How to remain safe on P2P networks
Look before you P2P!
Sharing is caring, but on the internet, you could also be sharing viruses, spyware and trojans. Here’s how to avoid all of these dangers
- BERGES Y MALU
Almost everyone these days use’s P2P file-sharing applications for downloading music or getting video and other digital content to share what you have and get what you want. Well for those who don’t know what’s a P2P network, well a peer-to-peer network allows computer hardware and software to function without the need for special server devices. P2P is an alternative to client-server network design. The concept is great sharing what you have and borrowing from others what you don’t. Though the concept of sharing is great with so many viruses, spy-ware and worms all over the place its not long before your infected. So here are a few tips in helping to protect you from security hazards while still being able to download via P2P sites.
Don’t use P2P over corporate networks, ever!
Using P2P file-sharing applications over your corporate network can cause a variety of problems from eating your company bandwidth to unknowingly sharing office files and documents which may be sensitive. Also if a virus infects your PC it could also infect your whole corporate network.
Protect your folders
Most users inadvertently share their entire drive C without realising this could be dangerous as personal photo’s financial details even credit card details could be compromised on. Its basically like leaving your entire PC open to outsiders waiting to be hacked as files are left open and can be easily modified with malicious code. Instead specify a certain folder where files can be downloaded and only those files can be shared with other users.
Scan all downloads
Whenever you download anything of the internet one golden rule is never to open any files without scanning it. It’s best to scan those files with an up-to-date anti-virus software especially .exe file types that could potentially be carrying anything from Viruses to Trojans. Avast Free is a good free antivirus program as it scans files being downloaded over P2P networks in real time. Also periodically scan your pc with a anti-spy-ware program such spy-ware doctor which is a free download from any good search engine. Chances of programs executing malicious code after being scanned are quite low. You don’t want your PC behaving like a zombie do you?
Use only known P2P programs
Most P2P programs are not fully developed and can be full of bugs that could cause your PC to crash or make your PC work irregularly. Instead use only fully developed clients like Frostwire or Ares. It’s much safer downloading such apps from sites like sourceforge or Cnet since files stored on such servers are free of any type of spyware or malicious code.
Get yourself a good firewall
A firewall generally protects you from network attacks against your Pc. It also prevents unknown sites or programs from connecting to the internet. Peer-guardian is a good firewall software and since it protects your privacy. It also blocks traffic from unknown or suspicious IP addresses.
Empty your shared folder regularly
Sharing copyrighted material is a crime in most countries. Downloading copyrighted material is fine but sharing it is bigger offence to prevent yourself from getting into trouble transfer files downloaded over P2P networks to other folders which are not being shared.
