Specifications

created millions of zombies. While many of these
bots are currently being used to spread spam email,
generating riches for the “bot masters” or “bot
herders” who sell their purloined capacity, there are
more dangerous uses of bots. It is important to note
that owners of zombie infected computers are unaware
that their computers are infected, and are a component
of an illicit bot spreading spam and chaos to other
computers. Director Mueller stated, “Once under
their thumbs, these networks can wreak all kinds of
havoc, from shutting down a power grid to ooding
an emergency call center with millions of spam
messages.”
“Hackers are using sophisticated techniques to
steal sensitive intelligence, scientic research, and
communications data.” This is what the Director is
calling “the invisible man” where an unknown cyber
intruder oversees everything on a network, including
what people are typing, and reading any les stored
on a computer or on a network. Since most cyber
intruders will never leave any indication that they have
viewed your les, stolen your passwords, and copied
your critical and condential data, you will never even
know that you have been victimized and your data has
been compromised. Once victimized in this manner,
you will never know how much damage has been
done, maybe until it is too late.
The federal government is actively ghting
international cyber terrorists, and contemporary news
accounts are rife with stories about criminal and
espionage cyber attacks from China, Russia, Iran, Iraq,
and other unfriendly countries. Despite governmental
attempts to secure our computer infrastructure, much
of the responsibility falls upon us individually. We
must accept responsibility for the safety and security
of our own computers. As has been appealed many
times in this column before, we absolutely must have
updated defenses in play on our personal computers.
Antivirus, anti-spyware, and rewall software are
imperative on our computers; after all, it is the
personal computer that is the target of the zombie
Trojan, and it is millions of personal computers like
your and mine that make up these huge bots that can
wreak such havoc.
For those who would be interested in seeing what a
cyber attack warning might look like, an unofcial
Israeli website that disseminates anti-terrorism
information, the “DEBKAle”, has recently posted
such a warning about a massive upcoming cyber attack
on the US (www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4723).
I am typing this prior to the date of this next alleged
“cyber jihad” attack on the United States (November
11, Veterans’ Day) and you will certainly be reading
this column after that date. I hope that this warning,
as have many other such warnings, turned out to
be false. In fact, several security authorities such
as McAfee, and Computerworld magazine, have
argued that the DEBKAle warning is a hoax, and
that the information presented is unreliable. Another
publication, Government Computer News, also
belittled the warning, but the column that said that had
the subtitle, “Don’t cancel your day off yet” (www.
gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45386-1.html). This cyber
attack warning is but one example of what Director
Mueller is warning about.
Since the antivirus and anti-spyware on our computers
can be compromised or neutralized by a zombie
that slips through our defenses, it is a good idea
to perform a free online security scan from one of
the many available. My two personal favorites are
Trend Micro’s Housecall (housecall.antivirus.com),
and Microsoft’s online OneCare at safety.live.com
(click on the shield in the middle of the window). A
successful scan by either or both of these services will
likely indicate that your computer is clean of viruses,
worms, Trojans, spyware, and zombies. Make sure
your rewall is installed and updated. As I complete
most of my security presentations, I close with the
expression, “Practice safe HEX.”
This article has been provided to APCUG by the
author solely for publication by APCUG member
groups. All other uses require the permission of the
author (see e-mail address above).
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The world is divided into two groups. There are those
who know, and those who don’t know. Those who
know are no problem.
Those who don’t know are also in two groups.
One is those who don’t know and know they don’t
know. Well, they can learn!
But then, there are those who don’t know, and
don’t know they don’t know. And they become unit
managers!