Trojans, etc.

[newton's cat]

A lady friend has become convinced that someones sending trojans through her firewall (she's been dabbling with warez site programs). Is this possible - or does she just need a bit of fun? What's the reality on "cyberwars" and so on? I've never even seen a virus, let alone a trojan.

David

[s_antley]

Very possible. If she is downloading stuff from the site, then it is a distinct possibility that she has "inherited" some little nasties along with it. I would get a good strong firewall such as black-ice defender and set it at its strongest setting. When you dabble with this stuff, sometimes you get burned.

[Son of Zeus]

newton's cat,
not sure what "warez site programs" actually are. But as far as "I've never even seen a virus, let alone a trojan" goes I can assure u that they are out there.

When I first bought my current pre-loved i486DX4-S/100MHz back in January (after the Y2K fiasco was obviously a no show) I did not bother with anti-virus software. That was until I inadvertently found out that the thing was full of viruses, both Macro & other.

Seems that the previous owner had been to a few naughty sites judging from some of the names left in his directories (no he didn't clean them out) ie. "Debbie gives hea. jo. to xyz" etc, etc.

Now have Norton 2000 Anti-Virus installed. Was just thinking the other day whether it was such a good investment, as I hadn't picked up another since the big January clean out. When wow, there it was, a fortunately very short-lived virus. One that is now well & truly dead & buried.

Moral of the story...prevention is better than cure. From my experience, I can only recommend A-V software & firewalls (whatever brand they may be).

Cheers...Son of Zeus.

[ixl]

"warez sites" are places where people distribute pirated--and often hacked--commercial software. They are part of the "dark underbelly" of the web.

Anyone downloading software from one of these places opens themselves up to a trojan. A trojan is, like the Trojan Horse, something that appears beneficial but contains something malicious.

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Charles M. Kozierok ( ixlubb@PCGuide.com )
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...

[filthy_rich]

David, tell your lady friend to go to www.winfiles.com (http://www.winfiles.com) and get an antivirus utility called The Cleaner. It specializes in nabbing Trojans and will find any she might have. But she should still get a good firewall or just quit going to warez sites...they've caused nothing but headaches for me.

filthy_rich

[Paleo Pete]

Another good firewall that works very well and is fairly easy to configure is Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com) I've used it for about 6 months now, and like it very well.

Gibson Research (http://grc.com/default.htm) has a link to a system testing page that will tell you if your system is open to port scans or hack attempts. It's called Sheilds Up.

Internet Security Issues (http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/security2.html#Now) also has lots of good info.

Secured (http://anti-trojan.virtualave.net/page2.html) is another good site to take a look at.

I can keep going if you need more...

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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Brian1154]

Yes i agree used zone alarm great results, zone alarm pro is out now also same great results. very user freindly and seems secure passes all test at grc.com

[crussty]

Just an FYI on firewalls. I had switched to a different high-speed internet company after may problems with the former. I was using Zone Alarm with the old one, until I switched. I found out that the new connection would be read by Zone Alarm as a possible intrusion. I then came accross another free firewall: Sygate Personal Firewall, or something like that, you can find it at www.sygate.com (http://www.sygate.com) and I find it works fine with my connection now. If Zone Alarm is not working for you, try Sygate.

crussty http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[sea69]

hi

That just means that ZA was working. You were supposed to block (even your own ISP) from scanning you. Thats what the alerts were telling you, that ZA had blocked access. There is a setting to turn off the pop up alerts. It may be a possibility that the new firewall you have isnt capable of the degree of security that ZA offers and does not detect your own ISP as an intrusion. In my opinion it is one , unless I request it.

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"Remember your 'unique'... just like everyone else!"

[Technochic]

Recently a friend of mine had a nasty virus and I found some great places for info while I was trying to research a fix for it: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html http://www.viruslist.com/eng/default.asp http://www.scambusters.org/viruses.html
You can certainly find info on viruses, worms, trojans, etc. - Especially the differences and what to do to eliminate them as well as guard against them. Myself, I believe that anti-virus protection is worth it! I haven't had a virus yet (knock on wood). http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

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When in doubt... reboot!

[sea69]

hi

Additionally, there is a matter of adware that is installed (without users knowledge}

and many- different types of /malicous\ cookies can be set and you won't even be aware of it.

Going with software I trust (Gibson Research Group) I had been using Opt Out, now they suggest 'Ad Aware' from lavasoft. I have tried it and it is VERY nice, and works well (run daily it still will find new intrusions of spyware) that was unaware of.....[i]hence the name Ad Aware.. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

You can get it {FREE} here (http://www.lavasoft.org/) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

here's a screenshot of what it found on my pc today: click me (http://www.zing.com/picture/p69f0830d5af7dc2b1117e08da76c81c0/febb5b19.gif.orig.gif)

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"Remember your 'unique'... just like everyone else!"

[Paleo Pete]

Same here, Adaware finds a cookie from doubleclick every day, and a few days ago it found a cookie from flycast. I still haven't checked into flycast, but doubleclick has been a nuisance for ages, and I've never been to the doubleclick site...no idea where their cookie comes from, it must be embedded in tons of sites...or ads...

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Fish]

Hi Pete,
I used to get the doubleclick bs once in a while too. A while ago I read someone say that it was just from visiting certain sites. So you're probably right about the ads etc. I went into my IE5 security settings and under restricted sites put- *.doubleclick.net and as far as adaware goes, haven't had that problem since. HTH.

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Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
Thomas Jones

[Ghost_Hacker]

Yep, Doubleclick uses Ads to "direct" you to their server where a cookie is placed or updated by them. There is even a new device called a "web bug"
which is a 1x1 pixel repersented by a HTML IMG tag. This "bug" does the same thing as the ads but it can't be seen nor is it filtered out by not downloading the Ads banners. They can even show up in HTML emails.

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak"

[mjc]

Just think of Doubleclick and Flycast as the lawyer commericals of the Web, with one added feature, they follow you home and everywhere else for that matter. For a while you could even get the doubleclick cookie here, I cleaned out my cookies, came here, checked my cookies and lo and behold *Doubleclick*, so one of the ads was a Doubleclick ad. You can get doubleclick just about anywhere. If we go by just the number of places where you can get it I'm wondering how they can possibly track all of them.....and if they can, then there is one heck of a software story that nobody is reporting.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

Do Vulcans even have to debug?