A scary computer-related article.

[conuly]

Twenty minutes? *shudders*

Comments

[narfer.livejournal.com]

hype.

[conuly]

Possibly, possibly. However, I finally got around to using my firewall, and it detected two intrusions within... yes, 20 minutes. But I don't know how serious those were. I'm only vaguely computer literate, after all.

[narfer.livejournal.com]

theyre just scans or blind attempts aimed at year-old vulnerabilities.

[conuly]

Again, possibly, possibly. But better safe than sorry, no?

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

Not hype. In the time it takes to download the security patches for an unprotected Windows box, the box will be attempted.

Run Linux or Mac. Much harder to hack.

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

That's actually fairly old news, and it's not hype... I read the article about the same phenomenon on Slashdot, and some users there said that they've seen unfirewalled systems get "owned" before they're even done booting. That part, at least, is not hype.

The part that is hype is that it's not exactly a case of the sky falling down, either, because preventing that from happening is pretty simple. Even a very basic firewall (such as the ones included with Windows XP and OS X) will prevent most forms of intrusion. The problem is, roughly two-thirds of home users don't use firewalls.

[conuly]

Well, it's new to me, and (considering the number of people who don't use firewalls) probably to most people I know. But I learned my lesson! I am using a firewall! I'm so smart!

And since it's been up, less than an hour, it's blocked "six intrusions, one of which was high-rated". I'm not sure what this means, exactly, but it does not sound good. My poor laptop, she was all unprotected before this. *huggles*

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

Your laptop has been unfirewalled -- have you been using NAT, or have you been connecting directly to the Internet? If the latter, I strongly recommend that you scan your system for infections. If you've been doing that for any length of time, your laptop almost certainly has some nasties on it that don't belong there -- particularly if you're running any version of Windows other than XP with SP2 installed.

[conuly]

I run virus and adware/spyware scans twice a week, and always have an anti-virus program running. NAT?

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

OK, in that case, if you're scanning your system regularly for malware, you're probably fine.

I'm not sure how much you know about Internet Protocol (IP), but briefly: NAT (Network Address Translation) is a technology that allows more than one computer to share a single IP address (e.g., if you have a family of five, all with their own computers, you can use NAT to share your cable Internet connection with all of them).

Although it wasn't NAT's primary purpose, one of the fringe benefits is that it makes your computer quite a bit more difficult for hackers to break into. That's why I was asking. :-)

Your own scanning volume is quite low, by the way. Occasionally I check the logs in my firewall, and on average, I probably get a few dozen intrusion attempts per minute. Fortunately, my own security measures are pretty tight... I'm using a fully-stealthed firewall, NAT, and the latest version of OS X, fully patched. Anyone who wants to compromise my notebook would be better off trying to steal it than to hack into it.

[conuly]

Hm. I don't think we're using NAT, which probably means that we're not.

Your own scanning volume is quite low, by the way.

That probably explains why I haven't had any problems. I didn't even run virus scans until relatively recently, I thought they were a bother.

[deathchibi.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I practically had to beat my family into using a firewall on the old Win ME Virus Bomb. There have been tens of thousands of attempts on that old thing as ZoneAlarm tells me, over a period of about... let's see, since August, so about 4-5 months. It is an older machine, too. I'm glad I got that wireless card they recommended, and that I beat my sister off the PC long enough to get WEP set up.

[conuly]

*nods*

I'm going to set up the firewall on the big computer when I next go online there. Shit, and Lizziey's got no idea how to behave online, I'll probably have to clean the whole thing out.

[stejcruetekie.livejournal.com]

Hype my ass. It's completely true. I worked on an NYU friend's computer - it had been infected, I couldn't get rid of the buggers, reformated the computer, installed Windows XP...

Within 30 seconds of booting up, the computer had been infected again. Didn't even have time to download and install the ZoneAlarm software, much less the Windows Updates.

I'll second what the other person said - when I was in college, my computer routinely got a dozen attempts a minute.

[conuly]

I am lucky. Clearly.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

Me too, hype, my ass.
Would you LIKE me to send you the virus I had quarantined within a day of installing anti virus software?

You know, I had to reformat this hard drive when I put it in my son's computer to use it in my room, and I didn't bother to download Windows updates, SP2, or install antivirus software. In less than 24 hours (at 4am when I was sleeping), I got a virus that caused me to have to format AGAIN. It rendered my computer useless. After reformatting, I immediately downloaded SP2 and other updates, installed the anti virus software, and again, within 24 hours, it detected a virus. I have it quarantined right now.

[conuly]

Would you LIKE me to send you the virus I had quarantined within a day of installing anti virus software?

Aw, gee, thanks. And I thought I wasn't gonna get a present this year!

[deceptica]

I'm gonna join the chorus of people who can confirm this. A few months ago I had to get a new hard drive, and I made the grave mistake of not disconnecting my computer from the internet as I reinstalled Windows. I didn't even get around to properly installing my firewall, since I immediately caught a Trojan that killed it every time it attempted to start up. Had to unplug the whole thing and start all over again.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I had to reinstall Windows 5 times to get it to work.

What I ended up doing was grabbing and burning the Sasser and blaster patches and installing them.

I don't run a firewall. I find them to be a major pain in the ass. It might bite me in the butt, but I have an old, happy mac connected to the net that will serve my needs if my PC eeds to be reformatted again. I have a bitch of a time running WoW even with the virus scanner on.

I have heard that the SP2 firewall actually isn't that bad, but I'm not putting SP2 on.

While most of that article is good, the 'OH NOES HAX0r5!!!111' hype is what bugs me. You're WAY more likely to be mailed by a virus that exploits a security hole in windows than a script kiddie. Unless you frequent some IRC servers and accept all incoming transfers :P

[narfer.livejournal.com]

hype.

[conuly]

Possibly, possibly. However, I finally got around to using my firewall, and it detected two intrusions within... yes, 20 minutes. But I don't know how serious those were. I'm only vaguely computer literate, after all.

[narfer.livejournal.com]

theyre just scans or blind attempts aimed at year-old vulnerabilities.

[conuly]

Again, possibly, possibly. But better safe than sorry, no?

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

Not hype. In the time it takes to download the security patches for an unprotected Windows box, the box will be attempted.

Run Linux or Mac. Much harder to hack.

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

That's actually fairly old news, and it's not hype... I read the article about the same phenomenon on Slashdot, and some users there said that they've seen unfirewalled systems get "owned" before they're even done booting. That part, at least, is not hype.

The part that is hype is that it's not exactly a case of the sky falling down, either, because preventing that from happening is pretty simple. Even a very basic firewall (such as the ones included with Windows XP and OS X) will prevent most forms of intrusion. The problem is, roughly two-thirds of home users don't use firewalls.

[conuly]

Well, it's new to me, and (considering the number of people who don't use firewalls) probably to most people I know. But I learned my lesson! I am using a firewall! I'm so smart!

And since it's been up, less than an hour, it's blocked "six intrusions, one of which was high-rated". I'm not sure what this means, exactly, but it does not sound good. My poor laptop, she was all unprotected before this. *huggles*

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

Your laptop has been unfirewalled -- have you been using NAT, or have you been connecting directly to the Internet? If the latter, I strongly recommend that you scan your system for infections. If you've been doing that for any length of time, your laptop almost certainly has some nasties on it that don't belong there -- particularly if you're running any version of Windows other than XP with SP2 installed.

[conuly]

I run virus and adware/spyware scans twice a week, and always have an anti-virus program running. NAT?

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

OK, in that case, if you're scanning your system regularly for malware, you're probably fine.

I'm not sure how much you know about Internet Protocol (IP), but briefly: NAT (Network Address Translation) is a technology that allows more than one computer to share a single IP address (e.g., if you have a family of five, all with their own computers, you can use NAT to share your cable Internet connection with all of them).

Although it wasn't NAT's primary purpose, one of the fringe benefits is that it makes your computer quite a bit more difficult for hackers to break into. That's why I was asking. :-)

Your own scanning volume is quite low, by the way. Occasionally I check the logs in my firewall, and on average, I probably get a few dozen intrusion attempts per minute. Fortunately, my own security measures are pretty tight... I'm using a fully-stealthed firewall, NAT, and the latest version of OS X, fully patched. Anyone who wants to compromise my notebook would be better off trying to steal it than to hack into it.

[conuly]

Hm. I don't think we're using NAT, which probably means that we're not.

Your own scanning volume is quite low, by the way.

That probably explains why I haven't had any problems. I didn't even run virus scans until relatively recently, I thought they were a bother.

[deathchibi.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I practically had to beat my family into using a firewall on the old Win ME Virus Bomb. There have been tens of thousands of attempts on that old thing as ZoneAlarm tells me, over a period of about... let's see, since August, so about 4-5 months. It is an older machine, too. I'm glad I got that wireless card they recommended, and that I beat my sister off the PC long enough to get WEP set up.

[conuly]

*nods*

I'm going to set up the firewall on the big computer when I next go online there. Shit, and Lizziey's got no idea how to behave online, I'll probably have to clean the whole thing out.

[stejcruetekie.livejournal.com]

Hype my ass. It's completely true. I worked on an NYU friend's computer - it had been infected, I couldn't get rid of the buggers, reformated the computer, installed Windows XP...

Within 30 seconds of booting up, the computer had been infected again. Didn't even have time to download and install the ZoneAlarm software, much less the Windows Updates.

I'll second what the other person said - when I was in college, my computer routinely got a dozen attempts a minute.

[conuly]

I am lucky. Clearly.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

Me too, hype, my ass.
Would you LIKE me to send you the virus I had quarantined within a day of installing anti virus software?

You know, I had to reformat this hard drive when I put it in my son's computer to use it in my room, and I didn't bother to download Windows updates, SP2, or install antivirus software. In less than 24 hours (at 4am when I was sleeping), I got a virus that caused me to have to format AGAIN. It rendered my computer useless. After reformatting, I immediately downloaded SP2 and other updates, installed the anti virus software, and again, within 24 hours, it detected a virus. I have it quarantined right now.

[conuly]

Would you LIKE me to send you the virus I had quarantined within a day of installing anti virus software?

Aw, gee, thanks. And I thought I wasn't gonna get a present this year!

[deceptica]

I'm gonna join the chorus of people who can confirm this. A few months ago I had to get a new hard drive, and I made the grave mistake of not disconnecting my computer from the internet as I reinstalled Windows. I didn't even get around to properly installing my firewall, since I immediately caught a Trojan that killed it every time it attempted to start up. Had to unplug the whole thing and start all over again.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I had to reinstall Windows 5 times to get it to work.

What I ended up doing was grabbing and burning the Sasser and blaster patches and installing them.

I don't run a firewall. I find them to be a major pain in the ass. It might bite me in the butt, but I have an old, happy mac connected to the net that will serve my needs if my PC eeds to be reformatted again. I have a bitch of a time running WoW even with the virus scanner on.

I have heard that the SP2 firewall actually isn't that bad, but I'm not putting SP2 on.

While most of that article is good, the 'OH NOES HAX0r5!!!111' hype is what bugs me. You're WAY more likely to be mailed by a virus that exploits a security hole in windows than a script kiddie. Unless you frequent some IRC servers and accept all incoming transfers :P