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Privacy Special Report: Stealth Surfing

You dislike being watched, but you don't want to give up the Net. How do you lower your profile? We offer practical tips on everything from controlling cookies to privatizing your e-mail.

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Always On, Always Open to Attack

You have DSL or cable internet access--two of the biggest, baddest, broadest pipes to the Internet a consumer can have. And you don't have to wait for dial-up and disconnect dialog boxes because your Internet connection's always on. Convenient? You bet it is. But it also makes you susceptible to port-scanning scripts that probe IP addresses looking for a point of entry into your PC or home network.

Minimize risk by turning off your PC when you're not using it. If it's off 10 hours a day, your cable or DSL modem's permanent connection ceases to be a hacker's cat-flap. BlackICE Defender ($40) monitors network access to your PC. You'll probably see a dozen or more unsolicited "pings" (attempts to determine whether your IP address is active) per day from hacker scripts or other sources. Most are random attempts from hacker scripts looking for open ports on your PC.

Personal firewall software isolates your computer from its Internet connection by filtering out information, blocking open ports, and halting programs with ActiveX controls and JavaScript routines. Aladdin Knowledge Systems' ESafe Desktop 2.2 ($50) one-stop firewall, virus scanner, and Web/mail-content filter puts Web pages, e-mail downloads, and floppy disks entering your system into a "sandbox" until they pass quarantine. It slows down things a little, but peace of mind is worth a lot. Other personal firewall and security systems include Norton's Internet Security 2000 and Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm 2 (a free download for personal use from the Zone Labs site or FileWorld). The @Home network has established an Online Security center promoting McAfee's personal firewall software (a $30-per-year subscription service), based on Signal9's ConSeal Private Desktop software. WinProxy 3 proxy server software includes a firewall for sharing a broadband connection among PCs on a network. WatchGuard SOHO puts a proxy server and firewall software in a 5-mbps networking box ($449 for a ten-user license with one year of software updates, tech support, and Web-usage tracking, then $95 a year).


SUMMARY




WatchGuard Technologies
800/734-9905
www3.watchguard.com

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