On Jan 18, 2008 2:36 PM, Derek Broughton <news@pointerstop.ca> wrote:

Tim M wrote:

> Yesterday a friend of mine asked me about identity thief protection sites
> and she sent me a link to one asking if it was okay. I clicked on the link
> on my laptop running 10.7 (also protected with NoScript). Anyway this

> morning I was talking to my boss he is in charge of Internet security for
> a major company (I work for him part time in his own business). He said
> that if she clicked on that site she could have introduced a Trojan into

> her computer. I will not post the site address here . . . anyway, he might
> have misunderstood me or I might have misunderstood him. Now I need to
> tell my friend, who suffers from panic attacks) to reinstall her system. I

> guess I should listen to my boss . . . I am wondering what the group
> thinks about what he said and that if my system might be compromised also.

Yours, no. *Hers? *Perhaps. *Clicking on a link can only rarely introduce a

trojan, even under Windows. *These days, under Vista, it's practically
impossible to click on _anything_ without getting that annoying popup
asking if it should be allowed. *Identity theft links almost invariably

rely on you actively giving them information - they don't need to write
programs for it. *A friend's computer-savvy and highly-educated wife fell
for one of the "your account has been suspended..." scams.

--
derek

Thank you Derek, Some said this post might not be appropriate for this forum. I am sorry if my posting it is out of line but I was interested in whether the affect might be on my machine also. I do agree with you too that my boss might have been overstating the problem . . . she does have anti-virus and other protection offered by her IP.* But like you said people going to such a site are going to WILLINGLY give them all the information they would EVER need.


Tim


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Tim M wrote:
> On Jan 18, 2008 2:36 PM, Derek Broughton <news@pointerstop.ca> wrote:
>
>
>> Tim M wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Yesterday a friend of mine asked me about identity thief protection
>>>
>> sites
>>
>>> and she sent me a link to one asking if it was okay. I clicked on the
>>>
>> link
>>
>>> on my laptop running 10.7 (also protected with NoScript). Anyway this
>>> morning I was talking to my boss he is in charge of Internet security
>>>
>> for
>>
>>> a major company (I work for him part time in his own business). He said
>>> that if she clicked on that site she could have introduced a Trojan into
>>> her computer. I will not post the site address here . . . anyway, he
>>>
>> might
>>
>>> have misunderstood me or I might have misunderstood him. Now I need to
>>> tell my friend, who suffers from panic attacks) to reinstall her system.
>>>
>> I
>>
>>> guess I should listen to my boss . . . I am wondering what the group
>>> thinks about what he said and that if my system might be compromised
>>>
>> also.
>>
>> Yours, no. Hers? Perhaps. Clicking on a link can only rarely introduce
>> a
>> trojan, even under Windows. These days, under Vista, it's practically
>> impossible to click on _anything_ without getting that annoying popup
>> asking if it should be allowed. Identity theft links almost invariably
>> rely on you actively giving them information - they don't need to write
>> programs for it. A friend's computer-savvy and highly-educated wife fell
>> for one of the "your account has been suspended..." scams.
>> --
>> derek
>>
>> <https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users>
>>
>
> Thank you Derek, Some said this post might not be appropriate for this
> forum. I am sorry if my posting it is out of line but I was interested in
> whether the affect might be on my machine also. I do agree with you too that
> my boss might have been overstating the problem . . . she does have
> anti-virus and other protection offered by her IP. But like you said people
> going to such a site are going to WILLINGLY give them all the information
> they would EVER need.
>
> Tim
>
>
Tim,
I support about 30 WindowsXP machines in my church family and
friends. If she is running XP your boss was right on target. Please
follow the advise I gave you about going to housecall,trendmicro and
find out before it is to late. I just had to clean three units that
were networked because one of them stumbled into a site and did not
worry because they routinely do the scans and were running the ISP
provided anti-virus. With Windows it is much better to be safe than
sorry. And if you reinstall the backed up file go back to housecall and
run the scan once more. If it is infected this time the Trojan has
infected the work files and you'll need to clean it once more and she
will need to leave the backed up files off.

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Bernard Peek wrote:
> Gerald Dachs wrote:
>>> What else would you suggest in place of virus scanning for detection?
>>> Or is there anything else better? I work for a university technical
>>> support department, and I'd like to know so I can offer better advice
>>> to the Windows users we support.
>>>
>> Use Linux! If you need Windows for gambling then don't connect it to
>> the Internet. If you have to use Windows for other reasons, live
>> with the risk.
>>
>>
> Switching to Linux isn't an available option for lots of people, so they
> need help from Windows experts. A Linux support mailing list isn't the
> best place to look for one.

Asking from this kind of lists gives:
A) advice: switch away from Windows
B) often: experiences from people burned by using Windows to move away
or isolate Windows
C) often: advice on grudging tools to try and fix Windows, with the
caveat that with Windows there are so many diseases and exploits out
there that the situation is damn near hopeless that you'll fully protect
or disentangle the Windows system from an infection of some kind, and
you're never guaranteed that the system is actually uninfected since
every anti-malware system out there misses some percentage of exploits
in the wild while at the same time not playing well with other vendor's
tools, and in some cases their scanners *become* a problem in the process.

As for the "not an option", it is usually possible. Even if you have to
run Windows in isolation in a VM for state-machine backup on top of a
more solid OS. If it's a lifeline must-keep-running issue, you make the
learning curve a priority or the whole must-keep-running thing is
nothing but lip service. You're betting your business on a very shaky
scaffold otherwise.

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On 01/18/2008 12:36 PM, Derek Broughton wrote:

> Yours, no. Hers? Perhaps. Clicking on a link can only rarely introduce a
> trojan, even under Windows.

Blink.

<http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.seamonkey/msg/99be7a7f33a8a63a>
[my post]

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=n14041.htm&btnG=Google+Search>

I still have the data from medicasntred.com iframe trojan...

The OP would be wise to follow Willis' advice.


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NoOp wrote:

> On 01/18/2008 12:36 PM, Derek Broughton wrote:
>
>> Yours, no. Hers? Perhaps. Clicking on a link can only rarely introduce
>> a trojan, even under Windows.
>
> Blink.
>
>
<http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.seamonkey/msg/99be7a7f33a8a63a>
> [my post]
>
> <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=n14041.htm&btnG=Google+Search>
>
> I still have the data from medicasntred.com iframe trojan...
>
> The OP would be wise to follow Willis' advice.

Sure. I should probably have not been quite so positive. Nevertheless,
getting trojans isn't nearly as likely as McAfee would have us believe.
--
derek


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