OT Internet insecurity-long.

[Guest guest]

I thought some here may find a recent experience of mine of interest. A couple

of weeks ago my ADSL modem developed a fault and was refusing to connect to the

net. It later came to light that something had knocked out the saved settings

and that was the reason for the problem. I quickly ordered a new Netgear modem,

installed that and everything seemed fine until I checked my firewall logs. I

checked out the IP addresses and was astonished to find I was getting hundreds

of attempts to access my computer ports (mainly 445) from around the world. Got

in touch with the maker, and after several attempts to resolve the problem, they

concluded there was a hardware fault in the modem and I am getting a refund.

 

This faulty modem had showed how vast internet crime has become. If it were not

for my firewall these hackers could have accessed my computer. Fortunately i

have always been very conscious of security and don't save passwords within most

programs, particularly Microsoft ones!

 

By coincidence, this morning there was a news item about on-line gamers and that

the criminals were targeting them bigtime in order to get passwords and sell

them.

 

The moral of all this is:

Above all else, do not keep your passwords within any program where it

is not necessary. For example, when accessing this newsgroup, and my

hotmail accounts, I copy and paste from a plain text file rather than

" save settings " as the browser suggests. If you use online banking

beware, I heard a computer banking expert say even they would not use

that themselves!!

 

Please ensure you have a good firewall, preferably independent of the

built in Microsoft one.

 

Do not use flash and similar plugins unless you are sure it does not

matter if someone gets into your computer. I disable all such plugins

on my main drive and only use them on my second partition where there is nothing

important stored. Many video and image reliant websites you cannot access

without plugins, so be aware they do make you vulnerable.

 

Make sure you clear your internet cache files after every time you are

browsing the net. It is nobodys business how often you visit websites and

cookies can be used to gain all kinds of information. I have never used those

on my own sites and never will. I have been amazed how many people do not clear

cache files and wonder why their system suddenly catches a cold. Last persons

computer I checked because " it was not working right " had ten thousand redundant

cache files on it including 10 trojans.

 

All the above, came a few months after I bought a new Media player so

that I could use my music and video files stored on the computer on the TV.

That brand new and expensive unit was made in China. My virus checker

immediately detected a Trojan downloader in their software folder. So even with

new hardware you really need to give it the once over if it is internet capable.

 

I hope this may help prevent some from getting their private data and

bank details ripped off.

 

Martin Watt

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info, Martin. I appreciate it. I was personally hacked 2 years

ago via a mail account and it traumatized me pretty badly to have all of

my information exposed. (ALL of my info. You name it.)

 

Ta,

Stacey who hopes to see you here in the US this summer... just not during Comic

Con the end of July!

 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

 

 

" Martin Watt " <aromamedical

 

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:46:40

<ATFE2 >

[ATFE2] OT Internet insecurity-long.

 

 

I thought some here may find a recent experience of mine of interest. A couple

of weeks ago my ADSL modem developed a fault and was refusing to connect to the

net. It later came to light that something had knocked out the saved settings

and that was the reason for the problem. I quickly ordered a new Netgear modem,

installed that and everything seemed fine until I checked my firewall logs. I

checked out the IP addresses and was astonished to find I was getting hundreds

of attempts to access my computer ports (mainly 445) from around the world. Got

in touch with the maker, and after several attempts to resolve the problem, they

concluded there was a hardware fault in the modem and I am getting a refund.

 

This faulty modem had showed how vast internet crime has become. If it were not

for my firewall these hackers could have accessed my computer. Fortunately i

have always been very conscious of security and don't save passwords within most

programs, particularly Microsoft ones!

 

By coincidence, this morning there was a news item about on-line gamers and that

the criminals were targeting them bigtime in order to get passwords and sell

them.

 

The moral of all this is:

Above all else, do not keep your passwords within any program where it

is not necessary. For example, when accessing this newsgroup, and my

hotmail accounts, I copy and paste from a plain text file rather than

" save settings " as the browser suggests. If you use online banking

beware, I heard a computer banking expert say even they would not use

that themselves!!

 

Please ensure you have a good firewall, preferably independent of the

built in Microsoft one.

 

Do not use flash and similar plugins unless you are sure it does not

matter if someone gets into your computer. I disable all such plugins

on my main drive and only use them on my second partition where there is nothing

important stored. Many video and image reliant websites you cannot access

without plugins, so be aware they do make you vulnerable.

 

Make sure you clear your internet cache files after every time you are

browsing the net. It is nobodys business how often you visit websites and

cookies can be used to gain all kinds of information. I have never used those

on my own sites and never will. I have been amazed how many people do not clear

cache files and wonder why their system suddenly catches a cold. Last persons

computer I checked because " it was not working right " had ten thousand redundant

cache files on it including 10 trojans.

 

All the above, came a few months after I bought a new Media player so

that I could use my music and video files stored on the computer on the TV.

That brand new and expensive unit was made in China. My virus checker

immediately detected a Trojan downloader in their software folder. So even with

new hardware you really need to give it the once over if it is internet capable.

 

I hope this may help prevent some from getting their private data and

bank details ripped off.

 

Martin Watt