Dinner with the FBI

Zero Hedge ^ | Jan 15, 2010 | madhedgefundtrader

[anonsquared]

-snip

Mueller told me that the Internet is not just a conduit for commerce, but also for crime and terrorism, and the bad guys are checking your doorknobs every day. Information is power, and fiber optic cable is a weapon. Terrorists, in particular, love the new Google Earth application. Only recently, Mueller busted an American-Egyptian phishing ring, arresting 50, which cleaned out $50 million from 5,000 US accounts.

[anonsquared]

After reading this I decided to check my kid's PC - the only one in the house.

I ran Ad-Aware - it found a few things, cleaned them up and told me the PC was fine. Then I ran Spybot. It found malware that Ad-Aware missed, cleaned it up, and told me all was fine. While it was scanning, I noticed file after file of bank names. Knowing my kid wouldn't be checking out banking sites, I tried PC Tools Spyware Doctor. http://www.pctools.com/

It found three malicious programs - 1 from Russia and 2 from China - that had changed the Registry to look for banking info. I purchased the program (use coupon code pctools20 for 20% off) and it cleaned up the Registry and hopefully fully removed the offending spyware. Does any one know if this is the best program to use?

[TheMightyQuinn]

I wouldn’t feel safe about the OS until you did a complete reformat then reinstall of the OS.

I’ve tried Ad-Aware and Spybot, and Defender and they’ve never found a thing on my machines. So I’ve got no advice there.

[mehill]

Be careful of the programs you purchase and download online. we purchased one a year ago. It cleaned up the computer just fine. A year later, last week, our computer wouldn’t function, and the virus program wouldn’t scan/clean-up. We called a geek to come fix it and he told us that these online companies insert a virus timed to go off at the time you need to renew your subscription. Nice people in this world!

[anonsquared]

Thanks for the advice. I deleted Ad-Aware and Spybot after they said the computer was clean and it wasn’t.

[cynwoody]

But Mueller admitted that even he recently fell victim to a phishing attack on his personal bank account. His wife has since banned him from online banking.

WTF‽

Would that have happened to JEdgar?

[cynwoody]

the bad guys are checking your doorknobs every day

According to my D-Link router, I get a couple of dozen door-tries per hour. No big deal.

[anonsquared]

Thanks for your concern. I checked it out before I purchased. It gets a good review from PCMAG, CNET, and even Norton so I think it is pretty safe.

I saw for myself the registry changes and all of the bank websites these programs were searching for before I downloaded the program. The fact that Ad-Aware and Spybot didn’t even recognize the malware showed me they were useless.

This is why the other three computers in the house are Macs!

[AFreeBird]

Reformat and reinstall. Then set up basic user accounts for the kids and keep the admin account passed to yourself. If they need something installed, you’ll have to do it. It’s a hassle, but it’s safer.

[anonsquared]

I still refuse to bank online even with my Macs. No use handing the bad guys the key to the door.

The strange thing was when I tried to update the virus definitions on both Ad-Aware and Spybot since it hadn’t been done since early December. Spybot updated, but there was a script from the malware blocking Ad-Aware from updating its virus definitions.

[anonsquared]

The only thing downloaded was a free anime drawing program. Good lesson for the kid - NOTHING IS FREE!

[JustTheTruth]

I’ve been using it. I have found that it finds different problems when I re-run the full scan repeatedly, so that’s what I’m doing..... So far, so good.

[anonsquared]

Thanks for the info. I’ll run it again and see if anything else shows up.

[cynwoody]

Good lesson for the kid - NOTHING IS FREE!

Kids will download and install anything that looks cool. Firewalls and antivirus software are useless — firewalls because downloading is an outbound connection and antivirus because they just can't keep up. Never do anything sensitive on a computer shared with a kid. If you are really paranoid, put your own computer behind an inner firewall.

A few years ago, my sister asked me to fix a computer her kids had been using. I had to rename the Task Manager app in order to see what was running, because there was a service running that would kill it as soon as it was started. I backed it up, wiped the disk, reinstalled, and selectively restored from the backup.