Linux Dojo

(Do you already have a malware infection that you need help cleaning up??  If so, check out Sensei's article "Cleaning Up a Malware Infection", then come back here and learn how to prevent future infections.)

Malware in the form of "spyware", "adware", "trojans", "rootkits", "pop-ups", and the like have become as big a threat to computer systems as viruses, if not bigger. These softwares degrade the performance of your computers, your network, and your internet connection. They waste a business' money by siphoning computing and network resources, and employees' time; home users face a scylla and charibdes: spend lots of money on geeks who can fix it, invest lots of precious family and leisure time learning to do it yourself, or take drastic measures like "wiping and reinstalling", or replacing the computer.

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Some malwares can render a computer completely unusable, secretly allow remote access to hackers, or steal sensitive information from you, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Removing these malwares, and repairing the damage they do, can add up to hundreds (in many cases thousands) of dollars in consulting fees and lost productivity.

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so you would think this is where Sensei tells you all your problems will go away if you install good antivirus and malware protection.

Unfortunately, avoiding these softwares can be difficult - often the malware is designed to trick you into installing it, seduce you with nifty freebies, comes bundled with other legitimate software, or, in a few cases, silently and invisibly install without your knowledge when you visit a website.  On the other hand, often the antivirus and malware protection software and mechanisms you have installed and protecting your computer are just plain not very effective - one method commonly used is to ask you for your okay before any kind of sensitive operation is performed by your computer, but do you really know if it's okay to allow (or disallow for that matter!) "MK12EDJ.DLL" to run??  Ordinary users don't have any idea, and so they simply get into the habit of clicking "OK" whenever the question appears on their screen, thereby rendering their malware protection useless.  Even ninjas can be trapped in the malware maze - one day I was looking for a recipe to make hummus (ninjas love hummus!), and found on google a link to a how to video that looked really good.  When I went to the site, it notified me that to watch the video I had to install the video player codec (a small program that interprets and plays video formats).  I clicked okay, of course, and within seconds Sensei's computer was filled with pornography and barely usable.

To make matters even worse, the old grandaddies of virus protection software (I won't mention names, but I'm thinking of "the big 2" who have been around since the 80's), have ruined their products (and our computers) with bloated "Internet Security Suite" offerings that, even when you aren't infected by malware, consume so much of your computer's processing power and memory, that it is frustratingly slow and unusable anyway.

So, installing antivirus / antimalware software is no guarantee of safety and in some cases counter-productive.  So, how can you limit your risks??

1. The simplest way to avoid the threat of viruses and malware is to not use Microsoft Windows unless you have a true necessity for it in the first place.  Macintosh OSX, Ubuntu Linux, and others are great operating systems that are far more immune to malware and viruses than Windows, and are often cheaper to purchase and maintain than Windows workstations too!  Ubuntu Linux is free, runs well on almost any computer that Windows supports, and gets the job done for most business users, students, and home computer users.  The chances of getting harmed by malware on Ubuntu are so slim, that Ubuntu users typically don't even run antivirus or antimalware software.  Unless you are using a specialty software that only runs on Windows, Ubuntu will cover all your needs well, and almost always at no cost:

• MS Office replacement - office suite programs like word processors, spreadsheets, and desktop publishing are covered by the great OpenOffice.org;
• Internet surfing is no problem either: firefox and Google Chrome both run great on Linux
• Like to manage your email in Outlook or MS Mail?  Linux has several awesome email clients including the Outlook-like Evolution and Mozilla Thunderbird (from the makers of firefox).
• Linux has a solution for almost any other category of software, as well: GIMP is a good Photoshop replacement, PDF readers and instant messaging programs abound, and even some well known commercial programs like Adobe Acrobat and Skype work great on Linux.
• If you have a program you simply must use that is Windows-only, you may be able to run it on Linux anyway through WINE (a Windows-compatibility layer that can be added to Linux to allow many Windows programs to run natively in Linux), or in a Windows virtual machine (a way of running the whole Windows environment in a Linux desktop window).  Both WINE and the virtual machine software for Linux are free.

2. Use software and internet tools like OpenDNS, Squid Proxy, and Dan's Guardian, to block sources of malicious content on the internet from even getting into your computer in the first place.  A great side effect of this technique is that your internet will run much faster!  Sensei plans a future article on this topic, so stay tuned ninjas!

3. Where you must use Windows, here are some fundamentals which you can start practicing right now to protect your computer:

• use the "Automatic Update" and "Windows Update" to keep your Windows computer patched with the latest "critical updates" from Microsoft
• do not login as "Administrator" or under an account with administrator privileges, except to do computer maintenance
• password protect all accounts on all computers
• do not go to any website, or click on any link, unless you are familiar with, and trust the content there
• never install any software that is not necessary for you to effectively use your computer - Webshots, Comet Cursor, Incredimail, etc., are good examples of softwares that are not necessary for use of a computer, and which many experts consider spyware / adware / malware
• always have a light-weight, high-quality antimalware scanner running on all your Windows computers, and always keep them subscribed and updated with the latest malware definitions.  In an upcoming article I'll detail my picks.
• never use file sharing / file downloading programs such as kazaa, napster, and limewire
• for business users, remember: your work computer is a business tool, not a stereo, video player, painting, fish tank, or video game machine
• for students: remember: your computer is first and foremost an educational tool, not a stereo, video player, painting, fish tank, or video game machine

For further research, some sources of great information regarding malware and computer security include:

Related News

• 6/29/2004, Internet Storm Center: Yet another MS Internet Explorer malware discovered; steals banking information and passwords
• 6/29/2004, The Register: US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) recommends avoiding use of MS Internet Explorer after debacle of 6/25/2004
• 6/25/2004, slashdot.org: Severe Microsoft Internet Explorer security hole discovered - visiting some (unknown) popular websites will silently install keyboard-logging malware; there is currently no patch from Microsoft and this IE hole cannot be easily fixed! Try using Mozilla/Firefox, or Opera instead to avoid this threat.
• 6/17/04: Techweb Reports on just how afraid you should be. In short: "very". Also see this TechWeb report.

General Malware Information

• Christian Wagner's Spyware FAQ
• "Simply the Best's" Spyware Information Page
• Aluminum Studio's Spyware Information Page - includes information about Mircosoft's and Real Network's involvement in spyware
• Chicopee (Massachusetts) Public Schools - a long list of unnecessary software that you shouldn't install, as well as a general malware overview
• The Federal Trade Commision's Spyware Info Site - lots of information about spyware, plus you can lodge official spyware complaints here
• The Better Business Bureau's Advice on Cyber Security
• The Bazooka Online Encyclopedia of Malware - is Comet Cursor malware? Yes, according to Bazooka!
• Home PC Firewall Guide - a very comprehensive computer security information site

Anti-Malware and Related Softwares

• PC Magazine's review of popular anti-malware utilities
• SUPERAntiSpyware - good malware prevention and cleanup, that offers a free version
• Spybot Search & Destroy - free malware cleanup and prevention software
• Malwarebytes Antimalware - another good malware prevention and cleanup program, that offers a free version

Learn More About Linux

• linux.org - the semi-official linux home page
• linux.com - VA Software's linux site oriented to new users, and business oriented users
• Ubuntu Linux - my home user and workstation linux distribution of choice
• debian linux - my network-closet linux distribution of choice, completely volunteer operated
• Red Hat Linux - the first major commercial linux vendor; when people think "linux", they often mean "Red Hat"
• Novell - yep, that Novell; they have recently taken over the major linux distribution known as SuSE, as well as Ximian (a desktop software maker) and are fast becoming a major linux player