Securing your system from hackers

In my previous article "Password won't secure your system from hackers", I wrote that passwords cannot prevent someone from breaking into your computer and stealing file or something very important.

Now what can?

The hacking fight is not with you, it is with the provider or vendor of your Operating System. The developers of the these Operating Systems are working hard to map out vulnerability and patching holes through which hackers can break in. When a company like Microsoft releases an Operating System, there are always vulnerabilities, so the company doesn't stop there, they continue working to patch up these holes; in fact I  think Microsoft have its own hackers that attack the OS and find vulnerabilities before the bad minded hackers do. This process is referred to as Penetration Testing, so when these guys make their research and pent-test their Systems to map out holes and patch them up accordingly, all that is required of you is to update your system so that the security patches they worked would take effect.When I was taking my first hacking class, the easiest system I hacked with no headache and would do it again and again even if my eyes are closed was Windows Server 2003 with no Service Pack and the system was not receiving updates. Then, I still launch the same attack on my Windows 7 laptop with no updates and no Service Pack and it opened up for me like a public toilet.After installing Avast Ant-Virus, I launch the attack again and this time, Avast raised an alarm "Pan Pan Pan! Threat has been detected", but I went in anyway. But when I installed Service Pack 1, hacking my Windows 7 SP1 became totally impossible.To really attempt to secure your system from hackers, you must do the following:

•  Join force with your OS provider by updating you system and installing updates of the software on your system regularly.
• Turning on your OS firewall and  installing a very good Anti-Virus.
• Configuring an Admin Account and setting a very strong password for it.
• Mind the kind of websites you visit and the kind of links you click.
• Setting a Bio-Level password (This allows the System to prompt for password before booting OS from any media, be it the in-built hard disk, external disk, etc.).

When a hacker try to hack into your system remotely with no success, he/she starts seeking for your co-operation and one of the way they do that is sending you links to click and the moment you click any of the links sent to you, you are hacked!, files are gone with no trace.Another way hacker can break into your system is by coming physically. All that is required is to boot kali linux from a USB stick and mount the system hard disk and Voom! files are gone again with no trace. Service Pack or no Service Pack, Anti-Virus or no Anti-Virus, this methods always work and it's my favorite, the only known way of protecting your system against this attack is by setting a Bio-Level password.

Note: Apart from stealing of files, there are other things a hacker can do such as:

• Jamming your network (Dos Attack)
• Deleting of files
• Injecting  of spyware programs or even virus programs that are capable of frying your whole files.

Note that an attacker can also steal your whole system or its hard disk but this is beyond the scope of this post as I am only concerned about securing your system from a hacker who breaks in remotely or physically without moving your system.To get more list of what a hacker is capable of doing to your system, check out my upcoming post What can a hacker do to my system.

Disclaimer: The information provided here might not protect your system from a determined and a high skilled hacker, as such, you are advised to read and make more research about system security.Thanks for reading.