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HACKERS, VIRUSES, AND WORMS OH MY!Attack of the Data-Eating ZombiesThe Annoyance:My computer seems to have a mind of its own. The drive light is flashing and it seems to be busy doing things when I'm nowhere near it. Have I been hacked? Do I have a computer virus? What can I do to keep from being hacked or infected? The Fix:Your machine may well have a virus. (Then again, maybe Windows is having one its regular nervous breakdowns.) Some viruses and worms announce themselves by displaying a silly message on screen; some make themselves known by destroying data or disabling your system. But in the past year we've seen an epidemic of attacks that turn PCs into so-called zombies machines that are remotely controlled over the Internet and used to launch attacks against other sites, forward spam, or do virtually anything else the hacker desires. Another big threat is keystroke loggers software that captures what you type and sends it to a remote location. These are extremely handy for stealing passwords, credit card numbers, and other confidential information. The only way to prevent zombification is to follow safe email practices (such as not opening file attachments; see "Don't Get Too Attached"), keep your operating system up to date, and get software that protects you from digital delinquents (see the sidebar "Ten Essential Privacy Tools").
At a bare minimum, you want a firewall to keep hackers from installing software that takes over your system or steals your data. Windows XP comes with a very basic firewall, but the firewall is not enabled by default unless Service Pack 2 (SP2) is installed. To turn on XP's firewall, open the Network Connections control panel and right-click the connection you want to protect. Select Properties, click the Advanced tab, and check the Internet Connection Firewall box. (If you've upgraded to SP2, or bought your computer with SP2 already on it, the steps are slightly different. On the Advanced tab, you click the Settings button in the Windows Firewall section, and in the subsequent dialog box, click the General tab, then "On (recommended).") Click OK to confirm your choices and close Network Connections. The Windows Firewall should keep Internet hackers from probing your system for openings, but that's about it. It won't, for example, keep applications on your PC from accessing the Internet behind your back, as many Trojan Horses and keystroke loggers do. A better choice is ZoneAlarm Pro ($30, http://www.zonelabs.com), which controls which apps can and can't access the Net, blocks pop ups, and lets you manage cookies. (ZoneAlarm also comes in a more limited free version, and as part of a $40 suite that includes a virus scanner, anti-spam tools, and other useful goodies.) Mac OS X's firewall settings are found in System Preferences
Don't Get Too AttachedThe Annoyance:I just received an "email undeliverable" message. But there's a file attached. What should I do with it? The Fix:Follow Tynan's Golden Rule of Computing #2: when in doubt, delete. (Golden Rule #1: when things go wrong, blame Microsoft.) If you get an attachment you're not expecting, 9 times out of 10 it's a worm or some other digital nasty. Do not (I repeat, DO NOT) save or open this sucker. Opening the file will infect your computer; saving the file can be dangerous if you forget it's there and open it later. Delete it with prejudice. And get yourself an anti-virus program that will automatically detect and neutralize such attachments before they land in your inbox.
Friends Don't Let Friends Open AttachmentsThe Annoyance:My best friend in the whole world just sent me a message with a file attachment. I know the person, so it's okay to open it, right? The Fix:Not necessarily. (See Tynan Rule #2.) One reason viruses spread like, well, viruses is that once they infect your system, they often mail themselves to everyone in your address book. If you get an attachment from somebody that you trust, call and ask them if they sent you something and if so, what it is. Only if you're convinced the file is benign should you take the plunge and even then, scan the attachment with your antivirus software the second it lands on your hard drive.
Antivirus Software Is Not EnoughThe Annoyance:My antivirus package scans incoming and outgoing mail, so I can open attachments with no worries, right? The Fix:Don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Digital nasties can fool AV programs in a number of ways. For one thing, there's always a lag between the time a virus is set loose in the wild and when your antivirus vendor comes up with a fix an average of around 10 to 12 hours, according to German virus researcher Andreas Marx (http://www.av-test.org). And then you've got to remember to download the fix and install it, which can add several days to the tally plenty of time for you to get infected. Major AV packages like Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan let you schedule automatic updates, though after a certain period (which ranges from 90 days to a year) you'll have to pay an annual fee for future virus definitions. My advice: update your software at least once a week and whenever you hear of a big virus outbreak (which seems to happen at least once a week). Better yet, set your AV software to automatically update itself whenever new virus definitions are available. In ZoneAlarm Security Suite, you do this by opening the suite's Control Center. Select Antivirus from the list on the left and click the Antivirus Options button. Under Advanced Settings select Updates, and check the Enable Automatic Updates (Recommended) box. Then click OK. Stop Spreading the NewsThe Annoyance:Ooops, I think I've just infected every member of my family and all of my close friends by sending them a virus. What do I do now? Do I have to enter the witness protection program? The Fix:No, but you might consider the witless protection program. First, send an email to the family and (former) close friends you may have infected, alerting them (sending flowers and candy couldn't hurt either). If you haven't already installed an AV program, now would be the time it should be able to isolate and kill the virus, assuming your system hasn't been damaged too badly. You should also update your operating system, as security holes are constantly being discovered and patches issued. Windows XP makes this easy: make sure you're connected to the Internet, then click Start Make Updates AutomaticThe Annoyance:Virus scanners really slow down my system. I figure as long as I don't open attachments I'll be fine, right? The Fix:Wrong. In March 2004, clever virus fiends released variants on the Bagle worm that could infect systems when a piece of email was opened no strings (or files) attached. Opening the noxious message caused the victim's PC to secretly download and install malicious code. In this case, the worm only infected Windows machines whose users failed to install a critical security patch for Internet Explorer that Microsoft had released five months earlier. (To find out if your copy of IE is still vulnerable to such attacks, you can run a test at http://secunia.com/MS03-032.) Of course, keeping up with Microsoft's critical security patches can be a fulltime job (and the pay sucks). Rather than fetching each update manually, simplify your life by telling Windows XP to automatically download and install updates as they become available (see Figure 3-9). annoyances 3-9. Tired of keeping track of Window's critical updates? Let XP download and install the patches for you automatically.![]() Open the System control panel, click the Automatic Updates tab, and check the "Keep my computer up to date" box; if you're using XP with Service Pack 2, click "Automatic (recommended)." You can tell Windows to automatically download and install the updates; download the update and ask if you want them installed, or simply have it notify you when updates are available. |
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