Whilst viewing motoring interest sites, I have had three messages from Norton Symantec warning of a "backdoor attack by a Trojan Horse"
Sounds painful.
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Well, it would harddly be a mare.........
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I think they're only playing leapfrog.
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Don't know how I was saddled with that extra "d".
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And me, zone alarm went off on mine, giving me an ISP number (which I can't now find !)
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These supposed 'attacks' are just young so-called "script-kiddies" probing for known holes in your defenses. They're normally just probing for holes exposed by previously installed (whether knowingly or not) software. They're nothing to wrooy about and reporting to ISP's will get nothing done...
I gave up on software such as ZoneAlarm and BlackIce after having several probes per day (even per hour) for insecurities. As long as you're careful to not open EXE's, COM's and other nasties from people you don't know (and even people you do) you wont run into trouble.
This has been a public service announcement from the youngest member of *that* family.
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The Trojan viruses are small programs which sit on your computer, gathering information on passwords and so on. While you're online, anyone with the appropriate software can then call up this information, thus obtaining all kinds of stuff without you knowing.
I used to surf unprotected, but on the advice of several magazines, I installed Norton Internet Security. Since then, I get at least one attempted Trojan every time I'm on the net.
Andy
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visit www.antivirus.com
free scan for viruses on your PC and decent-price software to protect you when surfing. Free 30-day trial as well!
rg
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"P.C-cillin" product from Trend Micro at www.antivirus.com protects from malicious Java or Active-x code.
No I'm not on commission.
rg
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> This has been a public service announcement from the youngest
> member of *that* family.
Well done, Ben Lacey,and good advice for us all. Like *your* e-mail address, and can now clearly see that your Dad's (?) address is not a reference to his back seat passengers!
Keep on keeping us on track.
Ronnie
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I agree there is an element of risk surfing, but I found most of my "attacks" were from my own dial up ISP checking if I was still online. Use Neotrace or similar and you can see who that IP address actually belonged to. 99/100 it was my BT Internet, so I wouldn't lose too much sleep.
Not many years ago, the sign up to Compuserve left a file called "signup.dat" on your hard disc that could easily be read by notepad and contained all the credit card and personal info that you entered to subscribe to their service. That was one file always worth deleting!
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While programs like neotrace are useful, don't forget that the IP address is easily changed - there's lots of software around to do this - just like the number plates on your car!
Treating attachments that come with email with suspision is wise, however, mobile code such as java, active-x etc. can carry malicious code and this can be difficult to avoid while surfing. A firewall and an up to date virus scanner are essential.
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Luckily, David's not my father, just my older brother... :)
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No worse than an attack in the back passage by me, ducky!
Terry Maxwell
The Great White Virgin Actuary
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