I am staring at a site when, bing! I get a pop up… ’hacking attempt in progress…’ followed by ‘Hacking attempt successfully blocked’ Something to that effect actually.(Courtesy: Kaspersky anti-hacker firewall. You get a one month free trial with System Mechanic)
Oops! Never thought I could be a “privileged” target for an attack! That’s rich! Now which weirdo thought I was a bank?(Am cash poor, but penny rich) Nor do I run a research institute! My only research on this computer are a few technical blog reviews(At that time)
I check the data on my computer. Not much. A primitive one with basic internet stuff. And then a bulb flashed overhead.
Eheh heh - *Evil genius at work!
Why don’t I try hacking him instead? Zounds! I can read the next days papers. *TM kills a Hacker with all the grisly details of the software butcher! Quite simple if you have the right resources. But to reconnect the ‘tools’ of the trade is a tedious process. I didn’t in this case
I wait… Sure enough. He’s back
What do I do? I leave a welcome message in a shared folder - of viruses. I download the viruses from a CD(pretty cool, uh? You do get a few sample viruses, actually scripts in a hacker’s CD) into a folder, share it with the settings, & leave a notepad message, ‘Welcome to my world’; my email id & a message to reply back if he was successful! How much more tempting can I make it?
Why did I leave the settings? I guess sometimes boredom can make you self destructive. I left him the settings & the PC connectivity software to use. (Though we never used the software)
Carefully, I disable the anti-hacker firewall. I exit the anti-virus & watch - no go. The next few days, time passes, but no news
Now there are two possibilities – either he found the information not useful.(I could have told him so!) Or he was unsuccessful. I would prefer the latter. Though he could also have been affected by the viruses I left for him.(In which case, I should at least have got a mail courtesy the hacker, but it appears a remote possibility)
A few days later I did receive email stating that my system was accessible to him for a brief period but was not able to retain the connectivity due to a bad connection… Anyways the guy was from Germany.(Imagine the number of router hops the guy musta made). At that time, there was a ring of porn sites looking for bandwidth to share images and web content. I suspect him to be one of them
Another time me and my friend were troubleshooting a system of a third. Guess what we used to communicate? A notepad file.(He had just installed the operating system and needed help with the configuration.) We just resaved our communication in a text file(in a shared folder) and the other guy had to check every few mins.
End of story. Why am I telling you this? Dive below. Hacking attempts can get unsuccessful if
- When you install XP, two accounts are created by default for normal logon
Guest account(disabled) & Default account. A default account is a power user, not exactly an administrator account. When you reboot the system in safe mode, you have an administrator account shown on the screen. Ensure you set a strong password only you remember for this account. By doing so,
a. You are ensuring that most of the exploits which take advantage of a blank password administrator account are blocked.(Umpteen MS patches released for this.) It is not Microsoft’s fault that you leave it blank, but people tend to look at it that way
b. When you look at the internet security data for the previous two years, almost 60% exploits take advantage of this. A loophole we create!(Understand that Windows stands out on just one aspect Ease of Use!)
- The latest critical & security updates – Of course your system might slow, but in no way would it affect the internet speed if properly configured. These are released for patching those holes in your house of windows. Critical and security are a must. An ex., Microsoft announced 12 new security updates on 8th August. Two vulnerabilities have been rated Critical Risk to server & client operating systems & these patches need to be applied before 15th August by all businesses running Windows XP, 2003 and 2000
In both cases, an attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could remotely take complete control of the affected system including servers
a. Most of them use known exploits. They lack the grey cells material to develop something on their own. So you are blocking the rest of the exploits
A professional hacker would not only depend on other fallacies like shared folders, but also use various tools just to “sniff” you out. That’s where you need to be careful… The best way with hackers would be to vary your internet time daily. If you have reason, get a good firewall. Kaspersky seems light enough without much visibility on the desktop. The windows XP firewall is good, but it doesn’t display any hacking status as Kaspersky does, so you tend to think of it as dumb. If at any time you suspect you are being hacked & you anyways have not much to do, just disconnect. That would frustrate him more than anything else. I guess I was lucky that time as he found me when I reconnected
Two common places for most spyware
Click start & run and type in%temp%(not temp. There is a huge difference)
The other – Documents and settings/ local settings(Hidden folder)/ your profile/internet files/ file name
- There is this thing about the IP address. Each time you can track a user using his(MAC address or his) IP address. ISPs often have a simple way out. They assign you a new IP each time you reconnect. So when you suspect an attempt, disconnect and then reconnect. Check the IP address. It should change each time you reconnect.(IP addressing)
A newer version of Windows attempts to address this. Vista attempts to address about 60% of all existing spy ware/ malware with the User accounts controls. This is a specific feature which has been designed in such a way that most of the root hackings due to the configuration are addressed. It’s like you have to specify every security setting
For the discerning few who actually think that MS has an OS plugged with holes, check this out. https://nvd.nist.gov/
That’s an UK government site. According to it, there are more vulnerabilities in a MAC OS. If you still don’t believe me on MS responsiveness to releasing critical updates, then read the article released earlier on it. https://theregister.co.uk/2006/02/08/apple_vulnerability/
Mac OS is just not targeted since it is a meager 3 percent. It makes sense for a malware creator to target Windows since it holds over 90 percent of the market. Good for them! However why is Symantec complaining about Microsoft’s move into security? In fact, it was M$ who gave Symantec a market in the first place. Instead of addressing key concerns within the operating system, they let others address the security concerns so far. But isn’t it Ms’s sole concern especially since it’s their product, at least now?