Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poddubny]

maybe a stupid question but can someone in the know clue me in here? if someone has my ip address, can they hack into my computer? easily?

let me provide a few details. i post at the espn sportsnation forums. i have been engaged in a heated fued with a certain troll there who claims to have my ip addy. sorry, but i have no clue what that does. should i be worried?

[wylde]

who is your isp?

[jazblanc77]

Start running a firewall and quick. If someone has your IP and your computer is not protected properly, yes, it is entirely possible that someone could hack your computer if they know what they are doing.

[wylde]

[the saint]

Go to your control panel, open Network connections. Right click over your LAN connection and click on Repair.

If you have a dynamic IP, I believe this will change it.

If not, I have no idea...

edited because I forgot to mention that this is WinXP...

[The King of Kwangju]

[jazblanc77]

[The King of Kwangju]

Ok, good point, although keep in mind I'm far from an expert.

Zone Alarm seems fine if you're just trying to ward off a bot - a script sent out to sniff computers - any computers - and find a way in. But a half-decent, dedicated hacker who is specifically trying to break into your computer can get around Zone Alarm easily enough, so it's pretty much useless for this.

Norton's firewall is much better. I've never seen anyone crack through it, personally.

[Demophobe]

Sygate Tiny personal firewall. Really blows away Norton just based on size. Norton may be good, but Sygate is free and still very, very strong. Norton is bloated anyways...a resource hog that people with a 3.0+Ghz cpu and a gig of RAM never notice, but on a lesser machine, it will eat it alive.

I use Zonealarm Pro ver.5 and I feel as safe as anyone. In tandem with the mediocre WinXP firewall and it's a tough one to crack.

Still, the absolute best firewall is the power switch on my modem, coupled with a realtime network monitor.

[Bulsajo]

Routers have built-in firmware firewalls, and you can get a (non-wireless) router probably for the same price or less than buying a software firewall.

Just another option is all I'm saying.

I have a D-link router and Zone Alarm.

[Gollum]

Unless it's been disabled recently, the mods can see your IP address posted right along with your name.

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

....

[turtlepi1]

Every computer you attach to knows your IP address.
Visit a website they have it....(and yes there are active scans as well.)

Internet wouldn't be much good if people couldn't know your address.

The real issue as people have pointed out is "is your system secure..."

I was a network engineer for 6 years and I didn't have so much as a virus scanner on my home computer...It comes down to what is important for you to protect and then seek out a level you are comfortable with...

And surprisingly enough no virii in that time...since moving to Korea I installed Norton Antivirus on my laptop and have had several MAJOR compatibility issues...more specifically the Norton updates screwed up my other programs when it did a software update.

Every level of security you add affects the usability in some manner.

[agraham]

Hey OP:

I have one piece of advice for you: make your Windows password something non-obvious.

I have a super-lax approach to security. I have never installed an anti-virus program or a firewall. Despite that I have _never_ gotten a single virus or been hacked.

Except once.

It's kind of embarassing to admit, but I had my Windows password set to "password". I knew, but failed to appreciate, that under the default settings of your vanilla Windows installation, anyone on the Internet who knows your Windows password can log in as you and do anything they want on your computer.

A firewall may have protected me, but so would having a proper Windows password or disabling logins from the network.

I found out what had happened when I ran of harddrive space. I found a secret folder in my Windows folder that had lots of dirty movies. My computer was being used as an FTP server and IRC bot. Not that I'm opposed to dirty movies, but I like to for me the one who decides what dirty movies go where.

So, if you're running Windows 2000, go to Settings, Control Panel, Users and Passwords, then click on each "User Name" and hit "Set Password". Make the password something that isn't in the dictionary, not the same as the username, not blank, not a word with "123" or "abc" tacked on the end or something silly like that.

There are programs scanning the internet that will try to log in to your computer using hundreds of likely passwords. After I got hacked I downloaded the one that was likely used on me (it's called "X-Scan") and ran it on my ISP in Vancouver. I easily logged in to several computers in my neighborhood.

After your done with this, I suggest you also go to http://www.grc.com/default.htm and click on "Sheilds Up". It will check for some common security holes.

[Keepongoing]

when I run shields up it tells me my FTP Port 25 and a DNS Port is open and my Firewall (McAfee) does not show this. I dn not know how to make these ports stealth?? Any help