web intrusion attempts

[JerryMac]

Almost every time I get on anymore and post anything, I get a pop up from my Nortons saying it has blocked a intrusion attempt from some kind of malicious tool kit ? guess i am glad for nortons....

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[highvoltage]

Norton is one of the better ones. We're running McAfee since it's dictated by corporate. So far I've been hit twice by the fake XP Security 2012 trojan. Not fun, takes me a couple of hours to recover.

[Hopyard]

A couple of quick points.

1) Sometimes security programs have a sensitivity setting. If that is set too high above the default
they will call legitimate stuff malicious. I have no idea if Norton is like that because I haven't used Norton in about 6 or 7 years.

2) There have been several complaints here about this problem recently. So, you are not the only person who has noticed that
there seems to be an issue.

The solution--- Make it a crime to come onto someone's computer and install anything without explicit individualized authorization, and hang a few of these creeps. I see it as no different than someone trespassing on farm property to scout out a house for a targeted break in. A few well publicized hangings would go a long way to help things.

I know I have tracking cookies on here. Sometimes they serve up stuff I want to know about. The real question for me is what else might be going on I don't know about.

Partial solution. We just bought an iMac which will go into service soon and eventually replace this 10 year old XP machine when the HD finally crashes.

Everyone wish me luck as I attempt to set up a LAN with an XP and Mac on it.

[Gunsmoke16]

I like the Avast Free Home Edition....it always catches stuff that Norton (slow my computer to the point it don't work anymore) and McAfee's (Also slows down the computer and asks me to purchase junk) always miss. It's free and automatically updates.
It doesn't slow down the computer, but does check anything going on (like thumb drive you plug in or a cd disc) to make sure no viruses.

[hogdaddy]

Same Here, JerryMac. My Norton catches one every now and then, Something in the line with TPC ; )
H/D

[Eagleks]

Every time I get on this site, I get that + a Chevy ad. Someone has tapped into the site and done an add on tracking cookie or something.

[pfries]

I run a VM for browsing,and use comodo for Anti Virus and Firewall

[Ram Rod]

Norton eats up your valuable hard drive space, slows your system and demands your hard earned money year after year. I went down that road a long time ago and learned lessons. Regular computer maintenance (which many won't do or don't know how to do) is all that's needed. The best products out there now in my opinion are available for free if you run a Windows based OS. I've had a few folks tell me they went to MACs to avoid the hassle purveyed upon them since they were not caring for their Windows computer. To me.....they just didn't know how to maintain their Windows systems. I've got friends at work who have had their near new computers worked on within the past year for problems running Windows7. I'm still stuck in XP SP3 with the laptop and a couple of Vista 64bit desktops. Nobody really wants a computer running Vista apparently, but when a lot of folks switched to Windows 7 and couldn't integrate their modems or printers, faxes, scanners, I grabbed them up for pennies on the dollar. I'm old school.....you don't need my advice. My experiences have only taught me what I know now. Anything offered as a free trial through your ISP won't be worth paying for later on. Then....if you took the free trial, it's hard to get out and your system is already dependent unless you know how to rid your computer of unnecessary crap you really don't need. These highly priced defender programs for your computer are very similar to your existing government. They would like you to depend on them....they would like you to keep paying them.....they think you're too stupid to think for yourself....they plan on you being too lazy to figure things out on your own, or worrying you with paying your taxes and keeping your home and yourself out of debt to where you don't have the time to see the truth. It's all a racquet, and each time a virgin soul bites from the apple of disinformation, we all suffer in a way. Take care of you and yours and don't pay protection money to the mob!

[jblitz]

I have not seen this problem particular to this site so doubt anything has been "attached". I do not run anti-virus programs on any of my computers. I own 8 PC desktops and 2 PC laptops running a mix of XP, Vista, and 7. Antivirus programs kill the performance of all machines. Some will say that I live dangerously by not running AV programs but in reality, I just live carefully on the internet. That being said, I do scan my machines at least weekly with 2 programs, Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware. Both are very good at clearing tracking cookies and detecting malicious code.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND TURNING OFF ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS UNLESS YOU ARE THROUGHLY FAMILIAR WITH COMPUTERS AND HAVE SYSTEMS IN PLACE TO PROTECT YOUR DATA!!!

A few suggestions....

If it is "free", it ain't... (Especially games, music and gadgets).
Social diseases can be spread by computer... (Avoid porn sites just as you would hookers).
Software updates ARE important... Do not ignore them.
If you get anything "fishy" that pops up on your screen, DO NOT click on ANYTHING! Power off the computer immediately! Power back up and immediately run a scan.

[JerryMac]

I like the Avast Free Home Edition....it always catches stuff that Norton (slow my computer to the point it don't work anymore) and McAfee's (Also slows down the computer and asks me to purchase junk) always miss. It's free and automatically updates.
It doesn't slow down the computer, but does check anything going on (like thumb drive you plug in or a cd disc) to make sure no viruses.

I used Avast untill it let a virus in my home computer and everytime i tried to do anything it would tell me the file could not b found, so i went and purchsaed Nortons, after installing the disc, in home pc....it booted up, cleared the virus, and it can b installed on 3 computers, the new Nortons, different than what i used years ago, after researching, is one of the top two, as far as performance, and not slowing your pc down....but that is just what works for me, do not mind payin a little for 3 computers, per year, averages to twenty bucks a year per pc....

[surefire7]

Ahhhh...love my Mac!

[zeppelin03]

Ahhhh...love my Mac!

From everything I have heard this stuff about macs being immune is false. They are becoming more and more popular, and more and more viruses are being made.

My friend owns one. It is slowing down. He has run into other problems too. I found it funny when he told me. I had only ever heard that macs were perfect until meeting a few people who own them. Its like a glock.

[Rock and Glock]

A few well publicized hangings would go a long way to help things.

Yep!

solution. We just bought an iMac which will go into service soon and eventually replace this 10 year old XP machine when the HD finally crashes.

I run Windows XP SP3 ++ on a Virtual Machine using Parallels 4 installed on my MacBook Pro that runs Mac OS X 10.6.8. Parallels is not perfect, and I have considered Boot Camp, but if you have mission critical MS only applications that is one way to run them. Boot Camp and Parallel are pretty cheap all in all if you already have you MS OS. That way you have everything on one machine.

I switched to Mac in 2007 after finally freaking out against the Dell/Intel/MS oligopoly. The Mac Book Pro is the Intel machine that lets me run the MS OS on a virtual machine installed on the Mac. I am far from an expert, but after a 25 year professional career on MS products, I was VERY apprehensive about the flip to Mac, but have NEVER regretted it.

FYI, I run some really technical tax software ONLY available for MS OS, and Broderbund Family Tree Maker on the virtual machine, and everything else runs on the Mac - even Quicken and Quickbooks, and MS Office for Mac. I am currently trying to transition to iWorks (the Apple analog to MS Office), but that is not going great at times.

wish me luck as I attempt to set up a LAN with an XP and Mac on it.

Sounds like..........................ahhhhhhhhh.......... ......fun. :) Good luck!

If you get to install an Apple network you will be AMAZED by the simplicity.

[Rock and Glock]

My friend owns one. It is slowing down. He has run into other problems too.

Tell him to schedule a visit to the Genius Bar, and have them perform some diagnostics (Disk Performance) and to teach him how to run the diagnostics himself. Very easy and cures most problems. The Genius Bar is free unless the machine needs to go in back for surgery. Macs are not immune by any means, but turning them off overnight saves a lot of heartburn.

[noway2]

Most people would be aboslutely amazed if they really knew how many attempts were made to break into your system on a regular basis. An example of what has hit one of my machines just this morning trying to gain access to one service (SSH) is shown below. They won't be successful, but they keep trying. One of the most important things you can do is keep a good firewall up in front of your PC. This is especially true if you have an always on connection like cable or DSL. The next best thing would be to keep your system up to date. There are tools / programs, such as Metasploit that will scan your PC, identify what you are running on it and then use known tactics to take control of it.

Dec 18 06:59:58 server sshd[32321]: Invalid user ksa-7c02a869206$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 07:13:43 server sshd[32375]: Invalid user ksaterm003$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 07:27:32 server sshd[32468]: Invalid user user2 from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 07:41:20 server sshd[32610]: Invalid user d58l40c1$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 07:55:07 server sshd[32655]: Invalid user 46-05$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 08:08:54 server sshd[32699]: Invalid user ftp-prt_server$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 08:50:12 server sshd[393]: Invalid user ksa-101$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 09:03:59 server sshd[442]: Invalid user ksa-104$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 09:17:46 server sshd[575]: Invalid user ksa-03$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 09:31:32 server sshd[646]: Invalid user delete$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 09:45:17 server sshd[698]: Invalid user ksaterm009$ from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 09:59:02 server sshd[762]: Invalid user pebert from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 10:12:47 server sshd[842]: Invalid user rodney from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 10:26:35 server sshd[890]: Invalid user robert from 194.152.245.34
Dec 18 10:40:20 server sshd[948]: Invalid user brendan$ from 194.152.245.34