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Title: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on October 18, 2008, 07:25AM Please post questions and comments here.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Mystic Knight on October 18, 2008, 09:19PM Excellent post Rich. I use two anti spyware programs both free. Adaware and Spybot Search and destroy. For antivirus I use AVG 8 free version. I also hide behind two firewalls on on windoze the other on the router. I don't know if multiple firewalls helps at all. What I would really like is ghost. It's hardware that basically hides your ports... it's also rather pricey.
If I could add a note about passwords. Passwords with a combination of numbers and letters are harder to crack. for example c3a2t1. I used a web site to generate a random 15 character password for the router. I would share the link but I can't remember it, but if you go to to the call for help site and dig around you will find it there. That is where I got it. OOPS sory 'bout that Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on October 18, 2008, 09:42PM Excellent post Rick. Thank you. But it's Rich.I wasn't going to get into this yet, but - it's also a good idea to mix in an occasional special character in a password. Any of the standard printable ASCII characters except white space, with ASCII codes between 33 and 126 inclusive, are allowed in passwords. Thus, all of these special characters are allowed in passwords: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ Also - it's probably not a good idea to use an online password generator. The technology needed to capture that information is readily available. If you want to use a generated password, there's a good one here (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scripting/GenPassword.aspx), written in Javascript, and another here (http://geodsoft.com/cgi-bin/password.pl), in Perl. If you use any kind of random generator, though, you will have to record it somewhere or you'll never remember it. Just be sure to record it in a very safe place, preferably completely separate from the computer workspace. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: KiernanKate on October 18, 2008, 09:52PM So if I were to set one of my online passwords, to include a Fada in it.... that'd make it harder to break?
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Mystic Knight on October 18, 2008, 10:36PM Like I said I only used that password for the router and I never saved it. If all else fail all I need to do is hit the reset and its back to defalt. :)
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on October 19, 2008, 06:29AM So if I were to set one of my online passwords, to include a Fada in it.... that'd make it harder to break? Well, there are 26 alphabetics, plus 10 numerics, plus 32 special characters. Add in another 26 upper case alphas if you're in a Unix/Linux environment, and you have 26 x 26 x 10 x 32 = 216,320 possibilities for each character in your password.Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Cash on October 19, 2008, 05:13PM So if I were to set one of my online passwords, to include a Fada in it.... that'd make it harder to break? Well, there are 26 alphabetics, plus 10 numerics, plus 32 special characters. Add in another 26 upper case alphas if you're in a Unix/Linux environment, and you have 26 x 26 x 10 x 32 = 216,320 possibilities for each character in your password.Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on October 19, 2008, 06:50PM wouldnt you have to add those together rather than multiply? Oops. Yes, Mike, you're absolutely right. There are only 94 possibilities for each individual character. So, for two characters, it'd be 94 x 94, or 8836. And so on.Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: tiburongirl on November 19, 2008, 01:04PM Thanks Rich for posting about the dangers of online trading. There was a ton of important information in your article. Even though my career with Merrill Lynch was short, I, personally will never do online trading (For one, I technically can't for 2 years anyway, heh). Even though a person has to pay commission and fees to a brokerage house, it's well worth it in the long run.
Kim Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: YayBabySeals on November 20, 2008, 09:25AM This is a good topic to have on here, Rich...since obviously everyone here is a computer user (even if it's only to check the forum, hehe), this is info that is worthwhile for everyone to know.
My company is primarily a government health IT contractor, so we have access to very important/confidential data. Therefore, we don't mess around with computer security here. One trick I always use is to "lock" my computer when I walk away from it in the office, even if it's just to go to the bathroom. This way if anyone tries to get in & look at my computer, they won't be able to, unless they know my password. Here's how to lock your machine for the folks who don't know how to do it: 1. Hit Control-Alt-Delete. 2. Click "Lock Computer". Or, for those who are fans of keyboard shortcuts (like me), you can just hit the Windows button on your keyboard and then the "L" key. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on November 20, 2008, 09:48AM Here's how to lock your machine for the folks who don't know how to do it: Another handy trick is to password protect your screen saver.1. Hit Control-Alt-Delete. 2. Click "Lock Computer". Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Scott on November 27, 2008, 08:31AM Here's a weird question. I work on and upload a small bit of graphic images (particularly of Celtic Woman). Is it possible that if I have a virus on my computer that it can hitch itself into my JPG files? It would seem to be an effective way for a virus to travel all over the place... :( Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on November 27, 2008, 11:11AM For most types of graphics file formats currently available the answer is "no". A virus (or worm, Trojan horse, etc.) is fundamentally a collection of code (i.e. a program) that contains instructions which are executed by your CPU. Most graphics files, however, contain only static data and no executable code. The code that reads, writes, and displays graphics data is found in translation and display programs, and not in the graphics files themselves. If reading or writing a graphics file caused a system malfunction it was most likely the fault of the program reading the file and not of the graphics file data itself.
With the introduction of multimedia we have seen new formats appear, and modifications to older formats made, that allow executable instructions to be stored within a file format. These instructions are used to direct multimedia applications to play sounds or music, prompt the user for information, or display other graphics and video information. And such multimedia display programs may perform these functions by interfacing with their environment via an API, or by direct interaction with the operating system. One might also imagine a truly object-oriented graphics file as containing the code required to read, write, and display itself. Once again, any catastrophes that result from using these multimedia applications are most likely the result of bugs in the software and not some sinister instructions in the graphics file data. Such "logic bombs" are typically exorcised through the use of testing using a wide variety of different image files for test cases. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Cash on November 27, 2008, 01:24PM Thanks Rich for posting about the dangers of online trading. There was a ton of important information in your article. Even though my career with Merrill Lynch was short, I, personally will never do online trading (For one, I technically can't for 2 years anyway, heh). Even though a person has to pay commission and fees to a brokerage house, it's well worth it in the long run. I am also fearful of any on-line financial transactions, perhaps to the point of an unhealthy paranoia. Financial people have finally stopped trying to get me to do it. It is cheap to just call a human now, when in the past that meant maybe hundreds of dollars. Kim On the USB Drive article, I have a problem with one, though I dont think its actually security related. But I took it to Kinkos to get a few pics printed out, and they had to create some type of file, so I told them to save it to the flash drive, that way if I needed it again, I wouldnt have to pay their 'administrative' fee of $3 (or whatever exact amount, cant remember now) again. Now I cant save anything more to the drive. A good subject for future articles would be cookies. I always turn my computer to block them, unless I need them for some web page (like MySpace) Again I may be too paraniod. ::) Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on November 27, 2008, 01:55PM A good subject for future articles would be cookies. I'm working on an article on Understanding Active Content and Cookies. Coming soon to a forum near you. :DTitle: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Kelli on December 06, 2008, 12:29PM Rich,
Thanks for the article on online shopping. I learned some things! (the other articles are a little over my head, I'm having to work my way through them slowly LOL) I appreciate your efforts! Kel Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on January 17, 2009, 07:52AM Was there a mention about regularly changing passwords?
Its a good idea is to take lyrics from a song and put the letters backward. For instance 'thginot noom eht is hgih' is 'High is the moon tonight'. When you change your password just use the next line in the song. Its probably best to use lyrics of an obscure song and not a Celtic Woman one in the example. I hope that's of help. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on January 22, 2009, 08:19AM I hope it ok to post this here. There is a virus warning for users of Vista and Windows 7.
From the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7842013.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7842013.stm) Quote The Conficker virus has opened a new can of worms for security experts. Drives such as USB sticks infected with the virus trick users into installing the worm, according to researchers. The "Autoplay" function in Vista and early versions of Windows 7 automatically searches for programs on removable drives. However, the virus hijacks this process, masquerading as a folder to be opened. When clicked, the worm installs itself. It then attempts to contact one of a number of web servers, from which it could download another program that could take control of the infected computer. Bad guys The worm is unusually clever in the way that it determines what server to contact, according to F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hypponen. "It uses a complicated algorithm which changes daily and is based on timestamps from public websites such as Google.com and Baidu.com," said Mr Hypponen in a blog post. "This makes it impossible and/or impractical for us good guys to shut them all down — most of them are never registered in the first place. "However, the bad guys only need to predetermine one possible domain for tomorrow, register it, and set up a website — and they then gain access to all of the infected machines," he added. It has also emerged that the virus automatically disables the automatic updates to Windows that would prevent further infection. As the virus - also known as Downadup - has spread to an estimated 9m computers globally, a number of high-profile instances of the virus have arisen. The Ministry of Defence has been battling an outbreak of the virus across its network for more than two weeks, and on Tuesday a network of hospitals across Sheffield told technology website The Register that more than 800 of their computers had been infected. Users are urged to download the KB958644 Security Update from Microsoft to mitigate the risk of infection. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on January 31, 2009, 09:11AM If anyone's tried to get to this site through Google at the moment and it says "This site may harm your computer" don't worry, its Google throwing a wobbler. :D
Just try another search engine like MSN while they sort it out. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Mel on January 31, 2009, 09:13AM Yes..it has that for every web link...and it won't let you cont on...Its VERY ANNOYING!!!
Trying to look up a stupid recipe..and can't get ingredients >:( Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on January 31, 2009, 09:17AM Yes..it has that for every web link...and it won't let you cont on...Its VERY ANNOYING!!! Try Yahoo. :DTrying to look up a stupid recipe..and can't get ingredients >:( Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on January 31, 2009, 09:33AM Google's back to normal. I think it was the stress of having to index all those websites! :D
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on January 31, 2009, 10:23PM http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/)
"This site may harm your computer" on every search result?!?! 1/31/2009 09:02:00 AM If you did a Google search between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST this morning, you likely saw that the message "This site may harm your computer" accompanied each and every search result. This was clearly an error, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our users. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on February 11, 2009, 09:04AM It was mentioned in New Scientist! We were witness to a historic internet event! :D
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on February 12, 2009, 11:01AM A news feature on passwords: http://www.physorg.com/news153650514.html (http://www.physorg.com/news153650514.html)
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: jons on March 26, 2009, 10:33AM If anyone is looking for a good Internet Security package, I would go for Norton Internet Security 2009. I booted up today, it downloaded an update and now when you visit google it puts a tick or a question mark next to each site in the search result and gives you a full report on it!
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on March 30, 2009, 05:09PM Rich,
Thank You for your Security Reports... The Worm coming out April 1...I have Mcaffe & Spybot, updated, I run it twice a week. As far as I can tell I will not need to download the links: to the one care safety scanner or the F-secure. Am I correct? Read everything...just want to make sure. Thank You Again for these Warnings... Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on March 31, 2009, 08:49AM Rich, Howard,Thank You for your Security Reports... The Worm coming out April 1...I have Mcaffe & Spybot, updated, I run it twice a week. As far as I can tell I will not need to download the links: to the one care safety scanner or the F-secure. Am I correct? Read everything...just want to make sure. Thank You Again for these Warnings... Best Regards, Howard As long as you've kept all your definition files up to date and you've installed the security updates and patches from Microsoft, you're safe. Just be very careful before you click on any links embedded in emails tomorrow (and always!). Make sure your antivirus software is configured to scan incoming email. And you don't have to download and install the OneCare application. You can run a free scan right from your browser (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm)). It will only work with Internet Explorer. I've also heard some talk that the online scan has failed a number of times lately due to the extremely high demand. If you have a problem, you might want to wait until late night/early morning. Title: Conficker worm that threatens to activate and cause a lot of havoc on April 1 Post by: bot1tle on March 31, 2009, 10:41AM http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=15434
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on March 31, 2009, 05:23PM Hi Rich,
Thanks for answering my concerns, I can rest easy now. :D Thank You Again for the Security tips. Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Sorgi on May 06, 2009, 09:13PM When I was in Sacramento yesterday, my roommate calls me about a security question. Antivirus popped up and was saying he had infected files, I went "huh?" when he told me that it wasn't his normal program, Norton. Sure enough it was the "Personal Virus Shield" Spy/Malware. It quietly installs itself (somehow without his Norton noticing), and then falsely reports having found multiple worms and trojans. When remove is clicked it tells you that you have to pay for that service. In order to facilitate the deception it tries to slow your computer down. Good anti-spyware is needed to remove this (there are instructions for a manual removal which is supposedly a high risk operation). The program that most places recommended was Enigmas SpyHunter (we tried Lavasofts AdAware but It missed it) Hopefully SpyHunter nails it for my roomie.
So far appears to be a real pain to try and get rid of this thing....still working on it...fairly tenacious. Only took 3 or 4 tries but we got rid of it. It was basically trying to stick its foot in the door by leaving part of itself active so it couldn't be deleted by SpyHunter. A little visit to the task manager let us select the programs process and end it. After that it was just a matter of using SpyHunter to finish off the remains Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Edgeman on June 23, 2009, 12:53AM Firefox + NoScript + Adblocker + avg free, are pretty good ways to protect your computer. Firefox is pretty much the best browser out there imo.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on August 18, 2009, 05:34PM I heard on the news Monday that Tweeter was down last week, as well as a couple of times before because someone was hacking in it, they have security problems, it is advised if you don't have good security protection for your computer don't go into Tweeter as well as Facebook, your private information can be in jeapordy.
Good Luck... Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on August 18, 2009, 06:04PM What happened to Twitter and Facebook was not "hacking" - it was a denial-of-service attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack)). Huge difference. In fact, the web sites weren't even the target of the attack. It was launched to stop the posts of an anti-Russian man from the Republic of Georgia. The web sites were just collateral damage, and there was no risk of any person's private information being compromised.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on August 19, 2009, 04:53PM What happened to Twitter and Facebook was not "hacking" - it was a denial-of-service attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack)). Huge difference. In fact, the web sites weren't even the target of the attack. It was launched to stop the posts of an anti-Russian man from the Republic of Georgia. The web sites were just collateral damage, and there was no risk of any person's private information being compromised. Hi Rich, For someone who doesn't know a thing about computers, I took it as "gospel" what came over the radio... Thank You for clearing up about Twitter & Facebook. Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on September 19, 2009, 11:22AM Facebook Users Beware.....
Site Hacking Facebook Accounts for $100 a Pop Security company Panda Labs has discovered an online service that promises to hack into Facebook accounts for $100. They claim they will provide "clients" with login and password information to access any account on the social network. More here (http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/09/18/site-hacking-facebook-accounts-for-100-a-pop) Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Lisa and Helen fanatic on October 01, 2009, 03:24PM Facebook Users Beware..... Site Hacking Facebook Accounts for $100 a Pop Security company Panda Labs has discovered an online service that promises to hack into Facebook accounts for $100. They claim they will provide "clients" with login and password information to access any account on the social network. More here (http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/09/18/site-hacking-facebook-accounts-for-100-a-pop) that's concerning. :-\ Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on October 04, 2009, 07:42AM How Cyber Safe Are You? Take this self-assessment quiz (http://www.staysafeonline.org/content/self-assessment-quiz) and find out!
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Kelli on November 04, 2009, 09:22PM Thanks for these articles, Rich. Do you have anything on Firewall options? Types available, etc?
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on November 04, 2009, 09:36PM Thanks for these articles, Rich. Do you have anything on Firewall options? Types available, etc? http://celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=5905.msg351697#msg351697 (http://celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=5905.msg351697#msg351697)Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Kelli on November 04, 2009, 09:59PM You da man! Thank you ;)
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on January 22, 2010, 04:22PM Hello Rich, and Everyone else,
Recently there is a new virus on Microsoft, I believe it originated in China for about the past month. Half listening to the radio this morning, they mentioned that Mircrosoft is able to come up a protection for it. If you have automatic updates from Microsoft, (which I have), you get it automatically, if not you can download the patch. They also mentioned that you should update to Windows 8, (there is an 8?), for the best protection. I have Windows XP. Rich what is your take on this. Thank You, Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on January 22, 2010, 04:54PM The most recent virus I know of from China is the Worm_Piloyd.B, which infects documents like exe, html and asp and prevents the system from restoring the affected document. The virus could also force the system to download other viruses from designated websites. Just make sure you update your anti-virus software and use the real-time computer virus monitoring function when you surf the Internet.
No, there is no Windows 8 yet. Microsoft normally releases a new OS every 3 years, so Windows 8 should be launched in 20011/12, approximately 3 years after Windows 7. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on January 24, 2010, 03:48PM Rich,
Thank You for the response. But my mistake it has nothing to do with windows, the attack was on the internet explorer, (I use it to get into the internet). There is a bug, recently microsoft developed a new securtiy patch for it. I understand it is recommended to update to internet explorer 8. I get updated from microsoft, is it necessary to do an update? What is your take on that? Thank You again, Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on January 24, 2010, 04:00PM I get updated from microsoft, is it necessary to do an update? I keep my settings so that Microsoft notifies me when updates are available, but I have the option whether to download and install them or not. That way, I know when there is an update for any MS product - Windows OS, IE, Outlook, Office, etc. I decline some of them, because they update stuff I don't use. But if they call it a security update, by all means install it.Incidentally - I highly recommend that all Windows users download and install Windows Defender. It's free, and it's excellent. "Windows Defender is software that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software by detecting and removing known spyware from your computer. Windows Defender features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, minimizes interruptions, and helps you stay productive." http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx) Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on January 24, 2010, 05:40PM Rich,
Thank You so much for your advise very helpful and about the Windows Defender. Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on January 24, 2010, 06:26PM One other plus about Windows Defender. MS updates the definitions file several times a week, so you always have the latest and best protection. And, unlike most of their updates, you don't have to restart your machine after installing a new definitions file.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on February 24, 2010, 05:29PM Hi Rich,
Continuing from my "glitch" posting problem. You recommended FireFox. A co-worker of mine told me about 2 years ago he downloaded FireFox, (not to give the whole past history of Firefox), but their security system, like maleware they put in a trojan where no matter what site you got to it took you back to Firefox home page, the only way to fix it was to purchase their system, (can't remember the name). He finally was able to remove it from his computer went back to IE and because he felt this was a dirty sales ploy he will never use firefox again, he said Firefox lost alot of users because of that as well. It seems to me that you use Firefox? What is your take about this. Thank You, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Guardian of the Rose on February 24, 2010, 05:33PM Firefox works great, but you should download it from the real site, not some other download site... I don't usually trust those download sites.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on February 24, 2010, 05:41PM Firefox works great, but you should download it from the real site, not some other download site That's good advice. Download it from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html).Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on February 24, 2010, 05:48PM Firefox works great, but you should download it from the real site, not some other download site That's good advice. Download it from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html).OK, Thanks that's the name I could not remember "mozilla", which is what my co-worker did mention to me.. so bottom line no trojan's or any other problems with us and no problems what he had a couple of years ago? Thank You Again, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Guardian of the Rose on February 24, 2010, 06:25PM Firefox works great, but you should download it from the real site, not some other download site That's good advice. Download it from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html).OK, Thanks that's the name I could not remember "mozilla", which is what my co-worker did mention to me.. so bottom line no trojan's or any other problems with us and no problems what he had a couple of years ago? Thank You Again, Howard Not that I know of. From reading a Mozilla blog, it looks like some optional Firefox add-ons (which were not developed by Mozilla) have had trojans possibly, but the latest Firefox platform is totally peachy. ;) _________________________________________________________________ Btw, Rich, do you have any thoughts on Opera or Google Chrome? Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Trouble on February 24, 2010, 06:30PM I have used Firefox since it came out and I love it! I haven't had any problems with it so far.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on February 24, 2010, 07:15PM Most of the Firefox add-ons are third party applications. I've tried to use one or two, and my Norton automatically disabled them. If you have a solid, reliable antivirus/anti-spyware program installed, and configure it properly, you should never have a problem.
I also have Opera, Safari and Chrome installed. Despite their claims, I don't see much difference in the performance of one over any of the others. I only have them because different browsers render web pages differently, and I need to test new sites and pages to see how those differences are going to impact the visitor's experience. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: howard on February 25, 2010, 05:48PM Thank You Everyone for your input about Firefox, it is a great help.
Best Regards, Howard Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Sorgi on April 29, 2010, 06:37PM Having the misfortune of getting tagged with the "Antispyware soft" malware...not sure how I got it, but it's unpleasant. Within 15/20 minutes of booting it made it in and started sending its "You're infected, click here to purchase antispyware soft" messages. The person who coded this one was smart enough to include a way to prevent the programs shutdown with CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Trying spybot first....if not I'll have to do the safemode dance.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: OldFatGuy on April 29, 2010, 08:17PM Having the misfortune of getting tagged with the "Antispyware soft" malware Click here (http://remove-malware.net/how-to-remove-antivirus-soft-rogue-anti-spyware/) for an excellent article on removing Antispyware Soft.Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Bluefire on April 29, 2010, 09:46PM Having the misfortune of getting tagged with the "Antispyware soft" malware...not sure how I got it, but it's unpleasant. Within 15/20 minutes of booting it made it in and started sending its "You're infected, click here to purchase antispyware soft" messages. The person who coded this one was smart enough to include a way to prevent the programs shutdown with CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Trying spybot first....if not I'll have to do the safemode dance. Those buggers tend to be nasty. If you're still having problems, also consider trying Malwarebytes. Try downloading it from a different machine and get the updates, then transfer it to your machine. Also make sure your computer is disconnected from the internet. Hopefully you won't have to replace the registry keys manually, but it's highly likely. I had to do that with two machines that were infected with similar malware. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Sorgi on April 30, 2010, 09:10AM Hit it with everything I had last night, seems to be gone. Took the time to dive into registry found a couple bits and pieces left over and dumped them manually. What really spiked the Antispy wheel is that I don't use IE, I use firefox instead so I still had internet access when I needed. I'll be checking things when I reboot the next few times, but I think it's gone. CTRL+ALT+DELETE was still my friend, I just had to do it fast after boot in order to bypass antispy's attempts to shutdown task manager.
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: aholinka on April 30, 2010, 09:07PM Having the misfortune of getting tagged with the "Antispyware soft" malware...not sure how I got it, but it's unpleasant. Within 15/20 minutes of booting it made it in and started sending its "You're infected, click here to purchase antispyware soft" messages. The person who coded this one was smart enough to include a way to prevent the programs shutdown with CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Trying spybot first....if not I'll have to do the safemode dance. You're able to enable CTRL+ALT+DELETE (usually TaskManager) again. Click on <Start><Run...>, (NOT in SAFE Mode) type in "regedit" (the 'Registry Editor'; please DO NOT change any other values as described below otherwise your computer may not boot anymore) and click on <OK>. You'll see an explorer like directory/folder structure. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer". There you might find on the right site an entry called "DisableTaskManager" (usually there's only one entry "IconUnderline"). Right-click in it on chose "Delete" and confirm the question. If you don't find the entry try the search function. Go back to the top of the registry, press <F3> and enter "disabletaskman". Due to compatibility with older software this value may be located at different places with different names in the registry. In any case this value can be deleted SAFE!!! Also check "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" and "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" for unwanted entries. Unwanted entries are entries that point to an unknown program or (in case of viruses, trojans, and spy-ware) to an exe-file that does not seem to be a valid program (e.g. a1.exe) or resides beneath "C:\Documents and Settings" (this folder and its sub-folders are just for personal documents and settings and NOT for programs; programs "*.exe" reside beneath "C:\Programs"). If you're not sure about an entry that you want to delete in the registry KEEP it - otherwise you may have to re-install your computer! After closing the 'Registry Editor' you're able to use CTRL+ALT+DELETE again. If you deleted an entry as described above you have to reboot your computer to take changes effect. Sometimes it's neccessary to perform these steps more than once. Be patient ... computers are programmed by humans! For further assistance please feel free to PM me! Axel Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: The Leprechaun on September 03, 2010, 06:04PM I'm afraid I just now read your entire set of articles on cyber security. I don't think we've had too many problems, but there have been some. I will not go into any more detail about that. Now here's my question: It mentioned in the articles to always install automatic updates. How do you know if they are good updates?
Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: Bluefire on September 03, 2010, 07:33PM Oh, there will occasionally be updates that cause some issues that require patches shortly afterward. Nothing is 100%. However, unless you have the extensive time to CAREFULLY monitor when an update comes out, read the reviews for a few days, and then decide to update or not without being at risk, it's not worth it. The majority of the time, it's better to have auto updates run. Leaving holes in your OS that viruses can get into is never a good thing.
As an aside - I mentioned before that it's important to disconnect from the internet? That's not entirely true.... if you are able to reboot your machine in 'Safe Mode with Networking', that's preferable (I forgot about that option until the last wave of "antivirus" viruses). No, I'm not saying always run your machine in Safe Mode... it just allows you more easily fix some of the changes that those viruses do and then run a clean antivirus scan without triggering the problems again. That's what I've had to do with the last three "antivirus" viruses we were hit with... took all of 10 minutes to clean them off, which saved us having to call out the tech guys (yeah, I'm not a tech.. I can just do rudimentary troubleshooting). Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: penguin laminating device on October 03, 2011, 08:41AM Since a lot of the folks here are also on Facebook, you may want to address some of the security and privacy concerns that the new Timeline brings with it:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220240/Facebook_s_Timeline_will_be_boon_for_hackers?taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1 http://www.macworld.com/article/162599/2011/09/facebook_timeline_important_privacy_settings_to_adjust_now.html http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/frictionless-sharing-a-cause-for-concern/story-e6frgakx-1226157574498 http://www.cio.com/article/690361/How_Facebook_Timeline_Could_Influence_Your_Next_Interview?source=rss_news The last article mentions September 30th as the roll out date, but it's been delayed to a copyright dispute with Timelines, Inc. Title: Re: Cyber Security - Questions and Comments Post by: YoungFatGuy on April 03, 2012, 12:38PM For anyone who really wants to get into the bowels of cyber security, I recommend the TWiT Network podcast "Security Now!" with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. Super-geeky and all you've ever wanted to know..
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