Computer Data Security


The information on this page is provided to supplement the leaflet on Computer Data Security published by the Diocese of Ottawa. The data provided here is by no means exhaustive. There are many other tools available that are not listed and many of these are no doubt excellent. This page lists tools that are known to the diocesan Communications Committee and considered to be of good quality and reliability. As always, you must make sure that any software you consider will meet your particular needs.

Your computer’s operating system may include some of these tools already, such as a firewall, data encryption, and backup software. They will get the job done but typically provide only basic functions.

The information is directed at PCs running Microsoft Windows operating system. Other operating systems typically have fewer issues with malicious security threats, such as viruses and Internet attacks. Threats such as disk failure are common to all computers regardless of who makes them and which operating system they run.

Microsoft provides security information and links to other software on its Security at Home website.

Integrated Security Suites

These provide protection against a range of threats related to viruses and Internet connections. The package typically includes one year of virus definition updates, and additional updates require an annual fee. The individual parts of the package, such as the virus scan component, can be purchased separately.

McAfee Internet Security Suite
Norton Internet Security
PC-cillin Internet Security
ZoneAlarm

AntiVirus Software

Kaspersky Labs

Spyware Detection and removal

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Free)
SpywareBlaster
SpyBot Search and Destroy

Backup Software & Hardware

Backing up data is like going to the dentist. Everyone knows they should do it regularly but many put it off as long as possible. In fact, many people do their first backup just after they recover from their first disk failure.

You can back up your files to many different media. With the current low price of hard drives, they provide the most convenient and fastest backups. For true security you should encrypt the data and keep a copy at a different site. Some backup products store your files in a single large file and you will need to have that software available to restore the data. Other programs simply create a copy of the individual files—restoring data is as simple as copying the files back to their original location.

If you back up to a removable medium, such as tape, make sure that you will have access to replacement hardware and software if your system is damaged and stolen. Tapes full of backups are useless if they cannot be read.

Why not simply copy all your files to another hard drive and not use any special software? This works, but if you have a lot of data every backup will take a long time. Backup software will only copy files that have changed, considerably reducing the time required.

SmartSyncPro
NTI Backup
Genie Backup Manager


Encryption Software

Encryption software protects data even when someone has physical access to the computer or media containing the data. Data encryption allows safe storage and/or transportation of data. Products such as Winzip allow you to package up a group of files for easy storage and transportation. Their main use is to compress files to reduce their size but they often allow data to be encrypted and password protected. Early versions of Winzip would password protect data but are not considered very secure. You need a recent version that includes AES encryption.

Windows XP Professional can encrypt regions of your disk drive. However, if you have problems with your system and have to reinstall the operating system, recovering the encrypted data will be impossible unless you have prepared for that in advance. These preparations are complex.

Other products, such as Dekart Private Disk, provide on-the-fly encryption of all your data. Dekart Private Disk allows you to create a very large file that becomes a new drive letter on your system. The data stored on that drive is encrypted and stored within the large file. The encrypted data can only be created, accessed, or modified after a password is entered and the drive mounted (i.e., made accessible). Once the drive is mounted, accessing the data is the same as accessing data on any other drive. If you use a hard disk for backup, you can create a secure region on that disk as well and backup your data to it. This provides security for the backup. The data on the encrypted drive can be backed up either by mounting it (adding the drive letter to your system) and backing up the files, or by unmounting it and backing up the large file that forms the encrypted disk.

Encrypted data is only as secure as the password protecting it

Dekart Private Disk
Winzip

Router Manufacturers

Routers are normally used to allow multiple computers to share an Internet connection. They also provide an additional layer of isolation between the computer and the hazards of the Internet. They are a good security investment, even for a single computer. Routers can be purchased at most computer equipment retailers who can also make recommendations. Some of the main router manufacturers are:

Linksys
D-Link
Netgear

Many routers provide for wireless networking. Wireless networking can be made secure but many systems offer little or no security without additional set-up. Wireless is a good choice if you know how to make it secure—otherwise use wired networks. A badly set up wireless network will allow other people to use your Internet connection and have access to your computers.

An example of a secure system

The following outlines one possible way to make a computer system secure: 

· Connects to the Internet through a router at all times;

· Runs an anti-virus package that updates every day;

· Firewall software installed and activated;

· Requires users to login using username and password;

· Users must set up a screen saver to activate when machine is not used and requires password to clear screen saver.

· Dekart Private Disk is installed on the system and used to create an encrypted drive in a region of the main disk drive. The file containing the encrypted drive is made small enough to fit on a single DVD for backup. All user data is kept on the encrypted disk, including e-mail. The encrypted disk must be mounted using a password every time a user logs onto the system.

Backups on this system are made to an external hard drive that has a second encrypted region on it. Software such as Smart Sync Pro is used as it creates an exact copy of the files on the main encrypted drive. The backup encrypted drive is only mounted when a backup is performed and unmounted immediately afterwards.

For offsite storage, the encrypted file is unmounted and the large file that contains the data is copied to a DVD, along with the installation files for the Private Disk software. If the original system and backup are stolen or destroyed, the DVD can be used to install the software on a different system and then mount the encrypted drive and copy the data. The only additional information required is the password.

This approach to backups does not protect the computer operating system and installed software. If the hard drive fails it would require reinstallation of the operating system and software from the original media. The user data would then be recovered from the backup media.