Re: Is it possible for someone to access my HD even though I am running a firewall?

From: Duane Arnold (notme_at_notme.com)
Date: 11/01/05 

Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2005 02:54:54 GMT

Jeff wrote in news:re1dm1dus8pvrbuej8qcm5djtb4jb690u4@4ax.com:

> On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 19:45:28 GMT, Leythos <void@nowhere.lan> wrote:
>
>>A "personal" firewall is only as strong as the person that set it up.
If
>>you created exceptions (holes) then you really don't have a lot of
>>protection. If you browse to a website and then click a link, you could
>>be running a program without understanding that you are running it -
and
>>it could phone-home to the author of the program and allow them to do
>>anything they want with your machine.
>>
>>If you have CABLE/DSL, get a NAT router with logging, this will block
>>unsolicited inbound connections and the LOG will show you in/out bound
>>traffic so you can see just what is reaching your computer and what is
>>going outbound from it.
>>
>>So, in short, if you don't screw-up your firewall it will protect you,
>>but many users self-compromise their security all the time by not
>>understanding what they are doing.
>
> Thanks for that. Is a NAT router a piece of software or a piece or
> hardware? Sorry, I don't know much about this sort of thing.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/about-NAT.asp

>
> I've cleared all my program permissions in Zonealarm and I'm going to
> start again from scratch - I'm pretty sure that I only made exceptions
> for things like my browser, email and news clients anyway - but it
> doesn't hurt to start over and review everything.
>

You're running to the *crutch* above in a ZA or any personal FW solution
that's using the infamous Application Control and it's worthless and can
be beaten and circumvented by malware if it can get to the machine and
execute.

> So, if I do have some malware on my machine, what's the best way to
> clear it up? My antivirus doesn't pick anything up, nor do any of my
> spyware scanners. Any programs you can recommend?

You go look for yourself with the proper tools every now and then and
don't depended upon that *crutch* ZA to tell you what is happening on the
machine.

Long version

http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Hidden_Backdoors_Trojan_Horses_and
_Rootkit_Tools_in_a_Windows_Environment.html

Short version

http://tinyurl.com/klw1

If you're running a NT based O/S like Win 2K or XP, then you should try
to secure the O/S. The buck doesn't start or stop with ZA or any PFW. It
starts and stops at the O/S no where else.

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winxpsecuritychecklist.htm

There is a link for Win 2K too. If you're running Win 9'x or ME, you're
out of luck.

Duane :)
 

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