Buying a New PC & the Internet

Buying a New PC & the Internet
CERT/CC has composed this Tech Tip concerning the growing risk to Internet users accessing the Internet without any knowledge about how to secure their nice new machine from the growing number of Internet nasties.
They say, "In recent months, we have observed a trend toward exploitation of new or otherwise unprotected computers in increasingly shorter periods of time. This problem is exacerbated by a number of issues, including (they say):

• Many computers' default configurations are insecure.

• New security vulnerabilities may have been discovered between the time the computer was built and configured by the manufacturer and the user setting up the computer for the first time.

• When upgrading software from commercially packaged media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM), new vulnerabilities may have been discovered since the disc was manufactured.

• Attackers know the common broadband and dial-up IP address ranges, and scan them regularly.

• Numerous worms are already circulating on the Internet continuously scanning for new computers to exploit.

As a result, the average time-to-exploitation on some networks for an unprotected computer is measured in minutes. This is especially true in the address ranges used by cable modem, DSL, and dial-up providers.

Standard advice to home users has been to download and install software patches as soon as possible after connecting a new computer to the Internet. However, since the background intruder scanning activity is pervasive, it may not be possible for the user to complete the download and installation of software patches before the vulnerabilities they are trying to fix are exploited. "

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You can read the entire article here: www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html

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