Posted by
jlittle, 16th October 2002:
The question is, should I be more secure?
I have a perm IP on my machine at home, it's normally always on - and runs IIS without any patches.
i have no firewall and no virus checkers
Am i a fool? Am i really at risk of being hacked by some little kiddie?
You decide...
Posted by
cal, 16th October 2002:
yes. chances are you've already been compromised.
Posted by
Grim..., 16th October 2002:
Question is:
Do you care?
Posted by
Gary, 16th October 2002:
I have a perm IP on my machine at home, it's normally always on - and runs IIS without any patches.
i have no firewall and no virus checkers
You are indeed a fool, and yes Grim, he should care. It's people like this, who don't patch up their machines or use virus checkers that make security problems bigger than they need to be. Sure, bad coding (by Microsoft for example) may be to blame for the initial problem, but if people don't take steps (i.e. install patches) to rectify it on their own, the problem propagates. The same applies to viruses. In conclusion: patch up your machine, because like Cal says, if they haven't already, someone will eventually compromise it.
Lets face it though, the majority (like 99%) of people dont patch stuff. Mainly cos to most people the computer is no different to say a TV or VCR, and you dont expect to have to patch them every few weeks to ensure they still work properly.
Posted by
Gary, 16th October 2002:
I agree totally, but you hear in the news all the time about security flaws being exploited and viruses getting to be bigger than they should be because people don't take a pro-active stance and update their systems.
True, True. I wasnt saying we shouldn't update, I was lamenting the fact that most people don't.
Maybe they have lives ;)
Posted by
Grim..., 16th October 2002:
/me laughs at Gary...
It's such a geek thing - the virus' are all Microsofts fault.
No-one thinks to blame the people that wrote them.
Posted by
Gary, 17th October 2002:
It's such a geek thing - the virus' are all Microsofts fault.
No-one thinks to blame the people that wrote them.
You've misunderstood me a little there, Grim. Maybe the two things I was talking about (viruses and security flaws) got blurred in there somewhere... let me see...
Ah... I see where you've got all confused now... what I meant when I said, "the same applies to viruses", was that most people don't even bother to keep current virus protection (i.e. update it every so often). I wasn't implying that viruses are Microsoft's fault at all they are, of course, the responsibility of the person or persons that wrote them, and the blame does indeed rest entirely with them. :)
Posted by
cal, 17th October 2002:
i think you'll find...
viruses
usually exploit holes in operating systems. you don't see thousands of unix viruses running around, even though there are thousands of unix boxes constantly connected to the Internet. so in a way, it
is the fault of the OS manufacturer.
otherwise it's like saying that if you leave your windows and doors open when you go out shopping, and then get burgled, that it's the fault of the thief and not you.
Posted by
Grim..., 17th October 2002:
Hmm - a closer analogy could be buying a car with no locks... You
could buy the locks seperatly, but many people don't bother.
But let's not spend our time telling JLittle how silly he is, let's help him out.
I use ZoneAlarm personal firewalls, which are quite effective (and far better than nothing) but tend to suck some processing speed. I also have Norton Antivirus.
What do other people have?
Posted by
cal, 17th October 2002:
ZoneAlarm is reasonably well recommended
ShieldsUp is a good scanning tool to play with:
grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Norton Antivirus. And I sit behind a big fat network, no probs here.
Except my boss who seem to be able to download any virus the day it is released. Dodgy p0rn site I think.
Posted by
Grim..., 17th October 2002:
On a slightly different note, Adaware comes highly recommended for getting rid of your spyware.
Posted by
Grim..., 17th October 2002:
(It found an impressive 243 registry entries the first time I ran it).
=]
Posted by
Gary, 17th October 2002:
I run the following on my Windows XP Professional machine:
Norton SystemWorks 2003 (AntiVirus Included)
Norton Internet Security 2002 (2003 is currently on its way to me in the post from Amazon)
Ad-Aware v5.83
I recommend ShieldsUp and Symantec's own online security check to test your safety. They live here:
grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
security.norton.com
For those who may be wondering, I slapped the Service Pack 1 patch on my machine it the day it came out. Incidentally, Microsoft has just today released two security patches - one to patch Word and Excel - and one to patch, you guessed it, Windows XP!
I run Windows 2000 and the auto update is constantly downloading patches, a bit scary really.
Posted by
beargod, 26th March 2003:
i think you'll find...
viruses usually exploit holes in operating systems. you don't see thousands of unix viruses running around, even though there are thousands of unix boxes constantly connected to the Internet. so in a way, it is the fault of the OS manufacturer.
And Unix machines also have been around for many more years then any Microsoft OS, so it just shows how little Microsoft put into their security.
AVG antivirus is good and free from here
www.grisoft.com It is supposed to be as good as Norton or Macafee, but I wouldn't count on it, still does its job though.
Posted by
cal, 26th March 2003:
And Unix machines also have been around for many more years then any Microsoft OS, so it just shows how little Microsoft put into their security.
not really. unix has had it's fair share of huge security holes. it's just they've tended to be used as (useful) root gaining exploits rather than (pointless) virus dispersal mechanisims.
take a look at the history of BIND and then reasses your statement about unix and security :/
(and bear in mind that we're really talking apps here. it's IIS and IE and Outlook that have all the holes, not usually the OS/Kernal. ignoring the win95 tcp/ip nuke thing. oops)
So do I. It has one of those "mouse" things and everything.
Posted by
Miki, 26th March 2003:
Excellent network protection at work + Norton on automatic update.
Only Norton on my laptop at home, but thats not on line all the time.
They are well cool. I use mine to play games on. Whats a 'mouse' is that the name of the foot pedal thingy?
Not quite sure which bit is the mouse. My guess is the long wire thing with the block on the end with three metal prong things sticking out.
Posted by
beargod, 26th March 2003:
Sorry the almighty powerful Cal, I didn't mean it has had a good history, but the faults have been more spaced out in time have they not?
Posted by
cal, 26th March 2003:
not really. some info on bind:
cr.yp.to/djbdns/blurb/unbin...