[PC Basics] Where You'll Get Hacked: Common Mistakes, and How to Prevent It [INFOGRAPHIC]

Where You'll Get Hacked: Common Mistakes, and How to Prevent It

[Devesh Prabhu is an avid blogger and has been blogging posts and rants on many subjects through his various blogs. He has been associated with the blogosphere for the past 8/9 years and inadvertently left the blogging scene albeit to concentrate on his personal life, but his desire to be among his readers brought him back.]

[NOTE: The article "[PC Basics] Where You'll Get Hacked: Common Mistakes, and How to Prevent It [INFOGRAPHIC]" first appeared on the Komputer Knowledge Blog.

[DISCLAIMER: All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.]

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[PC Basics] Avoiding Viruses the Smart Way: Disabling Autorun Feature

Through the course of this article, I will help you avoid viruses by disabling a system feature that has its roots from the time PCs became mainstream.

An autorun.inf file is a text file that can be used by AutoRun and AutoPlay components of Microsoft Windows OS. For the file to be discovered and used by these components, it must be located in the root directory of a volume.

The AutoRun component was introduced in Windows 95 as a way of reducing support costs. AutoRun enabled application CD-ROMs to automatically launch a program which could then guide the user through the installation process.

By placing settings in an autorun.inf file, manufacturers could decide what actions were taken when their CD-ROM was inserted.

The simplest autorun.inf files have just two settings: one specifying an icon to represent the CD in Windows Explorer (or "My Computer") and one specifying which application to run.

A simple example:

[autorun]
open=setup.exe
icon=setup.exe,0
label=My install CD

- Via Wikipedia

VIRUSES & MALWARE

Autorun.inf can be exploited to allow malicious programs to run automatically without the user knowing.

If you have been infected with the autorun.inf virus, each time you insert the removable media and double-click your drive to open it, the virus file begins executing and infects your computer, which spreads itself on to the computer by making multiple copies of the autorun.inf and .exe files on every drive of your computer.

When your computer is infected, viruses might connect to malicious websites and install key loggers on your PC. Key logger steal your private information like usernames, account numbers, social security, passwords, credit card information, as well as other sensitive information.

It is very important that you remove the virus from the computer to avoid further spread.


AVOIDING VIRUSES & SAFETY

In this modern day and age, very few people have any use of this feature and it is best to disable this so as to avoid being infected with a virus that can propagate itself each time the removable media is inserted.

A very useful tool to remove or to nip it in its bud is to disable this feature altogether and not have Autorun run itself when removable media such as DVDs, USB drives, CDs, or Memory Sticks are inserted in the first place.

The easiest way to disable Autorun in just a few minutes and which will potentially save you from getting infected with a virus that takes time (or money) to clean is by downloading the utility “Disable Autorun.”

Click on the link and download and install the tool. Once it's installed, right click the shortcut on the desktop and click Run as Administrator.

Choose from the following options:

Disables AutoRun on drives of unknown type
Disables AutoRun on removable drives
Disables AutoRun on fixed drives
Disables AutoRun on network drives
Disables AutoRun on CD-ROM drives
Disables AutoRun on RAM disks
Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives

I would recommend that you select all available options and, if you’re not sure of which options to pick, check the option "Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives."

Click the Apply button and restart your computer to save and apply the changes. Repeat on other computers around you home or send to a friend to do the same.

[Note: this program must be run with administrator privileges, or you can right click the program and click "Run As Administrator" to run this program.]

[Devesh Prabhu is an avid blogger and has been blogging posts and rants on many subjects through his various blogs. He has been associated with the blogosphere for the past 8/9 years and inadvertently left the blogging scene albeit to concentrate on his personal life, but his desire to be among his readers brought him back.]

[NOTE: The article "[PC Basics] Avoiding Viruses the Smart Way: Disabling Autorun Feature" first appeared on the Komputer Knowledge Blog.

[DISCLAIMER: All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.]

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MS Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.9

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows XP, Windows 2000,Windows Vista,Windows Server 2003, & Windows Server 2008 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software including Blaster, Sasser, & Mydoom & helps remove any infection found.

When the detection & removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected & removed.

Link: Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.9

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10 Fixes for the Worst PC Security Nightmares (Repost)

In the world of comic books, every bad guy is an evil genius. On the Web, hackers, spammers, and phishers may be evil, but they're not required to be geniuses. They can make a healthy living just by exploiting known security holes that many users haven't bothered to patch. Or by relying on the propensity of millions of people to do things they've been told over and over not to do.

The silver lining is that you don't have to be a genius to avoid these common attacks either. Implement a few simple fixes, and you'll avoid most of the bad stuff out there.

Fix 1: Patch Over the Software Bull's-Eye

Have you turned off automatic updates for Windows and other programs on the rationale that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Then consider this: Your programs may be very, very broken, and you don't know it. The days of big splashy viruses that announce themselves to PC users are over. The modern cybercriminal prefers to invisibly take control of your PC, and unpatched software gives them the perfect opportunity to do so.

Today, a hijacked Web page--modern digital crooks' attack of choice--will launch a bevy of probes against your PC in search of just one unpatched vulnerability that a probe can exploit. If it finds one, better hope your antivirus program catches the ensuing attack. Otherwise you likely won't even notice anything amiss as it infects your system.

Luckily, you can completely block the majority of Web-based exploits by keeping all your programs--not just the operating system or your browsers--up-to-date. Attack sites ferret out holes in seemingly innocuous applications such as QuickTime and WinZip as well as in Windows and Internet Explorer. So turn on automatic update features for any software that offers the service--it's your quickest and easiest option for getting patches.

Fix 2: Find the Other Holes

If every program used easy automatic updates--and we were all smart enough to use them--the thriving malware business would take a serious hit. Until then, a free and easy security app from Secunia can help save the day.

The Secunia Personal Software Inspector, available as a free download, scans your installed software to let you know which out-of-date programs might be making your PC unsafe. But it doesn't stop there--for each old program it finds, it offers quick and easy action buttons such as one labeled Download Solution, which retrieves the latest software patch without you even having to open a browser.

The program also gives you links to the software vendor's site as well as Secunia's full report about the vulnerability on your system. You can choose to block future warnings about a particular program (but you should, of course, be careful before doing so).

Secunia PSI isn't perfect, and doesn't always make it easy to update unsafe program components. But for most apps it provides a quick--and very important--fix.

Fix 3: Let the Latest Browsers Fight for You

The most insidious hijacked Web pages are nearly impossible to spot. Tiny snippets of inserted code that don't display on the page can nevertheless launch devastating behind-the-scenes attacks.

Trying to avoid such pages on your own is asking for trouble, especially since crooks like to hack popular sites--attacks against sites for Sony games and the Miami Dolphins are just two well-known examples. But new site-blocking features in the just-released Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5 browsers provide some shielding.

Both browsers expand on the previous version's antiphishing features to block known malware sites as well, whether they're hijacked pages on legitimate sites or sites that were specifically created by bad guys. Neither browser completely eliminates the risk of landing on such pages, but every additional layer of protection helps.

Microsoft plans to add a similar feature to Internet Explorer 8, but this version won't be ready for prime time for a good while. For more on the browsers' improved security, see "New Browsers Fight the Malware Scourge."

Fix 4: Sidestep Social Engineering

The most dangerous crooks use clever marketing to get you to do their dirty work for them and infect your own PC. Lots of social engineering attacks are laughably crude, with misspelled words and clumsy grammar, but that doesn't mean you should dismiss the danger. Every now and then, a well-crafted attack can slip past your defenses and lure you into opening a poisonous e-mail attachment or downloaded file. A targeted attack might even use your correct name and business title.

To fight back, turn to a simple but powerful tool:Â VirusTotal.com. You can easily upload any file (up to 10MB) to the site and have it scanned by a whopping 35 different antivirus engines, including ones from Kaspersky, McAfee, and Symantec. A report tells you what each engine thought about your file. While some (such as Prevx) are prone to false alerts, if you get multiple specific warnings that include the name of the particular threat, then you almost certainly want to delete the file.

A lack of warnings doesn't guarantee a file is safe, but it does give you pretty good odds. Use VirusTotal to check every e-mail attachment and download you're not 100 percent sure about, and you'll avoid insidious social engineering.

If using VirusTotal starts to become a habit (not a bad idea) and you want to make sending files for scanning to VirusTotal really easy, download the free VirusTotal Uploader. Once you've installed the utility, just right-click a file, and you'll see an option (under Send To) to upload it to the VirusTotal site.

Fix 5: Get the Jump on Fast-Moving Malware

Traditional, signature-based antivirus software is getting snowed under by a blizzard of malware. Attackers try to evade detection by churning out more variants than security labs can analyze. So besides signatures, any antivirus program worth its salt today uses proactive detection that doesn't require a full signature to spot sneaky malware.

One promising approach uses behavioral analysis to identify malicious software based solely on how it acts on your PC. But your antivirus software by itself may not be enough. ThreatFire, a popular free download from PC Tools, adds such a layer of behavior-based protection. In recent tests, it correctly identified 90 percent of malware based on its behavior alone.

PC World's ThreatFire review provides a thorough analysis of the program and a quick download link (as well as a warning about installing too many security programs on one PC). And for more on behavioral analysis and proactive virus detection, see "When a Signature Isn't Enough."

Note: If you use the AVG Free antivirus program, hold off on trying ThreatFire until PC Tools releases a new version. The current 3.5 version conflicts with AVG, but PC Tools says it's working on a fix.

Fix 6: Rescue Your Inbox From Spam

Spam filters are getting better, but some junk still makes it through even the best of them. Instead of resigning yourself to hitting delete for all those hot-stock and Viagra come-ons, try disposable e-mail addresses.

Such an address is something you create every time you encounter an online shopping site, forum, or other service that requires you to enter an e-mail address. If that address gets flooded with spam, you can terminate it. That's a better system than the alternative, creating a free Web mail account that you use only for purchases and Web signups. With a single separate account, you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater and cancel the whole account if it gets too much spam.

Yahoo Web mail users can opt for the $20-a-year Plus service, which includes the AddressGuard disposable e-mail service (among other benefits). With it, you can click a bookmark to create a new, disposable address for any given site in about 10 seconds.

Gmail users can simply append "+ whatever" to their regular e-mail address before handing it out, but if that address starts to receive spam you can't simply turn it off. You'll have to create a filter in Gmail to block all mail to that address.

For everyone else, we suggest a good, free service from Spamgourmet.com that's quick and easy to set up and use; it allows you to create disposable addresses on-the-fly that will forward e-mail messages to your regular address.

Fix 7: Develop an Antiphishing Habit

The dastardly practice of phishing for personal information is still alive and well, and many fake sites can be hard to distinguish from the real ones. But a few simple practices can ensure you'll never be snagged by a phishing hook.

The best approach, and the most straightforward, is never to click a link in any e-mail message to access your financial accounts. Instead, always type the URL or use a bookmark. That one habit will protect you from almost every phishing attack.

If you can't make that change, then at least use the latest version of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera to browse the Web. All have built-in features to block known phishing sites (and, as described in Fix 3, Opera and Firefox now also block known malware sites). Avoid Safari, which lacks any built-in antiphishing protection.

Finally, keep an eye out for the common phishing tactic of using URLs like "http://adwords.google.com.d0l9i.cn/select/Login." If you glance at the URL (an actual recent example listed by Phishtank.com), you might think the site's domain was google.com. In fact, it's heading to d0l9i.cn, a site in China where operators are standing by to swipe your personal details.

Internet Explorer 8 will use an innovative feature called Domain Highlighting that will make spotting such trickery easy. But until it becomes available, watch URLs carefully.

Fix 8: Keep Your Own Site Safe

It's not a good time to run a Web site. The Web may look like a digital wonderland, but behind the scenes it's a war zone. And the guns are trained on your site.

Crooks use automated tools to search sites for the most common vulnerabilities. If they find one, they blow the hole wide open to plant harmful code that will attack your loyal visitors.

To help keep your site safe, start with some quick, free scans that ferret out the most obvious problems. First, fill out a form at Qualys.com to request a free scan of one IP address.

Next, download the also-free Scrawlr tool from HP. After a quick install, use Scrawlr to scan your site for SQL injection vulnerabilities (a type of hole targeted in a recent Sony site hack).

A clean bill of health from both scans won't guarantee that your site is safe. For instance, neither will find problems with custom JavaScript code, another common type of attack. And while requesting or running either scan is easy, fixing a reported hole might involve a fair bit of work. But that job will still take far less work than repairing your site and your reputation after your site has been hijacked.

Fix 9: Make Your Passwords Secure - And Easy to Remember

Online passwords are starting to seem about as safe as tissue paper protecting a bank vault. The supply of stolen logins is now so huge that crooks can hardly make any money selling them unless they add other ripped-off data, like addresses or Social Security numbers, according to security researchers. And thieves don't stop with stealing logins to financial accounts--the bad guys regularly pilfer access information for Web mail accounts as well. In one recent case, a scammer broke into Web mail accounts and sent messages to the victim's friends asking for money.

Experts say we should use strong, unique passwords for all our accounts. But they don't tell us how we're supposed to remember them, so most of us end up using the same, not-so-safe password at all our accounts.

Here's an easy fix that allows you to remember just one password, yet still have a strong, unique password for each site you use. The Password Hash (or PwdHash) add-on for Firefox and IE takes that simple password you type and runs it through an algorithm that uses the site's domain name as part of the calculation. The utility subs in the resulting strong password before you send it to the site. All you have to do (after installing Password Hash) is hit the F2 key in a password box before you type.

Fix 10: Get Extra Cleaning Help for Stubborn Infections

Sometimes even the best antivirus program misses an infection. And once a virus or Trojan horse gets in, removing it can be incredibly tough. If you suspect some nasty got past your defenses, then it's time to bring in extra help.

Many antivirus makers offer free and easy online scans through your Web browser. The scan will take time, as the scanning service will need to download large Java or ActiveX components before it can get started, but they're easy to kick off. You can run them in addition to your already-installed antivirus application for a second (or third, or fourth) opinion. Here's the lowdown on your options.

- Trend Micro HouseCall: Will detect and remove malware; works with both IE and Firefox.

- BitDefender Online Scanner: Detects and removes malware; requires IE.

- Kaspersky Online Scanner: Detects malware, but doesn't remove it; works with IE and Firefox.

- F-Secure Online Virus Scanner: Detects and removes malware; requires IE.

- ESET Online Scanner: Detects and removes malware; requires IE.

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