Self Defense against
Computer Crime!
If you run a large network or ecommerce site, click
here for help. If you are an advanced user engaging in hacker
wargaming, click here. For a list
of sites where you can get information or join email lists to
be alerted of the latest discoveries of ways to break into computers,
click here. If you are a home
user, read on.
1. Stop using Internet Explorer and make the switch to Firefox, it's more secure, plain and simple.
2. Get Spybot Search and Destroy and immediately update it.
3. Get Adaware SE and immediately update it.
(Use both as a 1-2 punch on infected client computers and between the two there's not much they won't kill)
4. Update your antivirus
5. Boot into safe mode and run all three scans
6. While the scans are going check your registry (Click start --> Run and type regedit to get intot he registry) and look in HKEY_CurrentUser/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run & HKEY_Local_Machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run. Verify that all programs listed are legitimate and wanted.
7. If or when your antivirus scan comes across anything, search for that file name in your registry and delete it.
8. Use explorer to go to the windows/system32 folder and sort by date. If you haven't already done so, make sure you can see the entire file names. click Tools --> Folder Options and unclick the box labeled "Hide extensions for known file types" and under Hidden files and folders click "Show hidden files and folders." However, make sure you choose "Hide protected operating system files" so you don't accidentally remove anything that would cripple your computer.. You are looking for recent files with names ending with .exe and .dll that look suspicious. Major culprits will have gibberish names such as alkjdlkjfa.exe.
9. Once you can get clean scans in safe mode, reboot in normal mode and scan all over again. If you can't get a clean scan in regular mode then you have something more persistant that could take more research.
10. Make sure your firewall doesn't have strange exceptions.
11. If you suspect anything that is going wrong with your computer is the action of a stalker, on a more secure system change all your passwords.
12. If your system has been specifically targeted and hacked you can never be 100% sure that your system is no longer compromised so start with 11, make backups of personal files on the infected system and format and re-install Windows. Good luck!
[This set of instructions provided courtesy of Mark Mills with Computing Services at the
University of Arkansas. Thank you, Mark, we bet you've seen everything while protecting students against malware!]
Free vulnerability
scans --
find out how easy it is for hackers to break into your computer!
Do you use Windows? Click here for a tool to find all the downloads
you need to fix problems that let hackers attack your computer.
Quick,
Easy Guide to Keeping the Bad Guys out of Your Computer
"Home Network
Security:"
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html
Free virus
help:
A free virus scan: http://security2.norton.com/us/home.asp
Don't want hackers breaking into your computer? They usually
use Trojan Horse programs that often spread like viruses to break
in. Most antivirus programs will defend you against these breakin
programs. To see how this works, we put a bunch of Trojans on
a computer and ran Norton Antivirus 2000 on them. Here's
what Norton showed us:
More help running off intruders--->>
