comcast with caution

***this is not a rant..just facts***


as a new user of comcast I am discovering some rather enloghtening facts.

first....although placed in the trusted zone..the comcast home page was actuall still in the internet zone.....

being rather curious..or stupid...I decided to enable java and activeX in the internet zone to see what would result.....well then the comcast homepage fully loaded...an lo and behold.....right there on the comcast homepage is a pre-config feature....that allows comcast TO USE A PERSON'S COMPUTER FOR STORAGE...........also: TO RECORD SOUND FROM A PERSON's COMPUTER...also: TO USE A PERSON'S CAMERA IF ONE IS INSTALLED.
remember...this is pre-config......in my case the settings were active......which I quickly dis-abled. I should also mention that I very briefly dis-abled my firewall just to investigate....(had other protection and settings to prevent "some" exploits)
so..if a newbes is not awear of these circumstances..the newbes is wide open....in all fairness I have no idea what the "features" mention would actually do.......nevertheless...storage...recording of sound...hey thats super bad stuff!!! can comcast record whats being said in a room with people talking?? it would appear that way......an take pictures......oh my gosh...!!

please..anyone..please feel totally free to correct any statement made here if it is in-correct....in this case I would welcome being wrong.....cause if right..there are lots of users who may have a serious privacy violation..of the worse kind.........there are trojans that record sound...an those things are nasty........now I'll check for keyloggers....

snowman

 

**further note**

again in due fairness.....my first thoughts were the the "features" mention were related to multi-media....then upon further consideration concluded that such features were not need for that purpose........every computer can store its own multi-media files etc......can store wave files..etc......no extra features are need......an certainly not to record sound.
comments welcomed

snowman

 

Post your findings to the Comcast Users Union Website (anonymously if you prefer). At least, that way some of the Comcast users would be alerted. It would help a lot of people to make more informed choices about how they use Comcast (if they have no other options)! Caveat emptor is most very true with Comcast. They give me a creepy X-Files kind of feeling.

http://www.comcastusers.org/
Welcome to the Comcast Users Union Home Page!
The Comcast Users Union Website. The INDEPENDENT source of information for customers of Comcast Internet, Cable TV and Cellular Phone businesses.

 

Prince

well check this out.....was trying to post a reply to you awhile ago......got hit with a dos attack....an suddenly big changes.....I had it so the comcast homepage would not load.....will it does now!! but the real mystery...my proxy is set to not allow comcast........huh...huh..huh
so again the question..what am I connecting to??


thanks for the link....will visit there in awhile......I am amased at how arrogant the spy-guys have become....a person pays hard earned money just to be spied on by the internet provider.......more amasing is that the snakes don't realize that eventually they will lost customers....surely personal information can't bring that much revenue so as to off set lost of customer base........an comcast purchased AT&T.........oh this should be most interesting....

snowman

 

Do a full system scan with TDS on highest sensitivety immediately (if you don't have it yet, get a trial download at www.diamondcs.com.au, after installing go back for the update of the references and do that scan; if assistence needed with configuration please ask) and you might like to look with PestPatrol too www.safersite.com which finds nastiesw which are not always exactly trojans or worms.
You're right about the recording viruses, there are several. Do you remember the used ports maybe to give some indication what to look for?

For your initial installation problems i can tell you many people who for instance use ZoneAlarm better uninstall it during installation and configuration of among others network cards and DSL, to install it again afterwards. This is caused by the true vector in the software blocking some other software from proper installation. Might be the same with other services like your Comcast. I'm not familiar with that one, not living in US.
You said in the other thread "don't ask" but i think your experience on security matters can be shared where you find appropriate.
Our country is the most phone tapped in the world, so we would not be surprised our ISPs tapping all data traffic as well and filtering it to advertisers for instance, but on the other hand we have something like privacy laws which would forbid collection just like that and certainly for such uses. Can imagine they would sell statistics without personal data for instance. I don't know, just guessing.

The storage on your computer reminds me on something vague at the moment....... didn't that discussion come with the kazaa expected take over of all connected computers too?

 

Jooske

hi...thank you for taking of your time to reply.....I may have been un-clear in my posts......my computer itself is clean.........the comments about the "sound recording" camera and storage.....all is associated with comcast.....its comcast wanting to do this........an the feature is enabled automatically....so unless a user dis-ables it.......well I can't for certain say what the results would be.........to me its outragous to ask a user if sound could be recorded....I first thought they ment recording music...but no...there would be no need for that "extra" feature being enabled....its already on a computer......this entire issue is comcast........my computer is protected..as much as possible.......
your kind offer to help me config TDS is most appreciated.......I did scan for trojans...viruses.....not with a product as excellent as TDS......however..enough to have caught any nastie.....have prevented at least 20 known trojan scripts from executing....jammed a couple of udp ports ...137..138... these ports were already closed but I jammed them anyways. still have no e mail..can't login to change password to a secure one...comcast tech support wont co-operate...they could change it at the server then I could simply make the new changes on my end....no go.......but hey none of this bothers me...its a learning experience.....for the moment anyway...later it may upset me.......I have comcast on a leash to some extent.....my cable connection suddenly freezes on occassion....wonder why...
in a few days I will get another internet provider....

snowman

 

We've been looking at some suspicious software installed by comcast, charter, adelphia, and several others for a little while now. There's two software packages that come with the software these ISPs distribute to new customers, Broadjump and Support.com.
We haven't torn it apart yet, but so far it looks like a way to deliver ads from the ISP to the customer via this software, same as any crapware like savenow or gator.

 

Mike

hey ....hope you are doing well........Mike this is a company that bears serious monitoring.
after several discussions with their tech support.....was advised that to use their e mail or login to member services....a person cannot use any type of proxy...FE: proxy....webwasher..etc..
a cookie is dropped the moment a connection is made if the Homepage is comcast (prior to sign-up I was specifically told that no cookies were use) they also use activeX and CSS..........with macromedia working in the background.
one rather odd note......just for the heck of it I wanted to see just how much security would need to be dis-able on my pc in order to login to a mail account.......well..I never was able to login..........with everything removed but the firewall..........cookies and scripts allowed....no login.
there seem to be something "transparent" involded.....

snowman

 

During my work as a mod at Outpost Forum, I have been made aware of strange goings on with Comcast. Specifics, I don't remember, just get some wierd problems from time to time with them.
I saw the X word though and had to add my two cents. I would never allow activex to be used on my computer. I got nailed by one too many websites before and learned my lesson. Talk about giving someone else permission to use your computer, that's what activex is.