The Firewalls-and-Virus-Protection.com
   Security Alert News Reporter   

Some Highlights from TODAY'S TOPICS

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 ► Latest Virus Threats  reported thru Oct 1, 2005 by McAfee ,
US-CERT, Panda™ and other advisory services. (US-CERT is the operational arm
of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security)
 
   Full descriptions including virus characteristics, symptoms, aliases and removal instructions are available by clicking on the links. This virus alert is in addition to those posted in previous month's News Reporter issues. You can review previous Virus Alerts in the Archive files.
 

                                  
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Check out the Free Resources topic for more information and links to the HijackThis and CWSshredder trojan detection and removal resources.   
         
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This might shock you -  No. 1 Source of Identity Theft
In an article  by By Heather White, The Hollywood Buzz in Picit, she wrote:

About half of all identity theft is committed by close friends and relatives who gain access to the personal records in your home, office, wallet or pocketbook. They not only steal bills and credit cards, but also "LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT" documents and the identity that goes with it. That's the shocking conclusion of a new survey of 4,000 consumers, about 500 of whom were identity theft victims, that was conducted by Javelin Research and the Better Business Bureau for CheckFree Services Corp., Visa USA, and Wells Fargo Bank.
 
The most frequently cited sources of identity theft:

With just your name, Social Security number and birth date, identity thieves are often limited only by their creativity.

A few more dangers to watch out for —

 1. An Instant Messaging worm that masquerades as Apple Computer's iTunes applications and drops adware on infected PC's. The worm is reported to spread using AOL's Instant Messenger. Although it hasn't been reported as a fast spreading worm, it could easily infect those PC's that it does visit with spyware.

 2. Wireless networks are becoming more prevalent with the spread of broadband Internet access, and many consumers are not aware of how to configure their networks to avoid unauthorized access. 

Most new computers are equipped for wireless Internet access, and more and more people are opting for Wi-Fi in their homes. But as the networks become stronger and more prevalent, more of those signals are available outside the home of the subscriber, spilling over into neighbor's apartments, hallways and the street.

Trespassers to your wireless signal can steal a lot of information about you and use your signals for free. Be on the alert for suspicious activity of internet piggy-backers.
                             

►We post Kid Safe Sites, because like you, we care about the safety and security of our children and grandchildren...
...and to help parents, grandparents and guardians guide today's young internet surfers to safe sites. There are many other website creators who feel the same concerns and responsibility. These are just a few of their sites that we have personally reviewed and tested as safe for our Grandchildren. Check them out and share them with the young people you care about.
  Please note the 'AMBER ALERT" scrolling at the bottom of this table
  If you would like to help support the Code Amber project, please click here.

Reviews of Family Safe Sites
CRAYOLA	The Crayola website goes beyond being just for Kids with its sections for Parents and Educators, too.
	PBS Kids is a respected and trusted site. We would not hesitate to send our children and grandchildren there for entertainment and education, either.
	Our Firewalls-and-virus-protection.com website is Certified 'Family Safe' by the Institute of Family Safe Businesses.
Ask Jeeves for Kids	Enter your question here: Ask Jeeves is a trademark of Ask Jeeves, Inc., Copyright 1996-2000 Ask Jeeves, Inc. Ask Jeeves for Kids has great Study Tools, Fun and Games and News Resources,
Kid Safe Site from		A really cool Index to the Web for net Surfers ages 8 - 14.
	Check out the Kid Friendly pages HERE	and the Parent Friendly Links  HERE
	Your Site Support Supporting your Play Time with Kids for Kid approved activities that grownups love Click to visit Site
	We receive no compensation for displaying these links and you will be under No Obligation when you visit them. They are here because we care about the safety of everyone who uses the internet, especially our Kids.

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► Publications - Use these Reports to help your family and friends:
 
    . For those of you who have visited our Firewalls website and Security Alert Blog, you know that the information there is directed toward keeping you safe from hacker and cracker attacks. Additions to our bookshelf are selected with the same purpose - and we encourage you to share our reports freely. Don't miss the NEWest Free report

► Bookshelf and Special Report Alerts
	"23 CRITICAL ALERTS You Should Consider when Maintaining Your Computer Security and Protecting  Your Personal Safety" FREE Downloadable eReport for ALL Subscribers  to the Security Alert News Reporter    Already a Subscriber? CLICK HERE to request your Free copy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Protect Yourself and Family from Dangerous Chat Rooms and Instant Messages. If you use them, you and yours are the Hacker's newest targets.   Hackers are already taking advantage of problems with today's IM systems. People not familiar with these new threats could easily open a new, harmless looking IM message that pops up on their screen. With one well intentioned click of their mouse on a Hacker’s phony message, could get infected. It's no longer just the teen age Chat Room users that are in danger. Whole families are threatened   In case you missed this FREE report on the Firewalls-and-Virus-Protection website, you can read it here.  Please print the report and share it with your family, friends and associates. Help them avoid the hidden dangers and threats often buried in IM messages and of predators lurking in Chat Rooms.                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                            To Top
If you take your laptop computer with you on your travels, this interview with the Author of "Travel Cheap-Travel Well" contains tips and advice to help maintain your  Online Security while Traveling in the United States and Abroad. The author, Victor K Pryles, discusses computer security and offers first hand advice on maintaining personal safety while on the road, high seas and in the air. Click to read it here or Down Load it from this link and share this FREE 10 page report with the travelers you care about. (It's in eBook format; download in less than a minute and zip to open) DOWNLOAD HERE                                                  This is the book that prompted my interview with Victor Pryles. He included so many money saving Tips and Useful Resources that I sought his first hand advice on keeping my laptop free of bugs and stuff when traveling. There's so much more in his book, though, it would be impossible to describe it all here... but it's summarized on his web page where he describes everything he included, like --   all the travel hot spots, the unknown secrets, the special deals and comprehensive travel savvy, and a great deal more; knowledge that would take years to learn on your own. He put it all in one place --- in the "Travel Cheap - Travel Well!"- Confessions of A Traveling Pauper eBook.   I feel confident you'll find Victor's web page to be a  fascinating review in itself. Click here - it won't cost you anything to look.                                                ... Richard                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't get trapped by Rogue Anti-Spyware software     Trying a new anti-spyware program? Avoid being duped     or robbed by false positives.           "Rogue/Suspect" means that these products are of unknown,      questionable, or dubious value if used for anti-spyware      protection.      In case you missed this FREE report on the Firewalls-and- Virus-Protection website, you can read it here.  Please print the report and share it with your family, friends and associates. Help them avoid the hidden dangers and threats often buried in software programs that are supposed to clean up, not infect your computer.                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is Your Firewalls and Virus Protection Safe Enough? This FREE report will help you identify viruses, prepare for attacks and infections and guide you in their removal. It's a  9 page, easy reading guide that covers the threats we all face in our daily use of the internet. It's a basic education in understanding and Avoiding Virus Grief Down load it from this link (it's in PDF format):                          http://www.RichardPresents.com/safefirewall.zip The download includes a ReadMe page with instructions for unzipping and using your Acrobat Reader, and even a link to the Adobe website where you can get your own free Acrobat Reader if you don't already have one                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is a Keystroke Logger Being Used To Spy On You? Many of the tools and tricks in use today to spy on your internet activities are exposed in this 7 page report. This look into spyware will alert you to the ease in which your identity could be compromised, or stolen. Open the FREE report in a new webpage by clicking Are Keystroke Loggers Spying On You? (No downloading necessary, and you can print it right from your browser window.)                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Much Money would it cost you to regain the use of your computer after a serious virus infection? It cost one of our friends a whole lot of money, much aggravation and lost time, lost records, and a major inconvenience to recover from the havoc caused by the worms and viruses that had infiltrated their computer over a period of many months. In case you missed this FREE report on the Firewalls-and-Virus-Protection website, you can read it here. Our friends have recovered full use of their computer and now encourage everyone to learn from their experiences. Please print the report and share it with your family, friends and associates.                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's an Internet Glossary?       NEW!                                             Ours is FREE. It's an alphabetical list of dozens of the terms you'll find used in many of the articles and news reports that relate to the Internet. With our Glossary, you'll be able to decipher acronyms, like CGI, CSS, DSL, GIF, ISP, and more Do you know the difference between      Cookies and Crackers?      Firewalls and flame?      Internet and Intranet?      Surfing and Scrolling?         Get the answers from our FREE Internet Glossary.         Click HERE to Download yours                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                            To Top
There are a lot more Articles and Reports at the Firewalls and Virus Protection website. Look them over for the helpful 'keeping safe' info they contain. Our most recent library additions include                  PC Cleanup for Windows XP                  Viruses and Worms - The Problems and their Solutions                  Good Password Tips and Password Management                  Avoid Losing Data Files from your Recycle Bin                  Planning for Disaster Recovery -Protecting Your Data Files                  and visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website with its many publications relating to protecting the security of your family, both on the internet and off. They are FREE. You can go to their pages covering                    Consumer (family) Protection HERE.

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Browser Hijacking is still a major problem. One of the outstanding sources for information about browser hijackers and tools to remove these predators is still available on the SpywareInfo.com website.         It's loaded with powerful information and helpful advice that zeros in on the hijacking problem. If you are experiencing any similar problems, be sure to follow the link to their forum. There are literally thousands of postings from which you will learn and possibly find the advice that will help you resolve your own issues.        You can download HijackThis from the Software link on the SpywareInfo website. Be sure to read and follow their instructions to the letter if you want good results.                 We learned about this program from the extraordinary website and forums built and maintained by James Healan, webmaster of SpywareInfo.com.

DOWNLOAD latest cws shredder  which is now a part of Trend Micro http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html  It'll find and remove those nasty Cool Web Search trojan horses.

To Top  Here's a powerful, inexpensive, and helpful resource Did you know that popular, everyday gadget items like MP3 music players (Apple iPod for example) and digital cameras can "walk" your precious data and records off your premises, right under your unsuspecting nose? In The Hacker's Nightmare™ the danger is fully explained and an inexpensive, easily-implemented solution offered. You'll learn the dangers and the means of prevention. ...and Did you know that your home garbage bin and your office dumpster are gold mines of information to the hacker and the identity thief? In The Hacker's Nightmare™ a retired FBI Special Agent will tell you exactly what he — or anyone else who knows the tricks — can do with your refuse.   Hackers, virus and spyware writers and other unethical persons are becoming more and more sophisticated every day. Their attacks and the undesirable and often dangerous stuff they sneak into our computers slow them down, and threaten our personal lives with increasing severity.   Ever since I found the eBook, "The Hacker's Nightmare" that tells how to really Keep Hackers, Worms and Germs out of my PCs, it has received my highest recommendation to family and friends. It's my Computer Security Bible.       Bill Hely, 20 plus year veteran of internet security consulting. has loaded it with valuable information and  plain common sense. We could fill this and future issues of our News Reporter for the next few months just talking about them.       Bill has designed a webpage that describes many of the security tricks and tools that will help keep that nasty stuff out of your computer. Review The Hacker's Nightmare Story HERE. Some sample (Free) chapters are available to early visitors.   Among the testimonials Bill received recently--  Just one chapter solved a severe problem for this reader:   "... loved it, it's the first computer related thing I've read that makes sense to me as an IT illiterate — can't wait to read the whole book!"                                                           Lucy Fisher - Exec. Director                                                           Private Hospitals' Assoc. (Qld)                                                           Brisbane, Australia   and here's My Favorite Resource                     i-Cop is a resource I'm proud to be a part of.   You have probably noticed the various references to it throughout this newsletter, the Firewalls and Virus Protection website and my Blog.   It's the International Council of Online Professionals, i-Cop for short. I believe anyone actively using the internet to provide information, services or sell products will benefit by subscribing to i-Cop's publication - The Internet Marketing Trade Journal. It truly sets the standard for Honesty and Integrity Online. I'm proud to be a member.   This FREE ezine is vitally important to online business owners and anyone even considering making money online! We keep folks informed about all online issues and programs to participate in, or avoid. Subscribe to The Internet Marketing Trade Journal here:: http://www.i-Cop.org/trade-journal.htm                  ...Richard i-Cop members are helping the survivors of the Katrina Tragedy here. Will you join us? However you do it, please open your hearts and help. http://www.katrina-long-term-relief.com/         thank you, Richard

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In a recent release of the news at CNet Networks, I read that

A sweeping U.S. Senate measure that would stiffen security requirements and penalties for so-called personal data brokers could go to committee for a vote in early October, 2005,

In June, Sen. Arlen Specter, (Republican, PA), and Sen. Patrick Leahy, (Democrat, VT) introduced the "Personal Data Security and Privacy Act" as part of a governmental reaction directed at a series of security lapses by big-name companies such as ChoicePoint, Bank of America and Visa.

Tough criminal penalties--including up to five years in prison for concealing security breaches involving sensitive personal information and economic damage to even one person--could result from this legislation.

Among other things, the bill would require that, on discovering a personal data breach, any agency or business entity that "uses, accesses, transmits, stores, disposes of or collects sensitive personally identifiable information" notify any U.S. resident whose data was subject to the intrusion "without unreasonable delay."

 
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Anti-Spyware Suits are cause for Adware companies to reconsider many of their software installation methods

Robert Gettleman, a District Court judge recently issued a preliminary order to allow one of two Class Action cases against two companies facing allegations of installing online tracking software to proceed to trial.

Many Anti-spyware proponents believe the tide has shifted dramatically in favor of exasperated computer users in the legal battles against the non-consensual installation of adware and spyware programs.

The issue involves a pair of purported class action complaints against Direct Revenue and 180Solutions, the two companies facing allegations of installing online tracking software through security holes and making it virtually impossible for computer users to remove the unwanted programs.

No doubt, it will take some time for final resolution, but in the meantime, there's comfort in the knowledge that real action is underway to help us computer users.

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Senators Specter and Leahy each get our September 'Good Guys' check marks√
    and another goes to District Court judge, Robert Gettleman √    
'Good Guy Check Marks' to date ) √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √(See Archives)
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► "User Education" is the focus of our Firewalls and Virus Protection website and the "Security Alert News Reporter".  
 
Are your IM and Chat Room Buddies alert to the growing Instant Messaging and Phishing threats?  In case you missed this FREE report on the Firewalls-and-Virus-Protection website, you can read it here.  Please print the report and share it with your family, friends and associates.
        
As a P.S. to the above comment, encourage your friends to check out our  "Security Alert Blog". The most recent Blog entries include these helpful and timely posts:

●	Finding answers to your questions when you're not sure about where to go for help
●	Helping the Victims and Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina  and Rita
●	Warning for Children - The hidden dangers of Dust Off !
●	Add our information blog to your list of Must Read spyware avoidance resources. The more useful information you have about the scourge of malicious spyware, the better chance you'll have of avoiding he grief and frustration it can bring.
●	Our blog is RSS friendly

There are dozens more posts available in the Blog Archives. Read our Blog Posts HERE. I urge you to Comment, Challenge and add your own opinions to ours.

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? ►	How can I tell if my computer is infected? It freezes up a lot and some of my programs aren't working right.                                                from JPS, (age 12) in Pennsylvania
A ►	1. The first thing to do is scan your computer for a virus. If you already have an anti-virus program installed, update it before scanning. (You need your internet connection open to do this).   2. If your don't have an anti-virus program, go back and get the free one from the AVG link shown earlier in this newsletter.   3. Do you have a firewall? If you do, update it, too. If not, be sure to add one to your computer. Click to download Zone Alarm's Free Top Rated Firewall . 4. Next, scan for spyware. You can download the Free Adaware program if you don't already have anti-spyware on your computer now. It's a good idea to have at least two anti-spyware programs because there are so many bad pests that it takes more than one spyware finder to discover them all.   5. To combat all future virus and spyware problems, keep your Internet security software up-to-date, be careful exchanging software games with your friends, be real cool when chatting online and don't click on anything that looks strange or unusual.

         Thank you, young JPS. Your question is one that many people have,
        and just by asking it, you have helped them, too.    .....Richard

       With your permission, we'll publish your questions and answers in future 
       issues of the "NewsReporter".
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  Sharing ? If you have the opportunity to help family members, associates, or friends by sharing any of the information in this "News Reporter", please suggest that they subscribe for their own personal copy.

  They can subscribe here and we'll never share their information with third parties.

  If your friends are hesitant or uncertain about the benefits of visiting with us,
suggest that they review the help that's readily available at our one page summary of the Online Security Consideration and Protective Tactics that are designed to keep them safe on the Internet. They Can Check out these Considerations HERE.


 
And finally for this issue, we hope you can take our one minute mini- survey (We'll give you a nifty and entertaining Free eBook on Coping With Your Stresses for your time) and visit our Blog Pages, read our postings and contact us with your comments and opinions.

Everything you have to offer will help us do a better job of helping you.
 Thank you. ...Richard
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As promised in our first issue, we aren't going to stuff your mail box with un-ending mailings every day, week, or whenever. When there's important news about the topics we've noted, we'll let you know, usually monthly. 
To avoid unwanted and unnecessary filtering of our messages, we will send a very brief text email to you. It will have a link to this News Reporter and an un-subscribe link. The email subject line will identify the contents as "Latest Security Alert News Reporter - Issue ##" and the email "FROM" address will be "richard@richardpresents.com"

                                                      
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