criminal identity theft ring - spyware story

[ibmuser]

rather interesting story from arstechnica:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050805-5175.html

Edited by Moderator: Moved to Off-Topic from Windows OS.

[pphilipko]

My hands are already shaking.

[dummkopf]

There have been predictions things like this will happen. Security experts are very concerned about increasing involvement of hitech hackers in writing malware. What once was a playland for irresponsible students is becoming dead serious business. Thanks, ibmuser. This is the passing bell for last networked Windows in my household (in my wife's PC).

[carbon_unit]

That makes my Linux give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

[Toe]

I HATE SPYWARE!!!!!

(of course, as an IT guy...I clean it off of other peoples' computers more than my own)

-Toe

[dummkopf]

I HATE SPYWARE!!!!!

Very same here. And sometimes I've got the feeling those people who say: "You think your Windows is clean? Think again" may be right after all...

[leoblob]

What once was a playland for irresponsible students is becoming dead serious business.

This is what makes this situation so incredibly dangerous! I guess I'm naïve if I think that my software firewall and my anti-spyware programs will have any effect on this...???

[dummkopf]

I could write a few pages on subject. Smarter men than me could write books. But who reads them? Usually people who need it most never do. For instance, how many Windows (home) users out there are using a restricted account for everyday computing? Tell them they should do it. Configure their PC's with separate administrator account. A couple of months/weeks/days later you are going to find some smart alec is given admin rights to all users. Period.
Initiative has to come from Redmond, it's their duty not to let incompetent users make their system vulnerable. But Redmond is interested in profits, and harder-to-use Windows would frighten away customers.

[dummkopf]

This is what makes this situation so incredibly dangerous! I guess I'm naïve if I think that my software firewall and my anti-spyware programs will have any effect on this...???

Sorry, I wanted to answer this question but something distracted me and I got carried away. I think this question is best answered by
Mr. Freund, the CEO of Zone Labs:
And the problem is, even if just a couple of guys who do it as a proof-of-concept, that spreads to the guys who might have much, much different kinds of motivation. Frankly, if you have a piece of malicious code running in the kernel, you've already lost the battle. Once in the kernel, there's no security model any more. If it's running as a device driver in the core of the operating system, at least in theory, it might become almost impossible to remove those unless you resort to [methods] beyond the reach of most users.

[jdhurst]

The newest paid version of Ad-Aware and the newest version (3.0.1) of Symantec Client Security catches just about everything. I don't see anything running that should not be. Somewhere else I noted, and it applies in spades here: Don't do silly things and don't go to bad places on the internet. Honestly if you don't know precisely and exactly what you are doing, don't even download anything from the internet - silly thing to do. ... JD Hurst

[ibmuser]

The newest paid version of Ad-Aware and the newest version (3.0.1) of Symantec Client Security catches just about everything. I don't see anything running that should not be. Somewhere else I noted, and it applies in spades here: Don't do silly things and don't go to bad places on the internet. Honestly if you don't know precisely and exactly what you are doing, don't even download anything from the internet - silly thing to do. ... JD Hurst

RIght you are JD. Still, for those that want to be double sure, CWShredder might be worth running:

http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cw ... nload.html

[dummkopf]

Uh. This is a long row of don't-s.
Don't:
use MS Java,
surf with IE,
receive mails with OE,
go to malicious web sites,
download unknown crap,
accept suspicious sertificates,
execute funny programs,
don't...
Gentlemen, do you consider this normal life? Is this your vision of taking advantage on newest technologies of 21st century?
Then you pay $$$ for spyware and virus blockers and think you are safe. All these measures can take care of something known. Anything new comes thru these filters until they are discovered and added to those evergrowing databases. BTW, MS does not trust it's users and Windows has built-in feature to hide running processes even from administrator.
Come down to earth and you'll see with these security measures you are always a step behind.

[jdhurst]

Uh. This is a long row of don't-s.
Don't:
use MS Java,
surf with IE,
receive mails with OE,
go to malicious web sites,
download unknown crap,
accept suspicious sertificates,
execute funny programs,
don't...
Gentlemen, do you consider this normal life? Is this your vision of taking advantage on newest technologies of 21st century?
Then you pay $$$ for spyware and virus blockers and think you are safe. All these measures can take care of something known. Anything new comes thru these filters until they are discovered and added to those evergrowing databases. BTW, MS does not trust it's users and Windows has built-in feature to hide running processes even from administrator.
Come down to earth and you'll see with these security measures you are always a step behind.

I use SUN Java, I use Internet Explorer, I use Outlook 2003, I don't go to malicious web site, download crap, accept suspicious things or whatever. I use SpamAssassin to nuke well over 99 percent of mail threats, and the Mail Call to scan for the little remaining and delete before using a Mail program. I pay $ (not $$$) for protection - it is cheap and worth the effort. There are other tools to look at Windows besides Windows tools.

Common sense is more important than suggesting we have already been compromised when (at least in my case) I know I haven't been. Your points are noted, but one can still be safe if one tries. ... JD Hurst

[dummkopf]

From today's news

The firm [MS] has promised that Vista will take what for Microsoft is a completely new approach to computing, with security not an add-on but an integral part of the operating system.

I was aware they plan to use *NIX permissions system on Vista, now it seems they may have copied *NIX security model too. Good luck, Microsoft.