Spybot Search & Destroy

Spybot Search & Destroy

One of my favorite computer security tools is Spybot Search & Destroy. As its name suggests, Spybot S & D searches your computer to detect spyware and malware, as well as proactively immunizes your system from spyware and malware attacks.

Spyware often infects computers when users open suspicious attachments or click links received in emails or on spyware inhabited websites.

Spyware can hide itself deep in the Windows registry, and can be very difficult to detect. Spyware "spies" on computer activity, such as what websites users visit and how often users visit them, often transmitting captured information to third-parties. Some spyware use what is called a "keystroke logger" to record the keystrokes a user makes in order to capture user passwords, which can be pretty scary if you bank online or make online purchases where you enter credit card or financial information.

Spyware can also use available memory or bandwidth without your knowledge, effectively making your computer a "zombie", and when used in concert with thousands of other infected computers, is part of a "DDoS"(Distributed Denial of Service) attack on web servers or large servers in a malicious attempt to bring a website or server down.

Spybot Search & Destroy features the "Search & Destroy" Tool, which runs a "bot-check" that scans suspicious entries on the system. Suspicious entries are then displayed and the user is presented with the option to fix or ignore the suspicious entries. There may be times an entry doesn't need to be fixed. Many times anti-virus programs show up on security scanners, because of their close involvement with the registry.

Spybot S&D also offers an "immunization" tool that detects weak points in browsers installed on a computer and proactively provides protection from possible attacks.

There is also the Spybot S&D "tea timer", which keeps an eye on the registry and notifies users by a system tray balloon when any registry changes are made. Any registry changes brought to your attention when you have not installed or uninstalled a program can be spyware or malware activity.

Spybot S&D provides updates weekly, and you should check for updates and immunize your system at least that often.

You can download Spybot Search & Destroy at www.safer-networking.org.

However, no matter how many anti-virus or anti-malware programs you run, your best protection is your behavior online. Never click links or open attachments in emails or allow websites to install add-ons that you don't absolutely trust.

A good practice is to reformat your hard drive once per year, as this will clean any malware off your system as well as clean off accumulated junk in your registry that accumulates after installing and uninstalling programs, and will return your operating system to its "out of the box" condition.

Always back up important data before making major changes to your hard drive.

--kb

Secunia PSI

Security conscious computer enthusiasts usually always download and install updates to their operating systems as soon as they're released to fix security vulnerabilities and keep OS programs running smoothly. For example, if you're a Windows user, Windows update will provide you with updates for Windows, Microsoft Office & other MS programs, Internet Explorer, and hardware driver updates. But what about that version of Adobe Reader or Flash Player that hasn't been updated since you've installed it? Some of the most efficient security hacks have been exploited through unpatched versions of Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and Quicktime Player.

With third-party programs the burden is usually on the user to check for, download, and install updates not necessarily tied to the operating system. I currently have 32 programs installed on my PC. Manually checking for updates daily for 32 programs would be very time consuming, not to mention boring, which leads most people to ignore them, making them more and more vulnerable to viruses and exploits.

I discovered a program called Secunia PSI(Personal Software Inspector), that can do all this for you. It also uses so little memory you won't notice it's running in the background.

Secunia PSI by default runs on system startup after installation and automatically scans the versions of all programs installed on your computer. When the scan is complete Secunia will let you know what programs are insecure on your computer, and provide one click links to download and install patches for insecure programs.

Secunia PSI also provides a simple and advanced version. The simple interface provides one-click solutions for insecure programs, while the advanced version provides version numbers, program and insecure file locations, notification for end-of-life software, and hard drive paths for easy removal of insecure .exe files.

If you brave the advanced setting, be cautious when deleting .exe files. Removing these files can cause some programs to run incorrectly or not at all.

You can download Secunia PSI for free at http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Marcus Yallow is a 17-year-old at Cesar Chavez High School in San Francisco. But he's not a typical senior. He's a hacker known as M1k3y. He's not a criminal, just someone who loves solving puzzles...especially puzzles like unbreachable security systems.

Then Marcus's life changes. Terrorists bomb San Francisco and Marcus and his closest friends are among those taken in for questioning by the Department of Homeland Security. They break him down for no other reason than they can. Then they let him go home. Home to a San Francisco that's been turned into a police state in the name of national security. A place where DHS is watching everything and everyone and civil liberties are a thing of the past. The injustice of it all turns mild-mannered Marcus into M1k3y, a hacker with a mission to bring down DHS.

This was an amazing and exciting thriller. Though full of techno talk regarding hacking and the way computers work, it was still extremely readable for those, like me, who can barely manage Windows Vista. I suppose it would be classified as science fiction, but it felt very plausible. Working on the premise that the United States government is fighting terrorists by restricting the lives of all it's citizens, it reads like a warning. Marcus/M1k3y is a brilliant hero and underdog. Hopefully there are thousands like him watching our backs.

Icecore by Matt Whyman

17-year-old Carl Hobbes has just pulled off the impossible: He's hacked into Fort Knox and opened the vault doors from his home computer. Unfortunately, the government has tracked him down. They make him a deal: if he tells them how he did it, and swears to secrecy, he'll get off the hook. Otherwise, he's looking at a public trial and a very, very long prison sentence. Carl agrees to tell the United States government everything. For his debriefing, they fly him to an undisclosed, sub-zero facility known as the Guantanmo of the North. The freezing barren wasteland doesn't bode well, and Carl gets even more nervous when he's manhandled into a cage alongside some of the world's worst terrorists. Carl tries to keep calm, knowing that he's only there till he can be debriefed. By the end of the weekend he'll be back home and it will all over. That is, if he lives that long.

Despite the author's efforts, it's hard to feel much sympathy for Carl, despite his youth and relative innocence. The majority of the time he's either being arrogant, too naive, or downright whiney. It's only toward the middle of the book that the real story begins to come out - explaining the disdain the guards feel toward Carl and the reason he's been flown to the Arctic Circle containment camp. At that point, both Carl and the plot start to get more interesting. And once it gets going...it REALLY gets going. Gunfights, explosions, mercenary plots and double identites keep the adrenaline rushing till the fiery, freezing finale!