Security Checklist

1. Checklist for choosing a strong password

• Your password should not be a word that appears in the dictionary(to prevent dictionary based attacks).
• Your password should not be blank or same as user name.
• Your password should be a combination of alphabets, numbers and special characters. Ideally, one should try and use both lowercase and uppercase characters.
• Your password should not be your name followed by your birth date. For example, one should not have password like ankit2405.
• Your passwords should not be repeated.
• Your password MUST be changed regularly.
• Yours password should not be written on a post-it note or a piece of paper stuck on your monitor or behind your cpu.
• You should not use the same password at multiple places.
• Your password should not be that random that even you forget it yourself.

2. Checklist for securing a home computer(basic)

• Run Windows Update at least once a week to patch your system against the latest vulnerabilities, loopholes and exploits.
• Use a strong password (Refer to earlier checklist).
• Install some good anti virus software and update its virus definition files at least once a week to ward off the latest viruses, worm and trojan.
• Install a basic firewall (like Zonealaram, BlackIce or your favorite antivirus software's inbulit firewall) on your system. This shall keep you notified of any live attacks, malicious, data or probes.
• Try to connect to the internet only after connecting to a proxy server.
• Install a Anti-spyware tool on your computer which will detect and removed any spyware tools on yours computer.