The Dbottino Weblog

I have been surfing for a alarm system for 1 year now and I finally purchased the system that seems to fit my pad, my family and our lives.

We searched a lot of different security companies to learn the least expensive option versus the most big-ticket option. I must say, that I was surprised with most of the internet sites we searched at but one stood out above all the others and that was http://www.familyhomesecurity.com. Their monitoring data was tremendous, eye opening and shedding light on. I wish they were a company that set up protection systems themselves because I know it would be done smartly and with much of care to cleanliness.

What made it a warm experience? Well, we got a break-in three weeks ago that wasn’t very fun. Fortunately, we were outside of town and they solely took jewellery and coins. Now there are youngsters in the home and a plenty more noteworthy stuff like figurers, electronics, and above all – family and family memories and pic. We simply wanted to find the optimum home alarm system that we could all expend and feel stable with. It was emphatically time to find one this month.

So, how did we determine the proper security system? We started up by seeking ‘home security systems’ on the search engines, then browsed through all of the internet sites on the starting page. A mass of them were trash…and I was bitter about that. Everybody I recognize says Yahoo is the nicest…in any event, aft searching over those pages we couldn’t obtain what we were looking for. We didn’t wish a hard sales procedure and we didn’t want to imagine a good deal about it. Most all of these sites were harsh sales pitches – I wanted information!

Several of the corporations we considered were GE, Brinks, APX, ADT and Pinnacle. Some of them appear to utilise similar security systems…and we finally finished with a Pinnacle Security system after reading the solid selective information heard at homesecurityguru and familyhomesecurity.com.

It’s nice to check great advisory websites out there on the field of home security.

I hope you find the right one for your family!

A spyware plague can create major unnecessary disk usage, network traffic, and CPU activity that thereby reduce the legitimate utilization of these resources. Stability problems such as system wide or application crashes are very common nuisance created by spyware. Scheduling and real-time scanning are the leather seats/steering wheel on this piece of software to prevent new infestations from re-clogging your computer network again and again.

It seems that this technique is actually a separate scam aimed at stealing personal information and such attacks are on the rise. Security vendor Symantec warns about commercialisation of malware — cybercriminals prefer cash to fun, so various kinds of information-stealing software are used more actively. Data loggers, key loggers and Acces To Internet Server Privacy are just a few vices which harvest info from your computer. Some people mistakenly assume that anti-virus software protects them from keyloggers and Spyware. That is why every computer owner who’s worried about Acces To Internet Server Privacy needs Winclear.

Online Privacy With Winclear: Acces To Internet Server Privacy. If you really want close monitoring, you need to buy computer spy software that will offer you maximum protection and utmost data gathering capabilities. A computer monitoring program that has been featured and recommended by several news agencies across the country is PC Pandora. This spy software records keystrokes, chats, emails, screen content, programs used, and website revisited. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. Generally the information there is safe because it is non-executable text files. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers and Acces To Internet Server Privacy for the last 8 years.

The software doesn’t just here to erase evidence but also it helps me restore the performance of my PC. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer, is to Acces To Internet Server Privacy. Different programs offer different features and some are more powerful than others but you should definitely be utilizing some type on your system. Find out more about Acces To Internet Server Privacy. Protect your computer security by using Winclear!

There is no doubt that “how-to articles” have become a separate genre. One can find such an article about almost anything; there are even some entitled “How to Write a How-To Article”. And, of course, the Web is swarming with the ones like “10 Steps to Protect Your PC from Spyware”(if not 10, any number will do; odd ones like 5,7,9 are most popular) or “How to Forget About Spyware For Good”. Please don’t accuse me of being sarcastic — I am not; all these articles by all means are informative and so very useful. They all include really handy tips to protect you from this recently emerged plague called spyware. But…

A typical how-to article is short and snappy, with all unnecessary particulars carefully avoided. An ideal one is a clear scheme of what to do and how (because it is a how-to article). Some essential facts will surely be omitted just for the sake of brevity. Let’s look into the author’s “trash bin” for info ruthlessly (and maybe baselessly) thrown away.

Hint one: What on earth is spyware?

When you decide to apply “anti-spyware protection”, you’d better realize what you want to be protected against. Unfortunately, there is not such thing as complete security. And…

“There is no such thing as spyware in itself”– you are perplexed, aren’t you? I bet you are; what’s more, it was Kaspersky who recently expressed this opinion. “The term spyware is basically a marketing gimmick,” wrote Kaspersky in the company weblog on March 03, 2005. “Just to separate new ersatz-security products from traditional ones, just to push almost zero-value products to the security market.”

This quote (extremely curtailed and out of the context) have already spread all over the Internet, but it is very useful to read the whole posting to see the whole picture, so visit http://www.viruslist.com/en/Weblog?Weblogid=156679222

Few definitions caused so much controversy and confusion as did “spyware”. Eugeny Kaspersky blames marketers for having coined this term–and partially he is right. But only partially.

As a professional, he classified various malicious programs according to their structure and characteristics; in this classification there is indeed no place for “spyware”, which is too vague term to exactly denote anything with a particular structure.

On the other hand, marketers and journalists needed an expressive, easy-to-remember word to name existing (!) information-stealing programs to tell users (who may be not so versed in software as its developers) how to protect their computers.

What is “spyware” then? Spyware is a commonly used general term for any type of software that gathers personal information about the user without his or her knowledge and transmits it to a destination specified by the author of the program. Spyware applications are frequently bundled in other programs–often freeware or shareware–that can be downloaded from the Internet.

So, the term is very general and doesn’t reflect either structure or characteristics of such software. After all, it is only a conventional word for programs that steal information.

According to Kaspersky, programs which are now called spyware, have existed for years. It’s true. Who disagrees? Password-stealing Trojans were actually known as far back as in 1996. But it’s also true that most dangerous information-stealing programs are on the rise. Spy Audit survey made by ISP Earthlink and Webroot Software (the survey lasted for a whole year 2004) showed–16.48% of all scanned consumer PCs in 2004 had a system-monitor, 16.69% had a Trojan.

Another bitter truth is that some unscrupulous producers now are jumping at the chance of making quick money. There are lots of suspicious, low-performing, or adware-installing products. See, for example, the list at http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm But saying that all the dedicated anti-spyware solutions are like that…To put it mildly, it’s a bit too much.

Hint Two: Too Many Promises Made — Is it Possible to Keep them?

There are loads of software programs nowadays created for fighting spyware. An ordinary consumer tends to get lost in plenty of information and lots of products, which are supposed to help him get rid of spyware. If all the advertising claims were true, it would have been easy. In reality it isn’t.

Anti- spyware and anti-viruses work almost the same way. The efficiency of most anti-spyware programs is determined (and restricted, too) by signature bases. The more code clips (i.e. signatures) there are in the base, the more effectively the program works – it means the more spyware programs it can identify. Only programs from the signature base are recognized as spyware; all other spy programs will be running unnoticed and unstopped.

So, absolutely all the signature- basis- containing programs are pretty much the same, whatever their ads say. They all rely on the same “match pattern”; the difference is only how many signatures each of them contains.

What conclusion we can make here? The bigger the signature base, the more reliable the product is, no matter whether it is anti-spyware or an anti-virus. If the software applies signature base, it’s better to choose a product from a big company, which can afford spending plenty of money on research and updates.

Another conclusion we can make is that all such software without constant updating pretty quickly becomes useless and even dangerous, because users still expect it to protect their PCs. New spyware is constantly being developed, and anti-spyware developers have to catch up with it all the time. This race started when very first malicious programs appeared, and it is impossible to say whether it will ever end.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at Raytown Corporation, LLC–an independent software developing company. Software, developed by this company, does not rely on signature bases. Its innovative technology is capable of disabling the very processes of stealing information,such as keylogging, screenshoting, etc.
Learn more — visit the company’s website: http://www.anti-keyloggers.com

Monday morning, 6am; the electric rooster is telling you
it’s time to start a new work week. A shower, some coffee,
and you’re in the car and off. On the way to work you’re
thinking of all you need to accomplished this week. Then,
on top of that there’s the recent merger between your
company and a competitor. One of your associates told you,
you better be on your toes because rumors of layoffs are
floating around.

You arrive at the office and stop by the restroom to make
sure you look your best. You straighten your tie, and turn
to head to your cube when you notice, sitting on the back of
the sink, is a CD-ROM. Someone must have left this behind by
accident. You pick it up and notice there is a label on it.
The label reads “2005 Financials & Layoff’s”. You get a
sinking feeling in your stomach and hurry to your desk. It
looks like your associate has good reasons for concern, and
you’re about to find out for your self.

And The “Social Engineering” Game Is In Play:

People Are The Easiest Target

——————————————–
You make it to your desk and insert the CD-ROM. You find
several files on the CD, including a spreadsheet which you
quickly open. The spreadsheet contains a list of employee
names, start dates, salaries, and a note field that says
“Release” or “Retain”. You quickly search for your name but
cannot find it. In fact, many of the names don’t seem
familiar. Why would they, this is pretty large company, you
don’t know everyone. Since your name is not on the list you
feel a bit of relief. It’s time to turn this over to your
boss. Your boss thanks you and you head back to your desk.
You have just become a victim of social engineering.

When Did I Become a Victim of Social Engineering?

——————————————–
Ok, let’s take a step back in time. The CD you found in the
restroom, it was not left there by accident. It was
strategically placed there by me, or one of my employees.
You see, my firm has been hired to perform a Network
Security Assessment on your company. In reality, we’ve been
contracted to hack into your company from the Internet and
have been authorized to utilize social engineering
techniques.

The spreadsheet you opened was not the only thing executing
on your computer. The moment you open that file you caused a
script to execute which installed a few files on your
computer. Those files were designed to call home and make a
connection to one of our servers on the Internet. Once the
connection was made the software on our servers responded by
pushing (or downloading) several software tools to your
computer. Tools designed to give us complete control of
your computer. Now we have a platform, inside your
company’s network, where we can continue to hack the
network. And, we can do it from inside without even being
there.

This is what we call a 180 degree attack. Meaning, we did
not have to defeat the security measures of your company’s
firewall from the Internet. You took care of that for us.
Many organizations give their employees unfettered access
(or impose limited control) to the Internet. Given this
fact, we devised a method for attacking the network from
within with the explicit purpose of gaining control of a
computer on the private network. All we had to do is get
someone inside to do it for us – Social Engineering!
What would you have done if you found a CD with this type of
information on it?

What Does It Mean to Be “Human”

——————————————–
As human beings we are pretty bad at evaluating risk. Self
preservation, whether it be from physical danger or any
other event that could cause harm, like the loss of a job or
income, is a pretty strong human trait. The odd thing is,
we tend to worry about things that are not likely to happen.
Many people think nothing of climbing a 12 foot ladder to
replace an old ceiling fan (sometimes doing so with the
electricity still on), but fear getting on a plane. You have
a better chance severely inuring yourself climbing a ladder
than you do taking a plane ride.

This knowledge gives the social engineer the tools needed to
entice another person to take a certain course of action.
Because of human weaknesses, inability to properly assess
certain risk, and need to believe most people are good, we
are an easy target.

In fact, chances are you have been a victim of social
engineering many times during the course of your life. For
instance, it is my opinion that peer pressure is a form of
social engineering. Some of the best sales people I’ve
known are very effective social engineers. Direct marketing
can be considered a form of social engineering. How many
times have you purchased something only to find out you
really did not need it? Why did you purchase it? Because
you were lead to believe you must.

Conclusion

——————————————–
Defining The Term “Social Engineering”: In the world of
computers and technology, social engineering is a technique
used to obtain or attempt to obtain secure information by
tricking an individual into revealing the information.
Social engineering is normally quite successful because most
targets (or victims) want to trust people and provide as
much help as possible. Victims of social engineering
typically have no idea they have been conned out of useful
information or have been tricked into performing a
particular task.

The main thing to remember is to rely on common sense. If
some one calls you asking for your login and password
information and states they are from the technical
department, do not give them the information. Even if the
number on your phone display seems to be from within your
company. I can’t tell you how many times we have
successfully used that technique. A good way of reducing
your risk of becoming a victim of social engineering is to
ask questions. Most hackers don’t have time for this and
will not consider someone who asks questions an easy
target.

About The Author

—————-
Darren Miller is an Industry leading computer and internet
security consultant. At the website –
http://www.defendingthenet.com you will find information about
computer security specifically design to assist home, home
office, and small business computer users. Sign up for
defending the nets newsletter and become empowered
to stay safe on the Internet. You can reach Darren at
darren.miller@paralogic.net or at
defendthenet@paralogic.net

What is computer security?
Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as “intruders”) from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.

Why should I care about computer security?
We use computers for everything from banking and investing to shopping and communicating with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not consider your communications “top secret,” you probably do not want strangers reading your email, using your computer to attack other systems, sending forged email from your computer, or examining personal information stored on your computer (such as financial statements).

Who would want to break into my computer at home?
Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not care about your identity. Often they want to gain control of your computer so they can use it to launch attacks on other computer systems.

Having control of your computer gives them the ability to hide their true location as they launch attacks, often against high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems. Even if you have a computer connected to the Internet only to play the latest games or to send email to friends and family, your computer may be a target.

Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on the computer, or cause damage to your computer by reformatting your hard drive or changing your data.

How easy is it to break into my computer?
Unfortunately, intruders are always discovering new vulnerabilities (informally called “holes”) to exploit in computer software. The complexity of software makes it increasingly difficult to thoroughly test the security of computer systems.

When holes are discovered, computer vendors will usually develop patches to address the problem(s). However, it is up to you, the user, to obtain and install the patches, or correctly configure the software to operate more securely. Most of the incident reports of computer break-ins received at the CERT/CC could have been prevented if system administrators and users kept their computers up-to-date with patches and security fixes.

Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you click on them.

Technology
This section provides a basic introduction to the technologies that underlie the Internet. It was written with the novice end-user in mind and is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all Internet-based technologies. Subsections provide a short overview of each topic. This section is a basic primer on the relevant technologies. For those who desire a deeper understanding of the concepts covered here, we include links to additional information.

What does broadband mean?
“Broadband” is the general term used to refer to high-speed network connections. In this context, Internet connections via cable modem and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) are frequently referred to as broadband Internet connections. “Bandwidth” is the term used to describe the relative speed of a network connection — for example, most current dial-up modems can support a bandwidth of 56 kbps (thousand bits per second). There is no set bandwidth threshold required for a connection to be referred to as “broadband”, but it is typical for connections in excess of 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) to be so named.

What is cable modem access?
A cable modem allows a single computer (or network of computers) to connect to the Internet via the cable TV network. The cable modem usually has an Ethernet LAN (Local Area Network) connection to the computer, and is capable of speeds in excess of 5 Mbps.

Typical speeds tend to be lower than the maximum, however, since cable providers turn entire neighborhoods into LANs which share the same bandwidth. Because of this “shared-medium” topology, cable modem users may experience somewhat slower network access during periods of peak demand, and may be more susceptible to risks such as packet sniffing and unprotected windows shares than users with other types of connectivity. (See the “Computer security risks to home users” section of this document.)

What is DSL access?
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet connectivity, unlike cable modem-based service, provides the user with dedicated bandwidth. However, the maximum bandwidth available to DSL users is usually lower than the maximum cable modem rate because of differences in their respective network technologies. Also, the “dedicated bandwidth” is only dedicated between your home and the DSL provider’s central office — the providers offer little or no guarantee of bandwidth all the way across the Internet.

DSL access is not as susceptible to packet sniffing as cable modem access, but many of the other security risks we’ll cover apply to both DSL and cable modem access. (See the “Computer security risks to home users” section of this document.)

How are broadband services different from traditional dial-up services?
Traditional dial-up Internet services are sometimes referred to as “dial-on-demand” services. That is, your computer only connects to the Internet when it has something to send, such as email or a request to load a web page. Once there is no more data to be sent, or after a certain amount of idle time, the computer disconnects the call. Also, in most cases each call connects to a pool of modems at the ISP, and since the modem IP addresses are dynamically assigned, your computer is usually assigned a different IP address on each call. As a result, it is more difficult (not impossible, just difficult) for an attacker to take advantage of vulnerable network services to take control of your computer.

Broadband services are referred to as “always-on” services because there is no call setup when your computer has something to send. The computer is always on the network, ready to send or receive data through its network interface card (NIC). Since the connection is always up, your computer’s IP address will change less frequently (if at all), thus making it more of a fixed target for attack.

What’s more, many broadband service providers use well-known IP addresses for home users. So while an attacker may not be able to single out your specific computer as belonging to you, they may at least be able to know that your service providers’ broadband customers are within a certain address range, thereby making your computer a more likely target than it might have been otherwise.

The table below shows a brief comparison of traditional dial-up and broadband services.

Dial-up Broadband
Connection type Dial on demand Always on
IP address Changes on each call Static or infrequently changing
Relative connection speed Low High
Remote control potential Computer must be dialed in to control remotely
Computer is always connected, so remote control can occur anytime
ISP-provided security Little or none Little or none
Table 1: Comparison of Dial-up and Broadband Services

How is broadband access different from the network I use at work?
Corporate and government networks are typically protected by many layers of security, ranging from network firewalls to encryption. In addition, they usually have support staff who maintain the security and availability of these network connections.

Although your ISP is responsible for maintaining the services they provide to you, you probably won’t have dedicated staff on hand to manage and operate your home network. You are ultimately responsible for your own computers. As a result, it is up to you to take reasonable precautions to secure your computers from accidental or intentional misuse.

What is a protocol?
A protocol is a well-defined specification that allows computers to communicate across a network. In a way, protocols define the “grammar” that computers can use to “talk” to each other.

What is IP?
IP stands for “Internet Protocol”. It can be thought of as the common language of computers on the Internet. There are a number of detailed descriptions of IP given elsewhere, so we won’t cover it in detail in this document. However, it is important to know a few things about IP in order to understand how to secure your computer. Here we’ll cover IP addresses, static vs. dynamic addressing, NAT, and TCP and UDP Ports.

An overview of TCP/IP can be found in the TCP/IP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet/tcp-ip/tcp-ip-faq/part1/
and

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet/tcp-ip/tcp-ip-faq/part2/

What is an IP address?
IP addresses are analogous to telephone numbers – when you want to call someone on the telephone, you must first know their telephone number. Similarly, when a computer on the Internet needs to send data to another computer, it must first know its IP address. IP addresses are typically shown as four numbers separated by decimal points, or “dots”. For example, 10.24.254.3 and 192.168.62.231 are IP addresses.

If you need to make a telephone call but you only know the person’s name, you can look them up in the telephone directory (or call directory services) to get their telephone number. On the Internet, that directory is called the Domain Name System, or DNS for short. If you know the name of a server, say www.cert.org, and you type this into your web browser, your computer will then go ask its DNS server what the numeric IP address is that is associated with that name.

Every computer on the Internet has an IP address associated with it that uniquely identifies it. However, that address may change over time, especially if the computer is

dialing into an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
connected behind a network firewall
connected to a broadband service using dynamic IP addressing.

What are static and dynamic addressing?
Static IP addressing occurs when an ISP permanently assigns one or more IP addresses for each user. These addresses do not change over time. However, if a static address is assigned but not in use, it is effectively wasted. Since ISPs have a limited number of addresses allocated to them, they sometimes need to make more efficient use of their addresses.

Dynamic IP addressing allows the ISP to efficiently utilize their address space. Using dynamic IP addressing, the IP addresses of individual user computers may change over time. If a dynamic address is not in use, it can be automatically reassigned to another computer as needed.

What is NAT?
Network Address Translation (NAT) provides a way to hide the IP addresses of a private network from the Internet while still allowing computers on that network to access the Internet. NAT can be used in many different ways, but one method frequently used by home users is called “masquerading”.

Using NAT masquerading, one or more devices on a LAN can be made to appear as a single IP address to the outside Internet. This allows for multiple computers in a home network to use a single cable modem or DSL connection without requiring the ISP to provide more than one IP address to the user. Using this method, the ISP-assigned IP address can be either static or dynamic. Most network firewalls support NAT masquerading.

What are TCP and UDP Ports?
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are both protocols that use IP. Whereas IP allows two computers to talk to each other across the Internet, TCP and UDP allow individual applications (also known as “services”) on those computers to talk to each other.

In the same way that a telephone number or physical mail box might be associated with more than one person, a computer might have multiple applications (e.g. email, file services, web services) running on the same IP address. Ports allow a computer to differentiate services such as email data from web data. A port is simply a number associated with each application that uniquely identifies that service on that computer. Both TCP and UDP use ports to identify services. Some common port numbers are 80 for web (HTTP), 25 for email (SMTP), and 53 for Domain Name System (DNS).

What is a firewall?
The Firewalls FAQ (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/firewalls-faq/) defines a firewall as “a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two networks.” In the context of home networks, a firewall typically takes one of two forms:

Software firewall – specialized software running on an individual computer, or

Network firewall – a dedicated device designed to protect one or more computers.

Both types of firewall allow the user to define access policies for inbound connections to the computers they are protecting. Many also provide the ability to control what services (ports) the protected computers are able to access on the Internet (outbound access). Most firewalls intended for home use come with pre-configured security policies from which the user chooses, and some allow the user to customize these policies for their specific needs.

More information on firewalls can be found in the Additional resources section of this document.

What does antivirus software do?
There are a variety of antivirus software packages that operate in many different ways, depending on how the vendor chose to implement their software. What they have in common, though, is that they all look for patterns in the files or memory of your computer that indicate the possible presence of a known virus. Antivirus packages know what to look for through the use of virus profiles (sometimes called “signatures”) provided by the vendor.

New viruses are discovered daily. The effectiveness of antivirus software is dependent on having the latest virus profiles installed on your computer so that it can look for recently discovered viruses. It is important to keep these profiles up to date.

More information about viruses and antivirus software can be found on the CERT Computer Virus Resource page

http://www.cert.org/other_sources/viruses.html
Computer security risks to home users

What is at risk?
Information security is concerned with three main areas:

Confidentiality – information should be available only to those who rightfully have access to it

Integrity — information should be modified only by those who are authorized to do so

Availability — information should be accessible to those who need it when they need it

These concepts apply to home Internet users just as much as they would to any corporate or government network. You probably wouldn’t let a stranger look through your important documents. In the same way, you may want to keep the tasks you perform on your computer confidential, whether it’s tracking your investments or sending email messages to family and friends. Also, you should have some assurance that the information you enter into your computer remains intact and is available when you need it.

Some security risks arise from the possibility of intentional misuse of your computer by intruders via the Internet. Others are risks that you would face even if you weren’t connected to the Internet (e.g. hard disk failures, theft, power outages). The bad news is that you probably cannot plan for every possible risk. The good news is that you can take some simple steps to reduce the chance that you’ll be affected by the most common threats — and some of those steps help with both the intentional and accidental risks you’re likely to face.

Before we get to what you can do to protect your computer or home network, let’s take a closer look at some of these risks.

Intentional misuse of your computer
The most common methods used by intruders to gain control of home computers are briefly described below. More detailed information is available by reviewing the URLs listed in the References section below.

Trojan horse programs
Back door and remote administration programs
Denial of service
Being an intermediary for another attack
Unprotected Windows shares
Mobile code (Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX)
Cross-site scripting
Email spoofing
Email-borne viruses
Hidden file extensions
Chat clients
Packet sniffing
Trojan horse programs
Trojan horse programs are a common way for intruders to trick you (sometimes referred to as “social engineering”) into installing “back door” programs. These can allow intruders easy access to your computer without your knowledge, change your system configurations, or infect your computer with a computer virus. More information about Trojan horses can be found in the following document.

http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1999-02.html

Back door and remote administration programs
On Windows computers, three tools commonly used by intruders to gain remote access to your computer are BackOrifice, Netbus, and SubSeven. These back door or remote administration programs, once installed, allow other people to access and control your computer. We recommend that you review the CERT vulnerability note about Back Orifice. This document describes how it works, how to detect it, and how to protect your computers from it:

http://www.cert.org/vul_notes/VN-98.07.backorifice.html

Denial of service
Another form of attack is called a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. This type of attack causes your computer to crash or to become so busy processing data that you are unable to use it. In most cases, the latest patches will prevent the attack. The following documents describe denial-of-service attacks in greater detail.

http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-01.html
http://www.cert.org/archive/pdf/DoS_trends.pdf

It is important to note that in addition to being the target of a DoS attack, it is possible for your computer to be used as a participant in a denial-of-service attack on another system.

Being an intermediary for another attack
Intruders will frequently use compromised computers as launching pads for attacking other systems. An example of this is how distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) tools are used. The intruders install an “agent” (frequently through a Trojan horse program) that runs on the compromised computer awaiting further instructions. Then, when a number of agents are running on different computers, a single “handler” can instruct all of them to launch a denial-of-service attack on another system. Thus, the end target of the attack is not your own computer, but someone else’s — your computer is just a convenient tool in a larger attack.

Unprotected Windows shares
Unprotected Windows networking shares can be exploited by intruders in an automated way to place tools on large numbers of Windows-based computers attached to the Internet. Because site security on the Internet is interdependent, a compromised computer not only creates problems for the computer’s owner, but it is also a threat to other sites on the Internet. The greater immediate risk to the Internet community is the potentially large number of computers attached to the Internet with unprotected Windows networking shares combined with distributed attack tools such as those described in http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-2000-01.html

Another threat includes malicious and destructive code, such as viruses or worms, which leverage unprotected Windows networking shares to propagate. One such example is the 911 worm described in http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-2000-03.html

There is great potential for the emergence of other intruder tools that leverage unprotected Windows networking shares on a widespread basis.

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Online Courses Bring Advantages and Security Threats

A college education is mandatory in today’s job market. Because of this, many workers find themselves pursuing a higher education while they are employed. One way colleges are making access to education more convenient for workers is by offering a wide range of their curriculum via online courses. This growing trend brings with it all the advantages and disadvantages associated with Internet connectivity.

One of the main advantages to students is easy access to their coursework at all hours of the day and night. In fact, online classes can usually accommodate any work schedule. The ease of communication with the instructor is another reason online courses are so popular. Still another important advantage is that online courses can be accessed easily from any public commuter with an Internet connection, like those you might find at universities or in public libraries.

Colleges and universities support this trend toward online classes because they can attract more students and increase revenue without incurring the overhead associated with a classroom full of students.

However, as with any trend, there is a downside to this rapid increase in online education. Chief among the challenges institutions face is the need to defend against Internet-based threats. These threats are inherent in Web access and include instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing, spyware and phishing attacks, a wide-range of objectionable Web content and human nature itself.

MySpace.com

Examples of human corruption as a source of Internet-based threats are everywhere. The Internet is rife with everything from the criminality of hacking and phishing attacks to the irritation of surreptitious spyware agents. The most dangerous threat is from predators who often target young people, the very ones who are likely using computers at schools and libraries. In a recent scandal involving MySpace.com, a predator was tracking the movements of teenaged girls via their myspace.com postings. Predators on the Internet have been present since the beginning of Internet technology. They fish in chat rooms, message boards and e-mail. Even if the unsuspecting public is aware of the dangers posed by predators, the need for Internet security is essential in any strategy for defending against Web-based threats. This becomes even more critical when an educational site is vulnerable to attack.

Colleges provide their own websites, message boards, blogs and email addresses. When a phisher or hacker or a predator with hacking skills is able to breach the unsecured network of a college, it leaves more than just intellectual property open for perusal. And if external threats to the students and the network were not enough, a system administrator at a college also has to deal with the actions of the students as well.

The Hazards of Downloading

Computer access in the college library is very common even on the smallest of community college campuses. Students unaware of security threats can easily surf a number of questionable websites, downloading objectionable material and leaving a network vulnerable by visiting a chat room or opening an instant message with a skillful hacker on the other end.

Through any of these means an unprotected network can be at risk for backdoor programs, viruses and hackers. Defending against these threats is important for network security, student safety and the college’s reputation. An unsecured network is easy prey for an experienced hacker and the last thing a college can afford is to have a student’s personal information or worse, financial information compromised.

Reputation and Integrity

Colleges rely on their reputations and integrity to distinguish their institutions in a crowded field. Their reputation is comprised of many elements including student success rates and faculty expertise. The integrity of a college’s network security can directly impact student enrollment because any decline in a school’s good reputation can spread like wildfire. Schools with diminished reputations can see enrollment fall off as parents and students alike find other schools with better reputations.

This situation doesn’t just affect colleges, it also applies to local schools and school districts where networks, computers in classroom and wireless connections are becoming more common. Even more compelling, protecting young children is more critical for schools than even their reputations.

Utilizing proper filtering hardware and software can protect the integrity of the educational institution as well as their security and by extension, the security of the students. Filtering hardware can prevent students from accessing unsafe websites or questionable ones. It can prevent downloading of materials, backdoor programs and worms.

The Obvious Solution

With the use of filtering hardware, schools can protect ports into their network exploited by instant messaging programs and more. When it comes right down to it, educational institutions are negligent if they do not employ the right network security. With so many potential problems waiting to prey on the unsuspecting and unsecured network, filtering hardware is the obvious answer.

iPrism internet filters and web filters provide internet monitoring and network security. http://internet-filters.stbernard.com

Physical security is very important to a home owner. Your home is one of your most important possessions since this is where you and your loved ones reside.

Once you know that your home is safe from intruders, you can rest assured that your material and personal possessions as well as your loved ones, are secured.

There are several parts of your home that you need to secure by using electronic devices:

- The perimeter of your house to prevent burglars from intruding on your home.

- Enclosed areas within the house should be secured as well, in case of fire.

- Your garage should also have an intruder alarm to protect your vehicles, aside from the anti-theft device on the car itself.

It does not matter what style of life you lead. Home security should be and essential part of your budget to give you peace of mind. In addition to providing physical security in the home, your home security system should also help you find help should an emergency ensue.

Here are some tips when planning for the security of your home:

1. Make an initial survey of your house and from there, develop a home security plan.

Check all of the rooms and the area outside of your house. Determine if the neighbors have a clear view of what is going on within your house.

Having a very open area that can be easily observed by anyone from the outside may be a threat to your security.

2. When placing burglar alarms or intruder sensors, place them in strategic areas in and out of your house.

Home security need not be expensive. You do not need to put in alarms and sensors on each and every part of the house.

As long as they are installed on the proper places, then your house will be secured enough.

3. Review your way of living and the size of your family.

Do you often have visitors who may roam around freely? Do you have a member of the family who may come inside the house in the middle of the night?

These factors will help you decide on the level of security system that you will install on your home.

4. You can place sensors within your house. These sensors can be installed on windows to alarm you of intruders.

In addition, you may install sensors within the house, specifically in hallways, to warn you of intruders within the house.

5. Place fire alarms in areas around the house which is most likely to gather heat or smoke.

An unusual level of smoke, fire or heat can easily be detected to warn you of impending fire threats.

6. There are mechanical locks and sensors that you can install on doors for good measure.

7. For households with babies, you may purchase a baby monitor or a video surveillance.

A video security system in your house will give you peace of mind. You may also automate your home, and watch your children from your TV screen so that you can keep track of what they are doing.

Whether you choose to install it yourself or get the services of a company which specializes in building security systems, home security should not be taken for granted.

You should put in extra time and effort in order to ensure that you and your family have a happy and physically secure environment.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides home security resources on www.just-home-security.info.

Online Courses Bring Advantages and Security Threats

A college education is mandatory in today’s job market. Because of this, many workers find themselves pursuing a higher education while they are employed. One way colleges are making access to education more convenient for workers is by offering a wide range of their curriculum via online courses. This growing trend brings with it all the advantages and disadvantages associated with Internet connectivity.

One of the main advantages to students is easy access to their coursework at all hours of the day and night. In fact, online classes can usually accommodate any work schedule. The ease of communication with the instructor is another reason online courses are so popular. Still another important advantage is that online courses can be accessed easily from any public commuter with an Internet connection, like those you might find at universities or in public libraries.

Colleges and universities support this trend toward online classes because they can attract more students and increase revenue without incurring the overhead associated with a classroom full of students.

However, as with any trend, there is a downside to this rapid increase in online education. Chief among the challenges institutions face is the need to defend against Internet-based threats. These threats are inherent in Web access and include instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing, spyware and phishing attacks, a wide-range of objectionable Web content and human nature itself.

MySpace.com

Examples of human corruption as a source of Internet-based threats are everywhere. The Internet is rife with everything from the criminality of hacking and phishing attacks to the irritation of surreptitious spyware agents. The most dangerous threat is from predators who often target young people, the very ones who are likely using computers at schools and libraries. In a recent scandal involving MySpace.com, a predator was tracking the movements of teenaged girls via their myspace.com postings. Predators on the Internet have been present since the beginning of Internet technology. They fish in chat rooms, message boards and e-mail. Even if the unsuspecting public is aware of the dangers posed by predators, the need for Internet security is essential in any strategy for defending against Web-based threats. This becomes even more critical when an educational site is vulnerable to attack.

Colleges provide their own websites, message boards, blogs and email addresses. When a phisher or hacker or a predator with hacking skills is able to breach the unsecured network of a college, it leaves more than just intellectual property open for perusal. And if external threats to the students and the network were not enough, a system administrator at a college also has to deal with the actions of the students as well.

The Hazards of Downloading

Computer access in the college library is very common even on the smallest of community college campuses. Students unaware of security threats can easily surf a number of questionable websites, downloading objectionable material and leaving a network vulnerable by visiting a chat room or opening an instant message with a skillful hacker on the other end.

Through any of these means an unprotected network can be at risk for backdoor programs, viruses and hackers. Defending against these threats is important for network security, student safety and the college’s reputation. An unsecured network is easy prey for an experienced hacker and the last thing a college can afford is to have a student’s personal information or worse, financial information compromised.

Reputation and Integrity

Colleges rely on their reputations and integrity to distinguish their institutions in a crowded field. Their reputation is comprised of many elements including student success rates and faculty expertise. The integrity of a college’s network security can directly impact student enrollment because any decline in a school’s good reputation can spread like wildfire. Schools with diminished reputations can see enrollment fall off as parents and students alike find other schools with better reputations.

This situation doesn’t just affect colleges, it also applies to local schools and school districts where networks, computers in classroom and wireless connections are becoming more common. Even more compelling, protecting young children is more critical for schools than even their reputations.

Utilizing proper filtering hardware and software can protect the integrity of the educational institution as well as their security and by extension, the security of the students. Filtering hardware can prevent students from accessing unsafe websites or questionable ones. It can prevent downloading of materials, backdoor programs and worms.

The Obvious Solution

With the use of filtering hardware, schools can protect ports into their network exploited by instant messaging programs and more. When it comes right down to it, educational institutions are negligent if they do not employ the right network security. With so many potential problems waiting to prey on the unsuspecting and unsecured network, filtering hardware is the obvious answer.

iPrism internet filters and web filters provide internet monitoring and network security. internet-filters.stbernard.com

As the devastation and death toll from deadly Hurricane Katrina becomes more apparent, it is a grim reminder that we live in dangerous times.

Every year, millions of people around the world lose their lives or have them seriously disrupted because of floods, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, blizzards and hurricanes.

In today’s troubled world, we face even greater threats from terrorism, civil unrest, explosions and the possibility of chemical, biological or even nuclear attack.

In the United States, the terrorist threat is not only from overseas groups; domestic terrorism has been with us for decades. Violence on the road and in our places of work and schools is another growing area of concern.

•In the last 25 years there has been more than 320 domestic terrorist incidents and suspected incidents – an average out of one every month over this period.

•Over a quarter of the U.S. population are children. In the last eight years more than 40 students, teachers and custodians have been shot dead at incidents in schools.

•More than 1.7 million people are the victims of violent crime while at work.

•There are 1,200 road rage related deaths every year with a further 40,000 people killed in traffic crashes and half a million hospitalized,
“The threat is real and it is growing,” warns Is America Safe.com, a new website dedicated to protecting Americans and the Homeland from natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

Every year about 1.7 million people are victims of violent crime while working or on duty. About 75% of these incidents – around 1.3 million – are simple assaults while an additional. However, over 800 workplace homicides occur every year – more than two every day somewhere in the country.

“Not only are many Americans not safe at work, many bosses are doing little to protect their workers in the event of an emergency – whether from natural causes or man-made such as violence and terrorism,” says Is America Safe.com spokesperson Don Philpott,

“It is a disturbing thought that more than half the businesses in the United States do not have a crisis management plan – what to do in the event of an emergency – and many that do, do not keep it up to date. Even fewer businesses and organizations have a physical security plan to protect their building and people who work in it,” he says.

“How many of these buildings are safe from terrorist attack or natural disaster. And what about the nation’s 110 million households? How many families would know what to do in the event of another Katrina or other emergency,” says Philpott.

“Terrorism is not a new challenge and it is not going to go away any time soon so we have a duty to our families, friends and loved ones to ensure that the places where we live, work, learn and play are secure and that the people using them are safe,” he says.

Is America Safe.com has launched a series of practical handbooks on how to plan for and survive a major emergency whether it is a natural disaster like a hurricane or flooding, or a man-made incident, such as a terrorist attack.

“Our aim is not to alarm people but to prepare and protect them so that they have the tools they needed to survive, get on with their lives and preserve the freedoms that we all hold so dear,” he adds.

Ends

For more information go to www.isamericasafe.com or contact Don Philpott at 407.862.5477

Don Philpott has been writing, reporting and broadcasting about security, civil unrest and terrorism for almost 40 years. For 20 years he was a senior correspondent with Reuters-Press Association, the wire service, traveling the world reporting on major events and trouble spots including Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Israel, South Africa and the Far East. He is now senior correspondent with Homeland Defense Journal, the leading homeland security publication in the U.S. , and he writes for magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe.

He is the author of more than 50 books and is a regularly contributor to radio and television programs on security issues. His latest book to be published this fall is The Building Security Handbook.

He has produced special reports on Protecting the Athens Olympics, The Threat from Dirty Bombs, Anti-Terrorism Measures in the UK, The National Guard , Nanotechnology and the U.S, Military and The Global Impact of the London Bombings, published in August, and which resulted in a number of radio interviews in the U.S. and UK

It is obvious that lighting plays a critical role in making your home safer. Yet, many homeowners don’t plan it well from the viewpoint of security. Here are several critical home security tips on lighting.

* All sides of your home should have security lighting in place, placed high out of reach. Make sure it is reasonably vandal resistant.

* Lighting near doors is especially important, because burglars tend to focus on doors the most.

* To reduce risk of burglary, any lighting is better than no lighting. If you see that any portion of the house or yard is not adequately lit, take care of it.

* Your garage is another critical area of your home. Make use of an automatic garage opener. Most garage openers turn on one or more lights when activated.

* To protect your carport, leave a light on. If you are going away, have a light set on a timer. Also have lights activated by motion detectors to deter intruders.

* In general, lights attached to motion detectors are the best choice for exteriors, particularly for the backyard. Connect an alarm as well and you will immediately get to know if someone moves around in your yard.

* Some people hesitate to use motion sensor type lighting because of the false alarms caused by small animals like cats and dogs. Proper placement of the motion sensors as well as correct settings for sensitivity will take care of this problem to a large extent.

* Using motion sensors in the front of the house requires careful planning, because they can be triggered by people walking on the sidewalk or by children playing. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to hook lights to motion sensors.

* Many people leave just a small light on when going out. This is done to avoid walking into a dark home when returning. Examples include hallway lights or a light in one corner of the kitchen / living room.

Unfortunately, this kind of lighting signals to would-be burglars that no one is home.

The solution is to leave several lights on. Leave a radio on as well. When going on a vacation, put interior lights and a radio on timers.

As you can see, your objective is twofold. One, to ensure that lighting can reach all nooks and corners of your home and yard on demand. Two, your home should look occupied even when it is not.

Follow these simple home security tips on lighting and you will have gone a long way towards creating a safer home for you and your family.

James Strobes is a home and office security consultant. For information on home security in general, wireless home security systems and more, see the foregoing links.