Tech Directions - November 2007 - (Page 17)

computer networks. Maybe the scariest purpose of all is using your PC as a zombie to turn other PCs into zombies too, with all of them then used to aid the scammer’s criminal enterprise. New Problems The types of attacks have changed over the past two years, said Brian Trombley, McAfee’s product manager for consumer security products, in a phone interview. McAfee (www.mcafee.com) is one of the major and most reliable vendors of Internet security products, with other major vendors including Symantec (www.symantec.com), Trend Micro (www.trendmicro.com) and Microsoft (www.microsoft.com). In the past, a typical hacker trying to attack or take over your PC was a teenage prankster, who tried to infect other computers with viruses, trojans, worms, and other malicious software or “malware” in order to gain a warped kind of prestige among fellow pranksters. Today, said Trombley, the attacks are more sophisticated and are designed for financial gain—as well as your financial loss. From the research McAfee has done, Trombley believes that organized crime organizations in this country and abroad are behind most of the efforts. Some people have speculated that among these crime organizations are terrorist groups looking to take advantage of vulnerable Westerners to help finance their terrorist activities. Even though as yet there’s no proof of this, logic supports these fears. Scary indeed. individual PC users, there are preventive measures that you can use to help ensure that your PC doesn’t become a zombie: ● Keep your operating system up to date. If you’re running Windows, configure Windows Update to install security patches automatically. ● Keep your other programs up to date as well, installing updates as they become available. ● Use an Internet security suite such as McAfee Internet Security Suite, Symantec’s Norton Internet Security, or Trend Micro Internet Security, and keep it up to date as well. McAfee Internet Security Suite comes bundled for free with some Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Comcast and MSN, and it includes the most important but not all of the protections in the full version. If you have a subscription with such an ISP, and you want to use the free security protection, you have to install them from the ISP’s web site. How Bad Is It? At the World Economic Forum in January 2007, Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet, estimated that as many as a quarter of all computers connected to the Internet may surreptitiously be part of a botnet used by criminals. Highly publicized botnets include 10,000 zombie PCs controlled by a server in Norway in 2004 and 1.5 million zombie PCs engineered by a Dutch man in 2005. All is not doom and gloom. For www.techdirections.com MASTERING COMPUTERS 17 http://www.mcafee.com http://www.symantec.com http://www.trendmicro.com http://www.microsoft.com http://www.g-w.com http://www.g-w.com http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions - November 2007 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology’s Past Technology Today Mastering Computers Video Game Programmers Learn to “Pitch” Project Teaches Students to Diagnose an Ailing Windows OS See the Math with Your Binoculars! Fire Safety Technician ACTE Convention and Career Tech Expo Hands-On Activities More than Fun

Tech Directions - November 2007

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