Draft Guidance on Improving Security of Home ComputersFrom NIST Tech Beat: August 17, 2006
Contact: Michael Baum (301) 975-2763 The National Institute of Standards and Technology is looking for comments on new guidelines aimed at helping end-users, in particular telecommuting federal employees, improve the security of their personally owned desktop and laptop computers that run Windows XP Home Edition in a small office or home office environment. Like their larger office counterparts, home computers increasingly are the target of attackers looking to damage or disrupt files, steal identities or commit fraud. Guidance for Securing Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition: A NIST Security Configuration Checklist (Special Publication 800-69) contains detailed step-by-step directions for securing Windows XP Home Edition computers. It explains the need to use a combination of security protections, such as antivirus and antispyware software, a personal firewall, limited user accounts and automatic software updates. It also emphasizes the importance of performing regular backups to ensure that data are available after an attack against the computer, a hardware failure or human error. The draft publication is available at http://csrc.nist.gov/itsec/guidance_WinXP_Home.html. Comments should be submitted by Aug. 31, 2006, to itsec@nist.gov with "Comments SP800-69/XPHome" in the subject line. |