IMT - Hackers

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Hackers

We see them in the movies, we hear about them on the news, but just how much are you at risk for finding out first hand what hackers are up to? Dial-up Internet users are actually at very low risk for having their system compromised by any random hacker, mostly because dial-up users are so hard to find.

Here's how it works: Computers connected to the Internet network have a location identification known as an IP address. Computers connected to the Internet all the time have the same IP address all the time (such as your Internet service provider's server computer). Dial-up users, however, are assigned a different IP address every time they connect to the Internet. It's like picking up and moving every day.

So a hacker has to not only know exactly when you are connected, he also has to know exactly what your IP address is at that time. Even if your address is found out, who knows how long before you disconnect? What's the point of starting if he's just going to get cut off?

Firewalls
This is where a firewall comes in. A firewall can be set up using hardware (a router on a network setup) or software. Microsoft XP comes with its own firewall software. Norton and McAfee have software packages that include firewalls as well. ZoneAlarm is also a well known, and free, firewall. What a firewall does is monitor all traffic coming in and going out of your computer.

Most firewalls are set up to block all traffic, in both directions, so that the user (that's you) can make specific and informed exceptions to the blocks. For instance, you would probably want to permanently allow Internet Explorer to access the Internet, otherwise you would not be allowed to view any web pages. This is not the sort of project for the faint of heart, and should only be seriously considered if you feel that your system is at risk for invasion.

Denial of Service (DOS) Attacks
But there is still a risk of being compromised by a hacker in a different way. Back in the old days, most viruses were written to delete a bunch of essential files on the infected computer system. With the development of our economy's dependency on e-commerce, bringing down someone's web site causes the real havoc, and tends to have more public reaction. While the old spread and destroy type virus still has it's niche, a new type of virus developed by hackers sits in wait on your system, without causing any sort of harm to it's host except that it allows another person from a completely different location to use your computer while your Internet connection is active.

You may have heard of DOS attacks, or "denial of service", when a company's server is so overwhelmed with requests for service, is shuts down. This new trend affects you in two different ways. Your ISP or your company could be a victim of such an attack, but even more disturbing and less obvious, is that your computer could be participating of such an attack.

The system or network administrator of any ISP would handle security for preventing a DOS upon itself. But not every web server out there is infallible. This means, above all else, that it is important to be aware of what's installed on your computer, when and what new files are downloaded or installed to your system, and any sort of peculiar activity your system exhibits especially while connected to the Internet. Noticing these details can help you to detect unauthorized activity to or from your computer sooner, if not prevent hackers' access altogether.

This is more information can be found at the Gibson Research Center, home of "Shields UP", a free security testing site for your system, and other free security tools.