What is the difference between a worm and a trojan?
What is the difference between IPSec and SSL?
What does antivirus software do?
How easy is it to break into my computer?
What is the difference between a worm and a trojan?
A worm is a self-replicating piece of code that doesn't require the user
to take action in order to activate it. It infects a machine, then goes
looking for other machines to infect, all the while unattended and most
likely unnoticed by the user. Worms are typically self-contained; i.e.
they don't infect other files.
A trojan is a program that appears to be something it's not; typically
something interesting, amusing or beneficial. It can masquerade as a utility
("Click here to protect your computer against viruses!") or as something
else ("Click here to see Britney naked!")
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What is the difference between IPSec and SSL?
The main difference is that they exist in different places on the protocol stack.
For IPSec it is:
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That difference implies a couple of advantages for IPSec:
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For TCP, it's slightly more secure because it encrypts the TCP
header as well as the application data payload. -
It is able to encrypt UPD packets, ICMP packets, or any other
protocol that sits on top of IP.
Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.
What does antivirus software do?
There are a variety of antivirus software packages that operate in many different ways, depending on how the vendor chose to implement their software. What they have in common, though, is that they all look for patterns in the files or memory of your computer that indicate the possible presence of a known virus. Antivirus packages know what to look for through the use of virus profiles (sometimes called "signatures") provided by the vendor.
New viruses are discovered daily. The effectiveness of antivirus software is dependent on having the latest virus profiles installed on your computer so that it can look for recently discovered viruses. It is important to keep these profiles up to date.
How easy is it to break into my computer?
Unfortunately, intruders are always discovering new vulnerabilities (informally called "holes") to exploit in computer software. The complexity of software makes it increasingly difficult to thoroughly test the security of computer systems.
When holes are discovered, computer vendors will usually develop patches to address the problem(s). However, it is up to you, the user, to obtain and install the patches, or correctly configure the software to operate more securely. Most of the incident reports of computer break-ins received at the CERT/CC could have been prevented if system administrators and users kept their computers up-to-date with patches and security fixes.
Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you click on them.
