Free security magazines and resources are available if you just know where to look. The following collection should be useful for novice and experienced computer users alike.

Security: Security magazine reaches 35,000 security end-user and integrator subscribers in government, healthcare, education, airports, seaports, transportation, distribution, utilities, retail, industrial, financial, hospitality / entertainment, construction, industrial/manufacturing and other markets.

Security Source: From spyware to phishing attacks, security threats are growing more virulent as the promise of big payoffs increase. In its premier Winter 2007 issue, Security Source Magazine’s cover story is about keeping the network secure, from the gateway to the desktop.

Security on a Budget: How to Develop a Cost-Effective Security Program: Is it better to manage in-house or outsource some tasks to an MSSP? Do you have a complete view of all the “hidden” costs that are often not recognized until late in the process? This webinar provides an insider’s recommendation on how to get the most from your information security budget. Lance Wolrab shares his “lessons learned” about cost management as a CSO for a large healthcare organization and as a senior security engineer at Dell SecureWorks.

HackerProof: Your Guide to PC Security: The terms “PC security” or “computer security” are vague in the extreme. They tell you very little, like most general terms. This is because PC security is an incredibly diverse field. On the one hand you have professional and academic researchers who carefully try to find and fix security issues across a broad range of devices. On the other hand, there is also a community of inventive computer nerds who are technically amateurs (in the literal sense of the word – they’re unpaid and unsupported by any recognized institution or company) but are highly skilled and capable of providing useful input of their own.

Justifying IT Security: Managing Risk & Keeping Your Network Secure: This white paper discusses the management of Risk and how Vulnerability Management is one of the few counter-measures easily justified by its ability to optimize risk.

Securing & Optimizing Linux: The Hacking Solution (v.3.0): This 800+ page eBook is intended for a technical audience and system administrators who manage Linux servers, but it also includes material for home users and others. It discusses how to install and setup a Linux server with all the necessary security and optimization for a high performance Linux specific machine. It can also be applied with some minor changes to other Linux variants without difficulty.

7 Essential Steps to Achieve, Measure and Prove Optimal Security Risk Reduction: Rapid changes within technology and the evolving sophistication of attack methods used to infiltrate systems create the greatest set of challenges faced by IT administrators trying to keep their systems secure and within regulatory compliance. That’s why—whether protecting five servers or 5,000—measuring the security status of your infrastructure and your organization’s ability to rapidly mitigate emerging threats need to be continuously monitored and measured.

Lockdown: Secure Your Data With True Crypt: This manual will be talking about local file encryption – that is, encrypting files on a hard drive (or encrypting the entire hard drive; more on that later). The files are safe as long as they are kept in the encrypted area. TrueCrypt is a free, cross-platform program (meaning that it works in Windows, Mac OS X and Linux distributions including Ubuntu) that you can use to encrypt your data. It is classified as “On The Fly Encryption” (OTFE) software, which basically means that it encrypts and decrypts files as you access and modify them and that all files within the area of encryption are available as soon as you enter the key. Also with this free guide you will also receive daily updates on new cool websites and programs in your email for free courtesy of MakeUseOf.

The Top 10 Reports for Managing Vulnerabilities: New network vulnerabilities appear constantly and the ability for IT security professionals to handle new flaws, fix misconfigurations and protect against threats requires constant attention. However, with shrinking budgets and growing responsibilities, time and resources are at constrained. Therefore, sifting through pages of raw vulnerability information yields few results and makes it impossible to accurately measure your security posture.

The (VERY) Unofficial Guide To Facebook Privacy: As the service evolves, executives tend to favor our open access to information, meaning information you think is private will slowly become public, but that doesn’t mean you can be private if you want to. Facebook gives its users the option to lock things down, but users need to be aware of their controls, how to use them and how to prepare for future Facebook privacy changes. Facebook has not and will not make information obvious, and that’s where this guide comes in. With this free guide you will also receive daily updates on new cool websites and programs in your email for free courtesy of MakeUseOf.

Security Director News: Through its web site and weekly newswire, Security Director News delivers day-to-day facts and real business information that assist security directors in making the right decisions for the safety of their organizations. Security Director News presents a wide variety of viewpoints on important issues, including interviews with involved parties, analysts and experts from every industry segment.

Web Application Security; How to Minimize Prevalent Risk of Attacks: Stories about exploits that compromise sensitive data frequently mention culprits such as “cross-site scripting,” “SQL injection,” and “buffer overflow.” Vulnerabilities like these fall often outside the traditional expertise of network security managers.

Security Systems News: Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper reaching over 28,000 security dealer/installers, systems integrators, product distributors, central stations, systems resellers as well as end users and security consultants. Editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major segments of the security industry such as market trends, new products, new technology introductions, and news about manufacturers and suppliers.

Open Source Security Tools: A Practical Guide to Security Applications: Written with the harried IT manager in mind, Open Source Security Tools is a practical, hands-on introduction to open source security tools. Seasoned security expert Tony Howlett has reviewed the overwhelming assortment of these free and low-cost solutions to provide you with the “best of breed” for all major areas of information security.

Securing Sensitive Data in File Shares: All companies invest in software and staff to ensure they are able to control access to critical information that’s stored in applications and databases because it’s part of standard business and IT operations. Despite those investments, companies don’t put the same amount of resources toward protecting unstructured stores like file shares. View the archive of this educational webinar to learn how your company can effectively manage access to data in file shares.

PC Security Handbook – 2nd Edition: This handbook is designed to help you find ways to protect your Windows XP/Vista/7 PC and ensure your data is safe. The author gets countless emails from site visitors who ask about the best anti-virus software, firewall program, backup utilities, etc., and there are often questions like this in the forums. He sets up PCs for companies, friends, and family; the advice he gives in this manual is what he uses when building any PC. His tips are tried and tested and have left hundreds of people satisfied with the way their computers work. He hopes you too can follow these instructions and enjoy an error-free, spyware-free, and speedy PC.

SY0-201 CompTIA Security+ Special Edition Practice Exam and Study Guide: CompTIA’s Security+ exam is a critical step for anyone interested in IT security. It’s a key component in the Department of Defense’s 8570.1 initiative that mandates federal IT workers and contractors gain security certifications to work with the federal government. The ExamForce SY0-201 CompTIA Security+ practice exam provides a unique triple testing mode to instantly set a baseline of your knowledge and focus your study where you need it most, while the 51 page Study Guide provides high quality reference material — a valuable companion to the practice exams.

Federal Computer Week: It provides information decision-makers need to run the business of their agencies and deliver on their missions through the deployment of information technology.