Hackers Don't Want my PC

Many people would tell you this when the subject of protecting your home system comes up. Is this true? "I don't bank online", "I don't shop online"; people say all of these things in a defense of why they believe they are safe. Is that true? Not at all! Just because you may not have anything they want along those lines, you have something very valuable! Your PC sitting idle all night, normally on a broadband connection. This is most likely more valuable then your personal eBay account or that credit card that you have, which is probably maxed out anyway :).

Your idle CPU cycles are great for lots of things. Sending SPAM, herding other bots in a botnet used for many purposes, housing stolen software or music and the list goes on and on. I stumbled on this article from the Washington Post via Slashdot:

The Scrap Value of Hacked PCs

If anyone says no one would want their PC you can tell them the stuff you read here or better yet, give them the link to read it for themselves. The article is very brief and doesn't get technical at all really but it gets to the point. No PC is safe!

How can you protect your machine?


1. Get a good Malware tool for protection and removal.

I recommend Malwarebytes. Download the free trial version. The trial is fully functional; you just do not get real time protection. What that means is that it will remove Virus/Spyware/Adware etc, but it doesn't run in the background to protect you from getting it in the first place. Thus, you should think of getting one that runs real time as well. Using multiple vendors is not a bad idea. The truth is that sometimes one may come out with a new definition quicker than another.

2. Get and keep your Anti Virus applications up to date.

There are many free antivirus applications out there. I would not recommend ClamAV here because at this time there is no real time protection. It is a good AV solution for network appliances that can use it in real time, not yet for the home user in my opinion. I have a friend in Canada that is working on a real time engine for it for his Masters project. He anticipates having it ready in the next year or two. I use AVG and have come to like it. I would recommend paying for a program though. The reason is because most of these free ones rely on definitions. The problem is that there are encoding techniques that will bypass 90% of antivirus programs today. What this means is that you can be infected with the oldest virus known to vendors again because it appears different to your application. Thus you should purchase an anti virus program that includes what is called IPS (Intrusion Prevention System). These types of antivirus programs work on unusual system functions rather than only definitions. I also recommend Symantec. Many people will tell you they don't like it and we are all entitled to our own opinions. I have found it to be one of the better ones out there in my opinion. Others would tell you McAfee. I have not had good luck with McAfee and thus don't recommend it but your mileage may vary.

3. Protect from the network

For those that might be a little more technically inclined I also recommend Untangle. Look for their option called the "Re-router" technology. This is an excellent network appliance that provides high level protection. The Re-Router option they have is really nice as you just need to install it on one of your Windows PC's that is connected via Ethernet cable to your switch/router. This one system then provides protection for every computer in your house. It is NOT a replacement for your Antivirus/IPS system on the host, only in addition to. I assist in the development of new features for this device so I may be a bit biased :), but it is a very nice set of applications.

4. Keep your applications and operating systems up to date.

Run your Windows, Mac or Linux updates as much as possible. If you have an automatic method, use that. Don't forget your third party applications as well. If you read my post from the other day, this can be dangerous so use caution. Read my post from a few days ago to learn what you can do to keep this from backfiring on you. But by all means do the updates! Attacks come from vulnerabilities in applications probably more than any other method. Keeping up to date on this stuff makes it harder for them to gain control in the first place.

5. Don't underestimate the power of shutting down your computer when you are not using it. Maybe even shut off your router or modem. If you don't need it on, then don't have it on. This is especially true if you are going on vacation or something.

If anyone has any other Security/AV questions or needs assistance in any of these applications feel free to email me. I offer general security consulting for free and do not mind in helping out. Yes that goes for businesses as well as home users!

This is by no means an exhaustive list of things you can do. It is just some examples to get you started. I love security and do security for the fact that I believe computers, networks and the Internet should be and remain a good and fun tool for us all. I hate that we have to be so cautious and in some cases don't use it at all because of the threats out there.