ET phoning home!

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by allenz, Dec 21, 2004.

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  1. allenz

    allenz Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2004
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    Hello
    This is my first time here so I don't know if this is the right forum to post this in or not.

    I have 2 computers networked together as I don't want my video editing computer on the internet anymore, after re-installing everything again.

    Now I notice my hub is showing activity from my editing computer. There's none on my little computer when I'm not on the internet.

    Those blinking indicator lights I think would tell me something is sending information from my computer without my knowledge or permission.

    Does anyone know how I can track down this culprit and get rid of it? Or is there another forum somewhere that deals with generalities like this?

    I have the same icons in my system tray on that computer that I have on my internet computer. But I shut down everything in the system tray, but I still see the indicatory lights flashing quite regurally.

    Thanks for any help.
    Allen
     
  2. Galcoolest

    Galcoolest Registered Member

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    San Francisco
  3. CrazyM

    CrazyM Firewall Expert

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Posts:
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    Location:
    BC, Canada
    Hi allenz

    ... and welcome to Wilders :)

    A firewall would help determine what network connections are being established.

    You could use something like Ethereal to see what network traffic is occurring on the system in question.

    A port mapper is an alternative as well, will show processes, but may be limited to what traffic it can monitor:
    Vision
    Active Ports
    Port Explorer

    Regards,

    CrazyM
     
  4. allenz

    allenz Registered Member

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    Dec 21, 2004
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    HI and thanks to boh of you. First I used to have Zone Alarm Pro but now with my DSL line I have a hardware firewall. Don't know much about it except how to get to the page that controlls it.

    I really liked Zone Alarm but I think I was told I had to get it out before instaling the hardware firewall. Maybe I should contact Zone Labs and ask them?

    How would I use the Hardware firewall to determine what network connections are being established then?

    Thanks
    Allen
     
  5. CrazyM

    CrazyM Firewall Expert

    Joined:
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    Posts:
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    Location:
    BC, Canada
    Puting a hardware device in place should not have required removing ZA. You can always reinstall your software firewall.

    Does it support logging?
    Keep in mind there could be normal network traffic on the LAN side you may be seeing that is not going out to the WAN side (Internet). That is where something like Ethereal would help.

    Regards,

    CrazyM
     
  6. allenz

    allenz Registered Member

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    Dec 21, 2004
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    Thank you very much. I really liked Zone Alarm especially because it also monitored outgoing traffic. I also talked to AZ today and also got an email on how to configure ZA to work with the hardware Firewall.

    I will download the Pro trial version which is good for 15 days just to see. If I have any problems I will post them here.

    Thanks again and Merry Christmas.
    Allen
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2004
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