A scary computer-related article.

[conuly]

Twenty minutes? *shudders*

Comments

[narfer.livejournal.com]

hype.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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