Quote:
Originally posted by islandmanpa
Explain how hackers target? Target what?
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Lots of ways, but one example and one of the worst, imo, are "browser helper objects". Anything but helpful, usually undesirable, but always a vulnerability. Google "bho+malware" and "bho+spyware" for more info.
Ie has zones - something I wish Firefox had, but the default settings for the zones are "let the web site do anything it wants". The only safe approach to web use is "dangerous until proven safe". It tales a lot of work to secure ie to any reasonable extent, but you can't close all the holes. Firefox is better out-of-the-box, but it, like all internet-accessing software, needs some caution when installing. I do not install anything with a live internet connection and each install gets at least two system boots and thorough spyware scans before reconnecting the network cable. Also, for Firefox, I delete all .dll files in the plugin directories before allowing web access.
There's a lot of money to be made by spying on your internet activities, and ie plus outlook outlook express are just plain dangerous, imo.
Basic tools:
Windoze 2000 Pro - avoid XP, avoid Vista like the plague. Best is Linux.
Browser: Firefox
Email: Pegasus
Media player: VLC from VideoLan
Router is a requirement
Need a software firewall (proxomitron or zone alarm seem to work well, but don't allow zone alarm to do online updates!)
WebWasher
Spyware Blaster
SpyBot Search & Destroy (goofy name, good software)
AdAware
Update hosts file
Backdate Adobe Acrobat to version 6 or earlier.
...and more
KILL (with extreme prejudice):
Windoze scripting host
Auto-updates
Auto-installs
Flash (yep, kill it)
...and more.
Excellent resource:
www.grc.com
Anyway, that's a long - and much simplified - answer so I'll quit. The stuff above may seem like a pita, but I configure my systems according to *my* rules, not ms's and my systems are all rock stable. Getting behind the power curve here.