I've been here at AO for a little over a year and have learned all kinds of ways to secure my computer, which , in the long run has helped me greatly and made me (and other users of this computer) somewhat more comfortable being online. I have the basics, firewall/trojan scanner/AV/registry key monitors and at one point, an IDS. All this is really not needed on a home PC, but I enjoyed the process of seeing how all these programs worked and how the internet worked in general. With all this being said, let me get to the point of my rambling.
How secure am I really?
After visiting Internet Security Systems I felt like all my work could be easily bypassed by any skilled cracker. Remote packet sniffing for starters(amongst the plethora of other attacks a person can attempt) that are completely out of my control. I may be able to secure *my* computer, but what about my ISP's server? and all the other 'hops' along the way?. I understand encrypting data and keeping up on patches could help to some extent, but am I wasting my time looking for ways to further the security of my data?
I don't mean to be pessimistic, but how safe is my data really?
(I'd be glad to hear some input from you guys)
