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Securing Your Computer: Software or External Device?

Limitations of PC Software

Most computer users know security is critical. While enterprise networks have strong security built into their Internet access points, mobile laptops, SMB office and home users often rely solely on software that resides on their PCs. However, that is not enough to protect you from security threats, simply because your PC was not designed for security. IP spoofing, denial of service and buffer overflow attacks can bypass security software and cause damage by utilizing PC-related vulnerabilities. Most importantly, trying to stop the attack from inside the computer is ineffective and may be too late.

Did you know?

Mobile laptop IP addresses can be viewed by other computers in the same Internet hotspot
Unless you have downloaded the security software’s most recent updates, you are not safe
IP Spoofing can bypass software-based Firewalls installed on home computers
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks can disable software security by overloading the PC’s CPU and memory

Until recently, SMB & SOHO businesses and home users had to spend significantly to purchase external security products almost as large and expensive as that used by enterprise businesses. In addition, even enterprises knew there was no way to protect against attacks on laptops while outside protected networks.

Solution — Protect your computers from the outside

That has changed. The combination of Flash memory and Linux have allowed security companies to create smaller, less-expensive devices that provide security for smaller networks and mobile laptops. For small networks, the devices sit at the router, checking all traffic. For laptops, a small USB device traps all network traffic before it reaches the operating system. The solutions provide two key benefits.

The new solutions are full-fledged computers running Linux that is driven from read-only memory in order to provide a real solution to the problem inherent in PC security software.

Higher Security

When attacks can’t reach the computer, the computer can’t be damaged. That means hackers can’t reach your computer, and so can’t access your personal information. It also means that denial-of-service attacks don’t waylay your CPU and memory, they’re stopped at the security device.

Another key component of security is updates. When an employee with a laptop is on the road, often that person must remember to process updates for PC-based security software. An external device has its own checks and can automatically get updates, ensuring it is in the most current state in order to protect against the newest attacks.

Better Performance

Security software is very CPU and memory intensive, often resulting in significantly degraded PC performance. PC World has recently revealed that one of the top selling security suites “may slow your PC unacceptably” (PC World UK – May 2007).

By moving the security off of the PC and into a USB or network device, you also get the benefit of improved system performance. The rest of your applications run faster.