[Meteor-Scatter] Denial of Service attacks

[Shelby Ennis, W8WN]

With the recent Denial of Service attacks on Moon-Net and other sites, it 
reminded me that any time you get on line your own computer may be "probed" 
by someone trying to get in.  Even tho I'm on line no more than 10-15 
hours/month, I see an average of 1 or 2 attempts per month, of others 
trying to access mine.  A little freeware program, "Tiny Personal 
Firewall," makes it appear to other computers that it doesn't exist.

If you'd like to test your own computer and see how vulnerable it is, this 
can be done very quickly.  Go to the Gibson Research Web site 
at   http://www.grc.com  (and first read how even *they* were hit with a 
DoS attack earlier this year!).  Then go down to the Freeware Listing and 
download the (free) "LeakTest" and the "IP Agent for ShieldsUP" 
programs.  (Very small, quick).  While still on line, run each of them, 
following the directions, then read how open your computer is to 
attacks.   (There's other interesting freeware and stuff there, but that's 
another subject).

NOTE - a firewall will not protect you against viruses, worms, etc.  You 
must still have a good virus checker, with updated definitions, and scan 
all E-mail attachments, programs, etc.  I'm getting an average of one 
E-mail message with virus/worm attached every day now from individuals who 
apparently who do not have up-to-date definitions.

I know very little about all of this - but I've found these tests, etc very 
interesting.
I'm sure a Web search would find a bunch of other good information.

73, Shelby, W8WN