MSN Messenger on Win98SE LAN
From: Angus Rodgers (angusr_at_bigfoot.com)
Date: 11/09/04
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Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 18:08:01 +0000
My daughter's PC and mine, both running Windows 98SE, are
connected via an Ethernet cable (using TCP/IP). When she
insisted on installing MSN Messenger on her machine, I was
worried that there might be some sort of security risk (to
both machines), but I wasn't (and am still not) clear about
the details of any actual threat.
I recently installed Kerio 2.1.5 on both machines [I have
read the recent thread about a possible vulnerability, and
I'm a little worried, but I'm not about to change - not so
soon after installing my first firewall], with her PC set
to allow access to all shared folders without question, but
mine set to require explicit permission for each access to
a shared folder.
Indeed, when she first used MSN Messenger after Kerio was
installed, I did get several attempts to access folders
on my PC (which of course I denied).
My question (as a newcomer to firewalls) is what changes
I ought to make to her filter rules, to reduce the risk
presented by MSN Messenger - indeed, whether there *is*
anything I can do, or whether I should [try to!] insist
on her using a different messaging program (and if so,
which one).
(Both machines have antivirus programs, regularly updated
- hers AVG, mine eTrust EZ Antivirus - and I regularly
run Ad-aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and McAfee Stinger
on both machines, and there doesn't *seem* to be anything
nasty lurking on either of them - apart from something
called a "DSO exploit", which Spybot v.1.3 can't remove.)
(Before installing Kerio, I had NukeNabber 2.9b on both
machines - ancient, but it seemed to stop port scans OK.
It used to find lots of port 5000 scans, which I vaguely
suspected might have something to do with MSN Messenger,
as I never used to get them before that was installed.)
-- Angus Rodgers (angus_prune@ eats spam; reply to angusrod@) Contains mild peril
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