Is FR Under Cyber Attack?

Vanity Post Freerepublic ^ | May 13, 2010 | Kenny Bunk

[Kenny Bunk]

I access the web via Firefox and Google.

Last week, I linked, or attempted to, to Monica Crowley's website and was hit by the VIME Trojan. Quite a pain to track and destroy!

Since that time, when on FR, and only FR, I am experiencing frequent crashes, and much trouble linking to other sites from this one.

This could be a tracking tactic, and indeed, I have discovered several tracking cookies hovering and running in the background.

I believe the best suspect here is Google, monitoring political speech, especially any emanating from what they migght consider the right side of the political spectrum.

Any similar experiences? Any tips on better monitoring the monitors?

[Uri’el-2012]

Get Root !

Avoid W32 viruses

[GeronL]

You probably still have some issues if you had a virus attack, sometimes those things comes in packets. I got one a little while back and it was a pain to find them all.

[SnakeDoctor]

Are you logged in? Haha.

Works fine for me, so, I don’t think its a problem with FR. I’m afraid the problem is still your computer.

SnakeDoc

[sickoflibs]

I could be your computer. Does it happen when you use your computer ?

[kingu]

We rate a whole division of Google, who only is there to mess with Freepers...

More seriously, with Firefox, once it battles a trojan, the best thing is to completely uninstall it, clear out the temporary internet files and the windows temp folder, then re-install. FreeRepublic’s interface is pretty simple, but the settings most people use makes for a much bigger page than is normal for web surfing, and it can expose errors.

I'd suggest Chrome, but, well, the Google Attack Team might get me...

[ReneeLynn]

I like FR’s block on my iGoogle homepage, so I wouldn’t jump to conclusions that it’s Google.

[Dallas59]

I think FR is always under attack.

[JoeProBono]

Which Antivirus and cleaner are you using?

[CyberAnt]

I have Norton 2010 - and I never, ever have any viruses, worms, malware, etc.

And .. I’ve had Norton since 1995 - and I’ve never had my system compromised by anybody or anything.

I don’t use any of the added stuff Norton does, I just use their anti-virus.

[Kenny Bunk]

Using MS Anti-virus. Problems are over. Definitely felt "tracked!"

I had already followed the kingu method, and that seemed to work.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Kingu method? What’s that???

[Vendome]

Spybot so aptly named is a utility that will search your hard drive for invasions, bots, identity theft etc.

 

Ccleaner is a free utility to delete cookies and get rid of Temp files hanging around taking up space. It also has a section to delete unneeded registry keys in Windows. In addition it has a section where you can choose what processes to start up when boots up. This can save significant time when not utilizing processes that are not necessary.

 

Better Privacy

I should note that Adobe does provide a website and a website privacy panel that will let you eliminate LSO on a per domain basis.  It's called Flash Player Settings Manager.  But it's cumbersome and far less effective than Flush or Better Privacy.

If you want to learn more about LSO it can be found here:

Local Shared Objects

The potential sinister part is that these LSO (Local Shared Objects) can also be utilized to request permission to use your computer"s camera, microphone or to store information on your computer. The implications of this are startling.

You can see from the above that all one needs to do is activate the camera or microphone on your computer and your privacy has been invaded!

 

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[GoCards]

I have had a McAfee pop up several times when I dialed up FR saying this site is marked Inappropriate, weird.

[sickoflibs]

Now what do we talk about ? LOL

[Boogieman]

“I have discovered several tracking cookies hovering and running in the background.”

Cookies can’t hover or run anywhere, they are non-executable files.

[re_nortex]

I mostly use Linux (with some excursions into Solaris and FreeBSD) so I don't really have a dog in this hunt. Though neither are perfect, trojans and virus attacks are nearly non-existent on those platforms.

But this isn't a ``use Linux and all problems will vanish!'' fanboy response.

Instead, this presents an opportunity to express my appreciation to John Robinson (and the others involved) with the code behind FR. Unlike other sites, it's free of common attack points like Flash, JavaScript, Ajax and all kinds of other cruft that (IMHO) needlessly bloat a website. I've seen some complain that FR still has a 1990's look. NOT ME! I like it just as it is since I prefer content over eye-candy. The clean, straightforward look and feel plus the fast load time for the HTML make FR my goto site for news and opinion.

[Kenny Bunk]

Now what do we talk about ? LOL

Well I have often wondered where, exactly, you stood on the Filioque Clause.

[LibLieSlayer]

There are mnay du types here and Jimbo needs another purge BAD!

LLS

[sickoflibs]

Can we argue about something? I will be the conservative and you be the troll on this thread, then we can swap on the next one?

[AFreeBird]

Run firefox with the no script extension, and enable JavaScript for only a few very trusted sites. Otherwise run with JS denied. Also go into your security and privacy settings and lock it down. Cookies especially.

Now non of that will help if youre still infected, but once you get things cleared up you need to take a look at those things.

And as someone else has already mentioned: Got /root?

[eaglestar]

My Firefox has been crashing a lot lately also. I can’t pinpoint why it’s happening but I can’t attribute it to FR or it’s links.

[KateUTWS]

Please explaine Got/root.

[hadit2here]

“Instead, this presents an opportunity to express my appreciation to John Robinson (and the others involved) with the code behind FR. Unlike other sites, it’s free of common attack points like Flash, JavaScript, Ajax and all kinds of other cruft that (IMHO) needlessly bloat a website. I’ve seen some complain that FR still has a 1990’s look. NOT ME! I like it just as it is since I prefer content over eye-candy. The clean, straightforward look and feel plus the fast load time for the HTML make FR my goto site for news and opinion.”

I can’t agree with you more. This site is by far the best on the net and every time I see a newbie wanting changes made to the interface to mimic some bloated other site, I get so really steamed that I have to make rude comments about their lack of brain cells and questionable ancestry.

Thanks to the Robinsons for this site and all it has become!!

[hadit2here]

Get rid of anything Google. They do more than just track you! They ARE evil. Get the addon extensions for Firefox that are recommended here- NoScript and BetterPrivacy. Another couple of good ones are CookieCuller and AdBlock Plus. With those all added to Firefox, you can control a lot of things.

Also, for anyone using them, get rid of Norton or McAfee AV products. They will slow down your machine badly and they have actually been in cahoots with some malware producers in the past- agreeing to NOT put their AV signatures in the database... in return for ???

Just about every program you need to be safe are all available online for free. If you feel guilty for not paying for something valuable, then donate to them after you’ve used them and proved their usefulness.

[Arthur McGowan]

www.avast.com

Free antivirus that doesn’t clog your computer. I heard about it here on FR. It’s fantastic!

[Kenny Bunk]

Jack, the “Kingu” method is outlined in post number 6, submitted by the eponymous Kingu.

[eaglestar]

I also strongly recommend these 2 free programs and they also don’t clog your cumputer:

Search on google for reviews.

1) Advanced System Care (performs a TON of other cleaning functions)

2) MalwareBytes (finds and removes the strongest of viruses)

[Yosemitest]

Check your "Windows Security Center" "Windows Firewall" "General" tab
to see if it's ON and set for "No Exceptions allowed",
and check the "Exceptions Tab" to see what programs have been added.

Also, check out Opera 10.53 Web Browser.

[eaglestar]

I also strongly recommend these 2 free programs and they also don’t clog your cumputer:

Search on google for reviews. Links below.

1) Advanced System Care (performs a TON of other cleaning functions)

http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html

2) MalwareBytes (finds and removes the strongest of viruses)

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html