Who,amp,#39,Peering,Into,Your, DIY Who's Peering Into Your Computer?

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Have any passwords, love letters, naughty picturesor sensitive business information stored on yourhard drive? It's almost embarrassingly easy for ahacker to break into a networked computer andretrieve your personal information.Does your computer have an interior microphone oran interior video recorder? If yes, thesetechnologies can be activated without your knowledge.Hackers can not only get your data files, but theycan record sound and video files of the conversationsand activities taking place in your work area.Almost everyone knows the importance of protectingtheir system against viruses. My anti-virussoftware knocks off at least 3-4 viruses everyweek. And most people with a direct Internetconnection (i.e. cable, ADSL) know the importanceof installing firewall software. My excellent(and free) Zone Alarm firewall(www.zonelabs.com/) protects me from hacks comingthrough open computer ports.But recently I learned about a third threat --the potential danger of malicious codes coming inthrough ports that I must leave open in order toaccess the Internet. Hostile ActiveX codes, Javacodes and Windows scrap objects can be buried inRich Text email, embedded in documents, hidden ingames and electronic postcards, or downloadedfrom web sites.It's a safe bet that no responsible webmaster hasknowingly placed hostile code on the site.However, many sites are vulnerable to attacksfrom hackers, and hackers have no such scruples.Imagine logging on to your favorite sports siteand unknowingly downloading hostile code thatdamages your operating system, installs softwarethat allows third parties to use your computerfor denial of service attacks, or makes yourpersonal data available to prying eyes. For fullinformation, refer to an article recently publishedon ZDNET.http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2764074,00.htmlTo discover whether your system is vulnerable,visit Finjan web site and try their three onlinetests. They'll check your system forvulnerability to hacks from malicious ActiveX,Java and Windows scrap objects. I was shocked todiscover that Finjan's code was able to hack mysystem easily and quickly. As proof, it created adesktop folder and named it You Have Been Hacked.The folder contained a sampling of Word documentsfound on my hard drive and a ten-second .wavrecording of the sounds in my workstation. Scary.This information, and more, would have beenreadily available to anyone who wanted to hackin. Needless to say, I installed Finjan's freeSurfinGuard Pro software for protection. I'drecommend any Windows users try these tests. Youmight be glad you did (http://www.finjan.com/).Interested in knowing just how much information askilled hacker could get from your machine?Check out this web site called Beyond EnemyLines: http://belps.freewebsites.comThe webmaster, Man in the Wilderness (MITW),claims to be an Internet security expert. MITW isapparently a "white hat" hacker who uses hisskills to protect his customers from attack.As the story goes, the head of a professionalspamming operation repeatedly forged MITW'sdomain for spamming purposes. (Professionalspammers typically hide their identities by usingforged domains.) Finally, in retaliation, MITWhacked the spammer's computer and published hisfindings on this web site. The details makefascinating reading.After breaking into this woman's system, ourwhite-hat hacker obtained and published screencaptures of spam software while it was using hisforged domain name to send thousands of emails.MITW also obtained copies of email messagesdiscussing various spam operations, ICQ messagelogs and much more. Similarly, he found andpublished semi-nude pictures of the woman and hercolleagues and samples of erotic writing found onthe computer.Some might say that this woman deserved whathappened to her. Perhaps she did. If thecontent on the site is true, she was involved insome particularly nasty activities. However, thereal message is just how vulnerable our computerscan be to hackers if we aren't more than a littlecareful.This woman and her cohorts were runninga professional spamming operation. You might thinkthey, of all people, would have protectedthemselves against hackers. But they did not.Perhaps, like me, they thought they wereprotected. Remember that my computer wasvulnerable in the Finjan testing, despite runningup-to-the minute virus software and a firewallthat is rated as one of the best.How about you? Could you stand up to a hackerattack? Protecting a computer is now a three-pronged fork. We need anti-virus software,firewalls and malicious code blocking software.