Hardware loss is a large cause of the more than 10 million cases of identity theft suffered by Americans each year. Although not what most people think of as a network security threat, stolen laptops pose a huge threat to networks. Even sold or discarded computers and laptops can be a problem since businesses often sell older computers without completely wiping the drives clean of data, including system passwords.

You can minimize this threat easily by encrypting sensitive company data, especially data that is most

Common forms of maliciously-coded websites are sites that appear to allow you to make donations to victims of natural disasters. You will find a sign-in page and then be asked to enter in your credit card number and other personal information.

To combat maliciously-coded websites, you should only purchase items from security certified sites and use PayPal instead of a credit card. Maliciously-coded websites typically do not accept PayPal payments since they are easier to trace than typical credit card payments.

A recent New York Times article estimates that as much as 80% of spam messages are sent out by the computers of ordinary individuals who have no idea their computers have been converted into ‘zombies’.

A zombie computer is one infected with malware that silently sends out thousands of emails from the owner’s email address.

Infected ‘zombie’ computers, are organized by spammers into small groups called botnets. The ‘zombie’ malware threat is expected to continue to grow both in number and variety over the next few years.

A network links two or more computer components together for the purpose of sharing data. Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software. Utilities such as the Internet, printers, scanners, and computers can be connected.

A network lets you transfer files, pictures, and information without using any kind of disk or external drive. Most businesses decide to use a network because they have more than one computer and want to share information and computer components.