Cable Connections and Security
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Any kind of always-on connection (including cable modem) is inherently dangerous, just 'cause your system's always there and has a (relatively) constant IP address. I'd suggest grabbing a free or trial personal firewall and just let it run, and watch its logs to see if you're being port scanned or otherwise the target of hacks. (Note - not all port scans are bad, ISPs will often port scan their subnets looking for servers that are against their AUP [acceptable use policy].) One free product is AtGuard, now discontinued (it was assimilated into Norton Internet Security) but you can grab it here. Another popular one is ZoneAlarm. --Mike-- http://home.inreach.com/mdunn/ "Didn't I tell you? I've got a brain the size of a planet." --Marvin the paranoid android
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Hey Maureen, Like Mike said get a personal firewall. Just checked my Blackice Defeneder logs: In the last 90 hours I've had 688 what it classifies as "critical" attacks (DoS attacks, Packet Flooding, SubSeven, Netbus and BackOrifice port probes, etc.), and 187 Suspcious ones (which are less concerning). It totally blew me away how often slimey buggers are poking around in my computer, it's virtually continuous. It gets worse too. Even if you use these packages, you have to be very smart about what you allow and what you don't. For example if you decide to run Windows 2000 on your home machine and setup a little web site, you'll have to open port 80 to allow people to look at your site. We'll there are a ton of holes in IIS that you need to be very active about keeping plugged. HTH, David
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I also agree yup use a personal firewall - I personally use zonealarm as it was recommended by Steve Gibson of Shields Up fame. If you don't like what you're logs are telling you you can submit them to DShield. Which is a service that share logs and operate a name and shame policy. I have known by experience that it is hard to get an ISP to respond to hacking attempts from inside their network - My particular case was an unfortunate who was Trojan'd (SubSeven) and was being used to attack my machine. Holy Handgrenade of Antioch instructions
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Agreed, I'd say a Personal Firewall is compareable to a Virus checker for security reasons. I'd go without a virus checker before I'd go without a Personal Firewall' My vote goes to Atguard. You can also eliminate most Banner Advertising and pop up windows with it. Now that's got to be worth something. I have found IP scans and the like appear to come in waves eg you have a heavy week and then several quiet weeks. I Guess alot of it is being done by aoutomated bots etc, Also a lot of the "Hackers" seem to think they are annonymous, and get a real surprise when you make a phone call to them. (Thats another story). What I mean is most of them aren't genius's but have the tools to attack you. Regardz Colin Davies