[Rhodes22-list] Hackers

[William P. Barry, III]

I have a cable connection, as well as constantly having my computer online.
The best firewall is one of hardware. Example: Router. With a router any IP
address that leads to your home hits the router itself. All IPs off of that
are network based and any pings hit the Router Hardware itself. Even if
there is only one computer attached to the router, that physical blocking
device is the most protective in hiding your PC. The only way around it that
the user can make more accessible is by leaving ports open. To do this you
go into the router settings and enable port forwarding, so that you yourself
can connect to your PC from outside the network. This should only be used if
you change the default port number to something random, and when not in use
disable this feature. As a secondary measure I use Sygate Personal Firewall
on my PC, and am lucky to see anything hit my PC more than once or twice a
year. With this software you can say yes or no to any connections coming to,
or going out of your computer. Shockingly, you will find many connections
being sent from your PC that you never even knew about trying to phone home.
Most of these are just some ad programs that snuck onto your PC when you
download some freeware file. And the third measure of protection on my PC
that I have is grisoft anti virus. This is a free virus program that updates
itself on a set schedule, or on command. www.grisoft.com

    Will Barry
    S/V Bulldog


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Bell" <alexbell@coastalnet.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Hackers


> Slim,
>
> you're probably getting hit up 3 times an hour at a minimum. You won't
> see it unless you have some software that detects and protects you. I
> use BLACK ICE DEFENDER which can be bought and downloaded on the web.
> Looking at my log file, I see that one outfit has tried 52 times in the
> past year and there's a couple of hunderd addresses listed that have
> tried to enter my system from 50 to 20 times. I would look for
> something. It's just a matter of time before someone gets in and finds
> juicy tidbits.
>
> Alex.
>
> Steve Alm wrote:
> >
> > Mac users,
> >
> > I'm not really much of a computer expert but I'm wondering if I'm
leaving
> > myself open to hackers.  I use the broadband service (Road Runner) and
I'm
> > always online.  I have no firewall.  I don't even use any virus
protection
> > because I have a Mac...so far, I've never been hit.
> >
> > I've been looking at Lavasoft's Ad Aware anti spyware stuff and I was
> > wondering if any of you have any comments on this.  I don't know if it
even
> > runs on Mac.
> >
> > Of course I have all my file sharing stuff turned off, but...?
> >
> > I wouldn't want anyone to gain access to all of the very sensitive
> > information I have on my computer such as the lyrics to a thousand dirty
> > songs.  :-)
> >
> > Slim
> >
> > _________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> _________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list


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