Access Files on your Computer from Anywhere

The problem: You have documents, photos, music and other important files on the home computer. How can you “remotely access” these files from your office computer or, when you are travelling, from your mobile phone?

The solution: The simplest solution would be that you copy all your data from the home computer on to a portable hard drive and carry it around but this is obviously a bit cumbersome approach as it requires you to manually sync the home computer and your portable disk.

 

 

 

Access Files on your Computer over the Internet

There are couple of ways by which you can retrieve files stored on your home computer from anywhere else using a regular Internet connection.

Option 1: Using Online Backup

You can use an online backup service like SugarSync, Carbonite, SkyDrive,  Mozy or even Dropbox – they provide desktop utilities that will automatically upload files on your home computer to the Internet and you can then access these files through the web browser of any other Internet connected computer.

The upside is that your files will always be available to you even if the home computer is not running. SugarSync and Carbonite have a mobile optimized website so you can access files from any mobile phone as well.

Option 2: Using Desktop Sharing Software
The downside is that if you are using any of these services for the first time, you’ll to wait until they upload all your data to the cloud and this process may take long if you have too many files on the home computer.

There are free desktop sharing software like TeamViewer and UltraVNC that also let you remotely access your computer files from anywhere else. LogMeIn Pro and CrossLoop Home are some other good options for transferring files from a remote computer but these are paid services.
If all your computers are running Windows, you can use the built-in remote desktop connection feature of Windows (available in XP and later) to access your home computer from another Window computer over the Internet.

With Desktop Sharing software, you’ll always have access to all your files but one big limitation is that it requires that the remote computer stays on. Also, none of these options will help you access files on a mobile phone except LogMeIn which has an iPhone app.

Option 3: Access Files Directly through the Browser

Online backup services, discussed above, will copy files to their own servers before you can access them for anywhere else. Screen sharing services are often slow and they won’t work on most mobile devices. Let’s now explore another set of services that allow you download files directly from the home computer.

Copernic, like Google Desktop, is a popular desktop search software that you may use to find emails, documents and other files on your Windows computer. They have a paid component called myCopernic on the Go that lets you remotely search for content stored on the home or office computer. You can preview the search results and then download them to your mobile phone or remote PC.

With Opera Unite, you can easily turn your computer into a web server and instantly access files and folders on that computer from any other web browser (including that of mobile phones). Opera Unite is a standard web server and therefore you’ll be downloading files directly from the computer – they’re not uploaded anywhere else.

Another option is GBridge that lets you setup a virtual private network using your existing Google Account. Companies use VPNs to let employees access corporate data over a public network (Internet) and with GBridge, even home users can build their own VPNs to access remote files more securely.
Windows Live Sync at sync.live.com is another great choice for remotely accessing files over the Internet. Just install the Live Sync client on your computer and you can then access the entire hard drive of that computer simply through the Windows Live Sync website.

Live Sync is available for both Mac and Windows. The new version of Live Sync is even better and it has integrated online storage (Live Mesh) so you’ll be able to access your important file even if the remote computer is off.

Finally, you may also want to check out HomePipe – this is an extremely easy and free service that lets you access your home files and media from any other computer or mobile phone. Install the HomePipe Agent and all files on that computer will instantly become available through the web. They also have apps for iPhone and Android phones.

Option 4: Share Files with a NAS (Network Attached Storage) Device

If you don't need to remotely control or manage your home computer and just want to be able to access shared files over the Internet, you can use a NAS device (a.k.a. NAS box) to do so. These storage devices are mini file servers that you connect to your home network, usually via Ethernet cable to your home router. They run about $200, but it may be a very useful investment; NAS devices are great for file sharing and backups for multiple computers, and they typically offer remote file access via FTP or even your Web browser, depending on the device. Popular NAS boxes that let you access your files remotely include: Buffalo Linkstation and Apple's Time Capsule.

Option 5: Add an External Hard Drive to Your Home Router

Another remote file sharing option would be to add an external hard drive to your existing (or a new) home router -- if your router has the capability to enable file sharing, that is. The Netgear WNDR3700 Router, for example, is a wireless dual-band (offers both 802.11b/g and 802.11n) router with a "ReadyShare" feature for sharing a USB storage device over the network and via FTP. The Linksys Dual-Band WRT600N is a similar router with network storage capabilities. Although using an external hard drive connected to your router will be slower than a dedicated NAS, this option may be less expensive if you already have an external drive to use and/or the router.

Option 6: Set Up Your Own Home Server

Finally, if you don't want to use a third-party solution and would rather set up your own VPN and server, both Apple Mac OS Server and Windows Home Server claim to make home or small business networking and remote access easy. (And of course there are many different Linux Server flavors; most of the NAS devices run on Linux.) This option is the most expensive and time-consuming to set up, but offers you the most control.

LogMeIn: offers both a free version that works with Windows PCs and Macs for remote desktop control as well as a Pro version that also enables file transfers, remote printing, and more.

GoToMyPC: is a subscription-based service from Citrix starting at $19.95 per month for one computer (Mac or PC). GoToMyPC offers similar advanced features, like drag-and-drop file transfer, that the paid LogMeIn Pro version includes. There's a free trial, so you can compare GoToMyPC with the free version of LogMeIn to see which works better for you.

UltraVNC: is a free, very configurable program that uses VNC (Virtual Network Computing) technology for remote desktop sharing. It offers many advanced features like special graphics drivers, encryption plugins, and Windows authentication, but can be more complex to configure.

These programs let you log into your home computer from a Web browser on the remote computer (e.g., a workstation at the office or cybercafe) -- or, in some cases, even from an app on a mobile device like a smartphone or the iPad -- and work on your home computer as if you were sitting in front of it.

Security Issues on Web Application

Client-side software that remains unpatched.

Waves of targeted email attacks, often called spear phishing, are exploiting client-side vulnerabilities in commonly used programs such as Adobe PDF Reader, QuickTime, Adobe Flash and Microsoft Office. This is currently the primary initial infection vector used to compromise computers that have Internet access. Those same client-side vulnerabilities are exploited by attackers when users visit infected web sites. (See Priority Two below for how they compromise the web sites). Because the visitors feel safe downloading documents from the trusted sites, they are easily fooled into opening documents and music and video that exploit client-side vulnerabilities. Some exploits do not even require the user to open documents. Simply accessing an infected website is all that is needed to compromise the client software. The victims' infected computers are then used to propagate the infection and compromise other internal computers and sensitive servers incorrectly thought to be protected from unauthorized access by external entities. In many cases, the ultimate goal of the attacker is to steal data from the target organizations and also to install back doors through which the attackers can return for further exploitation. On average, major organizations take at least twice as long to patch client-side vulnerabilities as they take to patch operating system vulnerabilities. In other words the highest priority risk is getting less attention than the lower priority risk.

Internet-facing web sites that are vulnerable.

Attacks against web applications constitute more than 60% of the total attack attempts observed on the Internet. These vulnerabilities are being exploited widely to convert trusted web sites into malicious websites serving content that contains client-side exploits. Web application vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting flaws in open-source as well as custom-built applications account for more than 80% of the vulnerabilities being discovered. Despite the enormous number of attacks and despite widespread publicity about these vulnerabilities, most web site owners fail to scan effectively for the common flaws and become unwitting tools used by criminals to infect the visitors that trusted those sites to provide a safe web experience.

Operating systems continue to have fewer remotely-exploitable vulnerabilities that lead to massive Internet worms.

Other than Conficker/Downadup, no new major worms for OSs were seen in the wild during the reporting period. Even so, the number of attacks against buffer overflow vulnerabilities in Windows tripled from May-June to July-August and constituted over 90% of attacks seen against the Windows operating system.

Rising numbers of zero-day vulnerabilities

World-wide there has been a significant increase over the past three years in the number of people discovering zero-day vulnerabilities, as measured by multiple independent teams discovering the same vulnerabilities at different times. Some vulnerabilities have remained unpatched for as long as two years. There is a corresponding shortage of highly skilled vulnerability researchers working for government and software vendors. So long as that shortage exists, the defenders will be at a significant disadvantage in protecting their systems against zero-day attacks. A large decline in the number of "PHP File Include" attacks appears to reflect improved processes used by application developers, system administrators, and other security professionals.

Web Application Attacks

There appear to be two main avenues for exploiting and compromising web servers: brute force password guessing attacks and web application attacks. Microsoft SQL, FTP, and SSH servers are popular targets for password guessing attacks because of the access that is gained if a valid username/password pair is identified. SQL Injection, Cross-site Scripting and PHP File Include attacks continue to be the three most popular techniques used for compromising web sites. Automated tools, designed to target custom web application vulnerabilities, make it easy to discover and infect several thousand web sites.

Identify target audience and focus on it

You need to know who your most likely buyers are. Don’t just say “everyone” – even if anyone can buy what you sell, your business will perform better if you focus on a specific target audience.

Marketing to an irrelevant audience has the effect of weakening your conversion rate. That’s because these people are attracted to you but rarely buy. You have wasted time and resources on them. Find out who really buys, then tighten your marketing efforts to fully focus on them.