[KYHAM] Worms/Viruses and KYHAM

[Brandon Nuttall]

Folks,

There is little you can do about someone forging your
e-mail address as the "from" or "reply to" address.
For the mass e-mailer, where ever they might be, this
tactic dumps all their unwanted returned e-mails onto
you.

There are some steps you can take to limit your
vulnerability to worms and viruses, however.

1. Do not open any attachments unless you know exactly
who sent it and exactly what it is supposed to be.
Trusted source and trusted content is the key. Do not
be deceived by potentially forged e-mail headers and
urgent subject lines saying things like "Thanks."

2. Make sure your virus software is current and
running with the latest virus definitions available.
Most software (Norton, McAfee and others) have a live
update feature. When you connect to the internet, the
software will check for and automatically download any
updates. Most virus software also has a scheduling
feature and will run periodically to check your system
for viruses and worms. Enable that feature. Most virus
software now has a subscription feature. A nominal fee
paid yearly will keep your software and definitions
current. One of the WORST things you can do is buy the
software and not keep the virus definition files
up-to-date. Remember, the software is out-of-date when
you buy it off the shelf; during the time it has been
in the store's inventory, potentially hundreds of
viruses have been unleashed on the internet. UPDATE
THE SOFTWARE AS SOON AS YOU BUY IT!

3. Make sure you install any and all critical and
security patches to your operating system (including
e-mail clients) and web browser. Hackers find these
doors to your system and you need to make at least an
effort to close them. THIS IS CRITICAL. Microsoft will
NEVER e-mail you any patches or software (Norton and
McAfee won't e-mail you updates or patches either). If
you have an MS Windows-based system, go to
www.microsoft.com. Click on the Windows Update link.
Click on Scan for Updates. The web site will guide you
from there. If you have a dial-up or aren't too
confident about installing software, you might want to
find a teenager with high-speed internet access and a
CD-ROM writer. They can burn the stuff to CD and
install it pretty quickly.

4. Consider installing a personal firewall. There are
some good ones that are free. Probably the most
popular free one is ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs
(www.zonelabs.com). The basic firewall allows you to
control which programs on your computer have access to
the internet and what information from the internet
will be delivered to your system. For even more
protection (pop-up window blocking, IP tracing, cookie
management, etc.), you can buy ZoneAlarm Pro or
BlackICE (http://blackice.iss.net/index.php). Right
now, the Blaster worm and Sobig.F viruses and variants
are vigorously attacking systems. Blaster propagates
by probing the internet for vulnerable systems
("pinging") and installing itself on the computers it
finds. While I have been composing this e-mail, my
system has intercepted and blocked more than 50 pings
from infected computers.

Not only is your computer at stake, so is your
privacy. This includes identity theft. Some worms and
viruses are specifically designed to capture
keystrokes and ship the information to the author.
This includes any credit card numbers, pins,
usernames, and passwords you might be using.

Brandon Nuttall
KG4RRI

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