Viruses, Worms and Internet Safety

The internet has reached the point of being a tremendous tool and a way for people of all interests to communicate. But now it has also is a place for people with bad intentions to make it a dangerous place to hang out. I am adding this page as a primer on basic protections that we all should be doing. If you are not doing these things then you are or will be part of the problem and help these bad people perpetuate the problems. One of the recent virus attacks used personal computers that were unprotected, that means people like you and me.

So what is the problem? If you have access to the internet, bad people can get access to your computer unless you protect it. They can use their access to do things like wipe out your hard drive and disable your computer, steal personal information from your computer, or use your computer to do denial of service attacks on other computer systems like the phone company or IBM or Microsoft. Why would they want to do that? For all the wrong reasons. Who knows why? For profit, for fun, for fame, for the heck of it to see if they can. All I know is if you are not protecting your computer from these attacks you can inadvertently become part of the problem. If you are going to be an internet citizen it is your responsibility to not be part of the problem and protect your computer.

Viruses

What is a virus? A virus is a "program" that comes in usually as an attachment to an email often from an email address that you recognize. You know the message, click here to see pictures of my new ________. You can also pick up viruses from downloading files from the internet. Be very cautious about opening ANY files that come in your email, regardless of who they are from. If you are not expecting an attachment be very leery of opening it. And no, Microsoft will never send you any emails saying click here to install a new security program. Microsoft will always have you come to their web pages for any updates. Viruses are active programs that do things to your computer. All kinds of things are possible, none of them good. A virus scanner program is designed to watch for such bad programs coming in. But you must keep it updated regularly. New viruses come out very often. Your old virus DAT files will not always recognize a new virus. I use two virus programs on my system. And yes I have had one find a virus the other did not. I use MacAfee love the program hate the way they make it confusing to update the program. They have to have one of the most confusing web pages on the net. I prefer the product from TrendMicro. They also offer a free on-line scan. Norton also does a fine job of virus protection.

Worms and Trojan Horses

Another dangerous problem on the internet are worms. A worm is a small attachment that comes in to your computer usually through email. It works by taking advantage of security holes in Microsoft programs or because you opened it. Many of the worms reach out on the internet after installing themselves into your computer to download additional programs/payloads. Worms are usually not malicious to your computer health because their intentions are to steal your information, or to use your computer for attacks on other computer networks. Virus scanners can offer protection against worms. 

Sadly, people who write these programs are getting smarter and smarter. The expectation is that it will be more and more difficult to keep up with the better worms and viruses. You may not be able to keep your virus scanner up to date fast enough. But if you do nothing you will be a victim for sure.

Firewalls 

 You may have heard this term or read something about them. A firewall is a piece of hardware of software that isolates your computer from the internet. A good firewall will keep the bad people out. Believe it or not there are actually programs running around the internet just looking for open access computers to invade. A firewall can prevent that access. The better firewalls will also prevent programs like worms from calling out from your computer to get more downloads. Norton and MacAfee offer software firewalls now. In order to maximize firewall protection, you should read the manual. I personally use Zone Alarm as my firewall. Zone Lab's base product is free to download and does a great job. I upgraded to the Pro version of Zone Alarm due to the added features such as ability to quarantine ALL incoming email attachments.

Routers

 A router is a piece of hardware between your computer and your internet connection. It serves as a layer of protection. It protects your computer or network from outside access, unless you purposely open ports. You can use a router to share internet access with multiple computers behind it. Again you should read the manual to learn how to maximize the protection it offers.

Summarize: What I do

My computer network consists of:

• A Linksys router connected to my cable modem with all my network computers connected to it
• ZoneAlarm Pro on all the computers behind the router
• McAffee Virus scanner with automatic update of the DAT file
• Trend Micro Virus Scanner

Does it work? Yes, in the latest attack, thanks to my email address from my web pages being out there for so many years and in so many people's address book, I received almost 40,000 emails in a five day period spread between two email accounts. Yes, I said 40,000. Most of them had a virus attached. After the first 15,000 came into my main computer, I went to my email provider and asked for help. Actually he called me since I was one of the reasons his server hard drive filled up. 40,000 emails times 100,000 bytes is a lot of email space. I did not get one active virus on any of my computers. Try deleting 15,000 emails from your inbox.