Zombie Networks (aka Botnets) - A Serious Little-Known Threat

What is a zombie computer?
A zombie computer, also known as a bot, is a computer that has been infected by a malware, often a trojan, allowing an attacker to take control of the compromised PC and use it to serve malicious purposes like sending spam, hosting illegal websites or launching DDoS attacks.

DDoS what?
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are launched with the aim of crashing a server by flooding it with packets of data. DDoS attacks are effective and dangerous because the traffic can rise from hundreds of thousands of zombies; users are not even aware that they participate at an attack. Imagine your server being bombarded by so much zombies!

Those who are not worried should reconsider their position: an expert estimated that zombie networks count between one million and two million infected machines! And, each day, this number increases dramatically! Yours could really be in!

Another side effect of zombie networks: SPAM!
Who never received spam in their email box? Did you ever wonder why spammers almost never get arrested? Reasons are numerous; however, remember that they often use stolen resources, such as zombie computers, or get protected by corrupt Internet service providers (ISPs) in some foreign countries. That, and many other tricks to obfuscate their traces, makes it a challenge to catch them.

My personal privacy could be at risk?
In fact, not really. Contrary to popular myth, most of attackers are not interested in your latest secret trip with your boyfriend; what they want is your Internet bandwidth and sensitive data like your passwords to commit their crimes!

Maybe you ask yourself: "I have no important accounts and I don't care about my bandwidth being stolen. So, what's the deal?"

Hypocrite and selfish question: on the Internet, what you do affect everyone. And, as you can see, botnets are a major danger poisoning the entire network. Will you let a complete stranger "borrow" your car for a hold-up? No. Same goes for your computer.

My computer is fine; it's not slow at all!
Attackers do not want you to know that your machine fell under their control. Yet, if you are severely infected, you can notice symptoms like unwanted pop-ups, hijacking of your browser, slow-downs, etc.

In all cases, be sure to scan your computer every week with an anti-virus and an anti-spyware. Do not forget a firewall or you will be infected in less than 30 minutes.

It is possible to avoid being infected?
Sure thing! Spend a bit of time to learn how to use a computer; scan emails, web pages, downloads and your hard drive for nasty stuff; resist the temptation to revise your human anatomy on doubtful sites; think before clicking and you should be in business!

If you do not put the effort, you will get infected each time.

Webmaster of DesinfectPC: http://desinfectpc.com
Loves computers, writing and politic.

Free Spyware Removal - Don't Believe the Hype!

Are free spyware removal tools really effective? Do they keep your computer clean and protect you from the constant threat of spyware and adware all of us as Internet users face?

Unfortunately, and contrary to what most people believe - the answer is absolutely not.

Industry experts estimate that over 90% of all Internet users will get infected with spyware while online. Given that fact, it is becoming extremely important that we properly protect ourselves and unfortunately, the reality about free spyware removal tools is that they are not nearly as effective as software that might cost you a mere $30 to download.

Most Internet users unfortunately do not understand the difference between free spyware removal tools and the tools that are not free because if they did, they wouldn't think twice about getting their hands on paid software versus thinking they get enough protection from the freebies. The reason I say this is because there is a very large difference between the scanning methods that free and paid spyware removal tools use.

Free spyware remover tools depend on observing the history of your computer's operating system and registry to find spyware infections. In other words, it scans common locations where spyware installs itself and then examines the files and entries to conclude if any changes have taken place and then analyzes those findings to determine if an infection is present.

The issue with this type of detection is twofold. First, the software often reports false positives - which means that it can report authentic files and registry entries as spyware and in some cases if these files are removed this can cause even more damage to your computer and can even make it unusable.

The second problem is that free spyware removal tools neglect to detect a fairly large number of spyware infections, including much of the newest spyware that has been written primarily because of the ever changing nature of programming and hackers exploiting more and more security glitches in software and applications. This results in many of the most dangerous spyware ignored and left running on your computer. With paid spyware removal tools, you rarely see this at all because the method in which they detect and remove spyware is very different.

Most paid spyware removers are more effective than the free tools because they depend on a database of known spyware programs when scanning your computer. In other words, instead of simply looking for changes in files, the software will compare each file scanned against a database to determine if it is a legitimate file or if it is spyware. This is important because it minimizes the amount of false positives but even more importantly, it significantly increases the accuracy of spyware detected and removed which means a greater level of protection for users.

Another important factor to consider is that paid spyware removal tools reinvest much of the money they take in from sales back into research and development of their spyware database and many of the top vendors update their databases at least a couple of times per week and allow you to download those updates for free so you are always current in being protected from even the newest of spyware programs.

So the next time you have a spyware infection, and you undoubtedly will, you'll want to think about whether it is worth the $30 price tag to get a proven and effective spyware removal tool or just use the free tools. If you choose the second option, be prepared to fight an infinite spyware battle where you'll always be fighting pop-ups, always suffering from a slow computer, and constantly putting yourself at a higher risk for identity theft.

From my perspective, the choice is a no-brainer.

Paul McDonald is a Computer Professional that specializes in teaching people about spyware. Visit his info packed website today, the Best Spyware Removers to get a no holds barred review of the absolute best spyware removers available and download your free report "PC Protection :Keeping Your Computer Clean and Your Identity Safe"

Don't forget to get your free copy of his report "PC Protection" by submitting your email when visiting his site.

The Importance of Encryption Over Public Networks

Public Wi-Fi networks are everywhere today. The nearest hot-spot in your city is probably only a block away. With so many employees on the road and working out of the office today, IT departments are finding the need to provide external access to network resources. The need to stay productive while out of the office is crucial.

Anytime an end-user is accessing corporate data on a public network, security is a big concern. You never know when your confidential data may be compromised. If your company provides access to data from outside of the corporate environment, you must make sure that you take the necessary steps to ensure that data is secure.

When on a public network, any data that is sent to and from an end-user's laptop is generally visible to anyone else that is on that same public Wi-Fi network. What this means is that those traffic streams are open to what is called a man-in-the-middle attack. A man-in-the-middle attack utilizes a natural security flaw in the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). The flaw allows an attacker to secretly respond to an ARP request of a computer initiating a connection with another node. The attacker then makes private independent connections with the two nodes. Once this is done then all traffic is relayed through the attackers computer and the end-user will be unaware that this has occurred. If this attack is done between a laptop and an internet gateway, then that attack is able to sniff every packet that the end-user sends out to the internet, including confidential corporate data.

So how do you protect your private data from attacks like these? Encryption is one of your biggest defenses. However you decide to provide access to network resources to employees on the road, whether it be via a VPN or a web portal, encryption is a must. If your company uses VPN software to provide access to the network from outside it, then once the VPN tunnel is negotiated all traffic that is passed between the laptop and the corporate network is encrypted. This means that even if the attacker were to sniff out those packets sent, they will be encrypted and the attacker will find it nearly impossible to gain access to that data without knowing the key used to encrypt it.

If your company uses a secure web portal to provide access to network resources, then there are a few things that should be known. First off, most web portals that are secured using the HTTPS protocol use certificates to authenticate the encryption process. If the attacker is using the right tools, he or she can send a spoof certificate to the end-user. If the end-user accepts this certificate, then they will be opening secure communications with the attacker. The attacker then sends the real certificate request on to the corporate web server and opens secure communication with the web server. Once this is done, then the attacker is able to see all traffic that the end-user sends before it is encrypted and sent on to the corporate web server. To prevent this, it is important that you use certificates that are generated from trusted sources such as Verisign or Geotrust. Then if the end-user receives a certificate that is from an untrusted source, the end-user will be alerted to this.

It goes without saying that any end-user that is going to be accessing corporate data from outside the internal network should be trained on basic security. With the proper security infrastructure in place and users trained, then the IT staff should be able to rest easy knowing that corporate data is safe.

Aaron Guhl is an IT professional that specializes in security. He frequently writes on his blog regarding security issues to help IT professionals get a better understanding of security in their networks. Visit his website at: Security Enabled Network

Poke the Spying Eye - Sanctions Against Spyware

Spyware is one of the biggest problems to ever infest he lives of Internet users in addition to viruses and trojans. And there have been many concerted efforts from many sectors to control and inhibit the effect of this phenomenon that violates user privacy and impairs the surfing experience of thousands of people worldwide.

In criminal law, unauthorized access to a person's computer is illegal under computer crime laws. Since many owners would justifiably claim that they never authorized the installation of spyware, a prima facie of this would suggest that the promulgation of spyware is a criminal act. Law enforcement has gone after many malware developers, especially for viruses but spyware producers are rarely prosecuted. Some lawsuits have been served though. Some US States including Iowa and Washington have passed laws rendering some forms of spyware illegal. And in 2005, United States lawmakers introduced the Internet Spyware Prevention Act, meant to imprison the creators of spyware.

Eliot Spitzer, the former New York state Attorney General and Governor has pursued spyware companies in the past for fraudulent installation of software. The California firm Intermix Media Inc. ended up settling with a payment of US$7.5 million and a promise to never spread spyware again. The hijacking of Web advertisements has also led to a litigation with a big number of web publishers suing Claria for replacing advertisements. A settlement was reached outside of court.

With all these measures in place, it's ironically still not easy to keep your computer free of spyware.

If you'd like to know more about getting rid of the threat known as spyware and other kinds of menaces in your life, be sure to visit: http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/computer-problems/how-to-get-rid-of-spyware