A computer on the Internet will be tested for weakness as many as one hundred times a day. The bad guys are out there. They are smart and determined. They band together and share information. Us, the poor schmuck trying to make a living doing something honest and positive, don't have much of a chance. And laws? Forget that. There aren't any. There isn't any enforcement either. Detection? Huh, that's a joke.
No my friend, you're on your own. There isn't any white knight. There isn't any higher authority. There isn't anybody to call. There's only you against an army of hackers. Many of them operate in different countries. They have tools, conventions, and hacker sites. The seedy underside of the Internet is not a pleasant place to be. Unfortunately, we're stuck with it.
Until society evolves and wakes up to the fact that we have as vast and rich environment inside the computer as we do outside the computer, we (the good guys) are not going to get much help. In the meantime, we've got to do what we can to try to protect ourselves the best we can. The consensus is that hacking is innocent fun. Most of the time when you're hacked, your perpetrator doesn't even know you exist. They do most of their dirty work with computer programs. So here you are, flesh and bone, up against a computer system. It's not a fair fight.
Like I said, I've been hosting sites, email, and systems for many years. There are certain basic strategies that you should have in place. Thinking your not vulnerable is naive. Just like sports, defense wins. Take the time to put these measures in place. Once you're compromised, wiping out your system and starting over is about all you can do. Even then there is no guarantee they won't be back.
You will never hear me brag about uptime. I've been in this business too long. |
