The Complete Guide to Computer Security, Part I

[Hawke]

The Complete Guide to Computer Security
Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet
By Hawke


The Internet has grown to be an integral part of our lives. There is no other medium available whereby people from all over the world can readily meet and exchange ideas on everything from politics to religion to dryer lint collecting (Don't believe me on the dryer lint bit? Check out this url).

Underlying this free exchange of ideas, however, is a sinister underbelly of greed, corruption and sabotage. While this may read as the plot of the next James Bond movie, this nonetheless accurately describes the host of spam, adware and computer hackers that are floating around in the flotsam of the Internet.

As broadband becomes the norm and computers remain connected to the Internet 24/7, this "evil underbelly" has grown to overshadow the whole of the Internet. Many users are now terrified of plugging into the Internet, lest their personal information and files be torn from them and distributed across the globe. It's not just personal information that malicious software is after, however; they can also hijack your computer's resources - processor, hard disks and net connections - to further propagate themselves to other computers connected to the Internet.

It would be wise to note that, like the viruses that plague humans, the most successful computer viruses (and Trojans, and keyloggers, etc.) are the ones that you don't know are there. These are the programs you REALLY need to worry about, for they cause the most damage to you and others. Imagine a small keylogging program that sits on your system for weeks or months, diligently recording every keystroke you make - emails, logins and passwords, credit card numbers - and reporting these to some malicious individual elsewhere in the world.

All this being said, there ARE various ways to protect yourselves from all of this. This article is part one of two articles that deal with computer security. Part I, the focus of this article, introduces the terminology that you need to be familiar with in order to protect yourself and understand the threats that are out on the Internet. Part II, which will come presently, will discuss the steps you should take to protect yourself from security threats. It is my hope that the combination of these articles will give our membership a greater appreciation for computer security and the knowledge to protect themselves.

PART I: Terminology

This week's article is an explication of various terms used to describe security threats. Knowing these terms will make you more knowledgeable about the types of malicious programs and security threats that exist on the Internet, and will make the next installment of this article easier to follow. That being said, let's launch into it.

Malware: Any piece of software that is designed to damage, disrupt or interfere with a computer system.

Virus: Any piece of code that replicates itself. Usually, viruses are malicious programs that work their way deep in your system and then propagate themselves through email or other means. A virus is not necessarily destructive, but usually does have some destructive or disruptive influence on your computer system.
Important to note is that nearly every virus is attached to an executable file, which means that the computer user is the one who (inadvertently) triggers the infection. Viruses do not normally spread by themselves.

Worm: A worm is similar to a virus, but has the important distinction of being able to spread ITSELF, without any kind of human intervention. Worms are the most dangerous types of malicious code, as from a single computer it can replicate itself thousands of times and spread across the Internet like wildfire. Usually, this is done through email systems. Worms often look at the contents of your email program's (usually Outlook) address book and mail itself to all those listed.

Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse (usually simply called a Trojan) is a piece of computer code that often masquerades as something else, usually some benign application. Once on your system, the Trojan can copy, alter or destroy data, or even introduce viruses onto your system. An important distinction about the Trojan, however, is that it does NOT replicate itself. Recall that replication is the hallmark of the Virus.

Keylogger: Program usually attached to a Virus, Worm or Trojan that simply records all keyboard input to your computer. Periodically, the program will transmit the log to some third party. Keylogger's can be exceptionally dangerous, as they can record credit card numbers, logins/passwords, email contents, etc.

Spyware: Any program that gathers user information without his/her knowledge. Usually, spyware monitors a user's Internet browsing habits and transmits this to a third party, who sells that information to advertisers, who can then target you with specific advertisements. Usually, spyware comes bundled with a legitimate program, and has been tacked on to generate extra revenue for the program's makers. To accomplish its task, spyware often consumes large chunks of your system's resources, which can make it run slower and even crash applications.

Adware: Adware is very similar to spyware, in that it is often bundled with other products and installed without the user's knowledge. It comes in two forms: In the first, it works like spyware, tracking a user's browsing patterns. Based on the information it collects, it can download ads directly to your computer or redirect your web browser to display ads. In the second type, it already contains a number of advertisements and randomly displays them on your computer. Often, this is manifest as a random advertisement popping up on a user's computer, even when the user is not currently browsing the internet.

Hacker/Cracker: While most computer programmers view a 'hacker' as an exceptionally gifted programmer who can find work-around solutions to programming problems, the media usually refers to hackers as those people who attempt to break into computer systems. For computer programmers, these same people are referred to as "crackers" (as in someone who cracks a security system and gains access to someone else's computers). So you need to look at the context in which it is being used. If you hear a computer programmer talking about hackers, it's generally a good thing. If you hear the media referring to hackers, it's a bad thing. If you hear computer programmers talking about crackers, it's a bad thing. Always. Confused yet?

Phishing: Phishing is an internet scam that works through email. In this, the perpetrator sends out email that purports to be from real web sites: Amazon, PayPal, Ebay among others. The email usually purports that there is some kind of billing problem with a User's account, and provides a link where the user can log in and "verify" their account name/password, credit card numbers, etc. However, the link directs users to a spoofed webpage that, while it may LOOK like an official page for the site in question, is actually a page hosted off of somebody else's server and is designed solely to collect and transmit user's personal information, usually for the purposes of identity theft. Be wary of all such emails as these, and be warned that most online retailers will not ask for your information in this manner. As a general rule, never click the links contained in these emails, always contact the company via other means.

Rootkit: This is a collection of tools that is used by computer hackers/crackers to gain access to and exploit a user's computer. This works in the following manner: A hacker/cracker either exploits a weak password or a vulnerability in a system to gain access. The hacker/cracker then installs a suite of tools that can monitor keystrokes, collect information on how that computer is used, generate backdoors whereby the hacker can easily gain entry to the computer again, even if passwords are changed, and other malicious purposes. Rootkits are often very hard to detect, and can be even harder to clean.


This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it intended to be. The terms described here are to help you get a better grasp of the lingo of computer security; if I think of other important terms I will include them here. In Part II I will discuss how to defend your computer against these threats. Until then, I hope you have a fun and safe computing experience!

[minks]

Great Info, I am printing it out and distributing it to my collegues.
Thanks

[john8pies]

Seconded. Thank you so much, Hawke.

[Jika]

I'd been wondering what 'worms' and 'trojan horses' were. Thanks for the breakdown Hawke. The way you explain it is easy to understand.

[randall]

randall here,
Dear Mr Hawkes how I envy you your knowledge.
Can you explain/help/assist me in one puzzling aspect of web pages.
For example, On the British Channel Five TV site a half an hour ago I entered a competition and when I pressed go after putting down the answer to the question I came face to face with an almost pure white screen telling me that I could not access or see that particular page.
Then it went on the tell me to got to Outlook Express and sort out my connections with it.
Well, 99% of the time I have no trouble except when I press a "link" on someone Else's web page.
I have tried to follow all the instructions but it is still occurring.
Can you assist. pleas.
God bless,
randall

[lady cop]

Hi Randall...i wish Hawke were still here, but he hasn't been around in some time. but someone should be able to help you.

[gmc]

Originally Posted by randall

randall here,
Dear Mr Hawkes how I envy you your knowledge.
Can you explain/help/assist me in one puzzling aspect of web pages.
For example, On the British Channel Five TV site a half an hour ago I entered a competition and when I pressed go after putting down the answer to the question I came face to face with an almost pure white screen telling me that I could not access or see that particular page.
Then it went on the tell me to got to Outlook Express and sort out my connections with it.
Well, 99% of the time I have no trouble except when I press a "link" on someone Else's web page.
I have tried to follow all the instructions but it is still occurring.
Can you assist. pleas.
God bless,
randall

I presume you mean internet explorer rather than outlook express. I'm not an expert but here goes. Do you have a firewall on your computer? If you do it may be that you need to alter the settings-some sites use cookies or web bugs to transfer info from one site to another, unfortunately some sites also place cookies to spy on you or to take you in to sites you don't want to go near so most firewalls tend to block then initially and then ask if you want to allow them. It may be you have them blocked without realising it. With some firewalls you can alter the settings for individual sites.

Alternatively if you click on tools, internet options, then the privacy tab and also look at the security tab you will see the various settings you have.

In outlook express it is the same -tools internet options and then the security and privacy settings to see what you have got. The help screen is pretty good at telling you what's what. Best way to learn is to make mistakes with it.

Also your internet provider should have a technical helpdesk that will help you with settings and the like.

[randall]

randall here thanking GMC for his assistance,
Thankyou very much for going to the trouble in writing that post. It is very interesting.
I am weak in the realms of setting up my mail boxes, copying, cutting and pasting.
I had the bad habit of putting in more than one protection system at a time - sot of Magino Line and Siegfried Line as double protection but some are suggesting that they interfere with one another and make the PC unstable.
I will try to absorb and put into practise what you said.
I have telephoned by ISP help line but apart from the expense I usually get someone with a strong foreign accent which I (a) can barely hear and (b) can barely understand - and the clock keeps ticking.
I lost the setup disc for my broadband from Tiscali and although they send me another one very quickly it was a different name and they had to send anew modem to suit it.
My machine hasn't been quite stable since.
The new one is called "SPEEDTOUCH" and even now my cursor is erratic in its jumps from place to place.
The pages move up and down in jerks.
Maybe I'm the jerk by not trying hard enough to sort it out.
Thankyou again.
God bless.
randall

[gmc]

Originally Posted by randall

randall here thanking GMC for his assistance,
Thankyou very much for going to the trouble in writing that post. It is very interesting.
I am weak in the realms of setting up my mail boxes, copying, cutting and pasting.
I had the bad habit of putting in more than one protection system at a time - sot of Magino Line and Siegfried Line as double protection but some are suggesting that they interfere with one another and make the PC unstable.
I will try to absorb and put into practise what you said.
I have telephoned by ISP help line but apart from the expense I usually get someone with a strong foreign accent which I (a) can barely hear and (b) can barely understand - and the clock keeps ticking.
I lost the setup disc for my broadband from Tiscali and although they send me another one very quickly it was a different name and they had to send anew modem to suit it.
My machine hasn't been quite stable since.
The new one is called "SPEEDTOUCH" and even now my cursor is erratic in its jumps from place to place.
The pages move up and down in jerks.
Maybe I'm the jerk by not trying hard enough to sort it out.
Thankyou again.
God bless.
randall

Don't know if you are a native but the idea of someone from Buchan complaining about a strong accent has cheered me up this morning.

Go in to programs, systen tools, disk cleanup and disk defragmenter. They are programmes for tidying up your disk. If you have been putting on a lot of programmes windows tends to stuff the files anywhere-think of the disk as a big filing cabinet, if it's disorganised it takes longer to find things and at times the computer may "hang" so you have to reboot.

Disk defragmenter basically puts things back in alphabetical order so the sytem can find things quicker.

Disk cleanup gets rid of any empty folders you don't need-every time you save a document windows creates a temporary folder for it-each time you save-when you are finished there may be a final file but all the temporary ones are still there. Same as you browse the web each link creates a folder that is left on your computer. It's like stuffing a disorganised filing cabinet wilth loads of empty folders as well as it being out of order.

Do disk cleanup first and then defragment. If you know this already my apologies.

The cursor might just be the mouse-if you have one of those fancy ones maybe you just need to adjust the settings or if it's an old one it's maybe just failing on you. Poor things the balls start going-well in older ones the connection to the electronics is mechcanical which can fail. Optical mice are better.

If you want an office suite have a look at open0ffice.org It's better than MS office and doesn't cost £450 for the full monty. More to the point the set up is more logical-who else but microsoft would have the page setup under file instead of edit or format?

[randall]

randall thanking GMC for all his - or her - advice,
The help line gentleman was very, very soft spoken even when asked to speak louder and I assume he was Indian as he had that almost Welsh tang about his voice.
Polite in the extreme.
Well, I got onto the Internet and as the the writer said, I meant Internet Explorer NOT "OUTLOOK EXPRESS"
My problem is now, that when I am on a page and it says click here to see another part of the programme I come up against a white sheet with "THE PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED." AND THEN A WHOLE LOT OF PRINTING TELLING HE TO GO TO TOOLS AND SELECT INTERNET OPTIONS AND SO ON.
I have done all that and in desperation sent off another E-mail to Tiscali rather than telephone because then I have hard copy to guide me.
Am I a NATIVE? - well, during all my apprenticeship as a marine engineer I was called a "HALF CASTE"
Discrimination is not limited to colour or sex as Matthew Wright found out to his dismay when he suggested last week that drugs should be tested on criminals, murderers, rapist, paedophiles and REDHEADS!????
He was snowed under with telephone calls and e-mails - I am a Scot and a red head - and if you mess with us - as the American lady said a few months ago, we don't just fight back we get even.
Apparently there are about 3% redheads in Wales and England but about four times that in Scotland. You think I digrees but I am not as you will see.
We suffer physcal pain more than any other people on earth. The black man on Matthew Wright's panel said that to be a redhead is the nearest a white person in Britain can come to feeling being treated as a coloured person.
We are not all bad tempered - fiery tempered is the usual term. As soon a we walk into an interview room they are scarcely interested in what we have to say as they have already made up their minds on seeing the red hair that they are definitely not going to employ us.
Bullying at school is the first initiation - I certainly was and didn't know why. My father said that it was because I was too stupid and should stand up for myself more. "I'll give you half a crown for every black eye you bring home." he promised.
I have lost many jobs through this even when the agent showing me into the room told me ,"I think you will definitely get this one as you have more qualifications and experience than all the others put together - I did not get the job - the interviewer, in Glasgow, was an American so I can hold that against him too.
The recent finding in Dundee about the causes of eczema and asthma - which equals red heads also (generally) - plus the freckles, may make our descendent's less picked upon.
At school the teacher always ignored you even though your hand was up to answer the question and usual picked the person immediately behind you.
No one wanted ot play with you or wanted you on their team.
So I taught myself tennis by the simple process of going up to the tennis courts early and grabbing the young school girls - a year or so younger than I - with the offer of paying for their courts ( six pence for half an hour) and so learned the basics from them.
One Saturday I arrived early at the usually empty courts and the local champion turned up and as there was no one else to ask - after all I was not allowed to join the club - he asked me if I would like "A hit around".
I beat him soundly and within a week was asked to join the club.
The name half caste came from the fact that in Buchan people have extraordinarily long memories - I mean ones that go back generations.
I had one grandmother from New Deer and the other from Lonmay. Only one grandfather was from Buchanhaven and the other from St Monance in Fife.
My two grandfathers were dead long before I was born - about twenty years and my father's mother died at least ten years before I was born so I only had my mother's mother as a grandparent.
She lived in Pittenweem - that was twelve hour journey by train in those days -and I only remember her just before she died at the beginning of WWII as an old irascible, cantankerous bad tempered old woman no doubt formed by the hell of a life she had. Her husband died at 39 leaving her with eight children of which only six survived
To feed them she had to get up at ungodly hours to go down to the fishmarket, buy, clean and fillet fish. Carry them in a basket slung over her shoulders and then walked God only knows how many miles around the countryside selling them to the farmers for vegetable, eggs, butter and the like which she then had to sell back in town.
I always wondered, but was never told, how on earth my fishing parents knew about so many farms and farm families.
My mother was born in the "HALLELUJAH LOBBY" in Peterhead. A large tenement building opposite the old baths and lifeboat shed but so mean are the people in that town that they called her a FIFER (derogatorily) all her life.
I really wanted to be a joiner and had all the tools of the trade before I was fourteen but just would not be accepted into any joiner shop.
In my forties an old joiner/cabinet maker was helping me with the repairs of a wall in my house.
"Why did not you not get into P......... to serve your apprenticeship?"
"I don't know."
"Well, I don't think it was P.... I think it was A....."
"How on earth could it be A.... I never even knew the man until I returned from abroad. And he is a lot older than me." I thought a little. "What on earth had A... to do with P...?"
"A... was his sleeping partner. Few people ever knew it." was the astounding reply.
"What on earth did |I ever do to upset a man I didn't even know existed.?" I asked.
"Well, you see it might not have been you he had a grudge against but it could have been something your parents, grandparents or great grandparents did to him or his family in the past or even the distant pass. You know what like this place is?"
Obviously I didn't.
I was flabbergasted. It meant that real or imagined wrongdoings in Buchan are passed down from generation to generation of the "victim's" (real or imaginary) and never laid to rest.
Worse than the Hill Billies, I thought.
Yet, the book, "The 100 Crappiest Towns In Britain" had Peterhead as 39th and the reason given was far too few pubs and far too many (about 36) religious places of worship.
So all these church going, goodliving people worship God every Sunday with huge bibles under their arms and all those evil thoughts in their hearts.
The only effect it had on me was to have absolutely nothing to do with the fishing industry - no one could then imagine how mechanised it would become so that nowadays ONE BOAT can bring in in ONE CATCH which a whole fleet of hundred of old fishing boats could bring in in a week.
So off I went to see the world in the merchant navy hoping never ever to have to live in the Buchan again.
Unfortunately, I had already started courting a girl from out in the country and she wanted to return to "her ain folk".
Now, thirty odd years later she says, "What on earth ever possessed me to return to this place after a wonderful life in Hong Kong.
So, GMC, my accent is not what you imagine, or alluded to.
When shopping abroad my wife invariably discussed prices in Doric - which the Edinburgh Assembly recognise as a language in its own right.
We even have been asked if we were Russian, German, Australian and one English lady asked me what part of England I came from.????
About ten or twenty year ago a lady Anthropologist from Chicago University came ot work in Marischal College in Aberdeen. Her purpose was to study the local people and their tongue/s.
She said that the last time Buchan was ever invaded was over 4,000 years ago by the "BEAKER PEOPLE" from Friesland, now in north east Holland. She also added that the bloodline has remained comparatively pure since then.
I paid off a ship in Vlissingen (I believe English history books call it Flushing) and we arrived by taxi at a family hotel very late at night where they unexpectedly gave us a good instant meal.
The youngish lady, and owner, at the reception desk greeted us in Dutch and I politely replied that I knew no Dutch as I was from Scotland.
"But of course you are Dutch. When I saw both of you walk through that door I knew immediately that you both came from Friesland!"
I think that American academic was right.
God bless.
Sorry the epistle of St Randall took so long.
randall


"Life's Funny" Reputed to be Doc Holiday's dying words.