Firewalls, VPNs, Antiviruses, and Incognito Mode do not prevent malware infections, but you can!
Episode #13-27 released on June 21, 2023
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When we are talking about being safe online, we often confuse various technologies purposes and features thinking it will help us stay universally safe, which sadly is not always the case. Today, learn what kind of technology helps you and how it helps you stay safe.
Firewalls, something that is clearly misunderstood by many end users. Firewalls are used to monitor, control, and scan all traffic coming in and out of any network. Every firewall is capable of blocking incoming and outgoing traffic. Some firewalls can do deep packet inspection. Many firewalls can also scan for viruses, provided the traffic is not encrypted, which is now the norm, so scanning for viruses is harder to do.
VPNs can have as a feature a malware scanner, however, like firewalls, there is the possibility that they cannot see into encrypted files and communication. Much like a firewall, it can control all incoming and outgoing communication. However, unlike a firewall, it provides security in the form of being anonymous by changing your IP address and does not offer direct security that could prevent infection from infected websites and attachments.
Incognito mode or private browsing is only good to anonymize your session, it however cannot anonymize you completely since it does not change your IP address, and therefore, all traffic is still attached to your computer.
Your Antivirus, typically, can scan all incoming and outgoing traffic using Heuristics to see if there are any viruses or malware, or code behaving as such. However, it is still possible for end users to override some of the functionality or compromise it, willingly or unwittingly. Either through deliberate acts or through actions that compromise the functionality of the antivirus.
The most dangerous aspect of always connected devices is the lack of cold storage mechanisms for backups, such as a computer that only operates part of the time to store backups on a schedule. We often neglect the use of off-site backups, multiple backup technologies. If we maintain multiple backups, with at least one in a cold storage method, which simply means that it is not powered and not always connected, then we could prevent viruses from eliminating all data, all at once. Slowing down the migration of viruses is the only way we can defend against them.
The other big danger is the continued lack of education in data security and proper end user behavior. A great many end users end up saying that is has never happened before as a means of justifying a lack of data security focused security training or security focused behavior.
The final danger, updates. You need to update everything. Hardware and software that no longer has updates is subject to all kinds of dangers and should not be used anymore.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net