Cyber Snoopy Stuff
Chris Crawford's blog takes a look this morning at intrusive software that seems to be everywhere on the web nowadays. Despite having a firewall I still can't help but wonder if I have any spyware on this machine.
One of these days I'll have to try one of those free spyware search deals. I believe I used Zonelabs free spyware evaluator a year or so ago.
One thing I posted a comment on was his suggestion to use the System Restore function in Windows. I'd suggest only doing that as a lost resort. I used it a few years ago on my old E- Machines computer and it was a big headache.
The biggest problem was it never quite ran the same again. I finally fixed it months later by reformatting the hard drive.
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Speaking of computer intrustions, not so sure to what to make of this:
Apparently a sixteen year old kid in Arizona was arrested for possessing child pornography on his computer and threatened with life in prison.
I'd have to question the "life in prison" aspect of this as this did involve a juvenile. I hardly think they'd be threatening life in prison for a kid in possession of dirty pictures. They'd have to try him as an adult, but, I guess you never know.
Despite the difficult reading, I found the story interesting. Supposedly some computer expert located some child porno on the family's computer. The blogger suggests it was weak evidence, with another computer expert supposedly finding " 200 infect files “so-called backdoors that allowed hackers to access the family computer from remote locations.”.
Boy, I don't know if that means 200 different trojan horses, or what, but I suppose it could be possible. According to Chris Crawford's blog "the average PC has some 70 or 80 items of spyware on it at any given time."
So, I suppose 200 isn't necessarily out of the question. Whether the porno was put on the family's computer is anyone's guess. Reading the blogger's account I'd have to say it was a pretty lame case, but he or she certainly seems to be predisposed against the prosecutor.
I couldn't help but wonder if the pictures in question were in the browser's cache?
At any rate, it is troubling to hear of what seems to be malicious prosecution, spyware and trojan horses aside. Not sure what exactly to do about malicious prosecution but to prevent stuff from being stuffed on your computer, a firewall certainly helps.
Zonelabs has a free firewall available. Give it a try.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 9:09 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Ad-aware, Anti-Vir and sygate firewall are good, and free as well.
I agree with your comments about system restore, Fred. Merely using the "wayback machine" to transport your system to an earlier state has several drawbacks. However, I have now learned (slowly) to use system restore to capture my current settings BEFORE I make a major change or load new software into my system. This way, you don't have to go very far back to get a system restoration that doesn't cause other problems.
As for the cyber child porn, our local DA's office used to have a fellow on staff who does "computer forensics," and he assured me that there are a myriad of ways to scrape information off your hard drive and system memory, even if you think you erased it. As to proving who put it there, that's another issue entirely.
CHRIS CRAWFORD
The way the kid's computer was infected in the first place: He admitted to looking at Playboy pictures online and bringing a Playboy magazine to school. When he was online, somehow a person he didn't know was able to infect his computer leaving access to come back and store forbidden files.
The TV story mentioned the child pornographers knew they can't get caught with that stuff on their own computers so they store it on remote computers for viewing later. Tricky huh?
That boy had two lie detector tests and both were clean, his parents' attorney also had him tested for personality disorder of a child pornographer type. It still took two years to clear his name and ensure he wouldn't have to be a registered sex offender for Life.
The prosecutor was a total dickhead, unwilling to back down with a mountain of evidence to the contrary in the case. Unwilling to admit later that he went over the top. Jerk!
Sounds like another Nifong
As for the cyber child porn, our local DA's office used to have a fellow on staff who does "computer forensics," and he assured me that there are a myriad of ways to scrape information off your hard drive and system memory, even if you think you erased it.
Yeah, I'm sure he's top of the line in his job.
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