Security Threat from Spyware

Discussion in 'Trojan Defence Suite' started by nitin, Oct 12, 2003.

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  1. nitin

    nitin Registered Member

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    I am sure, that what I am going to write hereunder, is nothing new and I am sure that, you may have same feeling as I have expressed here. But, I feel that, the topic is important and even at the cost of repeatation, I am going to express myself again.

    After Sept, 11 many company have come out with spywares, which threatens your very right of privacy and confidentiality. There has been rampat use of these kind of softwares by employers, wives, cops, Government and God knows who. Your right to privacy and confidentiality is violated. Beleive me, when I use my computer, I feel very exposed. Who knows that, every word I type is being read by a hacker.

    I understand that, there are now programs available, which work silently in your computer tracking down your every keystroke, move, webpages you visited mails and what have you. These programs can be remotely installed and the information about your activities are sent to the installer silently. These programs have a very familiar names ,( you might think that, it is a Operating System file) so that you would not suspect that they are spywares, that is, if you are able to locate these programs or files running on your computer in the first place. Worse, they are password protected and can not be deleted. If you delete it, they have capacity to re-write on your computer again or can be remotely reinstalled again, this time with a changed name. If you detect one, they again reappear with changed codes and changed names, again to infect your system.I have come to know of such a spy ware, which is beng sold, which takes a kind of a movie of your activity on computer. At present, every few minutes, my floppy drive light lights up and so does HDD light. I am suspecting that, there is a program working on my computer right now, as I am writing to you, taking snap shot of all my activities.

    Somehow, after Sept, 11, these programs have got a kind of legitimacy. It's OK to use them and invade anyone's privacy. Since, most of us work and play electronically most of the time, we are at the mercy of these invaders. Look at the cost- Businesses are affected, relationships are lost,financial losses and social cost.

    I may be repeating what others might have already said and must have been discussed in this forum number of time. But, this topic can not be over emphasised.

    Havng said,what I have to, my question is Is TDS-3 program gives me sufficient protection against my fears expressed above ?
    I would welcome any comments from useers of this product and it's manufacturers.

    Thank you,

    Nitin Shah
     
  2. spy1

    spy1 Registered Member

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    Nitin - You're talking about keyloggers, I presume.

    Yes, TDS protects you against some of the keyloggers out there - you can see this by clicking on "Help"/"Primary List" on the main TDS screen and then scrolling down the resulting list until you get to the "K" section.

    Personally, I use a keylogger-specific program (not a free one) called SpyCop (http://www.spycop.com/) for keylogger detection, although there are several other good ones - you might want to try a trial version of one of these to see what - if anything - you've got:

    Anti-keylogger - http://www.simtel.net/product.php?u...duct_page=58983

    Who'sWatchingMe - http://www.trapware.com/ProductsDownload.html

    You might also want to d/l and learn to use SystemSafetyMonitor ( http://maxcomputing.narod.ru/ssme.html?lang=en ) and really learn how to USE it.

    And, if you'll read this story http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33320.html , you'll see yet another reason why anti-keylogging programs are absolutely vital .

    HTH Pete
     
  3. Pilli

    Pilli Registered Member

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    Hello Nitin, TDS3 does protect against many hundreds of Keyloggers but is more dedicated Trojan scanner & killer with many ways of detecting Trojans + lots of other useful utilities.

    I'm sure others will guide you to many spyware solutions, you can start by looking through the Privacy sections and also Javacool's great spyware blasting tools elsewhere on these forums.

    I do not think that I would trust one single application to cath & neutralise the many malware products that are to be found on the Web.

    HTH Pilli
     
  4. beetlejuice

    beetlejuice Registered Member

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    :) Hi nitin. you might want to take a look at a program called Pestpatrol. It has a program that looks specifically for keyloggers. www.pestpatrol.com
     
  5. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Think TDS detects more, honestly said BJ!
     
  6. Hank

    Hank Registered Member

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    Personally, I use a keylogger-specific program (not a free one) called SpyCop (http://www.spycop.com/) for keylogger detection, although there are several other good ones .......

    HTH Pete
    Hmm,

    this posting made me nervous - nervous as we all paranoids are :D

    SpyCop has no featured tour and no trial - is it worth paying 50 bucks ?

    If yes : why ?

    Any screens or hints anyway ?

    Thanks,

    Hank

    Om my machine:

    TDS-3
    WormGuard
    AdawarePlus
    Spybot
    SpyBlocker
    NOD32 2
    SpywareBlaster
    etc.


    Perhaps you have now a suggestion what I call paranoid...... :p
     
  7. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Port Explorer -- not paranoid but gives you real time overview what is connecting etc.
    With all blockage and killing of sockets and processes options and spying on data packets, etc.
     
  8. Hank

    Hank Registered Member

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    Well Jooske,

    my english could be better - it seems so......
    As convinced DiamondCS-Monster-Fan you don't have to tell me
    anything about PE like you did.

    Perhaps I should write like Mr.Blaze.There is more place for any
    interpretation :D

    Hank
     
  9. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Sorry?
     
  10. spy1

    spy1 Registered Member

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    Hank - Port Explorer is also good to have (I have it myself). Of course, you have to do all the interpretation of its' results yourself.

    A SpyCop scan, to me, is pretty definitive because it's so focused and automatic - at the end of the scan, you either find out you have a keylogger, or you don't - period. That made it worth $50 to me.

    There is a trial version of SpyCop - whether you choose to use it or not is up to you (I don't think it really accomplishes much in the way of showing you the programs worth, though, since it's a pretty restricted version of the full program).

    And, there are screenshots available - http://spycop.com/scmanual.htm (click the "Learn more" link on the first link I gave above).

    HTH Pete
     
  11. Hank

    Hank Registered Member

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    @ Jooske :

    sorry - it was definetely my fault.Sometimes a one to one-translation
    makes no sense in the end - because you are loosing something between
    the lines which is not possible to translate
    To explain a joke means: it was obviously no joke - or not a good one.
    I repeat: My fault. Don't think about it.....

    @Pete:

    Thanks for your information.You are absolutely right. The question within the
    question was : does the program what it was created for ? Should be normal
    but it is not - in a lot of cases.
    Regarding your answer the program is ok.

    Well, I like PE - and all the other very good programs from DiamondCS.
    Your answer and the answer of Jooske let me think that I was too stupid yesterday to say what I wanted to say.
    I should take some further english lessons.....

    Thanks to You and Jooske.

    Hank
     
  12. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    ... And you've seen Wayne mentioning a new program out this month which is absolutely a must. Just wondering which of the several being tested at the moment will be first :D


    There is no need to feel bad for language struggle as there are many people who can translate things; just put it in your own words and there comes always somebody by to translate it as properly as possible.
    English is not my first language either.
     
  13. beetlejuice

    beetlejuice Registered Member

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    :DJooski, can you give us a hint? Pretty please? :D
     
  14. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Yes of course i can, it's another nice one from the DCS stable, an absolutely must have and making people really happy, as Wayne wrote in another thread, before any of the TDS-4 families will be there for beta-testing.
    Sooooooooooooo keep watching the skies or under our feet (it is down yunder!) and any special signs in the forums here and over at DCS and make sure not to miss it!
     
  15. Pilli

    Pilli Registered Member

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    Jooske, That was far to cryptic even for me :D
     
  16. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Is it? Ohhhh yeah, studied Wayne's ehh .. descriptions here carefully to find any more hints, but the world has to wait.
    Do you mean it seems to show off i finally learned to deal a bit with the easier cryptograms in the newspapers?
    We notice with each DCS program the world never looks like it seemed before.
    The student about the internet and workgroups in another part in the forums better just looks at what's going on at DCS to understand some items of that i guess, as it's really renewing, to say it softly.
     
  17. beetlejuice

    beetlejuice Registered Member

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    Oops. o_O Sorry about mispelling your name Jooske. I guess I was thinking about you swooshing down the slopes. I wasn't putting down TDS-3. I use both TDS-3 and PestPatrol. Both are great AT's and I personally like to have a certain amount of redundancy. Better to have :Dtoo much protection :D than not enough. :D
     
  18. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    It's always good to guard the processes on your system in the best ways, so i wouldn't call it redundancy in all cases but second or third opinions. And you don't need to have all active all together all the time of course.
    You can understand we leave it all up to Wayne to decide when it's time to unveil more and when which program is ready for the countless fans.
     
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