±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: cgsimpson
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6645

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 775
Total: 775
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Photo Gallery
02: Community Forums
03: Photo Gallery
04: Photo Gallery
05: Home
06: Community Forums
07: Photo Gallery
08: Community Forums
09: Home
10: Community Forums
11: Community Forums
12: Photo Gallery
13: Community Forums
14: Photo Gallery
15: Community Forums
16: Photo Gallery
17: Community Forums
18: Community Forums
19: Photo Gallery
20: Community Forums
21: Home
22: Community Forums
23: Community Forums
24: Community Forums
25: Community Forums
26: Downloads
27: Community Forums
28: Community Forums
29: Photo Gallery
30: Search
31: Community Forums
32: Photo Gallery
33: Community Forums
34: Home
35: Your Account
36: Community Forums
37: Community Forums
38: Photo Gallery
39: CPGlang
40: Community Forums
41: Community Forums
42: Photo Gallery
43: Photo Gallery
44: Photo Gallery
45: Community Forums
46: Community Forums
47: Photo Gallery
48: Community Forums
49: Community Forums
50: Community Forums
51: Member Screenshots
52: Community Forums
53: Community Forums
54: Community Forums
55: Community Forums
56: Community Forums
57: Community Forums
58: Community Forums
59: Statistics
60: Community Forums
61: Community Forums
62: Home
63: Community Forums
64: Community Forums
65: Community Forums
66: Community Forums
67: Your Account
68: Community Forums
69: Member Screenshots
70: Community Forums
71: Community Forums
72: Photo Gallery
73: Community Forums
74: Community Forums
75: Downloads
76: Community Forums
77: Home
78: Community Forums
79: Home
80: CPGlang
81: CPGlang
82: Photo Gallery
83: Community Forums
84: Community Forums
85: Community Forums
86: Photo Gallery
87: CPGlang
88: Home
89: Community Forums
90: Photo Gallery
91: Home
92: Community Forums
93: Photo Gallery
94: Community Forums
95: CPGlang
96: Community Forums
97: Community Forums
98: Community Forums
99: Photo Gallery
100: Community Forums
101: Community Forums
102: Community Forums
103: Community Forums
104: Community Forums
105: Home
106: Community Forums
107: Community Forums
108: Member Screenshots
109: Home
110: Home
111: Photo Gallery
112: Home
113: Your Account
114: Community Forums
115: Community Forums
116: Photo Gallery
117: Member Screenshots
118: Your Account
119: Community Forums
120: Community Forums
121: Community Forums
122: Photo Gallery
123: Community Forums
124: Community Forums
125: Photo Gallery
126: Community Forums
127: Your Account
128: Community Forums
129: Community Forums
130: Community Forums
131: Community Forums
132: Your Account
133: Community Forums
134: Home
135: Community Forums
136: Home
137: Community Forums
138: Photo Gallery
139: Community Forums
140: Community Forums
141: Downloads
142: Community Forums
143: Photo Gallery
144: Community Forums
145: Photo Gallery
146: Community Forums
147: Home
148: Photo Gallery
149: Community Forums
150: Photo Gallery
151: Home
152: Community Forums
153: CPGlang
154: Community Forums
155: Community Forums
156: Photo Gallery
157: Community Forums
158: Photo Gallery
159: News Archive
160: Community Forums
161: Downloads
162: Photo Gallery
163: Downloads
164: Community Forums
165: Community Forums
166: Community Forums
167: Community Forums
168: Home
169: Community Forums
170: Photo Gallery
171: Photo Gallery
172: Community Forums
173: Community Forums
174: Community Forums
175: Community Forums
176: Community Forums
177: Your Account
178: Community Forums
179: Home
180: Community Forums
181: Community Forums
182: Community Forums
183: Community Forums
184: Community Forums
185: Home
186: Your Account
187: Community Forums
188: Photo Gallery
189: Community Forums
190: Member Screenshots
191: Community Forums
192: Community Forums
193: Your Account
194: Photo Gallery
195: Community Forums
196: Community Forums
197: Community Forums
198: Downloads
199: Downloads
200: Home
201: Photo Gallery
202: Home
203: Your Account
204: Photo Gallery
205: Community Forums
206: Photo Gallery
207: Community Forums
208: Community Forums
209: Community Forums
210: Photo Gallery
211: Community Forums
212: Photo Gallery
213: Home
214: Home
215: Community Forums
216: Photo Gallery
217: Community Forums
218: Community Forums
219: Community Forums
220: Community Forums
221: Photo Gallery
222: Community Forums
223: Community Forums
224: Community Forums
225: Community Forums
226: Community Forums
227: Photo Gallery
228: Member Screenshots
229: Photo Gallery
230: Photo Gallery
231: Community Forums
232: Community Forums
233: Community Forums
234: CPGlang
235: Community Forums
236: CPGlang
237: Community Forums
238: Community Forums
239: Community Forums
240: Community Forums
241: Community Forums
242: Photo Gallery
243: Home
244: Community Forums
245: Community Forums
246: Photo Gallery
247: Community Forums
248: Home
249: Photo Gallery
250: Downloads
251: Home
252: Community Forums
253: Home
254: Community Forums
255: Community Forums
256: Community Forums
257: Community Forums
258: Community Forums
259: Community Forums
260: Community Forums
261: Community Forums
262: Community Forums
263: Community Forums
264: Community Forums
265: Community Forums
266: Community Forums
267: Community Forums
268: Community Forums
269: Community Forums
270: Community Forums
271: Community Forums
272: Home
273: Community Forums
274: Community Forums
275: Member Screenshots
276: Community Forums
277: Member Screenshots
278: Community Forums
279: Community Forums
280: Community Forums
281: CPGlang
282: Community Forums
283: Photo Gallery
284: CPGlang
285: Home
286: CPGlang
287: Community Forums
288: Photo Gallery
289: Statistics
290: Community Forums
291: Downloads
292: Community Forums
293: Community Forums
294: Community Forums
295: Community Forums
296: Your Account
297: CPGlang
298: Community Forums
299: Community Forums
300: Photo Gallery
301: Community Forums
302: Photo Gallery
303: Community Forums
304: Home
305: Photo Gallery
306: Home
307: Community Forums
308: Community Forums
309: Photo Gallery
310: Home
311: News
312: Community Forums
313: Home
314: Photo Gallery
315: Community Forums
316: Member Screenshots
317: Community Forums
318: Community Forums
319: Photo Gallery
320: Downloads
321: Community Forums
322: Photo Gallery
323: Photo Gallery
324: Member Screenshots
325: Community Forums
326: Community Forums
327: Community Forums
328: Home
329: Community Forums
330: Photo Gallery
331: Community Forums
332: Your Account
333: Community Forums
334: Community Forums
335: Community Forums
336: CPGlang
337: Community Forums
338: Community Forums
339: Community Forums
340: Home
341: Photo Gallery
342: Community Forums
343: Community Forums
344: Community Forums
345: Member Screenshots
346: Photo Gallery
347: News Archive
348: Community Forums
349: Community Forums
350: Community Forums
351: Community Forums
352: Community Forums
353: Community Forums
354: Community Forums
355: Your Account
356: Community Forums
357: Community Forums
358: Photo Gallery
359: Photo Gallery
360: Photo Gallery
361: CPGlang
362: Statistics
363: Community Forums
364: Community Forums
365: Downloads
366: Community Forums
367: Community Forums
368: Photo Gallery
369: Photo Gallery
370: Community Forums
371: Community Forums
372: Photo Gallery
373: News
374: CPGlang
375: Community Forums
376: CPGlang
377: Community Forums
378: Community Forums
379: Community Forums
380: Your Account
381: Community Forums
382: Community Forums
383: Downloads
384: Community Forums
385: Community Forums
386: Community Forums
387: Photo Gallery
388: Photo Gallery
389: Community Forums
390: Community Forums
391: Photo Gallery
392: Community Forums
393: Community Forums
394: Community Forums
395: Home
396: Community Forums
397: Photo Gallery
398: Community Forums
399: Community Forums
400: Photo Gallery
401: Community Forums
402: Community Forums
403: Your Account
404: Community Forums
405: Photo Gallery
406: Community Forums
407: Member Screenshots
408: Community Forums
409: Community Forums
410: Photo Gallery
411: Community Forums
412: Home
413: Member Screenshots
414: Community Forums
415: Community Forums
416: Community Forums
417: Home
418: Photo Gallery
419: Community Forums
420: Community Forums
421: Community Forums
422: Community Forums
423: Community Forums
424: Community Forums
425: Photo Gallery
426: Home
427: Home
428: Home
429: Community Forums
430: Community Forums
431: CPGlang
432: Community Forums
433: Community Forums
434: Downloads
435: Community Forums
436: Photo Gallery
437: Community Forums
438: Community Forums
439: Community Forums
440: Community Forums
441: Community Forums
442: Home
443: Community Forums
444: Community Forums
445: Downloads
446: Community Forums
447: Community Forums
448: Community Forums
449: Community Forums
450: Community Forums
451: Community Forums
452: Community Forums
453: Community Forums
454: Photo Gallery
455: Community Forums
456: Photo Gallery
457: Photo Gallery
458: Home
459: Downloads
460: Community Forums
461: Community Forums
462: Community Forums
463: Community Forums
464: Home
465: Community Forums
466: Home
467: Community Forums
468: Community Forums
469: Statistics
470: Home
471: Community Forums
472: Home
473: Community Forums
474: Community Forums
475: Downloads
476: Community Forums
477: Community Forums
478: Community Forums
479: Community Forums
480: Community Forums
481: Community Forums
482: Community Forums
483: Community Forums
484: Downloads
485: Home
486: Community Forums
487: Community Forums
488: Photo Gallery
489: Community Forums
490: Community Forums
491: Community Forums
492: Community Forums
493: CPGlang
494: Community Forums
495: Community Forums
496: Community Forums
497: Community Forums
498: CPGlang
499: Community Forums
500: Community Forums
501: Community Forums
502: Photo Gallery
503: Community Forums
504: Community Forums
505: Photo Gallery
506: Community Forums
507: Community Forums
508: Community Forums
509: Community Forums
510: Community Forums
511: Community Forums
512: Community Forums
513: Community Forums
514: Community Forums
515: Photo Gallery
516: Community Forums
517: Community Forums
518: CPGlang
519: Photo Gallery
520: Community Forums
521: Community Forums
522: Community Forums
523: Community Forums
524: Community Forums
525: Photo Gallery
526: Downloads
527: Downloads
528: Community Forums
529: Photo Gallery
530: Community Forums
531: Community Forums
532: Community Forums
533: Member Screenshots
534: Downloads
535: Community Forums
536: Home
537: Photo Gallery
538: Home
539: Photo Gallery
540: Photo Gallery
541: Photo Gallery
542: Community Forums
543: Photo Gallery
544: CPGlang
545: CPGlang
546: Community Forums
547: CPGlang
548: Community Forums
549: Community Forums
550: Photo Gallery
551: CPGlang
552: Photo Gallery
553: Community Forums
554: Home
555: Community Forums
556: Community Forums
557: Community Forums
558: Community Forums
559: Home
560: Home
561: CPGlang
562: Member Screenshots
563: Home
564: Photo Gallery
565: Community Forums
566: Community Forums
567: Home
568: Home
569: CPGlang
570: Your Account
571: Community Forums
572: Community Forums
573: Community Forums
574: Home
575: Photo Gallery
576: Community Forums
577: Community Forums
578: Community Forums
579: Photo Gallery
580: Community Forums
581: Community Forums
582: Community Forums
583: Community Forums
584: Downloads
585: Community Forums
586: Community Forums
587: Photo Gallery
588: Community Forums
589: Community Forums
590: Community Forums
591: Community Forums
592: Community Forums
593: CPGlang
594: Photo Gallery
595: Community Forums
596: Photo Gallery
597: Community Forums
598: Community Forums
599: Photo Gallery
600: Community Forums
601: Community Forums
602: Home
603: Community Forums
604: Photo Gallery
605: Photo Gallery
606: Photo Gallery
607: Member Screenshots
608: Community Forums
609: Community Forums
610: CPGlang
611: Home
612: Photo Gallery
613: Photo Gallery
614: Community Forums
615: Community Forums
616: Home
617: Community Forums
618: Downloads
619: Community Forums
620: Photo Gallery
621: Community Forums
622: Photo Gallery
623: Photo Gallery
624: Community Forums
625: Downloads
626: Downloads
627: Home
628: Community Forums
629: Home
630: Member Screenshots
631: Community Forums
632: Community Forums
633: Community Forums
634: Community Forums
635: Photo Gallery
636: Community Forums
637: Community Forums
638: Community Forums
639: Community Forums
640: Home
641: Member Screenshots
642: Community Forums
643: Community Forums
644: Community Forums
645: Community Forums
646: CPGlang
647: Community Forums
648: Your Account
649: Statistics
650: Community Forums
651: Community Forums
652: Community Forums
653: Photo Gallery
654: Community Forums
655: Community Forums
656: Community Forums
657: Community Forums
658: Photo Gallery
659: Community Forums
660: Photo Gallery
661: Community Forums
662: CPGlang
663: Community Forums
664: Member Screenshots
665: CPGlang
666: Community Forums
667: Community Forums
668: Downloads
669: Home
670: Community Forums
671: Photo Gallery
672: Community Forums
673: Community Forums
674: Community Forums
675: Community Forums
676: Community Forums
677: Community Forums
678: Community Forums
679: Community Forums
680: Community Forums
681: Member Screenshots
682: Community Forums
683: Community Forums
684: Community Forums
685: Community Forums
686: Community Forums
687: Photo Gallery
688: Community Forums
689: Community Forums
690: Community Forums
691: Community Forums
692: Community Forums
693: Community Forums
694: Photo Gallery
695: Community Forums
696: Community Forums
697: Photo Gallery
698: Community Forums
699: Photo Gallery
700: Community Forums
701: Community Forums
702: Photo Gallery
703: Community Forums
704: Community Forums
705: Community Forums
706: Community Forums
707: Statistics
708: Member Screenshots
709: Community Forums
710: Home
711: Photo Gallery
712: Photo Gallery
713: Home
714: Downloads
715: Community Forums
716: Photo Gallery
717: Community Forums
718: Home
719: CPGlang
720: Downloads
721: Community Forums
722: Community Forums
723: Photo Gallery
724: Photo Gallery
725: Community Forums
726: CPGlang
727: Statistics
728: Community Forums
729: Photo Gallery
730: Community Forums
731: Photo Gallery
732: Community Forums
733: Community Forums
734: Community Forums
735: Community Forums
736: Photo Gallery
737: Photo Gallery
738: Home
739: Community Forums
740: Community Forums
741: Home
742: Community Forums
743: Community Forums
744: Community Forums
745: Photo Gallery
746: Photo Gallery
747: Photo Gallery
748: Community Forums
749: Community Forums
750: News
751: Community Forums
752: Photo Gallery
753: Photo Gallery
754: Photo Gallery
755: Community Forums
756: Community Forums
757: Community Forums
758: Downloads
759: Community Forums
760: Community Forums
761: Downloads
762: Community Forums
763: Community Forums
764: Community Forums
765: CPGlang
766: Downloads
767: Photo Gallery
768: Community Forums
769: Photo Gallery
770: Community Forums
771: Community Forums
772: Community Forums
773: Photo Gallery
774: Home
775: Community Forums

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
An EYE opening story about hackers! :: Archived
This is a forum for Software related items such as OS', Virus notices, cool or free programs, etc. Gaming software should go in the gaming folder pertaining to the current info.
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  Software

Topic Archived View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7015
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:38 pm
Post subject: An EYE opening story about hackers!

A story written by Brian Krebs @ Washingtonpost.com...

If this story don't make you want to secure your Windows install or worse yet, make you so paranoid you want to move to an alternative OS, I'll be very surprised. I sure don't like many "the sky is falling" articles, but this is too good to not share...

Invasion of the Computer Snatchers
Hackers are hijacking thousands of PCs to spy on users, shake down online businesses, steal identities and send millions of pieces of spam. If you think your computer is safe, think again

By Brian Krebs
Sunday, February 19, 2006; Page W10

In the six hours between crashing into bed and rolling out of it, the 21-year-old hacker has broken into nearly 2,000 personal computers around the globe. He slept while software he wrote scoured the Internet for vulnerable computers and infected them with viruses that turned them into slaves.

Now, with the smoke of his day's first Marlboro curling across the living room of his parents' brick rambler, the hacker known online as "0x80" (pronounced X-eighty) plops his wiry frame into a tan, weathered couch, sets his new laptop on the coffee table and punches in a series of commands. At his behest, the commandeered PCs will begin downloading and installing software that will bombard their users with advertisements for pornographic Web sites. After the installation, 0x80 orders the machines to search the Internet for other potential victims.

A look at how hackers control thousands of PCs and use them to make money.


The young hacker, who has agreed to be interviewed only if he isn't identified by name or home town, takes a deep drag of his smoke and leans back against the couch to exhale. He smiles. This is his day job, and his work is finished in less than two minutes. In two weeks, he will receive a $300 check from one of the online marketing companies that pays him for his services.

"Most days, I just sit at home and chat online while I make money," 0x80 says. "I get one check like every 15 days in the mail for a few hundred bucks, and a buncha others I get from banks in Canada every 30 days." He says his work earns him an average of $6,800 per month, although he's made as much as $10,000. Not bad money for a high school dropout.

Hacked, remote-controlled home computers, known as robots or "bots," and large groups of robot networks like the one 0x80 runs -- called "botnets" -- are the souped-up cyber engines driving nearly all criminal commerce on the Internet. Botnets are used to relay millions of pieces of junk e-mail, or spam, touting everything from cheap Viagra to get-rich-quick business schemes. And the botmasters who control these computer networks are at the heart of ominous and increasingly common online shakedowns known as "denial of service attacks." In such an attack, Web gangsters demand tens of thousands of dollars in protection money from businesses. If the businesses refuse to pay, the criminals order the thousands of computers that make up their botnets to flood the Web sites with meaningless traffic, crippling the businesses and costing them thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

0x80 says that he doesn't use his botnet to shake down businesses. Instead, he and a growing number of botmasters make money by seeding their botnets with spyware, also known as adware. Once installed on a PC, the adware serves up pop-up advertisements and mines data about the user's online browsing habits. The computer worm that powers the botnet also gathers far more sensitive data from the victim's machine, including passwords, e-mail addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card data. The spyware and adware problem is pervasive and growing: A recent survey by the National Cyber Security Alliance and America Online found that four of five computers connected to the Web have some type of spyware or adware installed on them, with or without the owner's knowledge.

"Most days, I just sit at home and chat online while I make money," says 0x80, who says he makes $6,800 a month on average.(Sarah L. Voisin - The Washington Post)
The distribution of online advertisements via spyware and adware has become a $2 billion industry, according to security software maker Webroot Software Inc. And as the industry has boomed, so have the botnets. Just a few months ago, FBI agents arrested a 20-year-old from Southern California for installing adware on a botnet of more than 400,000 hacked computers. Jeanson James Ancheta's victims included computers at the Naval Air Warfare Center and machines at the Defense Information Systems Agency, according to government documents. He pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

Like Ancheta, 0x80 installs adware and spyware surreptitiously, though the law requires the computer owner's consent. The young hacker doesn't have much sympathy for his victims. "All those people in my botnet, right, if I don't use them, they're just gonna eventually get caught up in someone else's net, so it might as well be mine," 0x80 says. "I mean, most of these people I infect are so stupid they really ain't got no business being on [the Internet] in the first place."

Tall and lanky, with hair that falls down to his eyebrows, 0x80 almost never looks you in the eye when he talks, his accent a slurry of heavy Southern drawl and Midwestern nasality. He lives with his folks in a small town in Middle America. The nearest businesses are a used-car lot, a gas station/convenience store and a strip club, where 0x80 says he recently dropped $800 for an hour alone in a VIP room with several dancers. He tells his parents that he works from home for a Web design firm. His bedroom resembles a miniature mission control center, with computers, television and computer monitors, and what must be several miles' worth of tangled wires plugged into an array of surge-protected power strips.

At the moment, 0x80 controls more than 13,000 computers in more than 20 countries. This morning he installs spyware on just a few hundred of the 2,000 PCs that he has commandeered in the last few hours. He will stagger the remaining installations throughout this day and into the next, using a program he wrote that automates the process. If he installs too many bundles of spyware at once, the online marketing companies, "get suspicious, they cut me off, and I don't get paid," he mumbles, squinting at the screen while the nub of his cigarette sprinkles ashes all over his laptop and the coffee table. "I've learned not to get greedy."

A small dog with matted fur enters the living room and winds through 0x80's feet. 0x80 gives the dog a gentle shove with his foot, without even looking up from his laptop. He furiously stabs at the keyboard with his two forefingers, punching out a short command that produces a mesmerizing blur of black-on-white text that scrolls up the computer screen at several pages per second. 0x80 makes it halfway through a cigarette before the text flying across the screen finally stops. The command he typed -- "pstore" -- is short for "password store." On the screen in front of him is a listing of every user name and password that the owner of each infected computer has stored in the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser on his or her computer.

A quick scroll through the first few dozen pages of the file reveals credentials his victims have used to log in to online accounts at PayPal, eBay, Bank of America and Citibank, to name just a few. Many of the Web sites for which user names and passwords are stored are harmless, such as sports or hobby sites. Others are potentially far more revealing, such as hard-core sex and fetish Web sites. 0x80 has also found credentials for thousands of e-mail accounts, including dozens at ".mil" and ".gov" (U.S. military and government) addresses.


Want to read the whole article? Click HERE!

Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:04 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

Heckuva good read, Senor Bush, and thanks...although, on a point of order, "0x80" is more often properly pronouced "hex-eighty" among the old-school actual programming community....but leave it to the third-generation kids and hackers to corrupt even that much...as tho the modern-day corruption of the english language via terms such as "gr8", "h8", "w8" "y do u" etc isn't bad enough....

Here's a dumb question along the same lines: Isn't there similar danger in going to HTML links and such, given by parties or persons you don't trust?

I ask because although I've always been extremely well-protected (with not ONE virus instance in over 20 years) I finally did get brought down hard by some damn spyware thingy that I got by visiting a website that hosts - of all innocent things - Guitar Tablature (sheet music for those that are too lazy to read real music). All it took was one visit to that website and some pop-ups that came up. I backed right out but it was way too late, I had registry entries made and a nasty little thing that came up on the next restart. REverting back to a restore point was the only fix. I happened across the same site yesterday (slow learner huh?) looking for something else and this time, MS Anti-spyware caught it and I also used Task Manager to kill the process(es) that had been loaded.

So, my question is, say someone you don't really know posts an HTML link, say here in a forum or wherever....could be anything, but let's say a personal web page or greeting card link etc......should that be considered "high-risk" dangerous stuff to stay away from? Because that's the path I take....am I too paranoid?

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Doug_Kibbey
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 23, 2006
Posts: 4678
Location: The Great Satan
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:12 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

- JG300-Stoopy
.
"corruption of the english language via terms such as "gr8".........

could be anything, but let's say a personal web page or greeting card link etc......should that be considered "high-risk" dangerous stuff to stay away from?


I don't think you're paranoid...and I flatter myself that I get your point completely Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
RCAF_MadDog
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Nov 13, 2004
Posts: 849

PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:26 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

I dontt think your paranoid either
The way I look at it Stoopy any link your not sure of is potentially dangerous. I dont usually click a link that is posted anywhere unless my sheilds are up or I know the person that posted the link. With the way the internet is nowadays its a use at your own risk deal. All we can do is to try to make sure our sheilds are going to hold up lol
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7015
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:57 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

Well, the purpose of the post was to make those that don't know the hazards exist and give them some insight on how dangerous this really is.

Keeping up with your OS security updates is crutial these days and running some kind of firewall, anti-virus, spy tools and spy look out tools is a normal way of life for savy users.

To answer your question Stoopy, yep, HTML links can pass 'bugs' into the system and I fix a lot of puters who's users visits less than desireable locations on the web. I find running Webroot Spy Sweeper does a nice job watching your machine for this.

The saying "An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure." is certainly true when using the net and being pro-active is a much better approach than being passive in this case.

So, let me tell you what I'm running...

Firewall, Adaware, SpyBot, Webroot Spy Sweeper, MS Anti-spyware, Avast and/or AVG anti-virus (I use both, but not at the same time.) These are just the front end blockers, then I also run as maintainence, PcRescue, System Mechanic and Registery Mechanic.

It's a shame you have to run this stuff, but if you don't, it's a matter of time before you get hit.

Something else to think about. I also run Linux/XP as a dual boot and at times will stay in that OS for quite a while and only come back to XP for gaming. This is especially true if there's been a warning on the net about specific worms, bots or virus' out like the recent black worm. Once the threat is gone, I'll boot into XP, do all the updates, rescan all sectors and all is well... Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:22 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

I'm amazed by how many people I run into in RidgeRunners who still don't have a firewall.
I'd be one of 'em if folks like EW_Gorilla hadn't explained it all to me when I first came on-line.
Cheers monkeys!

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
RCAF_Wingnut
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 29, 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Omaha, Ne.
PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:02 pm
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

I once read a story by the owner of one of those companies attacked by bot controlled pc's regarding his personal research into the attack and defense against the bots. He discovered that the best, at that time, firewall available was the Zonealarm from Zone Labs. Of the programs he tested, it was the only one that blocked attempts from inside to access the net without permission of the owner. All the rest allowed a program on the inside to access outside the system. They all blocked outside attempts to get in, but a lot of the time the bots are attached to e-mail that people downloaded, and didn't know it was there. The bots that attacked his business were controlled by a 15 year old kid. The businessmans computer was protected inside his network by his built in firewall on his router, but the flood of pings from the bot controlled pc's blocked his entire bandwidth for several days.

_________________
"May your Enemys Run With Fear!!"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:28 am
Post subject: Re: An EYE opening story about hackers!

That research was specific to that company's computer network and shouldn't be taken as a recommendation for other systems:-
Security will vary from pc to pc depending on the components and software involved. ZA may well have served that chap well. It doesn't necessarilly mean it would serve someone else equally as well.

I've used McAfee and ZA in the past, which were the best for the machines I had them installed on. Now I use Norton as the NIS bundle is the best for my current machine. I'd rather not as NIS is so thorough, it affects system performance but I'm not sacrificing system security.
As Norton is still the best for my machine, I'll upgrade to NIS2006 and then review what's available when the time comes to change again.

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  Software
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 6 Hours

Archive Revive
Username:
This is an archived topic - your reply will not be appended here.
Instead, a new topic will be generated in the active forum.
The new topic will provide a reference link to this archived topic.