[pchelpers] Re: News: Is your computer a criminal?

Scott McNay wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
>     "Your home computer may be committing a crime at this very moment.
>     It might be sending out spam. It might be buying stock as part of
>     a pump-and-dump scheme. Or it might be helping attack the Internet
>     itself, silently and invisibly, as you read this story. And the
>     odds your computer is a criminal are quickly rising.
> 
>     "The Web, some say, has been turned into an operating system for
>     criminals. Computer viruses that hijack PCs and turn them into
>     electronic robots, or “bots,” have become the  killer app. The
>     operation of networks of hijacked computers is so lucrative that
>     hackers are actually fighting electronic wars over them, a story
>     we will explore next week in part two of this series."
> 
> http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/03/bots_story.html
That is sobering. It is as if the final battle starts with our 
computers. No wonder so many people ask me to scan their systems for 
these things. Would anyone else like to produce a page on passive 
scanning, or shall I do it? This won't solve the problem, but it is a 
lot better than a home PC with one anti virus on it and an Internet 
connection. The final solution, as they seem to suggest is that either 
everyone shuts down their computers, or disconnects from the Internet 
completely.
-- 
Regards, John Durham <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
Fax/Phone 64 4 5286786
Award winning web site at http://modecideas.com?sig
Server hosted on Ubuntu 4.10
PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig
Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied.


-- 
-------list-services-below-----------
Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
Freelists login at http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi
List archives at http://www.freelists.org/archives/pchelpers
PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig
Latest news live feeds at http://modecideas.com/indexhomenews.htm?sig
Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied.

Other related posts: