trojan ,virus worn and keylogger information

Trojans, Viruses, Worms have become the scare of the year, and with good reason. Many of the recent files are malicious in nature, causing the infected user at the very worst, to lose everything on their computer -- and facing the 'fix' of formatting the hard drive(s) and starting over.

Trojans, Viruses, and Worms -- they are not all the same :-

Trojans

A Trojan refers to a program that appears as something you may think is safe, but hidden inside is usually something harmful, probably a worm or a virus. The lure of Trojans is that you may download a game or a picture, thinking it's harmless, but once you execute this file (run it), the worm or virus gets to work. Sometimes they will only do things to annoy you, but usually a worm or virus will cause damage to your system.

Viruses

Viruses are computer programs with the sole purpose of destroying data on our computers. The virus may only destroy unimportant files, or it may decide to erase all of your document files. A virus can cause an infected computer to do funny things on certain dates, as well as issue serious commands such as erasing our Registry file, thus disabling the operation and booting up of our computers.

Viruses are spread through executable files we either get from friends, download off the net, or install through a floppy disk. A virus will often come disguised under the cloak of a Trojan, which is the carrier for the virus.

Worms

Worms operate differently. Do you remember the Star Trek show called 'The Trouble with Tribbles'? (Star-Trek fans, if I've remembered the name wrong, please correct me). These little creatures just kept replicating themselves, each one multiplying themselves over and over. Worms act much the same way.

Worms generally come through our email client, but people can also get infected if they accept a Trojan File which has as the payload a worm. If you receive a worm program through your email, and then execute it, this program sends the worm file out to all that are listed in your email address book. If you work in a major corporation, this could means hundreds of people, and so the multiplying continues.

keylogger

A keylogger is a type of surveillance softwaresoftware or spyware) that has the capability to record every keystroke you make to a log file (usually encrypted). A keylogger recorder can record instant messages, e-mail, and any information you type at any time using your keyboard. The log file created by the keylogger can then be sent to a specified receiver. Some keylogger programs will also record any e-mail addresses you use and Web site URLs you visit. (considered to be either

Keyloggers, as a surveillance tool, are often used by employers to ensure employees use work computers for business purposes only. Unfortunately, keyloggers can also be embedded in spyware allowing your information to be transmitted to an unknown third party.

Hacking

Writing software applications for keylogging is trivial, and like any computer program can be distributed as a trojan horse or as part of a virus. What is not trivial however, is installing a keystroke logger without getting caught and downloading data that has been logged without being traced. An attacker that manually connects to a host machine to download logged keystrokes risks being traced. A trojan that sends keylogged data to a fixed e-mail address or IP address risks exposing the attacker.

Recently we all witnessed the world-wide problems of the "Love bug". That is a perfect example of all of the above. (yes!) It's a Trojan because it came disguised as a 'Love Letter' when really it was carrying a harmful program. It is a virus because once executed, it infected files on your computer, turning them into new trojans. It's a worm because it propogated itself by sending itself out to everyone listed in your email address book or IRC client.

This is reality -- bad things are out there, disguised as good things....and we must use our computers safely and wisely.

The Best Defense ----

• Never click on links through IRC that come from someone you do not know
• Never accept files from anyone you don't know
• When downloading files off the Internet, be sure it's from a reputable site.
• Never run or even peek at files you receive through your email program from people you don't know. If you have any doubts at all, write the person back, and ask for verification that they sent you a file. Some of the more recent viruses will send mail (and file) to everyone listed in your email address book, then it deletes itself and you have no idea of what happened. Scary, huh?
• Install a Virus Detection program -- you can find a free one called Inoculate. I use it, along with another one, and while no program is foolproof 100% of the time (due to the complexity of new viruses appearing everyday), it is a good program, and something you should consider.
• Set yourself up a regular time to update the virus scans, and do it -- if we don't keep our computers up-to-date on the latest technologies, then we are leaving ourselves vulnerable. With over 200 new viruses being reported each month, tomorrow is not the time to update...but TODAY.
• One more important step is to backup your important files regularly.
  Better safe than sorry!

Keylogger prevention

Currently there is no easy way to prevent keylogging. In the future it is believed that software with secure I/O will be protected from keyloggers. Until then, however, the best strategy is to use common sense and a combination of several methods.

Phishing - Definition and Descriptions

Phishing - It's NOT what's for dinner. This PH version of one of America's favorite pass time is anything but fun or relaxing. Phishing scams have become one of the greatest threats to your online security.

Phishing is a type of scam that uses "spoofed" e-mails, popups, and fake cloned websites that are all designed to trick you into revealing your personal and confidential information. The information that is most often sought after by phishers is your banking information. Information such as your financial institutions, your banking account numbers and other information such as usernames, passwords, or PIN numbers. Your credit card numbers, social security number, drivers license, and any other form of personal identification are also sought after.

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), phishing attacks increased by 180 percent between April and May 2004, demonstrating that cyber-crooks are rapidly turning to this kind of fraud device.

Spyware - Definition and Descriptions

Spyware - Is a program that installs on your computer and monitors and tracks various aspects of your computing habits and sends this information to another person or computer on the internet. This behavior of sending information out is the opposite of "adware"'s behavior of bringing information in to you. This tracking can be as simple and harmless as what advertisements have been displayed on your computer from what sites. Notice I did not say what advertisements "YOU" have seen. The reason is that the simplest form of spyware is what is called a tracking cookie. These tracking cookies are just a type of cookie and unless you have told them who you are con not discern your identity. They are used by advertisers to help them display ads that are more relevant to what you are interested in. Personally I don't find that very harmful.

I do however find the more malicious forms of spyware extremely harmful. These include programs that actively search your machine and your habits for personally identifiable and often times confidential information. Some spyware programs called "key loggers" even track every single keystroke made on your keyboard and send this information to another person on the internet. "what is the point of that?" simple if you think about it..... you check your bank account balances online, using the keyboard you type http://www.citibank.com (or some variation with your banks address) into your address bar. The banks page loads and you then procede to enter, via the keyboard, your username and password. If your system is infected with a keylogger your banks website, your username, and your password have been logged and will be sent to another person on the internet who now has full access to any and every dime in your account.

Adware - Definition and Descriptions

Adware is software thats sole purpose on your computer is to deliver advertisements to you. Adware is a combination of the words advertising and software by taking the first two letters of ADvertising and the last four letters of softWARE to give you Adware. Adware is not necessarily a bad thing as there may be some programs that deliver coupons to you as soon as they are available and that would possibly be considered adware. Having said that though the vast majority of adware programs on the internet today install themselves without your knowledge or through hidden and shady tactics. Most of these programs will bombard you with popup windows that your standard browser popup blocker cannot stop. With enough adware programs on your computer it can actually become unusable throwing so many advertisement windows in front of your work that you cannot accomplish anything but closing them. Some of these adware programs even fall under the category of "spyware".

Hijackers - Definition and Descriptions

Hijackers - Having trouble getting connected to the sites or services you want to on the internet? Your start page been changed to some unheard of 100% advertisement laden portal page? Then you may be infected with a Hijacker. These nasty little buggers do just like the name implies. They "hijack" your computers internet connection. There are several techniques used to do this but the end result is the same. Your internet experience is what they want you to see and do and not what you want to see or do.

Probably the simplest form of hijacking and the most common as well is the start page browser hijack. Where your browsers start page is changed to something other than what you and no matter how hard or how many times you change it back to what you want... always ends up back on some advertisement page you don't want to see. Some of the more malicious and dangerous hijacks are zone file and dns hijacks. Basically what that means is they alter where your computer goes when you type in certain web sites into your browsers address bar. Think for a moment what that could mean and you will see exactly how dangerous this is.

Imagine if you will that your computer unbeknownst to you has a dns hijack. You get online to check your bank account like your normally do. Lets say you bank at Citibank. You type http://www.citibank.com into your browsers address bar as usual and you click go. As you would expect the citibank homepage loads up and you (being the security minded computerandinternetsecurityblog.com reader you are) check the address bar and yes it says you are at citibank.com. You procede to enter your username and password as you normally do and click submit. To your dismay you are redirected to an error page that informs you the citibank site is undergoing maintenance and will be down for the next day or two. Unhappy that you can't check your account but unaware anything is wrong you click the browser closed and go about your business. If your system has been dns hijacked you may have just been the victim of a combined dns hijack / phishing scam.

If you were victimized in the previous scenario what really happend was that when you entered http://www.citibank.com into the browser the dns hijack redirected you to a web server not owned by citibank. This web server had a site designed to look exactly like the citibank one so that surfers would be unaware they were personally hand delivering their banking information right into the hands of a thief. The owner of this phishing scam site can now has your bank URL, username, and password and is capable of draining every last dime and in most cases the "and then some" from your account.

This information is not intended to scare you away from the internet in general or from banking online specifically. It is intended to be eye opening information that shows you there are real dangers on the internet much greater than your basic annoying adware most of us seem to be plagued with. By using the techniques I show you in the various articles on this site you will be much safer online and also have a much more enjoyable experience.

Hoaxes - Definition and Descriptions

Hoaxes - A hoax is simply a false warning about some danger that really does not exist. They are spread primarily through "chain" emails but can also spread through web sites, instant messengers, snail mail, or by word of mouth. A hoax is not a virus or any other type of program it is simply false information. Usually these will make their way to you "through the grape vine" someone tells you that someone told them that they were told by so and so that such and such is extremely dangerous and needs to be da da da with.

Though quite a few of these hoaxes can be quite funny, it is not however, funny that they can actually do real harm. "if a hoax is nothing but information, how can it do harm?" the answer to that is easy. In trying to avoid the percieved danger the hoax may either directly or indirectly cause you to actually do harm. This may be in the form of telling you that there is a new deadly computer virus ravaging the interet that no antivirus program can detect, but that this virus always is in a file with one name. Usually these are written by some prankster just because they can and they think its funny that people actually go around deleting the file/s and forwarding this hoax message on to their friends. When in fact the file/s your told to delete are really files that Your operating system actually "NEEDS" to function and by deleting them you effectively kill your computer.

SPAM - It's annoying yes, but dangerous?
New trend in phishing scams could mean rise in identity theft cases.

SPAM, It's annoying yes, but dangerous? Here in the trenches of the computer and internet security world we are seeing a new trend. SPAM messages have been annoying from day one. Now they could mean a dramatic rise in Identity theft cases.

As an annoyance, and a gross time consumer, SPAM has always been the bane of email users. What we are seeing now though is phishing scams not designed to be copies of known banking institutions, but designed to look like ordinary SPAM messages. We've all seen a SPAM or two that "almost" sounded interesting enough to buy or for some of us "were" interesting enough to buy. But now there's more at risk than wasting time deleting the junk or buying something we don't need. New phishing scam emails are being sent out advertising a "new", "great", "must have", product or service that most users see as nothing more than harmless SPAM mail. These messages however are not actually even spamming a legitimate product. They are advertising a phishing scam website that is designed to trick surfers into divulging personal and confidential information. Some of these scam sites require you enter simply credit card information, others request that you enter more confidential and potentially damaging information such as your: mailing address, physical address, social security number, bank account number, your banks routing number, drivers license number, mothers maiden name, city of birth, even such things as favorite pets name, city of birth, or the high school you graduated from. Though those last bits of information might seem trivial but to the identity thief they can be extremely useful.

To figure out why those are useful simply think back to the last time you logged into your banks web site or spoke with one of their representatives and managed your "security" question(s). That's right, many financial institutions use "trivial" information like this that "only you" would know to verify your identity. Using just a few bits of information that most surfers are unfortunatly all too willing to produce an identity thief has access to personal, confidential, and monetary information, and worse CONTROL over these things.