LL-L: "Virus" LOWLANDS-L, 22.AUG.2001 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: "Andrea Buma" <andrea at i-friesland.com>
Subject: LL-L: "Virus" LOWLANDS-L, 21.AUG.2001 (03) [E/German]

I work in Information Technology support and can testify first-hand that the
number of nasties spreading through the internet are greatly increasing at
the moment!  The good news is that these viruses can be stopped by taking
some simple precautions.

Viruses are indeed cause for serious concern, but they are almost invariably
delivered through malicious scripts embedded into email attachments -
Microsoft programs like Word and Excel are excellent carriers, as they can
contain .vbs scripts, which are a very efficient way to transmit viruses.
They are unlikely to be spread by a simple text email.   The best form of
protection is to use extreme caution in opening attachments - I personally
only open attachments that I am expecting, from sources I trust.  I have had
several viruses sent my way the past few months, but have simply deleted the
emails with no repurcussions. Also make sure that you install the latest
form of virus protection - Norton Anti-Virus is the most respected in the IT
industry.  And once installed, make sure that you update it frequently.
Also regularly scan your computer for viruses and trojans (programs that
allow hackers to take control of your computer) - your virus protection
software should allow you to easily do this.

Secondly, personal firewalls are highly recommended for those of you with
high-speed internet connections (ie. ISDN, ASDL, Cable).   Those of us with
normal modem connections are assigned a different IP address each time we
connect to the internet, but high-speed connections are permanent
connections, with an IP address that doesn't change.  This is very useful to
computer hackers.  One of the things hackers like to do is scan ports of
other peoples' PCs.  This is very easy to do and there are lots of programs
out there that allow them to set up a service that will scan ports all night
long.  Basically this is akin to a house-breaker walking up and down your
street and making note of your windows and doors, security systems, whether
or not you have a guard dog - ports are a type of entrance into your
computer.  When hackers find a vulnerable computer ie. one with no
protection, lots of open ports - they may well take note of the IP address
and then connect to the computer and see what they can do with it.  This has
all sorts of ramifications for the owner of the computer.  A way to prevent
this is to install a personal firewall - a type of program that will make
your ports and IP addresses all but invisible to hackers.  And even if they
do manage to scan your ports, the firewall will close off access to your
system.  The best firewalls I know of are ZoneAlarm and BlackICE.  I
downloaded the personal version of ZoneAlarm for free.  Easy to use, a bit
of a pain to configure.

If anyone has any questions/comments feel free to email me.  Just wanting to
spread the word so that we all make life a little more difficult for the
hackers and the internet a safer place for everyone.

Regards
Andrea Buma
www.i-friesland.com

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