Before starting this article I would like to share a story. This story was posted in The Washington Post on 4 March 1916 (page 6):
On the fifth floor of the apartment house at 203 West 130th street lives Miss Mable Godfrey. When she came to the house about seven months ago she brought Blackie, a cat of several years' experience of life.
The cat seldom left the apartment. He was a hearth cat, not a fence cat, and did not dearly love to sing. In other respects he was normal and hence curious.
Last Tuesday afternoon when Miss Godfrey was out Blackie skipped into the grate fireplace in a rear room. He had done this many times before. But he had not climbed up the flue to the chimney. This he did Tuesday. Blackie there remained, perched on the top of the screen separating the apartment flue from the main chimney, crying for assistance. Miss Godfrey, returning, tried to induce her pet to come down. If you are experienced in felinity, you know that Blackie didn't come down.
On Wednesday the cat, curiosity unsatisfied, tried to climb higher—and fell to the first floor. His cries could still be heard by Miss Godfrey; who, to effect Blackie's rescue, communicated with the following departments:
1. Police department.
2. Fire department.
3. Health department.
4. Building department.
5. Washington Heights court.
Among them they lowered a rope to Blackie. But it availed neither the cat nor them anything. Thursday morning, just before noon, a plumber opened the rear wall back of the chimney. Blackie was taken out. His fall had injured his back. Ten minutes later Blackie died. And so the saying “curiosity killed the cat”.
The cat seldom left the apartment. He was a hearth cat, not a fence cat, and did not dearly love to sing. In other respects he was normal and hence curious.
Last Tuesday afternoon when Miss Godfrey was out Blackie skipped into the grate fireplace in a rear room. He had done this many times before. But he had not climbed up the flue to the chimney. This he did Tuesday. Blackie there remained, perched on the top of the screen separating the apartment flue from the main chimney, crying for assistance. Miss Godfrey, returning, tried to induce her pet to come down. If you are experienced in felinity, you know that Blackie didn't come down.
On Wednesday the cat, curiosity unsatisfied, tried to climb higher—and fell to the first floor. His cries could still be heard by Miss Godfrey; who, to effect Blackie's rescue, communicated with the following departments:
1. Police department.
2. Fire department.
3. Health department.
4. Building department.
5. Washington Heights court.
Among them they lowered a rope to Blackie. But it availed neither the cat nor them anything. Thursday morning, just before noon, a plumber opened the rear wall back of the chimney. Blackie was taken out. His fall had injured his back. Ten minutes later Blackie died. And so the saying “curiosity killed the cat”.
Now most of you must be wondering as to what a cat is doing in a blog about laptop. Few of our dedicated readers might also go as far as to think that is he planning to cheat on his laptop for a cat. Let me make few things clear. First of all, I am not cheating on my laptop and second thing unfortunately the cat in the story is none other than me. Yes I am the cat who died of curiosity.
It was just another day when I was on my usual net surfing expedition. Exploring various areas made available on net. Get amazed like a school going kid, feeling chest puffed on finding something “cool”, as if I was the Vasco da Gama of internet. Novice would always be a novice after all. And in one of these explorations I came across a “website”. Trust me friends no one in the world could ever imagine the joy I had when I first discovered this site. It was like after wandering aimlessly in the desert of internet I finally came across my oasis. Imagine the happiness I had. But what is true of all good things happening to you was also applicable to this one. They all last for little time. Being a huge “movie buff” myself, I pounced on the website like a hungry hound who has just been offered a piece of bone. Piece, I have had an entire mass in here. Fingers started moving fast, off course for typing movie names! And the window popped-“downloading started”. It was as if oracle corporation had started distributing its commercial product for free (imagine all you data administrators there, what level of happiness you would experience). I was on that level!
Then one more window popped-“download completed”. Kudos! First download without searching for torrents of movies. Easy catch and that’s exactly where the cat was ambushed by the evil forces on net. I not only downloaded movie but also paid a price for it -- an easy malware installation on my laptop. All efforts that Mozilla puts to prevent such things gone to drain because of my curiosity. I was like Troy city being invaded by Trojan horse. No one to blame, but me for my misery. My privacy and security was compromised. Compromised! What a dreadful word to read. Yes, I was a sitting duck for all those poachers (hackers- ethical, unethical) who always aim at innocent victims like me. Innocent and me! What an expression that is to read. My laptop was near about to be labeled as another scrap. It was that bad people. And also it was one of those days when I stayed up all night long sitting beside my laptop praying to god that “spybot” saves my laptop. Spybot, an unsung hero of this story, another brilliant open source software. My savior, my god! Finally my laptop was recovered from those dreadful programs. And not to forget the contribution of my best buddy who happens to be a computer expert himself who brought this messiah, spybot, to me. Those were some of the worst moments of my life, watching spybot scanning my laptop. It was like a combing operation. Finally we found our villain. Captured, tortured and then deleted!
After the storm got settled, the Sherlock Holmes in me came to life. A full fledged investigation was started. I am just presenting a report of that investigation here. Here are some of the main sources of a malware attack:
Source (ezinearticles.com)
Music and movie downloading sites (my source of attack)
These sites normally force you to install special downloading software on your computer so that you can download files from them. These download managers are often bundled with spyware and are Trojan horses themselves, downloading tons of other spyware programs while you cheerfully download your illegal MP3's. They sometimes place tracking cookies on your PC to monitor your browsing habits and hijack your browser to make sure you return to their site or a site of a partner.
Software Piracy web sites
If you love using illegal software, cracks, serial numbers or license key generators (keygens) then you most probably had to remove some malware infections in the past after visiting one of these sites. Most of the people using these cracks are normally technical wizards and know how to disinfect their computers. Many of these sites do not only contain harmful scripts but also fake cracks and key generators, which are nothing else but malware. Some crack developers create a working crack but distribute it with spyware or a trojan horse to make your PC their slave.
Peer-to-peer file sharing programs and networks
The file sharing community is loaded with pirated software, music and movies. Is it not amazing that everywhere these guys make their appearance you also find spyware, viruses, Trojan horses and all kinds of malware? The client software is also often bundled with spyware (or adware as they call it).
The culprits discussed so far are those connected with illegal and indecent activities. People visiting these sites and using these services deserve getting infected with malware. These culprits are also some of the biggest sources of malware epidemics. What flows from the mouth, comes from within the heart. The same rule applies to your computer, those nasty little programs crawling inside your computer is the direct result of your own sinful actions and activities. Actually I liked this line so I kept it as it is from the original article.
Pop-up and pop-under advertisements
Another culprit that wants to catch you off guard. A pop-up window may appear out of the blue or a concealed pop-under window may load in the background without you even knowing it. These windows can start downloading malicious programs and install them on your computer. They can appear on any web site, not just illegal and other bad web sites. You can prevent these windows from opening by using a secure browser like Firefox, another great example of community work, with a built-in pop-up blocker.
Fake anti-virus and anti-spyware tools
You visit a legitimate looking web site and suddenly a banner appears telling you that your computer is infected with spyware. You can scan your computer with all the anti-spyware software in the world, over and over again until you are blue in the face, but that banner will keep telling you that your computer is infected with spyware. This is because it is a plain image banner. The site never does a scan of your computer; it is a fixed message that will display on any computer, no matter how clean it is. Simply put, it is a blatant lie! They want you to believe that your computer is infected and that only their software can remove this spyware. If you download and install their software you will only find that it is spyware itself. You may end up infecting a completely clean system with a dirty program.
A system scan is not a three second process; it takes time, so no scanner can tell you instantaneously that your system is infected with spyware. I do not believe in online scanners, rather use software with a good reputation, a local scan is much faster. Most online scanners are no online scanners at all; you actually download the whole scanning engine and end up doing a local scan anyway. A real scanner will tell you the name of the malware and its location on your hard drive, if it does not give you this information, then it is fake. Even if it gives you this information, it still does not mean that the software is legitimate.
Free games, screen savers, media players, etc.
No, not every free program comes bundled with spyware, but spyware (once again the developers prefer to call it adware, but it is still the same thing) is often the price you have to pay for the free software. It is normally a ploy to monitor your use of the program, to send the creators statistical data or to collect data about your online behavior in order to send you targeted ads. If you try to remove the spyware you normally render the main application useless. Read the EULA (End User License Agreement) very carefully before installing the application. But everyone knows that nobody reads those tedious, long license agreements, so use EULAlyzer by JavaCool Software to check for specific keywords and phrases that might reveal any spyware programs being installed or privacy breaching practices that may occur if you install the free software.
Malicious web pages with harmful scripts
You also get web pages containing malicious scripts, totally innocent looking web sites, like a site donating money for cancer. You go to their homepage and suddenly a script virus strikes your computer. This is what an anti-virus shield was made for, that unexpected attack. Firefox is also designed to prevent harmful scripts and browser hijackers from accessing the system and taking advantage of flaws and weak spots in your operating system.
E-mail
Virus worms spread themselves by forwarding a copy of the virus to all the contacts in your address book. Those contacts that are unaware of these worms will most likely open the e-mail and the file attached to it. But when you open a strange infected e-mail from an unknown sender, then you are guilty of double negligence. For the virus to be activated you need to open the e-mail and in most cases you need to deliberately open the file attachment too. By using a little common sense you will know that strange e-mails from unknown senders are dangerous, especially when they have executable attachments with file names ending with the "exe", "com", "bat" or "scr" extensions. Even dangerous e-mails from known, trustworthy contacts can easily be identified if the contents of the e-mail seem strange and out of character. By being careful and responsible when opening your e-mails, you will not only prevent your own computer from getting infected, but you will also prevent the worm from spreading any further.
After source let’s also look into some of the symptoms of malware attack:
Source (michaelhorowitz.com)
1. Your web browsing speed may be slow. Your computer, in general, may be slower that it was and may take much longer to start up than it used to.
2. It is likely Internet Explorer is modified. Your homepage and/or search page may be changed, new favorites that you didn't create may appear, a new toolbar may appear or you may end up at unknown web sites when you try to do a search.
3. To prevent you from undoing the browser modifications made by a malware program, some of them remove or disable the Internet Options from the Tools Menu and from the Control Panel. If you try to reset your home page and can't, it's likely due to malware. If you can't get to anti-virus or security web sites, but can get to other web sites, it's likely due to malware.
4. Adware will bombard you with pop-up ads. More malicious programs serve up a constant barrage of ads for pornographic web sites. That's on top of the pop-ups from the web sites you're viewing. If you see pop-up ads even when you are offline, it's due to malware.
5. Actual Spyware (as opposed to other malware) has to phone home to report what it found. If your firewall provides outbound protection you may see the 'phone call' and be able to stop it.
Malicious software may also shut down or disable your anti-virus program or your firewall program. It may prevent the normal activity of your anti-Spyware software. It may prevent you from accessing Task Manager or msconfig or regedit.
6. Adware programs may create new icons on the Windows desktop, task bar, or system tray. They may also create popup windows that you are unable to close. If your computer mysteriously dials the phone on its own, it may be infected with a porn dialing program.
Here’s a list of some of the softwares which can help you prevent or remove malwares:
Source (lifehacker.com)
3. ComboFix
5. HijackThis
And last but not the least, all my facebook loving friends, here’s a piece of warning for all you people. Please do not click on spam links. Of lately the one claiming who view’s your profile. It is just not possible to check such things, as facebook doesn’t provide such feature.
So as to finish the article – “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts (from the story of Troy)”, as this might be a trap for you. Because always remember “nothing comes for free!”
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