A note about virus attacks

[MatrixWatch]

A few new computer worms are combing the net and latching themselves onto computers through their email accounts. Here are a couple recent articles:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/931205.asp

AND

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20030627/tc_cmp/10801073

It is likely that the virus attack I wrote about the other day could have come from this, and not one of you. Just to let the newcomers in on the rules, do not ever send a virus to anyone, especially matrix-site owners, supporters, and customers. If I ever find this out that one of the members here has done such a thing I will ban them and report them to the authorities. If you have any other questions about how we are to conduct our campaign, please read the thread, "eBay watch dogs in the dog house?"

Thanks.

[tcb1969a]

Ok....I know a few of you deny doing Virus attacks against those who advertise on eBay. Just like their was denial on the reporting of Matrix sites to PayPal until it was found out to be true and then it is admitted. But let me clarify something to you all. I for one do not appreciate the viruses. I know it was one in this group though I can not prove it. I have the latest dat files for my anti-virus program and yet was hit when I opened up an email about an auction ended early notice from ebay. Strange thing is though, I hadn't listed one in quite some time, since my auctions are always cancelled, so I stopped advertising on eBay. Yet I get this virus attack, that wiped out my hard drive. Lucky for me I backed up my computer the day before and didn't lose much but some personal emails. This happend about a week ago. I was a little agravated then and still am a little. I was going to mention it to eBay, but I have no proof since the email that delivered the virus went away since the hard drive was wiped out. Of course I have no proof, but if it is this group or individual in this group that is responsible, you will be caught eventually, and this site here will be put under jeopardy because of your actions...So think about it..........

[MatrixWatch]

I would still go ahead and report the virus info to eBay anyhow. It is likely that someone hacked a worm into eBay's database and other eBay accounts received this virus as well. The information you offer eBay may help them to narrow in on the source. Just a suggestion.

[tcb1969a]

Yes perhaps, I just have not decided to at the moment. Also please note the worm that hit ebay as well is different than the virus that hit me. In fact worms are not as destructive as viruses are, so there is a difference there. I was hit by a very bad virus. Also note this that getting any response or even informing ebay is a major task about anything unless your reporting an auction. So it is more headache than it is worth....Though I might still inform them.....

[Arzel]

tcb1969a,

I would definitely report that virus to ebay. I would be very surprized if anyone here was responsible though. It goes against the principles by which this forum was set up.

[tcb1969a]

Yes well when it comes to money, I have found people can be down right mean. Though I am sure it isn't the majority here, but I would be willing to bet that it is one member at least responsible. Just too much of a coincidence....

[Arzel]

Statistically speaking there is a non-zero chance that it is someone here, so one can not rule out that possibility. I sincerely do not think that it was, and certainly hope that I am correct.

[peterdragin]

tcb1969a I see you do a little selling on ebay, by chance has any bidder emailed you with any questions lately. With all the account highjacking and stuff going on at Ebay it might be something like that. This is the most common way they get their victims.

I know as of the last few weeks my firewall has caught many intruders trying to get into my system, and doing a trace on them it comes back to Spain almost 80% of the time. This is a haven for attackers on Ebay. I have heard of other people complaining about the same type of email that trys to get you to click on a link to update passwords and such and if you do it trashes the computer.

I know if your on a Cable/DSL line you HAVE to have a Firewall running all the time, it's just to dangerous not to have one. There are places on the net that will test your computer for open ports and see how tight your system is. There is one port on Win Xp systems that has been listed by Microsoft that has caused some concern, it's a game controler port, but that takes alittle program to shut off to stop intruders.

[tcb1969a]

No, no bidder has emailed me lately. And I do have a firewall since I have a cable modem, and I have not noticed any intrusion. When I got hit with this virus, I just clicked on the name of the email so I could read it and when it displayed it unleased the virus......Froze up the whole computer, and then wiped out the hard drive.......

[peterdragin]

I wonder if you can rember if the little paperclip sign was in the corner? if it was, as soon as you clicked on the email it set off any virus attached.

This is a very good reason to shut off the preview window in outlook express. if it is shut down this makes you click on the mail to view it but also allows you to right click on the mail and view properties of the mail before you open it.

Then you can see how big the email is, normal mail is 2 or 3 kb in size but if it is larger than that and I do not know who it's from I delete it right away. I NEVER take chances with any email!!

If you want to shut the preview window off, just open outlook and hit the View button, and layout, and turn off the preview pane.

[tcb1969a]

Actually I don't remember if the paperclip was there or not, but I was in a hurry that day, and was checking my email rapidly, so it might have been there.

I agree, I usually do not take any chances with email either. Especially from someone I do not know that has an attachment. But then again, it was from eBay, so I didn't pay it any mind. I also have received one of the recent worms from misc people here and there not associated with ebay, and I delete them right away. I assure you I am not a novice at computers nor viruses.

[hurley9192]

well, if it is something like that, then both sides are getting it. I had to change all my passwords because someone hacked my ebay account last week. Then, yesterday, I got a call from ebay that they had to change everything because someone got into my account again and was putting up auctions trying to scam people.

Pretty funny though that they changed my email address to hurley20002003@yahoo.com, which is pretty close to my username on these matrix boards.

However, my email address and ebay username is nowhere near that address, so it is assumed to be someone from these sites.

I would think that everyone probably needs to watch out.

Pete...how do you set up a firewall on a home computer with a cable modem??

[tcb1969a]

I know....Hurley.....But I'm not telling....


Just kidding.....


1. Go into your Local Area Connection Properties.
2. Go to your advance tab.
3. Then select the box that says about the firewall.

Of course I have Windows XP, and it could be slightly different on other operating systems....

[peterdragin]

You realy need a good firewall, the one that is part of Windows XP
is not powerful enough to protect your computer. It dosen't stop only 20% of the intrusions.

You need a comercial firewall program. I have both Norton firewall 2003 running and also a free firewall program called Zone Alarm running.

The same with a virus program, I have two different ones Installed and running.

Zone Alarm is a Very good firewall program and you can get it free at their website. Zone alarm pro is the retail version, Zone Alarm is the free version.Maximum PC give Zone Alarm a 9 out of 10 rating,


Once you install a good firewall program you WILL be amazed how many times it will pop up with an intruder. Most of the intruders come from, italy, china, spain, and england. I also run Neotrace pro and trace them back to where they came from, seems like when I ping them back a few times they go away.


You can get Norton on Kaza also. The 2002 version is ok and dosen't require any SN #

[tcb1969a]

Zone Alarm is good, but I wouldn't get Norton.....I have had trouble with them. They are a resource hog....

As far as Windows XP firewall they are ok if you have no money to get anything better....

[hurley9192]

thanks, I'll check those out.

It's one thing to disagree on things here, but if people are doing stuff like this, that just shows how much of a loser they are being.

I'm all for fun and discussion and a reasonable way to get your business model to function effectively so that everyone profits, but no need to ruin other people's lives over it.

[peterdragin]

It's funny that sometimes Norton will go off and Zone Alarm will not, then it works the other way around also, Zone pops up and Norton is quiet.

I get an intrusion alert EVERY DAY. One or the other pops up.

A friend of mine was over a month ago and asked about a firewall, he never ran a firewall so I gave him a copy of Zone Alarm. He just was using the built in firewall in Xp. In the first two hours he had over 25 attacks on his computer, as time went on they went down to a few a week, once they found his computer was secure.

Alot of times it's comcast probing ports to see if you might be running a FTP site from your computer, or looking for music uploads to kaza or some other file sharing program. I know now what comcasts IP addresses are so I do not trace them back to see where they came from.

[tcb1969a]

Really, I did not know that comcast did that....

Thanks for the info.......

[northstar5757]

Be very careful abotu downloading virus protection programs from kazaa. Ironically many of them are viruses.

[mikv]

I would say NEVER download a virus software from Kazaa...Their built in software can't even detect the less malicious viruses, and I would see about getting Zone Alarm Pro for those using Zone Alarm, that firewall cannot detect some of the latest viruses and they won't be getting the updates that can for quite a while. As well there is a bug in the zone alarm that allows it to "miss" certain files that are associated with viruses and that is how most hackers are getting around zone alarm.