Internet Privacy for the Small or Home Office Environment

Internet privacy for the home and small office is of vital importance to all translators. Many of us work with sensitive and confidential texts, and we need to be aware of the risks involved with the tools we use to communicate with clients and colleagues. There are so many ways that our privacy can be violated-from viruses and spam to breaches in our home and office networks. With our help, you should be able to render your computer, company workstation, home network, or small business network "hack-resistant." By "hack-resistant," we do not mean making your system impenetrable, because nothing can do that. However, if you are aware of the risks you will be able to use common sense and layers of protection, also known as defense-in-depth, to make compromising your system more trouble than its worth.

While privacy has been an issue since the dawn of time, the advent of the Internet has made the matter all the more pressing. Surfing the Net can be fun and educational. E-mail is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends, and chat and discussion groups allow you to communicate with people who have similar interests. Most people are aware of the Internet's benefits, but not everyone is aware of how the Internet can threaten personal privacy and the steps you can take to protect your privacy in cyberspace. If you are aware of the dangers involved with Internet use and have taken steps to avoid those dangers, you can surf in peace, knowing that you did your best to be protected.

We are pleased to present all the handouts and the PowerPoint presentation for you to download. This includes:

About the Presenters

Roland Grefer is co-founder and vice-president of Global Support Services Group, Inc. He completed his education in computer sciences, business administration, accounting, and economics in his native Germany in 1987. He moved to the U.S. in 1996 where he has been working in the fields of computer science, information security, and translation. He is a bilingual German<>English translator and also serves as an editor of privacy and information security-related newsletters published by The SANS Institute (http://www.sans.org/newsletters).

Jill Sommer is the current president of the Northeast Ohio Translators Association. She received her Masters in German translation from Kent State University in 1995 and moved to Bonn, Germany a month later, where she worked as a freelance translator and Internet researcher. She is still learning about Internet privacy - as we all are.

© Jill R. Sommer, October 2004. All Rights Reserved.