Wayfarers of Veeshan

I just wrote this for another forum, and thought it might be of use to my brothers and sisters in the WoV family.

Virii:
Use a well-known anti-virus program (such as Norton) that offers the signature update service (Live Update), and insure the signature files are kept up to date. This will catch all of the KNOWN virii that are "in the wild" (many virii exist but are not known to have shown up on the Internet or elsewhere). This will not catch virii for which Norton does not have a signature yet -- so infection is possible. Use this in conjunction with a personal firewall (see below). When infected, make sure to use the processes/tools provided by your anti-virus company to rid your PC of the infection. Modern virii actually turn off anti-virus programs on boot-up, so you will need to boot from cd/floppy/usb storage device to rid yourself of the infection

Personal firewall(s):
The use of a personal firewall is mandatory if you spend more than a few minutes daily on the Internet (and even then you MAY be at risk). Again, Norton or Zone Alarm are among the choices to make. I would use one that monitors traffic both inbound and outbound -- and alerts you to actions being taken. This will stop virii (like email virii) from sending unwanted traffic/email to friends and others. The new breed of virii don't even use your own email programs to send emails (they come with their own -- hidden), and can send emails out at an incredible rate. Some not only search your email "phonebook", but also look for known files that house email addresses (logs, browser files, etc). Using an anti-virus program in conjunction with a personal firewall is "best practice".

Spyware:
Website, helper/search programs and other programs/utilities can come with "spyware" attached. Spyware is ANY SOFTWARE which employs a user's Internet connection in the background (the so-called "backchannel") without their knowledge or explicit permission.

"The news media has carried many stories about Real Networks who were reportedly caught 'red handed' secretly profiling their users' listening habits, Aureate/Radiate and Conducent Technologies whose advertising, monitoring, and profiling software sneaks into our machines without our knowledge or permission, Comet Cursor which secretly tracks our web browsing, GoHip who hijacks our web browser and alters our eMail signatures . . . and many other hopeful and exploitive newcomers on the horizon.

When confronted with their actions, such companies invariably say "read the fine print, what we're doing is spelled out there and the user agreed." That's odd, if the users understood and agreed, I wonder why those users are so surprised and upset when someone tells them — in plain language — exactly what's going on? "

--Steve Gibson, Gibson Research Corporation

Spyware can slow down your PC's performance, send information without you knowing, and generally make a nuisance of itself. A famous spyware company was Gator software (gator.com), now Claria (www.claria.com). While offering utilities or tools, they sent data about your browsing habits back to the company.

To rid yourself of spyware I would use Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) or ad-ware (http://www.safer-networking.org/)

I would discourage the use of "tools" or utilities that are offered for free without first checking to see if they are known to be spyware.

Spam:
Spam is defined as unwanted email. I would suggest using tools such as Bayesian filters to reduce spam. I use K9 (http://keir.net/k9.html)
to filter out spam (it is about 95-98% accurate) Bayesian filters "learn" what is spam to you. From the k9 site:

"K9 is an email filtering application that works in conjunction with your regular POP3 email program and automatically classifies incoming emails as spam (junk email) or non-spam without the need for maintaining dozens of rules or constant updates to be downloaded. It uses intelligent statistical analysis that can result in extremely high accuracy over time.

K9 learns from its mistakes and becomes better and better at being able to identify spam. More importantly it learns to recognize what you consider to be spam."

Most ISPs now offer some spam filtering capability (mostly turned off by default). Check with your ISP (or its website) for more on spam.

Pop-ups:
Pop-ups are those unwanted windows a user gets when browsing the Internet (usually in the form of an ad). This form of advertising can quickly become annoying. Many pop-up stoppers exist. I am currently testing Stopzilla. Other pop up stoppers Include Pop-up stopper by panicware (http://www.panicware.com/popupstopper.html) If you have already downloaded the google toolbar it comes with a very effective pop-up stopper as part of the toolbar. A more complete list of pop up stoppers can be found at http://www.veilingtips.nl/autohits/popupkillers/

***DISCLAIMER***
The above suggestions are based on my own experience, and in no way are endorsements of the above products.

MATERIALS above PROVIDED ON ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. I specifically do not make any warranties or representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any such Materials. Under no circumstances shall I be liable for any loss, damage, liability or expense incurred or suffered which is claimed to resulted from use of this information, including without limitation, any fault, error, omission, interruption or delay with respect thereto. Use of this information is at User's sole risk. Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall I be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

User specifically acknowledges and agrees that I am not liable for any conduct of any User.


Your mileage may vary.

HTH,
Chanzia, CISSP