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BOOT CAMP 578 (27/05/09) – Privacy and Paranoia, part 4
When you think about it your computer probably knows more about
you than anyone else. You would be amazed how it all adds up. There could be an
insight into your medical history from that time you tried to find out more
about a nasty looking rash or prescription medicine. There may be emails that
reveal your political affiliations, a web history that shows which newspapers
and magazines you read, online banking details, utility bills, information
about your home, car, telephone, travel plans even photographs that could be
used to forge identity cards and passports. The list goes on and the point is
if it fell into the wrong hands, there’s no telling what it would be used for.
As we have seen in this short series there is a lot you can do to
protect your computer from direct attack, by restricting access to it,
encrypting sensitive files and installing a good two-way firewall but this week
we’re looking at the silent threat posed by malicious software or malware.
This is a broad term covering computer programs that sneak into
your PC and stealthily change settings or rummage through your files, looking
for personal or private information. You may think you are protected if you
have an anti-virus program and firewall on your computer but you would be
wrong.
Viruses are generally destructive or disruptive and you know
fairly quickly that your PC is infected. They spread by replication, sending
copies of themselves on emails and storage media or hide inside program
downloads. Malware programs are more discrete; they sneak in through the
backdoor, hiding out on infected websites, waiting for complacent or off-guard
passing visitors.
The sad fact is the vast majority of malware gets onto computers
by invitation. It’s easily done, a pop-up box appears on your screen and
without thinking you click on it to get rid of it and the damage is done. You
might think that you are safe because you have a good two-way firewall that
stops programs on your PC from hijacking your Internet connection but malware
writers have that one covered; some of them can disable firewall and antivirus
programs.
Maybe you think you’re too smart to get caught and you never visit
dodgy websites or click on pop-ups, but I am sorry to have to tell you that
they can still get through. There’s a particularly devious branch of the
malware family called Rootkits. These are able to fool security software,
Windows and you into thinking that they are legitimate and therefore safe to
run. In some cases no action on your part is required, all you have to do is
visit an infected website, and several very respectable sites have unwittingly
hosted rootkit infections.
It’s all starting to sound a bit scary but as I said in part one,
you can reduce the risk to almost zero by taking a few simple precautions and
the first and arguably the most effective one is to stop using Internet
Explorer.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with IE, it does a reasonable
job but the problem is it is installed on every Windows PC, which makes it a
massive target for the people who create malware. Tens of thousands of them,
all around the world devote an enormous amount of time and effort into hacking
into it and creating or exploiting vulnerabilities. Microsoft receive a lot of
criticism for the security loopholes in IE, and some of them should have been
avoided but in its defence no piece of software can resist that sort of
relentless and determined attack.
When switching browsers avoid ones that are based on the IE
‘engine’, which will have the same weaknesses. Most people opt for Mozilla
Firefox (http://tinyurl.com/6a37pp),
also worth considering is Google Chrome (http://tinyurl.com/c53zvf),
and Apple Safari (http://tinyurl.com/6vlk).
They are all free and, for the moment at least a lot less likely to pick up
something nasty when browsing the web. They are certainly not immune, however,
and there are a few more things you need to do, or rather not do when visiting
web sites.
Never click on pop-ups, most browsers can be configured to
suppress them but occasionally one gets through. If it happens just close the
browser and make a note not to go back to that site again. At least once a week
check your PC with a malware cleaner. Better yet, run two or three of them as
no one cleaner can cover all of the possible threats. There’s no need to buy
commercial software; AdAware, A-Squared, Malwarebytes, Rogue Remover,
SuperAntiSpyware Free and Spybot are all free and do a very good job. Links to
all of them can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/2woy5u,
but whatever cleaner you use be very careful about what you download -- see
this week’s Top Tip.
You should also download and install Microsoft Defender (http://tinyurl.com/5q36co. This is
specifically designed to protect Windows and Internet Explorer and you need it
even if you switch browsers, as there are a number of websites that only
function properly with IE.
If you share your PC and a malware program breaches your defences
you can limit the damage and stop it affecting others by making sure that
everyone who uses it has their own limited User Account (see Boot Camp 526 -
530 at http://tinyurl.com/qghddb) and
that includes you, as the Adminstrator.
Next Week – Privacy, part 5 Part 1 2 3 5
JARGON FILTER
LIMITED USER ACCOUNT
User Account with no access to system files or authority to change
settings and install software
POP-UP
Irritating advertisements that suddenly appear on your screen whilst
browsing web pages; clicking on a popup may also download malware onto your
computer
ROOTKIT
A set of tools, used
by virus writers, to create a stealthy container or wrapper for concealing
malicious software
TOP TIP
The malware threat is bad enough but it is compounded by countless
rogue anti-malware cleaner programs. Many of them generate false positive to
scare you into buying the product, some will even deliberately spike your PC
with malware and then demand what amounts to a ransom for a cleaner product to
remove the infection. SypwareWarrior (http://tinyurl.com/yslol)
has a list of good and bad products, though it doesn’t seem to have been
updated recently but the site does have links to a number of other sites that
are carrying on the good work.
Don't forget, there's a full archive of previous Boot Camp Top
Tips at www.pctoptips.co.uk/
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© R. Maybury 2009, 0505
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