Networking Delaware Tech Tips Page

5. Malware Protection A newly infected webpage is discovered every 4.5 seconds

What is an IP Address?

Just as your street address allows someone to find your office or home, your IP address allows other resources on your network to find your computer. Every server, computer, router, network ready printer, print server or other networked device on your LAN (Local Area Network) has a unique IP address.

There are normally two IP addresses you would care about. This LAN address (private, internal) we just discussed and the public address (WAN, Internet) assigned to your router, usually by your ISP (Internet Service Provider).

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How can you find yours?

To find your computer's LAN IP address, just Click: Start; >click Run > type CMD and click OK. This will open a command prompt (like a black DOS box). At the flashing prompt (usually an underscore) enter IPCONFIG /ALL (that's 1 space betweem the "G" and the "/") and hit Enter. The resulting display will show the IP address of every interface on your computer. Typing EXIT will close the box.

To find the Public or Internet address of your router, the easiest way is my using the Internet. Open a browser and enter the following URL: http://www.whatismyip.com The resulting display gives you the address of the Public Interface of your router.

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Important Things Often Forgotten Include:

Passwords. In spite of what you may have heard, passwords are as important today as ever. It is true that more powerful computers can crack weak passwords faster and faster all the time, but everything is relative. If your password is "1234" or "abcd" or the ever popular "password", expect to be hacked fairly quickly (these examples would fall within seconds). On the other hand, for a much, much more secure password, you can't beat increased character length from additional character categories. The big problem here is that with complex passwords, people either forget them or leave them written on a "post-it" under their keyboards.

An easy way to overcome this is by using an easily remembered phrase like "Twas the night before(b4) Christmas and(&) all through the house" and use it as a mnemonic for a complex password such as "Ttnb4C&atth". That is an 11 character password with characters from all four categories (Upper case alpha, Lower case alpha, Numerals and Symbols). At this time, it is estimated that a brute force attack on our example password, using a modern commercially available computer, would take about 181 million years to crack.

The following table is an average. Note how much more effective a password is when characters from all four categories are used (Time to Crack) as opposed to just lowercase alpha.

To securely check the strength of your password, click here: Check Password

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Hardware Protection

Many times a person will buy a new computer, and in their excitement just bring it home, set it up, plug it into the wall and that's it... until the first power surge, "brown down", or nearby lightening strike. Then they wonder what happened.

At the very minimum you MUST have a surge protector; And NO, a power strip is not necessarily a surge protector. Make sure you use a real surge protector, and FYI... good ones are not the cheap $6 units you find in the corner drug store.. You should expect to pay at least $20 for a decent 6 or 7 outlet surge protector. Good surge protectors contain quality, fast acting components that can clamp the incoming voltage to an acceptable level before it can damage your system. That will protect your equipment from the power surge or lightening strike but what about the " brown down"?

A "brown down" or low voltage condition can damage your system almost as badly as a surge, just usually not as quickly. A surge protector won't help you here. To really protect yourself you need an uninterruptable Power Supply or UPS unit. Some people call them battery backups though this isn't exactly correct. It is true they do contain a battery to provide backup power to allow for a controlled shutdown in case of a power failure, but more importantly, a UPS will provide a controlled voltage level for your equipment regardless of fluctuations in the incoming voltage.

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Malware Signatures

Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Rootkits, Spyware, Adware; whatever you call it, it's all malware and it's all bad for your computer (and for the safety of your personal or business data).

Many times people purchase anti-malware software, then install it and forget it. The problem here is that they forget to update the malware signature files which tell the software just how to recognize each type and version of malware. Since new viruses, Trojans and other malware appear every day, a signature file that was up-to-date on Monday doesn't know how to recognize a virus that was just released on Thursday.

Some newer anti-malware programs have overcome this problem by doing away with virus signature files completely. Instead they rely on a "white list" where the software checks a program before it runs to make sure it is a legitimate copy. The problem here is that these types of programs usually cause a system to slow down while it checks for correct check-sums. Also, new programs have to be authenticated before being added to the "white-list".

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Email Client Setup for Outlook Express

Setting up an email account is easy as long as you have five important pieces of information which should be available from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or email host.

1. Your email address (...such as myname@1and1.com)

2. Your email account name (almost always the same as your email address)

3. Your email password (usually chosen by you)

4. Your POP3 (incoming) mail server name (such as pop.1and1.com)

5. Your SMTP (outgoing) mail server name (such as smtp.1and1.com)

Look here for a listing of common POP3 and SMTP server names When you find yours, write it down for use in steps 5 and 6 of the setup instructions below..

1. Start Outlook Express

2. Click "Set up a mail account"

3. Enter a name that allows you to recognize the account (like your own, your dog, whatever)

4. Enter your email address

5. Enter your POP3 server address from your ISP or the list from above

6. Enter your SMTP server address from your ISP or the list from above

7. Enter your account name (normally your complete email address)

8. Enter your password

9. Click "Finish"

10. On the top menu, Click "tools" then "accounts"

11. Click the "mail" tab, then click "Properties"

12. Fill in the "Reply Address" with your email address

13. Click the "servers" tab

14. At the bottom click the box "My server requires authorization"

15. Click "settings"

16. Confirm that "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" button is marked.

17. Click "OK" and "Apply"

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Default Passwords

All routers come with a default password, simply so the owner can get into the router's operating system for the initial setup. Every router manufacturer uses a different default password, but it is the same for each of the thousands or maybe even millions of each model produced. These default passwords are well known and readily available from the makers' websites or even a google search.

The first thing you should do is log into the router and change the default password. While you are at it, change the login name; never use admin or administrator... instead use a name difficult to guess.

If you do not change the default password a hacker could easily take over your network. At that point in time it stops being your network and becomes his.

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Wireless Security

Many people now have wireless networks in their homes and offices. Unfortunately most, if not all, wireless routers come with security unenabled. By the very nature of wireless communications, this opens you up for many security problems ranging from hacker vulnerabilities to simple theft of services where a neighboring user accesses the Internet from your router... they are on your "dime".

So, in addition to changing the default router password, you must set security. There are several different schemas. We strongly suggest WPA2 as it is much more secure then the older WEP. Your router documentation should detail how to set up wireless security for your particular model router.

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Number of characters	Time to Crack	Lowercase Only
3	<1 sec.	0.025 sec.
4	1.35 minutes	0.05 sec.
5	2 hours	12 sec.
6	8.5 days	5 min.
7	2 years	2 hours
8	210 years	2.5 days
9	20,000 years	2.5 months
10	1,900,000 years	4.5 years
11	181 million years	115 years
12	17 billion years	3,000 years
13	1.6 trillion years	75,000 years
14	155 trillion years	2 million years