Internet Security for the Teck Family

[AlterReign]

Hello there,

This is ReignTech coming at you again with an important message on internet security. This is a serious threat. If you don't have a firewall on your computer, you need to seriously get one. The fact is that hackers never sleep, and when you're online with your system, it's an open window. I myself am a firm believer in security. I was a victim of identity theft not to long ago. I was 16 with bad credit already. They call hackers who break into systems without permission "Crackers", so let me correct myself.


Crackers are a threat that still run around on the net without a purpose. They go through all your personal things, along with loading up viruses on your system, among other things. How would you feel knowing that a person saw all your private emails? How would you feel if a person saw your credit card number, and used it to his/her advantage? How would you feel if your computer was involved in a cyber crime without you knowing? All these things exist. And yes, they can happen to you.


A firewall will block certain ports to your system. Ports that are open because your Operating system "Probally window's XP" has a set of ports that are automatically open from the installation period. There are plenty of sites that give out Free firewalls, but their not as good as Norton, or Mcaffe. I have been a big fan of Norton, but Mc affe has been making it's way up.


After I was hit with Identity theft my life changed. I felt violated, and alone. This person knew my every secret. He saw my bank account info, he saw personal emails from family. I was seriously hurt.
After this problem I bought maybe 100's of books on Internet security, and computers period. I enjoy computers now, and so should you. The fact is that if you don't respect an online connection, it can hurt you.
Do yourself a favor and purchase or download a firewall, you'll be better off in the long run trust me.



Viruses are a real threat also. Make sure you have a virus scanner also. A new virus comes out every day, so be prepared.

With that info, now you can feel safe with always being on the internet.

Stay cool.


ReignTech

[Timmah!]

I had two viruses on my machine for months which I never noticed until I re-installed Norton. Not sure of what effect they had, but I agree. Gone are the days when the Internet was just a simple, expensive thing to have...it's evolved into sort of a city; they'res good stuff, and still plenty of bad stuff. Do what Reign said, try to get Norton. Some free programs are AdAware 6 and Spybot. Both are free to download. This is especially important if you use Kazaa.

[JIMCJ1301]

Good Post man. Let's keep everyone aware of the vulnerabilities that are out there. I would also suggest getting some type of security and virus protection software if you already don't have it. I use a few,

Popup Stopper (c)
EZ Armor Firewall
EZ Armor Anti-Virus
EZ Armor Spam/Spy
Adaware Spy watch
And I got a few open network monitors, so I can watch my traffic.

[Boxer4PSI]

Zonealarm is also an excellent FREE firewall.

[l3it3r]

just get search and destroy and be happy ;)

[AnGeLeIgH]

Ok Im confused....my XP came with Norton...is that good?

[Syko]

OMG Ange you are screwed, delete all of your files now.

[JIMCJ1301]

Ok Im confused....my XP came with Norton...is that good?Yeah.

[AlterReign]

Ok Im confused....my XP came with Norton...is that good?
No no sweety, Win Xp is at the lowest level security possible, you need to go to an outside source, and AOL is not at the best standards for protection on the net.

[AnGeLeIgH]

OK so then what do I do? This all seems like a lot of work now. Can one of you nice young men please assist me?

[Boxer4PSI]

Norton Antivirus is fine!! A million times better then McAfee. Update it at least once a week (you can set it up to automatically do this). And scan every file you download off of the internet. A firewall is good for cable/dsl/LAN connections. If you got 56k, I wouldn't worry b/c every time you log off your IP address changes. AOL is not a good internet provider b/c hackers target AOL. AIM is fine so long as you got the latest version of Norton that automatically protects your pc from any AIM attacks.

[AlterReign]

good input Mdchevyguy. I also wanted to mention that everytime you turn off your Dsl or cable box, and turn it back on, you get a new Ip mask.

[empire]

hmm i don't get it though. i scan my whole system, it finds a whole bunch of adware bullshit, but it can't delete it. it says "deletion failed" in norton. any suggestions?

[AlterReign]

hmm i don't get it though. i scan my whole system, it finds a whole bunch of adware bullshit, but it can't delete it. it says "deletion failed" in norton. any suggestions?
Im sure it says it's some weird data file right? what you need to do is locate that file and delete it with your trash bin. If that dosen't work, you can go to run from the start menu, and then delete it by first typing in the AutoExec command, and then using *_*(file name), and that should handle it, if not, let me know, i'll help.

[empire]

yeah man, i'll PM you. cause this is like greek to me. :blink:

[Ryan]

Crackers are a threat that still run around on the net without a purpose. They go through all your personal things, along with loading up viruses on your system, among other things.You be callin' me a cracker! No need for the racism! :lol:

In all seriousness, viruses and worms are bad kids, mmmkay?

[Vader13]

post a link for free firewalls

[Piece of shit]

here's a link for free virus scans http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/enterprise.htm

This is a good site 2
http://www.mozillia.org/

[Freakx45]

I have always had a firewall on my computer every sincei got dsl.

So far i think i have enough security on my computer:
ZoneAlarm Firewall
AVG Anti-Virus
Ad-Aware
Spybot

And NOT using IE..FireFox is the best

[GIO]

I use both my XP firewalls that come included. My Linksys router also has built in Hardware firewall, not software. Plus I run Mozilla browser which is allot more secure...No one bothers me...Just gets annoying to turn off all the firewalls when trying to play Command and Conquer online or recieve files thru AIM.

[Ryan]

A router, like Gio said. Linksys is a very good brand, should be all you need for a firewall.

[JIMCJ1301]

A router, like Gio said. Linksys is a very good brand, should be all you need for a firewall.Yeah, I also have one.

[AlterReign]

Well on your linksys router (I also have one) if you don't change the router password from the original Temp password, along with the configs that came with it, it's not doing any good. The fact that Win Xp does have two firewalls is cool, but do you actually have good confidence in windows. Win "P" is what I refer to it as, ( say it enough and you'll get the joke). There is nothing secure about Windows. You can set up a password for your admin (on your XP), and think that's actually going to keep people out, but sadly it's not. The router is a good idea, but think how many people are just cracking at the defense on the linksys router everyday, (meaning that they find exploits everyday). I would recommend Hotbrick, but remember i'm biased on the whole issue.

If you run a file share program, such as you know who, "K". Than a router, a firewall, or a virus scanner won't do shit. Once a virus is accepted in, it has full run of your box. Sort of a file like:

Windows\temp~1\fcku\suchit.dll

what's wrong with this picture that should be a sign of a virus?
First of all the slashes in Win "xp", should all be pointing the other way. It should look like:

Windows/Temp~1/fcku/suchit.dll

Another thing would be that if you see such a file, and let your firewall accept it, than I can already say with confidence that you have been a victim of being Own3d. The three is there on purpose.

If you just bought the router, hooked it up, never changed anything, and never checked out that little book that came with it, than you are guilty. I had a Linksys also, didn't do shit for me. I never had the patience to go through all of that reading, now, I've changed.

That (suchit.dll) says that it's apart of your registry file. And the (suchit) stands for Suck It.

[reddog_deluxe]

Also to add to Reign's post, there's small things that can help, for instance when adding email addresses to the body or plain text part of an email, try to obfuscate it. For example instead of

test@somemail.com
it would be
test(at)somemail(dot)com

This does not totally eliminate the threat, there's also headers that will contain your email and more than likely the email of the recipient.

Being a security nut for a school, 300+ computers, pretty much everyone that has posted on here is right. What we do/have is...

We use Symantec Antivirus, w/ exchange plugins
Change administrative passwords at least once every 3 months, unless we have had a comprimise in security, then sooner.
Spy-bot Search and Destroy
Ad-Aware
Both Hardware (IOS) firewalling as well as software
Network Traffic Analyzers
Websense internet filtering
Backup procedures (incase of malitious activity)
Also learn to trust no-one not even your co-workers
(Ill post later about wireless security for 802.11a/b/g)