on your horsesvia WikipediaThe Dark Visitor has often very entertaining and telling stories from the dark side of the internet: the Chinese hackers. I read those stories religiously, but use them too little and certainly do not link enough to them.
Recently I got annoyed by an by me unwanted service by Google to block access to a site with for me relevant information because this site was supposed to be associated with the spread of badware. In that entry I assumed that because I was running an updated edition of Norton anti-virus software, I would not need additional jerks to interfer with my surfing habits. A commentor said I was wrong.
My laptop was going very slow and I first started to get rid of a lot of unused software. My laptop slowed down even more. Then I remembered this comment and decided to download some tools to scan for malware. By then i actually had to use a second computer to download the stuff and after a scan of a few hours 130 infections were identified, including 22 Trojan horses. Now, even if this scanning devise would be boasting a bit its own performance, it was enough to make me worry. It looks like I have to get an old toothbrush out and start cleaning the machines. Do let me know if you need a Trojan horse!
2 comments:
Glad you took a closer look.
What did you download and use to clean the machine?
If you want to know more about this sort of stuff, look up the Hack in a Box conference, and listen (VOD) to some of the speakers there talk about the exploits they have that affect normal browsers.
Some high percentage (30%?) of the sites that Google searches have some sort of exploit in them.
I'm glad they're keeping this stuff off my screen, but I do also worry about the big-brother aspect.
I was using the spyware doctor 5.5 by PCTools. Their is a tail developing. For removing the Trojan Horse I had to purchase another tool, so I looked for a free solution. I'm now scanning my machine with a free solution of Microsoft and - it is halfway - has not identified any to the 130 "infections" I mentioned earlier. Waiting till the whole scan is done.
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