Threats to your Internet usage - what, why, and how

[MEB]

Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
they are protected from malicious attacks.
These people apparently fail to understand the WHAT, HOW, WHY some of these
attack activities occur. Others believe that the protections offered by the
OSs somehow keeps these malicious activities from occurring.
Hackers LOVE these people, they are the "meat and potatoes" of the hacker
world.

I've posted things like "clickjacking", linked sites, SSI {server-side
includes}, embedded code, and other methods in this group, however, there
still seems to be a lack of comprehension of certain points.

Here's a link to one site which deals with some parts of the hacker world
and its effect, perhaps we should discuss more:
http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/


--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org
a Peoples' counsel
_ _
~~

 

[Dan]

Sure. Here are a few web sites that I enjoy browsing through for web threats:

http://www.doxpara.com/

http://isc.sans.org/

http://secunia.com/

http://www.us-cert.gov/

There are more but I think this would be a good start for most people. Did,
you, MEB, want to discuss any aspects in particular about keeping computers
safe and secure like the importance of reading in plain text, blocking third
party cookies, disabling services that are not used, the importance of
firewalls, etc.
Hopefully, other people will put their input and insight into this
discussion as well.

"MEB" wrote:

>
> Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
> they are protected from malicious attacks.
> These people apparently fail to understand the WHAT, HOW, WHY some of these
> attack activities occur. Others believe that the protections offered by the
> OSs somehow keeps these malicious activities from occurring.
> Hackers LOVE these people, they are the "meat and potatoes" of the hacker
> world.
>
> I've posted things like "clickjacking", linked sites, SSI {server-side
> includes}, embedded code, and other methods in this group, however, there
> still seems to be a lack of comprehension of certain points.
>
> Here's a link to one site which deals with some parts of the hacker world
> and its effect, perhaps we should discuss more:
> http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/
>
>
> --
> MEB
> http://peoplescounsel.org
> a Peoples' counsel
> _ _
> ~~
>
>
>

 

[Curt Christianson]

Interesting link Maurice--thank you. And...

<quote>
Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
they are protected from malicious attacks.
<end quote>
....I believe that is *precisely* why we *are* so vulnerable.

--
HTH,

Curt

http://dundats.mvps.org/
http://www.aumha.org/
http://dundats.mvps.org/AutoIt/default.aspx





"MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:um2Zn5GNJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
> they are protected from malicious attacks.
> These people apparently fail to understand the WHAT, HOW, WHY some of
> these
> attack activities occur. Others believe that the protections offered by
> the
> OSs somehow keeps these malicious activities from occurring.
> Hackers LOVE these people, they are the "meat and potatoes" of the hacker
> world.
>
> I've posted things like "clickjacking", linked sites, SSI {server-side
> includes}, embedded code, and other methods in this group, however, there
> still seems to be a lack of comprehension of certain points.
>
> Here's a link to one site which deals with some parts of the hacker world
> and its effect, perhaps we should discuss more:
> http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/
>
>
> --
> MEB
> http://peoplescounsel.org
> a Peoples' counsel
> _ _
> ~~
>
>

 

[MEB]

"Curt Christianson" <curtchristnsn@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uuBS7WGOJHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
| Interesting link Maurice--thank you. And...
|
| <quote>
| Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
| they are protected from malicious attacks.
| <end quote>
| ...I believe that is *precisely* why we *are* so vulnerable.
|
| --
| HTH,
|
| Curt
|
| http://dundats.mvps.org/
| http://www.aumha.org/
| http://dundats.mvps.org/AutoIt/default.aspx
|
|

Right, it only takes a few to become infected and it spreads like wildfire.
The reliance on products which give the impression of security when they may
not actually provide much protection is rampant.
Secunia just tested several suites:
http://secunia.com/gfx/Secunia_Exploit-vs-AV_test-Oct-2008.pdf
and found most did not perform as one might expect. IN FACT, there was a
*dismal* showing for protection. As usual one product had to be better than
the others, but even that product really provides little protection.
http://secunia.com/blog/29/
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2030&tag=nl.e589

Coupled with user failure to apply updates and use of other security
measures in addition, such as monitoring, firewalls, and other and this
Internet becomes a vast playground for hackers and malicious sites, while
supposed "security experts" appear to provide misleading ideas on just what
works and how to protect oneself.

The same basic techniques used years ago to infect people are still being
used, but now we have server coding, page: PHP, JAVA, PERL, and dozens of
others, that can be used to inject and invade. Root kit revealers can only
show what they know how to detect anti-virus programs can only find what
they know even if they use heuristics SpyWare detectors can or might show
something or they might not the level of infection has gone DEEP into the
flawed OS structures. And let's not forget those who think a NAT or the
lowly router is a firewall and all they need.... even CISCO hasn't figured
out how hardware can actually protect someone. One breach or hacked device
and the protection collapses.

The last *EMERGENCY* update from Microsoft for its servers {and OSs} went
mostly unnoticed by the regular users, and yet what it attempted to address
was major security issues.... yet still just a PATCH, a bandaid applied to a
gushing wound...

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org
a Peoples' counsel
_ _
~~
| "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com> wrote in message
| news:um2Zn5GNJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
| >
| > Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of
users,
| > they are protected from malicious attacks.
| > These people apparently fail to understand the WHAT, HOW, WHY some of
| > these
| > attack activities occur. Others believe that the protections offered by
| > the
| > OSs somehow keeps these malicious activities from occurring.
| > Hackers LOVE these people, they are the "meat and potatoes" of the
hacker
| > world.
| >
| > I've posted things like "clickjacking", linked sites, SSI {server-side
| > includes}, embedded code, and other methods in this group, however,
there
| > still seems to be a lack of comprehension of certain points.
| >
| > Here's a link to one site which deals with some parts of the hacker
world
| > and its effect, perhaps we should discuss more:
| > http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/
| >
| >
| > --
| > MEB
| > http://peoplescounsel.org
| > a Peoples' counsel
| > _ _
| > ~~
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Hari Hari Mau]

On Oct 23, 4:32 pm, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Sure. Here are a few web sites that I enjoy browsing through for web threats:
>
> http://www.doxpara.com/
>
> http://isc.sans.org/
>
> http://secunia.com/
>
> http://www.us-cert.gov/
>
> There are more but I think this would be a good start for most people. Did,
> you, MEB, want to discuss any aspects in particular about keeping computers
> safe and secure like the importance of reading in plain text, blocking third
> party cookies, disabling services that are not used, the importance of
> firewalls, etc.
> Hopefully, other people will put their input and insight into this
> discussion as well.
>
> "MEB" wrote:
>
> > Many users of the Internet believe that because of the billions of users,
> > they are protected from malicious attacks.
> > These people apparently fail to understand the WHAT, HOW, WHY some of these
> > attack activities occur. Others believe that the protections offered by the
> > OSs somehow keeps these malicious activities from occurring.
> > Hackers LOVE these people, they are the "meat and potatoes" of the hacker
> > world.
>
> > I've posted things like "clickjacking", linked sites, SSI {server-side
> > includes}, embedded code, and other methods in this group, however, there
> > still seems to be a lack of comprehension of certain points.
>
> > Here's a link to one site which deals with some parts of the hacker world
> > and its effect, perhaps we should discuss more:
> >http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/
>
> > --
> > MEB
> >http://peoplescounsel.org
> > a Peoples' counsel
> > _ _
> > ~~

Thank you both for the valuable pointers !

Hoping that more can contribute into this thread.

Thank you again !