Hello there this is my 4th update and today I am going to tell you about Spyware and what I have read and learned about it
SPYWARE
Spyware can be installed without even the user knowing anything about it. It can collect information from your computer such as banking details and send it on to other places with you not even being aware that it has done this. Spyware can hijack a computer and add additional software, and can take you off to other pages that you never even requested. Many computers are infected with spyware and users are unaware of it. You can be tricked into going to certain websites and while you are there the spyware is downloading and installing software on to your computer. The name for this is called Drive by download very cunning in deed.
There are ways that you can protect your computer from these things happening to it such as ensuring that your software is up to date and making security settings high enough to detect unauthoried downloads, Spyware can cause so many things to go wrong with your computer increase disk activity, network traffic and make your computer crash. But the worst thing that it can do is to make you wipe the whole of the hard disk and rid the machine of the spyware all together.
Here are a few things that I have read about which should help you to detect if you have spyware is on your computer and how to try to prevent it from happening.
Detection
New toolbars appearing, your computer going very slow when trying to save files, and the computer taking you off to other website that you haven't requested it to do so.
Prevention
Install a firewall, we have these on our computers at work in the learning centre which helps stop users from accessing your computer.,watch out for offers for you to sign up for anit spyware software, don't click on any pop up windows.
Spyware and the law
Computer misuse act 1990, and Data protection Act 1998 authors of spyware can break the law as the information that they use and get is breaking the data protection act and this is illegal.
End User Licence agreement
You need to watch out for this as spyware can get around this data protection by asking the user to accept the EULA and by accepting this you are opening yourselve right up, so watch out for the small print.
Anti Spyware
There are many companys out there that offer anit spyware software and this is who some of them are and how it works.
McAfee and Symantec are two anti spyware firms
Users can make there computers schedule daily and monthly scan to look and remove any spyware on there computer, and like the anit virus software it can prevent spyware from entering your system and being installed. There are also Fake anti spyware programs out there as well surprize surprize, so you have to watch out for this as well, makes you what to go back to paper and pen when you realise the amount of threats you can get on your computer it is scary stuff. What you have to watch out for is adverts coming up on your computer saying that it has been infexted and that you can fix it by downloading certain anit spyware software, and by doing that you maybe fecting your computer more So be on your guard.
I am going to finish here today and log back on tomorrow and finish off this part about spyware
I am finding it very interesting and also that the book let's you know when to stop and write up you blog/ log book. Bye for now.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Monday, 19 January 2009
June's 3rd Update 19/1/09
Hi there, well I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year. Well now that all the holidays have past it's time to get back to business. This is my third update and I have loads to tell you on what I have been reading up on. First of all I have read the whole of chapter one of the book and tested myself on the quiz at the end of it and I was so chuffed with myself that I got 9 out of 10 which I thought was great. Anyway let me tell you what I have learned.
First of all I started with the Viruses
When buying a computer and setting it up at home people are unaware that as soon as you connect it to the Internet you are already vulnerable to attack of malicious software attaching it's self to your computer, they can contain bugs that can cause your computer to crash, go very slow.
Computer viruses have two features they can execute themselves which means they attach themselves to executable files such as an application or utility program and they must replicate or copy which is often done by replacing programs with copies infected with viruses.
Some viruses can go straight for the servers and this can become a complete nightmare as it can slow down the whole system and you are unable to use it as it crashes or goes so slow which is impossible to use. The name used for this attack is call DoS which is Denial of service. Another virus which I found to be very interesting was the multipartite virus, this one has a double sting in the tail, it infects both the boot sector and the files and has the nerve to leave an image to say that it called. There are other examples for this virus but I liked this one Tequila as it left a calling card, bad enough that you have the virus.
These viruses are very cunning, the Stealth viruses tries to hide it's self from anti virus software and the Memory-resident lurks in the memory waiting to infect other programs, they are like the shark in Jaws waiting to grab it's victim from the sea.
Trojans and Worms
Trojans are started by a user and they do not replicate, They can attach themselves to emails and that is why it is very important that you should be very careful when opening email attachments or down loading stuff from the internet. If this occurs the virus can cause loss or theft of data that is stored on you computer.
Worms can replicate themselves and don't need a user, worms can hide themselves in files and can travel from computer to computer . They can hide in files such as Mircosoft word and Excel, and by inserting a floppy disk, memory pen or just by running a program. They can take control over your computer. mass mailing sends emails to your whole address book.
Image Viruses
Image viruses this was one that I again found very scary as only just learning about this is was hard to understand that you can get a virus attached to an image which has been send to your computer and it can be hidding in the image. We at home take a great deal of digital photos and send them by email to the USA and you just don't realise that they can attach themselves to a photo or a clip that you have taken fromn the internet.
Screensavers
Again was not aware that you could get a virus on a screen saver, but after reading about it coming in an image and also with the Trojan attaching it to an email it is all becoming clear to me and I am learning so much from this course already which is great.
Anti Virus Software
I had heard of anti virus software before as we have it on the computer at home, which was the Norton software and McAfee. It was good to sit down and read through what they did in depth as you just see it as your computer starts up, but not really aware of the back ground of what it actually does such as: worm protection, removes spyware, blocks spyware and worms automatically, prevents virus infectied emails from spreading. These are just a few of the things that an anit virus package can do for your computer there are many packages that you can choose from. BT, Virgin, etc
I will finish off here tonight and I will log back on tomorrow with my next blog which will be all about Spyware. I hope that I am filling this in the correct way and that you are able to understand what I am trying to get across. bye for now
First of all I started with the Viruses
When buying a computer and setting it up at home people are unaware that as soon as you connect it to the Internet you are already vulnerable to attack of malicious software attaching it's self to your computer, they can contain bugs that can cause your computer to crash, go very slow.
Computer viruses have two features they can execute themselves which means they attach themselves to executable files such as an application or utility program and they must replicate or copy which is often done by replacing programs with copies infected with viruses.
Some viruses can go straight for the servers and this can become a complete nightmare as it can slow down the whole system and you are unable to use it as it crashes or goes so slow which is impossible to use. The name used for this attack is call DoS which is Denial of service. Another virus which I found to be very interesting was the multipartite virus, this one has a double sting in the tail, it infects both the boot sector and the files and has the nerve to leave an image to say that it called. There are other examples for this virus but I liked this one Tequila as it left a calling card, bad enough that you have the virus.
These viruses are very cunning, the Stealth viruses tries to hide it's self from anti virus software and the Memory-resident lurks in the memory waiting to infect other programs, they are like the shark in Jaws waiting to grab it's victim from the sea.
Trojans and Worms
Trojans are started by a user and they do not replicate, They can attach themselves to emails and that is why it is very important that you should be very careful when opening email attachments or down loading stuff from the internet. If this occurs the virus can cause loss or theft of data that is stored on you computer.
Worms can replicate themselves and don't need a user, worms can hide themselves in files and can travel from computer to computer . They can hide in files such as Mircosoft word and Excel, and by inserting a floppy disk, memory pen or just by running a program. They can take control over your computer. mass mailing sends emails to your whole address book.
Image Viruses
Image viruses this was one that I again found very scary as only just learning about this is was hard to understand that you can get a virus attached to an image which has been send to your computer and it can be hidding in the image. We at home take a great deal of digital photos and send them by email to the USA and you just don't realise that they can attach themselves to a photo or a clip that you have taken fromn the internet.
Screensavers
Again was not aware that you could get a virus on a screen saver, but after reading about it coming in an image and also with the Trojan attaching it to an email it is all becoming clear to me and I am learning so much from this course already which is great.
Anti Virus Software
I had heard of anti virus software before as we have it on the computer at home, which was the Norton software and McAfee. It was good to sit down and read through what they did in depth as you just see it as your computer starts up, but not really aware of the back ground of what it actually does such as: worm protection, removes spyware, blocks spyware and worms automatically, prevents virus infectied emails from spreading. These are just a few of the things that an anit virus package can do for your computer there are many packages that you can choose from. BT, Virgin, etc
I will finish off here tonight and I will log back on tomorrow with my next blog which will be all about Spyware. I hope that I am filling this in the correct way and that you are able to understand what I am trying to get across. bye for now
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