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June 6, 2004 |
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Security is what you make itSecurity threats are always changing. Viruses, worms, and Trojan horse applications increasingly arrive in spam, via peer-to-peer networking, and from malevolent websites with names that are similar to good sites. If you accidentally misspell “microsoft.com” or use “whitehouse.com” instead of “whitehouse.gov”, you’ll reach a website that’s quite different from what you intended. No matter how much time and effort you spend on security, someone can always find a way to defeat it. Computer security is a lot like home security, though. Just as good home security can make your home a less appealing target for a crook, good computer security can make your computer a less appealing target for a creep. Tighten upBe careful about what you download. Some freeware programs and peer-to-peer programs like Grokster, Imesh, and Kazaa come with several spyware applications that will use system resources and slow the machine. They may create conflicts with other applications and cause those applications – or the operating system – to crash. Dell says about 12% of all its support calls deal with spyware. According to Microsoft, half of the calls tech support receives with requests for help with computer crashes involve spyware. “Half” is a conservative estimate because many victims think their problems are simply the result of Windows malfunctions. The National Cyber Security Alliance estimates that 90% of personal computers have spyware installed. That may seem ridiculously high, but EarthLink tested 1,000,000 computers belonging to its customers and found more than 29,000,000 spyware applications! Some applications such as Kazaa tell you what they will install in addition to what you think you’re getting, but this information is usually buried inside a licensing agreement that few people read and written in technical jargon that makes the intent nearly impossible to fathom. When you find a free application that you think you’d like to install, use Google to search for the name of the application and the word “spyware”. Read what you find with skepticism because it’s not uncommon for people to unfairly accuse a clean program of being spyware. The distinction can be fairly fine. Applications such as the browser Opera and the e-mail program Eudora can run in “sponsored” or “paid” mode. If you pay for the program, you won’t see any advertising on the program’s user interface. But if you choose “sponsored” mode, the program will display ads. Some people mistakenly refer to these programs as “spyware”, but they are not. Always install security fixes from Microsoft. When Microsoft releases a patch for the operating system or Internet Explorer, install it. Make sure the Java virtual machine software is also up to date because security problems in these applications can allow hostile applications to be installed without your knowledge or permission. Beware ActiveX applications. ActiveX “applets” are programs that can interact with the files on your computer and the operating system. Just as you wouldn’t open a random executable file that someone sent you by e-mail, you don’t want your browser to run ActiveX applications without your knowledge. Open Internet Options from the Control Panel and select the Security tab. Click Internet, press Default Level and then Custom Level. Now you’ll have a list of options that you can turn on or off. In the ActiveX section, set “Download signed ActiveX controls” to Prompt, set “Download unsigned ActiveX controls” to Disable, and set “Initialize and Script ActiveX controls not marked as safe” to Disable. When a website tries to run a signed ActiveX control, you’ll receive a warning. Many websites that allow you to upload files legitimately use ActiveX controls and you’ll want to allow them to run if you trust the site. If you receive a warning and you have any concerns about the website, deny the request. Remove, then preventSpyware applications are insidious. First, you need to find and remove these bits of “malware” and then it’s a good idea to install some protection. Spybot Search & Destroy is free from Safer Networking (www.safer-networking.org). This is a powerful tool that identifies spyware it finds on your computer. It may identify some applications (Eudora, for example) as spyware because it needs to communicate with its ad server. SSD can remove or disable the spyware it finds, but you must take responsibility for guiding it. HijackThis is another good application to have, and also free. You’ll find it at www.spywareinfo.com. AdSubtract from www.adsubtract.com is available in both paid and free versions. Each of these applications will find some malware that the others miss. They don’t get in each others’ way, so there’s no problem installing all of them. Once you get any problems cleaned up, take a look at the Spyware Blaster, free from www.javacoolsoftware.com. Its goal is to make it difficult (if not impossible) for browser hijackers or spyware to be installed. Check all of these applications regularly for updates and if you’re interested in reading more about computer security, www.wilderssecurity.com covers a lot of topics in plain English. The never-ending storyNo matter what you do to protect your computer today, it might not be enough tomorrow. The people who want to take over your computer and use it for their own means – whether as a pornography or stolen software server or as a zombie for sending spam – are persistent. They’re constantly looking for unprotected machines, constantly talking with each other about “exploits” they’ve discovered. All you can do is make sure all of the protective devices on your computer are up to date, learn as much about security as you can or pay someone to examine your computer regularly, and treat any instance in which the computer starts “acting funny” as potentially serious. Weather: Quick, fast, & easyI spend a lot of time in front of a computer, but I also like to know what’s going on outside. If I go for a walk, will I need a coat? Are we expecting severe weather? What’s the dew point? (OK, only a weather geek would want to know the dew point.) Click on any of the images you see here to view a larger version. The trouble with weather on the radio is that it comes and goes, but we don’t pay much attention to it. Many years ago when I was a disk jockey, I would go home after a shift in the hot-wax studio and somebody would ask me about the forecast. And I never had a clue! I would have read the forecast every 10 minutes during the air shift, but remembered none of it. The same thing happens now when I hear the weather Sunday mornings. I sit a couple of feet from Joe and listen to him read the forecast several times during the hour I’m in the studio, but do I remember the forecast? Nope. But there’s a solution because I spend so much time in front of the computer.
And if I want the forecast, another quick click gives me the full story from today (June 2) through next Friday (June 11).
Maybe you noticed a problem in the forecast. The wind speeds are missing. Still, that’s not bad for a free program that lives in the tray, consumes only minimal system resources, and tracks the weather for as many cities as I want to ask for. In fact, I would rate Weather Watcher above some applications I’ve paid for. I have a weather radio nearby and Weather Watcher provides warnings with little or no delay. (I’ve set it to check for watches and warnings every 5 minutes.) Weather Watcher provides maps from weather.com, but these aren’t very useful. They’re small, low resolution, and fuzzy. If you want detailed weather information, maps, and even Nexrad composite images, check www.wunderground.com. You can use the system free (with ads) or pay $5 per year to get rid of the ads. Weather Underground provides a remarkable variety of weather information. When bad weather hits the area, I always have the website running because I can look at the Columbus area – and the approaches – from Wilmington (the station that’s responsible for Columbus), Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Charleston. There’s also a “composite” view that shows the product of all the Nexrad images.
Overall, it’s not a bad way to spend $5 per year because you also get to look at weather satellite pictures, severe weather information, and maps that show precipitation, fronts, wind speeds, visibility. If you want to pretend you’re Pat Pagano, this is the place to do it.
Get Weather Watcher from http://www.singerscreations.com/.
Check out Weather Underground at http://www.wunderground.com/. Nerdly NewsGive this worm some creditWhat would you call a worm that installs a keystroke capture program on your computer and then sends what you type to someone else? I'd call it "Korgo" and it began showing up late last month. It's not yet widespread, but Korgo uses the same vulnerability that Sasser did and, like Sasser, it's able to spread by itself on a network. The danger, if the worm is on your machine, is that the key logging program activates whenever the user encounters a form on a browser. If the form is one used for placing an order, it can get all the credit card information you would provide a merchant. If the form is a log-on screen, it can get your user ID and password. At least 7 variants of Korgo are circulating. Overall, viruses are increasing. Sophos reported nearly 1000 new viruses in May. That's the highest number since late in 2001. Warn your kids about the dangersA variant of the Netsky virus is targeting children. An e-mail arrives with a "Harry Potter" attachment and, when the child (or adult) opens the attachment, Netsky is released. As usual, make sure that you've installed all security updates, that your anti-virus program is up to date, and that everyone who uses the computer knows not to open unexpected attachments. Why security updates are importantIf you've installed all of the Windows security updates, this does not apply to you. If you haven't yet bothered to get the latest security patches, this is yet another warning about the importance of doing so. A new worm called Plexus (also dubbed Explet.A) showed up this week. The exploits aren't new, but the worm can get through to your computer if you haven't installed security patches described on Microsoft's website. See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-026.mspx for details. Plexus starts the worm program each time Windows starts, scans the hard drive of infected computers for e-mail addresses, and then targets those addresses. It also places itself in the Kazaa shared directory with several enticing names. Let us know what you think about this program! Write to: |
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