Don't Threaten Me!!

Let me start out by saying that Stephen King has nothing in his arsenal that comes close to how frightening attacks on your computer can be.

My Reflections on this Module
Each time we start a new module I am excited at the prospect of what I am going to learn in regards to computer security. This module didn't disappoint me in the least. I feel pretty savvy when it comes to knowledge about computer viruses. They've been around almost as long as personal computers have been around. I did enjoy the background and history of virus origins since it's always good to know how something began.

What really grabbed me were the articles on hackers, botnets, and zombie computers. The facts about hackers, and their habits, made me think about these individuals as their own culture. They seem to have their roots based in quests to satisfy their curiosity or attain a goal. It seems, however, they've lost sight of what effects they cause in their quests. I learned that the majority of hackers don't have malicious intentions when they try to achieve something. What they are doing may not be proper, but it isn't bad either. The other side of the coin, the hackers with bad intentions (also known as crackers), are a different story. I can't understand why they would use their knowledge to cause something bad to happen. Especially since, I would think, being able to see what they've done would be their "prize". They aren't around when an innocent victim has their hard drive corrupted or wiped out. They aren't standing there when these people realize a lot of their personal data is gone forever, or irretrievable. So what is the fun in that? Where is their prize? I could almost understand the crackers who are able to cause problems to major corporations or networks. Their accomplishment becomes a media story so they feel they can brag or feel good about it. But the crackers who affect individuals are just wrong.

I must mention that the information about botnets and zombie computers made me look at my computer in a whole different light. There are some telltale signs that your computer has become a zombie for a botnet  army but I'm not sure the average computer user would know what to look for. There are limited choices you can make when it comes to stopping this threat and the idea of wiping out your entire hard drive and starting over from scratch is painful, to say the least. So now, each time I go onto the internet,  the thought passes through my head  "Is my computer at risk of becoming a zombie?"

What will I do differently? That's easy to answer. First of all, I will keep my anti-virus software up to date. Additionally, I've done some research and I think I'm going to download an add-on for Mozilla Firefox called NoScript.

This way I will be in control of what URLs will be acceptable. I read the reviews on it and they are overwhelmingly positive.  I learned about this add-on from a video that was provided to us in this module.It was a very good video and I'd like to provide you with a link to it. Please take the time to watch it, you may learn something!



Now, while this video was good, the following video from the fine folks at Symantec points out some additional things that may prove useful in keeping your computer safe from outside threats. This video talks about a family of fake anti-virus applications. They mimic legitimate anti-virus software but their whole purpose is simply to get money from you. You can get one of these fake applications after clicking on a link in a professional looking website. Suddenly pop-ups begin to appear telling you that your computer is infected and what you need to do to fix this problem. Ultimately, they are hoping you will follow the links to a page where you provide your credit card information. Once they have your card number they will sell it or use it to buy items. All this can be prevented with a good anti-virus software program running on your PC.

I am almost ashamed to admit this but, several years ago, I clicked on a link that was fake. I was bombarded with pop-ups telling me my computer was infected and offering a solution for a price. Ultimately, I ended up wiping out the contents of my hard drive and starting from scratch. A hard lesson to learn but one I won't soon forget.

My Anti-Virus Program

There are plenty of choices out there when it comes to anti-virus software.   Some are free and some can range in price from a few dollars to upwards of $100.00 for the rights to use the software. The choice comes down to a matter of personal preference. I have McAfee Anti-Virus 2011 as the anti-virus software for my computer and the other computers that we use in our home. We used to have AVG as our anti-virus program but I didn't feel it performed as well as I had hoped. In it's defense, I was using the free version which doesn't have as many bells and whistles as some programs that you can buy. After discontinuing AVG, I decided to go with CA Anti-Virus. It is provided as the anti-virus software that Time-Warner customers can use for free with their internet subscription to Roadrunner. It did too good of a job. The computer that I installed it on slowed down so much nothing could be accomplished. My family complained loudly and frequently. I decided a change needed to be made....again. So I chose McAfee Anti-Virus 2011. I am very pleased with the job it is doing. It runs quietly in the background, and doesn't use a lot of system resources. When it perceives a potential threat it notifies me with a pop-up window that allows me to choose what action I want it to perform. I think I will stay with it for a long time.
Since I am singing it's praises, I want to provide you with a screen shot of what my home page looks like, along with part of the scan report:




As you can see, the program is scheduled to do regular scans and I have noticed that it performs regular updates without me needing to get involved. I really like how it works.

What To Do if the Bad Guys Succeed 

So, let's assume you have an up-to-date anti-virus program running and you are a careful person when it comes to clicking on suspicious links. This doesn't mean you may not fall victim to an authentic looking link.  I'd like to take this time to show you how to "fix" your computer. Basically, you are turning back the hands of time (kind of like Daylight Savings Time) to a time before you clicked on that link. You are performing a System Restore. I wish I had this knowledge several years ago when I ran into that link that caused me to need to reformat my hard drive.
The following video will guide you through the steps you will need to take to restore your computer:

Like I said in the tutorial, I hope this short video proves helpful if you ever need to restore your computer to an earlier point in time.

My Conclusion
Everyday we encounter countless threats to our computers. With education and the proper tools to protect ourselves we can avoid these threats. As new threats are born, it is up to each of us to do our job to prevent them from spreading.