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A Message to Cable/DSL Users

Your system may be at risk from crackers.

High-Speed Always-On connections can be devastating if abused, please help us to help you enjoy your experience on DALnet by taking the time to ensure your system can't be used to abuse others.

Cable & DSL technologies are unique in that they provide a high-speed, always on connection to a home PC. It's this speed and the always-on nature of Cable/DSL technologies that attracts crackers. If you aren't careful, they can take control of your machine remotely, steal your data and even use your PC to conduct devastating attacks on other machines - all without your knowlege. We here at the exploits team see the results of this kind of 'hijacking' every day. Systems are compromised, users nicknames, passwords and other personal data are stolen and their bandwith sapped to carry out attacks. All too often the ISP's of such unlucky users refuse to belive that the machine was compromised and place the blame firmly at the door of their subscriber, disconnecting or restricting their service.

We're doing what we can to control the problem on DALnet but we need your help. Every trojanised PC is a potential gateway for someone to attack the network with, and they are using them. More and more attacks are being launched from compromised machines and it's very difficult if not impossible for us to trace the true source. It's easy and quick to find & remove most trojans, we've provided links below to some packages that are of help. Please help us to help you, take a couple of minutes and check your system over. At worst, you've wasted 5 minutes, at best you've saved yourself the hassle and potential costs of a system compromise.

The 10 Minute System Security Check.

First, make sure the system is clean. Download & run a Trojan Scanner - this will detect and remove trojans from any Windows system. The freeware scanner Swat-It from Lockdown Corp. is probably the most up to date currently available.

Next, update your virus scanner and run a full scan. These detect most trojans and stop them being installed, they'll also protect you from numerous other viruses you might accidentally pick up. They do need to be updated regularly so visit the manufacturer's homepage and get yours updated.

Mcafee : http://www.mcafee.com
Norton : http://www.norton.com
AVP/Central Command : http://www.avp.ru
Trend Micro : http://www.antivirus.com

Now, close any 'open doors' on your machine. Pay a visit to http://www.grc.com and test your system - you'll probably find NETBIOS ports open which can be used to attack your pc. There's instructions there on how to close this gaping hole.

Finally, consider a desktop firewall. These prevent people accessing your PC over the internet without your permission and installing trojans. There's a listing and review of what they are, how they work and which one's are good, bad or plain useless on http://grc.com/su-firewalls.htm
We recommend Tiny Personal Firewall, free for personal use from www.tinysoftware.com for it's ease of use, security and stability.

Thanks for your time, your system should now be free of trojans & viruses and should hopefully stay that way.

DALnet's Exploits Team.