Jan. 2007 Update

Spyware is the most prevalent threat to online computer privacy and security. It allows thieves to track your Internet patterns and record your credit card and any other personal information without your permission. 9 out of 10 computers are infected by Spyware!

Anyone who uses Internet Explorer or downloads music, freeware, and shareware is most vulnerable to Adware & Spyware. At the very least, spyware allows advertisers to record your surfing habits and the sites you visit, bombard you with unwanted promotional material and share your personal information with their partners. But, that is just the beginning.

Any personal information, in the wrong hands, can leave you a victim of identity theft by stealing your credit card details, birth records, and other confidential information.

Ten surefire signs that your privacy may be at risk:

• Your computer is running noticeably slower than usual
• You are bombarded with popup ads or irritating spam
• New toolbars suddenly appear in your browser
• Your home page changes on its own
• You are taken to an unfamiliar search page when you hit the search button
• Strange software loads on startup
• You download freeware, shareware, music or video files
• You’ve found new entries in your Favorites that YOU DO NOT WANT
• Your phone bill shows expensive calls to 900 numbers that you never made
• The send/receive lights on your modem blink wildly even when you're not doing anything online

see www.DefeatSpyware.org

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VISTA and IE 7

Dec. 2006:
Trend Micro researchers discovered Vista flaws being hawked on underground sites at $50,000 a pop illustrating the growth of the market for information on software vulnerabilities.

Jan. 2007:
Less than a month later, Trend Micro placed an $8,000 bounty on remote code execution holes in Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.   3 Com runs a similar program.

The companies act as intermediaries in the disclosure process—handling the process of coordinating with the affected vendor—and use the vulnerability information to beef up protection mechanisms in their own security software.

"Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows dominate their respective markets, and it is not surprising that the decision to update to the current release of Internet Explorer 7.0 and/or Windows Vista is fraught with uncertainty. Primary in the minds of IT security professionals is the question of vulnerabilities that may be present in these two groundbreaking products," VeriSign said in a note announcing the bounty.

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Federal Experts suggest ditching Microsoft Web browser

BY LOU DOLINAR
Staff Writer
Posted June 30 2004

The federal government's own cyberdefense experts, along with other computer gurus, are urging users to consider a switch away from Microsoft's widely used Internet Explorer because of new security problems.

The unusual, and for Microsoft, highly embarrassing warning follows an exploit that has allowed hackers to surreptitiously install software on hundreds of Web sites that use Microsoft's Web server programs.

That in turn downloads a spyware program to personal computers, including one that steals credit card numbers and other forms of financial information.

"This is a wakeup call for us to advise users to switch to an alternative browser," said Johannes Ulrich of the SANS' Internet Storm Center based in Bethesda, Md., which tracks immediate threats on the Internet. "With Internet Explorer, you're playing Russian roulette and hoping the sites you visit aren't compromised."

Most antivirus software has been updated to block the specific program, the JS.Scob trojan, but Microsoft has not, so far, been able to inoculate Internet Explorer against the broad technique.

A spokesman for Microsoft would not comment further, but directed reporters to a Microsoft statement that said, "Customers using Internet Explorer should be sure that they have installed the latest security updates by visiting Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com."

Earlier this month, a related security breach surreptitiously installed an adware toolbar into IE on thousands of computers worldwide, and the expectation is that the technique will quickly become widespread.

"There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies" relating to the Internet Explorer, according to US-CERT (U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team), based in Pittsburgh. "It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different Web browser, especially when browsing untrusted sites."

Switching browsers is one of the options, CERT said; other alternatives include disabling some special scripting capabilities of the browser or setting Internet Explorer's settings to much higher levels.

None of the most prominent alternative browsers, Opera (www.opera.com), Mozilla.org , or Netscape (www.netscape.com), are vulnerable to the flaw. Nor are computers running Linux or the Macintosh operating system. Linux in particular has become increasingly popular for its relative freedom from security problems.

Ulrich and other experts say the new round of malware deliberately assumes a less agressive profile. It doesn't spread a quickly as traditional computer viruses and is more focused on stealing or making money for its authors. That creates a whole new round of problems for PC security firms, who spot new forms of malware by surveying hundreds of thousands of PCs. "If you steal a thousand bucks from a thousand people," he said, "you'll probably stay beneath the radar."

This also explains why economically motivated malware authors are trying to make their software more persistent on individual PCs, but less widespread. According to Sam Curry, a Computer Associates security executive, "It doesn't need to hit millions of people to be profitable. If they can get a goose that lays golden eggs, they don't want to kill the goose, they only want to steal the eggs."

Meanwhile, some local computer users surveyed by Newsday have e-mailed to say they've generally fared well with alternatives to Internet Explorer.

For other browsers, see

Firefox has become the accepted favorite browser with 15+% of the market; better than Internet Explorer and the best of the pack. - Dec. 2006

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The safest web sites are viewed best with trusted browsers (not Internet Explorer)

FEDERAL EXPERTS SUGGEST DITCHING INTERNET EXPLORER

Web surfing is not safe with Internet Explorer

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