other half is to fool any software protection that you may have as well.

A third type of malware that will infect your computer is a worm. A worm malware is self replicating and it needs no intervention from a human user. It will create copies of itself and spread itself all over your network. One of the main ways that it is able to travel is through the use of networks, both the internet and local. This is a big reason why you need a firewall on your home network. A worm is one of the many threats that you can get from online when you leave your network unprotected.

For all of these malware threats, there is an easy way to defend yourself from 90% of the attacks. Make sure that you have an effective antivirus running and that you are careful where you go when you surf the web. Make sure that you do not go to web sites that look shady and try to avoid sites that you do not know already. Some sites are just breeding grounds for these kinds of infections.

These are the main types of malware that you can receive on your computer. Each of these pieces of malware can be at different strengths depending on the variant of that particular strain. You must make sure that you do all that you can to protect yourself from these types of threats.