Customers squeezed as ISPs pull trigger on viruses

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Tell them to stop installing and running Kazza

Or some other piece of scumware that kills or bypasses AV and firewall tasks in order to work. If they're getting re-infected like this it points to something that is disabling security, either the user themselves, some scumware, or a combination of the two. Finding out how this is happening is the key in order to prevent it from continuing to happen. I'd guess that they have one or more programs, such as a P2P program or 'browser helper' installed that aren't considered a virus by AV companies but leave them vulnerable to exploitation. Get rid of these programs (which can be a chore in some cases) and tell them if they want an infection free system to refrain from using them again.

Once you've done that, secure the system. The best thing they can do is switch to using Mozilla/Firefox. If they insist on or have to run IE and Outlook, get all of the security updates and then disable ActiveX (or run prompted) in the Internet Zone and disable all scripting in the Restricted Zone. Google for and install IESPYAD and Spyblocker to prevent installation of hijackers. Get the Sun Java VM and ditch the buggy and unsupported MS one. Set Outlook to view all mail as text and to restrict executable attachments and, as an extra precaution, make sure the security zone for Outlook is Restricted, not the old default of Internet zone (this simple change has prevented the auto-run in the preview window situation for at least 4 years now). Get a HOSTS file that will block access to scummy sites. Do this even if you go the Mozilla route since this will block aggressive adware. Then you might want to consider a personal firewall if they aren't being screened at the server side at all times as well as a registry and process protection (most AV and firewall programs don't do this).

These steps won't necessarily prevent them from being re-infected but they'll have to click "YES" on a lot of prompts telling them not to do it in order to pull it off.

Posted by: jfrankcarr   Posted on: 03/18/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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