Last part - So - why malware/spyware?

Forgive my crude picture.I could not find what I was looking for on the Web. So, I slapped one quickly together with MS PowerPoint. This is a sample of what a warranty card would like like back in the old days. You fill in the bubble next to your answer. This type of question, you were to only fill in one bubble. They also asked questions like what hobbies do you like and gave a list of fishing/golfing/sewing/knitting/gardening, (on this question you could fill in as many bubbles as you wanted), and they asked if you were married/separated/divorced.

Back in the late 80's I did some keypunching at a consumer company. What I discovered there was that when they sold a product, they sent a warranty/registration card with the product in a box. If a consumer filled out the card and returned it to us, we (I) keyed their personal information - name/address into a computer program and if they were stupid detailed enough to fill out the personal information, I punched that into a computer, also.

Then I ran a program that wrote that data onto a magnetic tape and it was sold (yes, they made money off of this) to a company that used that data to target consumers with magazines/ads - all sorts of things to try to get them to buy more, more, more!

So, that is when I began to only fill out my name on warranty information cards. That way, if a product failed - I would still have my warranty but the company was not able to profit off of my personal information. And, profit they did. We sold millions of products and millions of warranty cards came in. I was paid by how fast I typed. The computer would record my keystrokes and I was paid by the hour/keystroke. I became very efficient.

Anyway, that is sort of like malware on the computer today. These slick little programs infect your computer and monitor what you type - gather that information and try to entice you with ads that fit your lifestyle, income, etc...

If you browse web pages with plants/shrubs/bushes on them - you may start seeing e-mail messages directing you to a seed/plant/shrub distributor.

That is the main reason for spyware/malware. Like it or not. Greed.

Malware - Part 3

Again, let me reiterate the fact that I am by no means an expert on the issue. I don't claim to be. What I do tend to be is patient and capable of explaining technical jargon into laymen terms. That is what folks say to me. That I explain things to them that they can more readily understand.

My brain is going a million miles a minute this morning. Is it the coffee? is it fluctuating hormones? I have no idea. As I research this malware - Part 3 was to be "How they infect" I started pasting notes into notepad and there is just so much to tell all of you.

I need to slow down or I am going to lose you.

Big breath.

The first line in my notes reads "Gator". When I was troubleshooting somebody's "Internet connection" as being slow or problematic I would routinely look in their taskbar for that god-awful icon of a gator or weatherbug. 

What is the taskbar? It is that blue or gray bar (usually) at the bottom of your screen that lets you know what time it is, what day it is and what software is running in the background and what windows /tabs you have open and where to find your START button. This may have all changed with Windows 7. I have not worked with Windows 7 long enough to see what it has at the bottom of the screen. Also, if you run a Mac this post probably does not pertain to you.

Now, why would the two programs bother me? Because back in the day they were adware/spyware programs. A sure sign that the end user had fallen for the gimmick while surfing the Internet that "weather bug" could save your life! It would alert you of any dangerous weather in your area or coming your way. It was cute, it gave you the temperature at a glance. Sigh.

What the end user did not realize is that it also monitored every move they made on the Internet. Search for the word "cell phone" and you can bet money that you would start receiving popups that tried to entice you into purchasing a cell phone. That is why when you are surfing the Internet and a few hours or even minutes after you research a product you start seeing pop up ads in your browser. And you think "WTF?" How do they know? Well, it is machine code. Quick and dirty. Lightning fast. This little "free" and cute program called weather bug seems harmless enough. It just wants to save your life, eh? 

You can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeatherBug

Secretaries in the school would panic and tell me "Don't delete weather bug! My principal said we have to  keep that to alert us of impending weather!" Double sigh.

And I can't write a post on malware without mentioning the evil of all evils. Gator. I was relieved to see this little icon disappear from end user's taskbar through the years. Until I did some research for this post. I just discovered that Gator has changed it's name to Claria. Some of my research may be outdated but it is still a good read and will help to educate you on what malware and drive by downloading is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gator

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/spyware.html

http://www.pcpitstop.com/gator/default.asp

My second note in my list says "Privacy Policy". How many of you actually read this when downloading software? Pages and pages of legal jargon that will make you go blind. Nobody? I didn't think so. You can read about it some more here:

http://www.safeshopping.org/privacy.shtml

I had more stuff in the list, but this is enough to digest for now. One little analogy I would like to mention. When you drive your car (I am always comparing operating a computer to operating a vehicle), sometimes you get careless and you hit that chuck hole. You try to avoid this but once in a while we get in a hurry.

This can be similar to clicking on a pop up inadvertently. Do you ever notice that sometimes when you go to browse and you are reading away and you move your cursor up the screen to click on a link or a picture or to go somewhere else,  and a split second before you click -  a stupid pop up jumps up and you click it instead of the link or picture you intended? That is NO accident. The software is designed that way to get you to click on that pop up. And, poof! You may have just become a victim. That one little click may have installed spyware or adware on your computer. Like a chuck hole the damage may not be apparent right away but come later over time.

I know. What is an end user supposed to do? Drive carefully. Browse carefully. There is a reason that browsers update their programs. Because malicious individuals with malicious intent always find a way to worm their way into the code of the browser and take advantage of the average surfer. Update or check for updates on your browser often. Most browsers will alert you when there is an update to their product. If not, you can usually find it under the "Help" pull-down menu or in the Tools area. To find what version of the browser you are currently using, click on the Help pull-down menu and choose About Firefox (or whatever browser you prefer to use).

Ditch IE. That's right. I said ditch Internet Explorer. It is the most used browser in the world and the one most targeted by malicious code writers.

I hate toolbars - Malware - Part 2

Toolbars are evil. If you have problems with your computer and you have installed a toolbar (Yahoo/Google or other) you may have unknowingly installed a malicious toolbar that disguises itself as a legitimate toolbar. How do you know the difference? I have no idea. I steer completely away from them.

For part 2 of malware I have cheated. The definition of malware (and other yucky stuff) is better described at this link:  http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2004/11/malware.ars

I use malwarebytes and scan my computer about once a month. I find very few problems, I think Norton has started taking care of everything, I don't know. The link for the free software is here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Download or buy. I don't buy, I have been happy with the free one. I am not certain what the purchased copy would entail. Maybe it shows you pictures of them slapping malware creators around. Hmmm. I might pay money for that. 

Malicious software (malware). In a nutshell and with that link above you should be able to research the definition. I did a little bit of part 3 also (how they infect) - with bogus toolbars. Part 4 will be why they infect.  Then part 5 - what you can do (malwarebytes.org). If I make it that far. I may get bored (I think I already am).

On another note - I did have to go to that school today. The tech person (she) really ticked me off. She was so helpless. She has been doing this job for years, now. She lost her help and school begins next week so I imagine her panic mode is due to stress or a big chip on her shoulder or both. She wanted me to come down and wave a magic wand. It was not going to happen. Lightning storms are a bitch on electronics. School administrators - that is the cold hard fact. You buy cheap equipment, it fries like bacon in a hot skillet. This school is full of cheap equipment. I am sorry. I know they need (want) to save money - but it never pays in the long run to buy cheap stuff. Especially electronics.

HP (hewlett packard) makes switches with a lifetime warranty. LIFETIME warranty, folks! Needless to say, I rarely have to send one back because it does not die or fry. I actually do not even think they are that much more expensive than some of the generic models. Most of the cheaper ones are out of business. There is a reason for that. 

Back to the tech. She was negative on every suggestion I gave her. I was not even able to finish my sentences before she was nay-saying it with "Can't do that!"  or "No, they won't have it!"  Finally I threw up my hands and said "Then, I can't help you."  She will probably call my director and say I was unwilling to help. That is her method of operation. 

She gets no extras from me or my co-workers. We are tired of listening to her whining and her negativity. If somebody is willing to try and work with me I will bend over backwards for them. I will research a problem into the wee  hours of the night. I will read until my eyes are dry and I can't hold my head up. Not this lady. I smiled all the way out to my car. I really wanted to scream "YOU STUPID BITCH!"  I waited until I was 100 feet down the road and then screamed it out to my windshield.

Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

Malware mindset

Above is a map I lifted from the Internet. You can read the article here.

First of all, let me reiterate the fact that I am by no means an expert on the issue. I don't claim to be. What I do tend to be is patient and capable of explaining technical jargon into laymen terms. That is what folks say to me. That I explain things to them that they can more readily understand.

How many of you (especially those of you still working) run across a tech person who rolls their eyes and snorts when they see you using the computer or come to help you with a problem? It sort of makes it hard to ask them for help again, doesn't  it?

I truly want to help people. I truly empathize with the average end user. I've made some crazy mistakes with the computer and I never put anybody down. For a tech person to help an end user and "LORD" over them is rude and just shows how ignorant they really are. Disclaimer: I do rib friends and family. I can't help it. That is who I am. I laugh "with" them - never AT them.

Now, for the mindset. I feel that this topic is too massive to bore you to tears with one post. So my first post will be about your mindset. Fear. Fear of the unknown.

Let us step back into the past and think of the automobile. When it first came out on the market. Did anybody foresee all the accidents that would happen 100 years later with the advent of this machine that we cannot live without? Once you start driving a car, do you just say - "Oh, it's too dangerous, I am going to quit."  Not likely. Of course there are the few that do stop, but it is not common. Once we begin driving we are hooked. It is a necessity to live in our part of the world. 

The computer seems to have become a necessity, also. Like it or not. A lot of folks would say "Buy a Mac - then all your (virus/malware) problems will disappear."  Again, not likely. Reverting back to my automobile analogy what if people told you "Buy a diesel, your fuel pump problems will be a thing of the past!"  How many of us would ditch our gasoline-fueled vehicles and opt for a diesel? Eh? Yeah. That's what I thought. If everybody purchased a Mac (Apple product) then the devious attackers would just focus on a way to infiltrate that machine. Thieves find a way.

This ends my first post on malware. Your mindset. Is there a solution? Not likely. Just as there is no solution to the vehicle accidents that happen all the time. Your best defense is to be vigilant. You take a risk each time you drive your car. You take a higher risk if you drive your car without insurance. If you run your computer without anti-virus you are being foolish. I am not convinced that the "free" anti-virus programs are worth the risk. I could be wrong. I purchase Norton Anti-virus religiously and update it. I purchase the 3-pack license and put it on all my computers. Note: I am not an advocate of their 360 product, however they may have improved it since I ran it on my machine.

McAfee/Kaspersky/Sophos/Trend Micro and many other products are surely just as good. I prefer Norton because that is what I was first exposed to when I began working with personal computers. Problems? Sure. But they were ironed out and Norton went above and beyond to help me and then they throw in an extra 100 days or something equivalent to compensate you for your trouble. That's kind of hard to beat in my book.

With that being said - a virus is different from malware. Your better antivirus programs will protect against both.

To be continued.

Saturday Afternoon

Another batch of cranberry-nut bread. My first attempt to make it less crumbly was by adding some small sliced apples to the mix. When I sliced the bread all was perfect until the very last edge and then it crumbled again. Not bad. For some reason this batch seemed a bit more sour. I used cranberries from another grocery store. Maybe? Or could be I mis-judged on the sugar. I doubled the batch and I was distracted several times, so it is possible that I did not add enough sugar. (Sorry, blogspot - www.dictionary.com says that "mis-judged" IS spelled correctly).

My Great (Grand) niece came up to stay with me yesterday. This is the reason I was distracted in my measuring of ingredients in the bread. After watching a movie she crashed. (My nephew said I should refrain from the word "crash" for at least a year because of my deer incident - LOL!).

She was not the only one who napped the afternoon away. Here is my baby Slade (above). I have nick-named him Eeyore because of his common dejected demeanor.

This one (above) is my big baby Casper. Our first pet (after the bird).

And, this is Jasper (above). Curled up and dreaming of sugarplums and catnip I suppose.

On a side note, to make all of you out in blogdom feel better; I had a horrible problem with my computer Friday. It got hijacked or something. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad. I could not do anything! I got frustrated. I was able to fix it Saturday morning. You must have a ton of patience and calmly WAIT, WAIT for the system to respond and run your anti-malware programs. I recommend the following:

malwarebytes from www.malwarebytes.org

ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com (do not confuse this with the adware malware)

spybot search & destroy from http://www.safer-networking.org

I am sure there are other good programs, but the above three usually take care of my woes. I don't purchase any of the above. I use the free programs. I do pay for anti-virus software.

Fishing and Phishing/Malware and Virus

This stock photo is an example of how unstable the Internet can be

We are standing on a shaky pier, looking out into the murky depths of an unforeseeable future in the vast unknown.

So, I have been fishing. This particular virus is known to run over port 3127. I know. Many of you are probably asking "What the heck is a port?" To see a list of ports, you can go here. To see a description of what ports are, you can go here. I don't recommend it for the weak of heart. If you work with computers you quickly come to realize another old saying. The more I know, the more I realize what I "don't" know.

The more I researched this particular virus, I came to discover that it is designed to look for port 3127 on a machine. If that port is in use by another application, it then attempts to use port 3128. So on and so forth until port 3198.

I did not have the time to monitor all these ports, so I selected about ten and placed the monitor list on. The amount of log files that came back was seriously overwhelming. I took the monitors off and reported the findings and hoped that what I had found were indeed "false positives."

Which brings me to malware. There is a lot of malware out and about on the web. I use three programs to scan for it on my computers. Malwarebytes, Ad-aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy. I know there are others, and I have used them. I do notice that from time to time I have to remove and re-install Ad-aware. Ad-aware and Spybot tend to conflict with one another, but I do my best to keep my machines covered. Keep in mind that I use the free versions of these products. I know I stated earlier that you get what you pay for, I do pay for anti-virus protection. Malware is a different entity.

Let me take a moment to warn you about installing free software. Many times the free software has made a deal with Yahoo or Google and will try to slide a "toolbar" into the installation. Read each window before clicking the Next button. I recommend that you remove the check mark from the toolbars (or anything else they might be trying to sneak past you) unless you know specifically what the toolbar is and what it does. I don't like them.

Another interesting fact is that because there are so many different anti-virus applications, and they all tend to be in competition with one another, they usually cannot agree on a name of any particular virus. One product may call a certain virus mydoom, while another calls it Novarg. Then there are various versions of the virus. The first one may be named mydoom, the second wave may be titled mydoom.b, third mydoom.c and so on and so forth.

Then there is the generic groups. Where an application will group many different kinds of malware into one generic pile. One example is the Mal/Generic-A virus. For all the different types of threats that fall into this category, you can go here.

This particular virus has been accused of being a false positive. This indicates that an anti-virus program has tagged a file that looks suspicious and claims that it is a virus or malware. Other anti-virus packages state that the file in question is indeed "NOT" suspicious and that the other program has what is relatively known as a false alarm. See here.

Regardless, all of this can boggle the mind of an average computer user. You may say "How in the hell are we supposed to keep up with all of this malarkey?" The short answer. You can't. I can't. I have problems with my computer from time to time. My best tool is Google search. I read ten hits or more on each problem I have. Are other folks having the same problem? If so, how did they fix it?

Anyway, in conclusion - it is a mess out there. We do the best we can. I always compare it to driving. Traffic on the Internet gets congested. We can run over a chuck hole or a nail at any time and get a flat tire. As careful as we are, there will always be risk. And, remember. There is always that little window where a new virus is created and can wreak havoc before the anti-virus companies have time to create a fix for it. Especially with the speed of the data these days. It can almost take the fun out of it for us. Hopefully, things will get better. Things will get safer. Products will improve.

Notice: The author of the blog does not profess to know it all. The thoughts and words in this post are what I currently understand at this point and time in my life. It may not be completely accurate and I might even disagree with it in the future. I do the best I can to understand and absorb and then attempt to explain the subject with how I perceive it. Do not take my belief as gospel, but ask or research many different views on the subject at hand to come to your own conclusions.

Long week

We said good-bye to Sable's little cousin yesterday. Her Mommy came and picked her up. Her Mommy had quite a week with her son (that cartwheeled off the cliff on an ATV). My sister looked whipped.

I have had a very busy and grueling week at work. I collapse in the evenings when I get home. Not sure if it is the work or if I am getting sick. The machines really whipped me around today. I fought them all day to get them to do what I wanted them to. I got most of it working.

Back at it tomorrow.

At home I have been helping a relative fight her computer. She does not have anti-virus and she got a nasty case of malware. The about:blank one. I did something right. Her Internet is working again.

I got into it with my Internet provider last evening. They advertise that if you get the "turbo" feature of their Internet, you get 5GB of email space. I don't. I get 1 GB. (70,000MB to be exact). We went round and round. I knew it was going to come down to the fact that I am a former "adelphia" customer. It did. That is their excuse.

I told them I was sick and tired of hearing that as an excuse for my Internet/web page/email not working the same or as well as others on their network. I ticked off the customer service representative and she ticked me off. I gave them a scathing survey review and I gather that the former "adelphia" customers will be transferred over in September.

That was what they said 2 years ago. Maybe I should begin asking "September of what year?"