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How to
keep the information in my computer safe?
While
most users would agree that the loss of information stored on
their personal computers would be catastrophic, few have taken
serious measures to keep such information secure and private.
Safeguarding the information
on your computer, in fact, does not require much technical and
expert knowledge. By following
some basic principles, you, as a general user, can also go a
long way to help protect the information resources on your PC
and everybody else's.
The followings are
10
useful tips to help you get started with PC
security:
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1 |
Place
your PC at a secure place.
IT
equipment should not be placed in areas where it is
susceptible to physical damages such as power failure,
vibration, unauthorized access etc. |
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2 |
Adopt
a not-easy-to-guess password.
Password
together with the username gives you access to
computing resources on a PC. Hence username with a
'not-easy-to-guess' password is the baseline for
protecting a PC. |
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3 |
Protect
file sharing with proper access control.
If file sharing is enabled on your PC, you need to
protect it from unauthorized attacks. It is
recommended that the default 'Simple File Sharing and
Print' and 'Auto Search for Network Folders and
Printers' should be disabled.
How
to
Sharing of
disk and folder should be protected by using 'access
control lists (ACLs)' to specify which users are
granted access right. |
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4 |
Do
not open unknown e-mail attachments and avoid sending
attachments with executable codes. A
general good practice is not to open any unknown
e-mail attachments. Avoid sending messages with
attachments that contain executable codes, like Word
documents with macros, EXE files and ZIPPED files. Use
Rich Text Format (RTF) which has much less risk of
carrying virus for attachments. |
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5 |
Backup
your important files and data.
It is
important to make regular backups of important files
and data in order to recover from computer
catastrophes. It is also advisable to keep an
emergency boot disk which must be created before a
security incident has happened. |
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6 |
Protect
your PC against viruses. Anti-virus
software must be installed and updated regularly, and
anti-virus scans applied regularly and very
frequently. Before installation of any software, be
sure to check it with virus scanning programmes and do
not install or execute programmes from untrusted
sources. Implement security patches recommended by
vendors as soon as appropriate and report any virus
problems to the ITS Help Centre as soon as detected. |
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7 |
Do
not open unknown programmes.
You are advised not
to open any unknown programmes unless they are
distributed by a trusted party. Also, do not
distribute programmes of unknown origins. |
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8 |
Disable
the 'auto complete' feature for password.
Web
browser may offer an 'auto complete' feature for users
to save previous entries, including passwords. Disable
the 'auto complete' feature for password in the web
browser to prevent the saved information from being
exploited.
How
to |
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9 |
Use
validly licensed software.
Only
validly licensed software should be used on personal
computers. Illegal software may contain malicious
codes, viruses and backdoor programmes that may damage
a PC. |
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10 |
Ensure
removal of information before disposal of storage
media and PC.
All information,
especially confidential data, must be removed in such
a way that render them unreadable and non-reconstructable
in part or in whole before the media in which they
reside are to be reused. |
All staff and student users
please do your part to protect the information resources on
your computers. In addition to security tips on personal
computer, guidelines on other areas of IT security, including
campus
network and Internet, operating system, application system,
physical as well as backup and recovery,
are
also readily available to you in the formulated by ITS.
You are urged to familiarize
yourselves with the Departmental IT Security Guidelines and
observe the recommendations and good practices outlined in the
document to help safeguard the overall IT environment at PolyU.
Whether you are an ordinary
user or the department's IT administrator, you are welcome to
contact the ITS Help Centre at 2766 5900 or our Mr PF Chan at
2766 5917 if you need assistance and advice in handling any IT
security-related issues.
(Source from ITS)
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