If you are working from home for a company you will need to connect into the corporate network over a VPN connection. This is a secure connection that connects you into the office network and will let you access all of the resources on the office network.

If you are working from home only part time and you have a computer in head office, an alternative to using a VPN would be to use an application like logmein to connect to your head office computer. This would mean that you were able to work on the head office computer from home. This is something you would have to talk to your IT service department of company about as there are some security issues with this solution.

Some companies are now using Virtualization to improve the IT services that they are providing to their users. This means that you would be able to connect to a virtual computer and do your work from home with your laptop or home computer or even if you are out on the road.

If you are working from home and you have broadband in your home office, I suggest that you sign up for a VoIP telephone service.  There are many VoIP service providers and Google search will provide you with a good selection for your country. Large companies who have employees working from home provide them with VoIP phones to work from home with.

 
Another point to consider if you are using your home computer to connect to the corporate network, is that it is important to make sure that you have good Internet Security. I use Eset Nod and I would recommend this to my customers, as it provides excellent cover.

In addition, you need to have a system in place to backup your data if you are working from home. This is crucial. For people working from home, I recommend online Data Backup;if you would like some more information on this drop me an email.

E-mail has become indispensible now and if you are working from home you will need an IT service provider that will let you access your mail on your computer, online and on your mobile. If you work for yourself and are just starting up, I would suggest that you use the Software as a Service (SaaS) provided by Google Gmail for Business. This IT service will let you use Calendar, Chat, Blackberry sync etc. Your company may already use Microsoft Exchange to provide it’s e-mail service and you will need to contact your IT service provider to set your account up so as you can work from home.

For more information on working from home and the required IT services just give iPing a call.

I’d like you to meet Adobe Flash. Innocent, helpful, flexible, runs-on-every-browser Flash. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you when Kevin, the quiet youtube-a-holic in your office causes everyone’s PC to crash when he watches his favourite video…

The A-Team Garage

Ok – so maybe I’m exaggerating a little to get the message across but lets think about this a little more – if I Ted, chief virus and spybot creator at Dodge Ltd wanted to create something and maximize the damage and distribution what would I need? Let’s use the A-Team example and try to imagine what ridiculous garage we can lock our creation into – that it just happens to have everything it will need to come out all guns blazing;

1. I would need people to unknowingly download my creation
2. I would like you to help me spread the virus
3. I would want to be able to propagate it to PCs behind firewalls so that my zombie network will grow
4. I would not have to worry about what OS you are running (or what version of windows maybe)
5. I would like to have my creation auto-update to the latest version whenever it can.

Now – lets say 4-5yrs ago I would have maybe made my creation use some exploit in Internet Explorer as it was the the most used browser in play. Notice I said most-used there. Sure lots of people might prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer – but out-of-the-box installs purchased by Average Joe will start with Internet Explorer on them and in most cases that’s what people stay with – they go with what they are familiar with.

With other browsers out there now the field is wider; IE8, IE7, IE6, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. What do they all have in common? Flash.

Wanted: License To Kill

I create a nice flash based game/video that has an average playtime of 2-3mins. That’s about long enough to prevent someone loosing interest and just the right length for a quick office interlude when you sit down at your desk with a nice fresh cup of coffee. I make it cute and easy to use, maybe even fun. I add some additional code so that while you are watching/playing my creation it’s downloading all it needs to do it’s dirty work.

Now that we have our creation built and we know what horror it will wreak on hapless PCs lets review our helper criteria we looked at above;

1. I would need people to unknowingly download my creation
   CHECK: You have no idea what the Flash app you’re loading will do before it loads – chances are it has already fully loaded by the time you see anything on your screen. I’m ready to play with – all I need is for you – the user to grant me my License To Kill by clicking ‘Play’
2. I would like you to help me spread the virus
   CHECK: My creation is cute and fun and popular. It’s on the 10-ten-things-to-do-while-having-a-coffee-at-your-desk list. You keep sending it to all your friends and colleagues telling them how much fun it is so that they too can experience the joy of Frankenflash.
3. I would want to be able to propagate it to PCs behind firewalls so that my zombie network will grow
   CHECK: Flash isn’t usually blocked by most firewall/proxies, unless the site is restricted (eg. No YouTube at work thank-you). You’re lovely browser, with all it’s security updates, running it’s man-of-steel version of Windows is about to download Kryptonite v1.0
4. I would not have to worry about what OS you are running (or what version of windows maybe)
   POSSIBLE CHECK: Ok so Linux and MacOS folks are maybe safer here than others but if I’m clever enough I can create something that will ignore the OS on the victim’s PC and just hose the network. How about a flash game that in the background keeps downloading http://www.company-i-dont-like.com in the background. If I can’t murder other PCs I’ll at least try to murder the network.
5. I would like to have my creation auto-update to the latest version whenever it can.
   CHECK: My game/video is popular, so pupular in fact that you bookmark it. It’s a handy game of Solitaire that you play for 5-10 mins when you want some much needed down-time after that TPS report. Every time you visit me to play I serve you the latest version of my creation.

Self Preservation

The easiest way to protect yourself from these types of attacks is not to automatically have Flash load. I’m not saying avoid Flash – I use it every day myself – just allow Flash content from the sites and people that you trust. It’s not a guarantee but it’s an easy way to prevent this type of attack.

Myself – I’m a Firefox user and although other browsers are just as good what I like about Firefox is the ubiquity of it’s AddOns. Meet FlashBlock (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433) – A simple AddOn that prevents flash on website from loading automatically so that you can choose whether or not to have it load – or only load the parts you want. There’s also a setting so that you can always-allow Flash from a certain site so that it doesn’t become a pain if you visit a flash-heavy site often that you trust.

There’s also the added benefit that today a large portion of Ads on internet sites are Flash-based and by having FlashBlock installed you are spared having 10 different Ads on the page trying to get your attention.

Want to know more?

Although what we’ve talked about above is probably over-simplified, there are currently several known vulnerabilities in Flash today, some of which have already been used in the field. If you’re interested in finding out more the two links below I found are a good place to begin the trail

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/07/flash-security-vulnerability-exploited-in-pdfs.ars

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/21/flash_vulnerability_menace/

If you would like to talk to someone here at iPing about your Internet Security just drop us a LINE and we would be delighted to help.

This application Combines firewall and antispam with ESET Antivirus package and it gives your PC total protection from threats on the Internet. It is also packaged with a junk module that will filter out those e-mails that you do not want filling up your inbox.

If you are interested in securing your PC give us a call Contact. iPing provide IT & Computer support in Dublin & around Ireland.