Workshop 12 Social and Ethical Issues Week 12

Protecting yourself and your PC on the WWW

Australian Copyright Council is a non profit organisation whose objectives are to
* assist creators and other copyright owners to exercise their rights effectively,
* raise awareness in the community about the importance of copyright
* identify and research areas of copyright law which are inadequate or unfair
* seek changes to law and practice to enhance the effectiveness and fairness of Copyright
* Foster cooperation amongst bodies representing creators and owners of copyright

Here is a list of all the information sheets that are or will be relevant to you as a student at university.
Libraries G049 *
Lending items protected by c/right G054
Notices on Photocopiers and other copying equipment G040 *
Writers G013
Video and DVD copying and downloading G026
Videos, DVD's, films screening in class G032
Training Materials G037
Research and Study G053 *
Quotes and Extracts G034 *

* There was quite a few listed so I decided to pick those especially relevant and noted with an asterix to read.

US Dept of Justice's website - Copyright Cases - US vs Sankas. Brief summary.
US vs Sankas (E.D. Va) (Operation Bucaneer)
Warez leader sentenced to 46 months in prison (May 17, 2002) Leader of Internet S/Ware Piracy Organisation Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy (Feb 27,2002)

Sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Criminal Copyright Laws as the leader of one the oldest and largest international Software piracy rings on the Internet. A co-conspirator was sentenced to 33 months. Longest ever sentence imposed on organised software piracy gangs.

Online piracy group known as DrinkOrDie. Highly organised, security conscious Internet piracy group that specialised in acquring new software then stripping or circumventing its copyright protections and then releasing the software over the internet for customers to purchase.

Operation members covered 12 countries some being UK, Aust, Sweden, Norway, Finland.

Group concealed its illegal operations using a range of technology and security measures. Emails were sent via groups private mail server using PGP encryption to encode messages. Members never used their real names THe groups FTP sites were password protected and secured by a combination of user ID and Internet Protocol address authentication mechanisms.

These sentences should send a strong message to others thinking about this sort of Internet piracy crime.

How the process of piracy worked was that a supplier member would give new software to the group days or weeks before official release dates of new software. Highly skilled "crackers" would defeat the copyright protection allowing software to be illegally reproduced, distributed and used by anyone obtaining a copy. The 'cracked' version would be tested and distributed and used by anyone obtaining a copy. Cracked software released by DrinkOrDie has been found on pay for access websites in the US and abroad.

Larger companies ie Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk as well as smaller software companies were affected.

Organised piracy groups represent a never seen before threat to intellectual property rights holders worldwide.



This is my Plan for the protection of my computer and privacy.

Plan for protecting your computer and your own personal information from attacks on your privacy and security from Viruses and Trojans.

Definition of Virus
Is a piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. It can affect other programs by modifying them to include a version of itself which replicates. A very powerful and destructive virus was called the Melissa it occurred in 1999. (Brain, 2007)

Definition of Trojan
Is a computer program. The program claims to do one thing, but instead causes a great deal of damage if run it.

Definition of Worm
Is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself.

Definition of Firewall
Protective barrier between your computer, or internal network and the outside world. Traffic in and out of your computer is blocked and restricted as you choose. Access only given to those protocols and individuals that need it. (Brain, 2007)


You can protect yourself against viruses using a few simple steps;

If traditional viruses concern you, (different to email viruses) you should run a more secure operation system like UNIX. You never hear about viruses on these systems because the superior security systems keep viruses and unwanted human visitors away from your hard disk.

If using an unsecured operating system, consider buying virus protection software.

Avoid programs from unknown sources i.e the Internet and purchase only commercially produced software on CD’s, you can eliminate all the risk from traditional viruses. Disable your floppy disk booting this stop any risk of a boot sector virus coming from a floppy disk left in the drive.

Make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications and never run macros in a document unless you know what they do.

Never double click on an email attachment that contains an executable. Attachments that come via .doc, .xls or .GIF are data files and cannot do any damage. Some viruses can come in through .JPG file attachments. An executable is a file with an extension .EXE, .COM or .VBS, and it can do any sort of damage it likes on your computer. (Brain, 2007)


If you have wireless computer network, here are some steps to take to protect you and your computer.

Change the system ID, this comes as a default set up and is easy for a hacker to access. Use something unique (not your name or something easy to guess)
Disable Identifier Broadcasting, don’t announce you have a wireless connection . Check your manual for your hardware and figure out how to disable broadcasting.

Enable encryption, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and WiFi Protected Access (WPA) encrypt your data so that only the intended receiver can read it.

Restrict unnecessary traffic, many wired and wireless routers have built in firewalls, they are not the most technically advanced firewalls, but they help create one more line of defence. Learn how to configure your router to allow only incoming and outgoing traffic that you have approved.

Patch and protect your PC’s, as a last line of defence, install personal firewall software such as Zone Alarm Pro and anti-virus software installed on your computer. Not only is it important to install this software but also keep it up to date.. Keep up to date with patches for known security vulnerabililities.
To create a secure password that is easy to remember, do the following;

Never use personal information as part of your password, it is too easy to guess.

Don’t use real words

Mix different character types ie Upper and Lower case, numbers and special characters

Use a password management tool, these tools maintain a list of usernames and password in encrypted form.

Use different passwords and usernames for each login or application you are trying to protect.. So if one gets compromised at least the others are safe.

Change your passwords every 30 to 60 days. Don’t reuse a password again for at least a year.

Finally, by establishing a layered security you can help keep out all but the most determined hacker. (Bradley, 2007)



References

Bradley, T. (2007). Introduction to Wireless Network Security. The New York Times Company. Retrieved May 26, 2007, from http://netsecurity.about.com/cs/generalsecurity/a/aa100803.htm

Brain, M. (2007). How to protect your computer from viruses. How Stuff Works. Retrieved May 26, 2007 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/virus1.htm