Drive By Pharming: Symantec Free Video Shows You What Drive By Pharming is:Identity Theft Blog at Identity Theft Secrets

Identity Theft Secrets: The Site that Identity Thieves Don't want you to see

Drive By Pharming: Symantec Free Video Shows You What Drive By Pharming is

----------
Symantec passed along this coupon code for IdentityTheftSecrets
Click here to save 10% on anything through the Symantec Home & Home Office Store
----------

They also gave another coupon for saving 10% on Norton AntiBot
Click here to save 10% on Norton AntiBot
----------

There's (yet again) another threat you should really be aware of.

It's called drive-by pharming.

Symantec has put together a great video on drive-by pharming, which I've posted below, so you don't really need me to explain to you how drive-by pharming works.

But, what you might want to know is how to protect yourself from this new type of drive-by.

The simplest thing you can do to protect yourself is change the default password on your home wireless router. A quick Google search yielded the following pages for changing this password on three of the more popular home wireless routers:

D-Link

Linksys

NETGEAR

If you aren't using one of these routers, just do a Google search for how to change the password on your router at home.

Also, just do the stuff we generally talk to you about here at IdentityTheftSecrets. Basically, work only with Web sites that you know to be at least reasonably trustworthy. (And definitely only click links in emails from people you know, and even then, stay away from any link that looks sort of funny... You may or may not end up installing something simply by clicking on a link. In many cases, as in the case of drive-by pharming, that is all it takes for this attack to do its damage.)

Watch Symantec's video below.

This is Symantec's video (free download) about Drive-by Pharming. If you can't see it, it's because your browser doesn't allow frames.

----------
Symantec passed along this coupon code for IdentityTheftSecrets
Click here to save 10% on anything through the Symantec Home & Home Office Store
----------

They also gave another coupon for saving 10% on Norton AntiBot
Click here to save 10% on Norton AntiBot
----------

Posted by Jonathan on January 27, 2008 12:59 AM | Permalink
Digg It! | [ Add to Onlywire]

Comments on Drive By Pharming: Symantec Free Video Shows You What Drive By Pharming is

I started this discussion to speak about public usable web proxies:

Which are really anonymous?

Which can be used with facebook, myspace etc, in other words: are fresh ?

Which can you recommend?

Thanks for your help,
Dschibut

P.S.: In my country, the freedom of speech is somehow limited, please give me a hint, if you have doubts about your recommendation.

Posted by: dschibut | September 29, 2008 07:43 PM
---------

Greets buddys, I've tested many online antivirus scanners. Some are really bad, but some are fast. Here is the score table.
1. Removed for spam
2. Avast Online Scanner
3. BitDefender Online Scanner
4. NOD32 Online Scanner
5. Kaspersky Online Scanner

IMHO: Better not to use internet ))))))))

Posted by: Herbe | September 30, 2008 07:40 AM
---------

Hello

This post opens set of articles devoted to computer security.

At first, I would like to give some basic definitions for variety of modern computer threats. All these threats are currently known as Malware.

Malware ("malicious software") is any program or file that is harmful to a computer or computer user. This would include, computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, keyloggers, web-page hijackers, driveby downloads, and any programming that gathers info about a computer user without their expressed permission.

7 years ago, the most security threats that most people came across were Viruses.

This is no longer the case!

There are new threats out; and they take no prisoners, no longer is an anti-virus application sufficient to stop the invaders, the web is a complex place and the technology is getting so advanced that you need to act now to protect your machine and your private\personal data.

A quick overview of some of the more common malware that you might find, sorted by level of threat:

SPYWARE

Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering info about a person or organisation without their knowledge. On the Internet (where it is sometimes called a spybot or tracking software), spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather info about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties.

TROJAN

Trojans are malicious programs often used by hackers to attack target computers, usually to provide a backdoor into the system but sometimes just to cause destruction. Remote Access Trojans (RATs) are the most famous class of trojans and they usually come in two parts - a server that is sent to infect the victim, and a client that the hacker uses to connect to the server after the victim is infected. There are many ways that hackers can use to infect a target with a trojan, and careful security measures aren't always enough - a strong anti-trojan program can easily detect tens of thousands of trojans that would otherwise be near-impossible for a human to find.

VIRUS

A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All computer viruses are manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and crash the system. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.

WORMS

Worms are in a similar category to viruses. Usually spread by email and containing their own email engine, they attempt to spread themselves to all the people in your address books, impacting greatly on network traffic on the web. Sometimes you will find viruses also contain Worm code so the virus is able to mail multiple people using its email engine, whilst infecting the machine with a specific virus, making the sender of the virus hard to find as it looks like it has come from someone you know.

KEYLOGGERS

A keylogger is a program that has been dropped onto a PC that actively monitors all your keystrokes and mouse clicks to try to capture both personal data, passwords, and browser habits, it will also capture any data entered on any web site including secure sites like online bank sites. This data is then stored in an encrypted text file either on the machine or sent to a pre-defined server for the sender of the keylogger to access at his discretion.

ADWARE

Adware is any software application in which advertising banners are displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen. The justification for adware is that it helps recover programming development cost and helps to hold down the cost for the user.

HIJACKERS

A hijacker is a expression used to explain a registry entry on your machine that has been placed there to re-direct your browser to another site, usually ad-purposed. These are not normally harmful for the machine, other that the fact that it will stop you from getting to the web site you wish to visit. It is more of a frustration than a security risk; however, some Hijackers will attempt to redirect you from Hijack deleting sites.

Hope you like this article. Next time I will write about tools used to prevent of/remove particular threat types listed here.

Cheers,
Carl