Hackers pose a constant threat to the Home PC.

If you've ever spent time just hanging around a big city's street, you may have noticed an interesting phenomenon: the car door handle flipper. He's the dude sauntering alongside a row of parked cars nonchalantly trying each door handle to see if it opens. He's looking for that promotion from urban nuisance to car thief. He's in no hurry and he doesn't discriminate between the cars. This is how computer hackers work as they search for access to someone's home computer.

Like the prospective car thief, hackers randomly and systematically scan machines on a network, like Road Runner's or Earthlink's for example, looking for a way in. The way in is one of the 65,535 ports that exist as a part of any machine's IP address. If nothing is holding these access points closed, the hacker knocks until a port answers. Nothing personal, the whole thing is automated, and the hacker is probably off doing his laundry or playing UNO with his little brother while his port-scanning script runs wild over the network you happen to be using.

“Lately, a number of worms and virus infections have, among other things, ‘listened' on a particular port, so that when scanned, the infected computer is able to be controlled remotely. Computers that have been hacked this way are said to have a ‘back door,' and are used to send spam and conduct internet attacks, among other things. What this means is that the computer is completely unsecured and readable from across the net,” explains Rob Noel , Client Services Manager for OASIS. It is frightening to think that your machine might be used for nefarious purposes, isn't it?

So what can you, the average user do? Stop using your computer immediately! No, I'm only kidding. In fact, I recommend you use your computer even more to do what Jeanne Smythe, Director of Director for Computing Policy for ITS Help, recommends: first, go to shareware.unc.edu and download a copy of Norton Antivirus for use on your home machine (see sidebar), then make sure your Windows Updates are, well, up to date, by going to www.windowsupdate.com and following the instructions there.

Next step is to consider a firewall for your home machine. Security on our campus is handled in an undisclosed, multilevel manner, but home users aren't so lucky. If you are running Windows XP at home, however, you may be luckier than most. Microsoft has rolled out a service pack for those running XP that includes a firewall with automatic monthly updates, free of charge to those running XP already. OASIS techs are currently evaluating this service pack on their own office and home machines, and so far the results have been positive.

But what if you're not running XP and still want a firewall? It's time to go shopping! Personally, I'd recommend taking a look at Norton's Internet Security (currently sold at UNC's Ram Shop). For less than $60 you can buy a utility that works well and plays nice with the antivirus software you're running. But those are just my two cents. Each user's machines and needs will be different.

Because firewalls can sometimes be so picky about where you go on the internet that they let you do the equivalent of driving to the end of your driveway and back, you may wish to opt for hiring a friendly tech person to configure a purchased firewall for you. Considering that this initial, modest expense will allow you to make online purchases, surf your favorite sites, conduct online banking and sleep well at night knowing that your computer's ports are battened down tight, it's a small price to pay.

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Related Information

What Antivirus Software is for me?

If you are a Windows user you will want to go to the Symantec Antivirus 9.0 download for Windows on UNC's Shareware page.

If you are a Mac user go to: Nortin Antivirus 9.0 Macintosh download on UNC's Shareware page.

Fun Stuff for Geeks

Alex Marzec Systems guy for OASIS recommends anyone interested in seeing whether they are adequately protected from hacks go to http://grc.com/ and check out that site's scanning utility, among many other powerful little scripts. Warning: this site was fun! I found out that my UNC machine excelled at keeping out intruders! When I asked Alex why my little laptop performed so well he said, “It takes a village to secure a computer” which is to say that it is by the concerted effort of UNC's security group, OASIS's networking management and ATN's infrastructure that our computers stay safe from evildoers.