Just thought I would post a few comments on what sources and buyers should be aware of. I have been hearing a lot of about Internet and security breaches happening all over. Not only security issues, but busts coming from Fed’s and DEA agents planting Trojan horses and password stealers on people’s computers.
For those of you who don’t know what these programs are, then I would not even consider buying or selling until you do.
First off, there are legit programs out there that can record your keystrokes, place in a text file and email that report or log to any given person. Yes, they make legit programs out there to do this. These programs are used by parents, bosses or anyone who wants to get info or find out what kind of chatting or business is being done on a computer.
Now just imagine: You think you are safe because you go to hushmail or some type of encrypted email service? No way. With these keyloggers even if you info it encrypted it is not protected from Trojan horses being run on your PC. Encription and security are only as good as the computer you are on in most cases.
How to counter act these types of programs.
Well being that most of these types of programs are not considered viruses, most virus scanners will not pick them up. Naturally cause they are simple programs.
Okay here is one way. First off, FIREWALLS. Yes, Firewalls. I would not even consider being on the Internet without one, much less buying, selling, chatting or even conversing online without this.
Well let me clarify that a little. Not just any firewall, but one that will allow you to monitor traffic in and out. Zone alarm is the best one I have seen. You can get a full blown FREE copy at: www.zonealarm.com. Don’t click on the professional version, choose the one that says “Free”. Yes, it is a fully fledged firewall.
The reason I recommend this one is simply due to the fact, when installed it will not allow anything out unless you tell it to. In other words, let’s say that a Trojan horse or password sniffer has been installed on your system. 99% of these types of programs use the Internet to send the log or email the file to the programmer. Zone Alarm monitors what goes out from your computer to the Internet. Therefore, it will spot a program trying to access the Internet, and ask you do you want to allow this program to access the Internet. If the program doesn’t look familiar or you don’t know what it is, then instruct Zone Alarm not to allow access to that specific program. Just as simple as that. Then of course, I would hope that any sane person would then go find out which program that is trying to gain access to the Internet. Then delete or allow it to access the Internet. Also if you are suspecting someone tapping into your system, you can shut down all Internet traffic with one button.
Zone Alarm will also keep hackers out of your system, hince that is what a firewall does. It can also spot certain viruses or in some cases, I have found that it let’s users know that they may have a virus, due to the fact, a strange program that they do not recognize is trying to access the Internet on their computers.
Also something nice to have are UPDATED, YES, UPDATED (being the keyword here) virus scanners. Keep them updated weekly. The reason I say this is, most Fed’s and DEA agents will try to send you what appears to be a legit program, and in fact it may be a password sniffer. I would think that most “Government” agencies would be smarter than that, but for the average computer person, they wouldn’t know the difference.
Also one last and final note, ask your suppliers or people you deal with or chat with, if they are using firewalls, and make sure their systems are virus free. Be smart, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientists or an MCSE (like me), to understand a lot about security and how to protect yourself. Fact is, most average people should know something about computers, and it might as well be how to protect yourself, against some prying eyes. Also if you are wondering where you can test your firewall, you can go to: http://www.dslreports.com/scan for a free port scan to see if your system is vulnerable for a possible hacker or worse.
Now understand something this will simply test your firewall program for hackers trying to come in, not anything going out of your system.
Most hackers like to use ports 3300-64,000 port numbers (the higher port numbers) to gain access to your computer. Remember, there are programs out there that can open up one of these ports, even though you have a firewall. Some hacking programs are designed to do that. So the security of having a firewall is misleading. However, if you have Zonealarm installed, and you see a program that you don’t recognize trying to gain access to the Internet, you have the control to stop it dead in it’s tracks.
This will also make you more knowledgeable about what programs you have on your computer that need or you want to access the Internet. As a general rule of thumb, I usually allow Browser (IE and Netscape of course), Email Programs such as Outlook and Outlook express, Eudora etc. virus scanners, Critical updates (by Microsoft) and that is about it. Not much more than that. You would not believe how many programs legit programs such as “Real Player, winamp and so forth want access to the Internet. For what? I don’t even allow these programs to access the Internet. Real Player and Win Amp don’t need to know what is on my computer. Same goes for any type of program installed to check for updates. Unless you want to be constantly bothered by updates, I just leave them alone. I usually say, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Be safe, be smart my friends.