computer security questions - luv-beginners

21 Sep 2019

On 20/9/19 11:04 am, Peter Wolf via luv-beginners wrote:
...
 /Hello, />//>/            My questions are
/>//>/- how do I detect a suspicious network connection? />//>/- what sort of
computer security tips do people have? />//>//>/Some background information
regarding the above questions. />//>/Firstly as some of you may have noticed I have
very little to no />/knowledge in this area.I am flat out running a business that is
barely />/paying bills and probably cannot afford to buy security software, hire
/>/someone or spend much time on a computer security course. />//>/I believe my
computers are getting hacked. /If you computer is hacked then stop there. Save your data,
format everything and reinstall your operating system. You are time poor so
that is the quickest option.

******* I often do that but I'm looking for something more efficient and a
prevention.

...
 /I have noticed files being changed/added in dropbox
that I definitely />/hadn't changed/added myself. /There may be another explanation
for this than being hacked. Are you using the Dropbox app or web interface? What are
the files? Are they
found on both your computer and the cloud? When using the Dropbox folder
as an application data storage I have seen temporary files remain after
the application exits.

****** I mainly use the dropbox app for the desktop.One file that was modified was a
script to enable apparmor.It was changed so that it did
****** some weird stuff with grub files.The script was in the cloud and on my computer.

...
 /Also at times I am no longer able to easily change my
password or do />/updates.Also I have noticed that at such times web browsing can
become />/very slow as well as the general speed of my computer.I am running
/>/Linux Mint 18.My solution to computer security has been to change my />/user
password several times a day which seems to help.I do updates />/regularly and use
relatively low spec /Changing your password will be of no benefit is someone has root
access to your computers.
...
 //>/computers (dual core machines) so that if there
is a problem and />/someone else is using my computer I can notice it more easily.I
always />/use regular hard drives so that any possible hacking cannot be done />/too
quickly.I have also written a program to change the hostname on my />/computers and
this seems to speed up my computers and web browsing for />/a while.When web pages
start malfunctioning,changing the user password />/and computer hostname very often
fixes it. />//>/I have noticed that problems seem to be correlated with how many
/>/network connections I see.I am thinking of writing a program to shut />/down any
suspicious network connections as long as I know how to />/detect them.Buying security
software may seem more cost effective but />/I don't trust commercial products
because the seller always has a />/vested interest to encourage hacking etc to continue
the sale of />/products and maintain subscriptions. / I have been using Linux
distributions on workstations and servers for
over 20 years. User accounts have been hacked in the past when users
insisted on using dictionary based passwords. Each time the give away
was the accounts were being used to send spam. A password reset stopped
that activity. No one has ever gained root access. I hope this helps

******** Yes this helps,thanks,information is good.

...
 //>/Unfortunately I have no computers that can run
the latest Qubes Linux. />//>/regards Peter
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