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Re: [OM] (OM) Computers

Subject: Re: [OM] (OM) Computers
From: "philippe.amard" <philippe.amard@xxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:06:33 +0100
You must be right Wayne.
But I don't know where I should feel concerned as I don't own a  
computer ...

Back to photography?

Amities
Philippe

Le 25 févr. 14 à 15:48, WayneS a écrit :

> 3 cents of a geek along the road of OSes.... and viruses, long time  
> since last post
>
> Win 7 (64-bit) is the new XP and pretty good. 64-bit with 16G+ of  
> ram makes for happy photoshop. With that amount of ram and VMs, you  
> can set up multiple systems on one box. If it gets messed up, just  
> restore a snapshot. Of course for windoes VM OS you need licenses.
>
> Win8: I installed Win 8 on a machine in order to build some hyper-V  
> linux machines for hosting on our server at work. Other than Hyper  
> V, I hate windows 8 for desktop. Too bad hyper-V is not on windows  
> 7. You could still run an older XP vm in a Hyper-V, I believe.
>
> VM: VMware was on sale last year so I purchased that. They have a  
> tool that can take a live XP machine and convert it into a VM. Of  
> course the windows activation will get tripped, but mine reactivated  
> fine. I have some compiler tools for older embedded devices I wanted  
> to still run. I have not fully tested it, but in theory it should  
> work for my needs. I tried to do the same with virtual box but was  
> not successful.
>
> Trojans: I downloaded the leaked virus source code, Zeus and  
> Calbert, in order to analyze them. Interestingly they are more  
> targeted at Win 7 than XP. So the virus writers are moving away from  
> XP also. Exception being that many point of sale machines are still  
> XP based, and will be for some time. Perhaps how Target got hit.  
> There are a lot of XP machines still in service that will take a  
> long time to replace. I wonder how may PoS machines do auto updates?
>
> Java: Of all the XP machines that got infected at my house (a  
> couple) were due to oracle Java running. Java and javascript are the  
> most vulnerable to drive by malware on the web.
>
> Hardware: On two of my newer machines, Win7, the MB did not have any  
> COM ports, which I need for some embedded development (and Utilite).  
> Embedded linux often requires a COM port for a console. So on both  
> an Asus P8Z68-V and a P8Z77-V mb, I installed an older PCI serial  
> COM port card. For some reason, on both boards, it destroyed the  
> Realtek audio controllers. Be Carefully if you plug in older PCI  
> stuff in newer MBs.
>
> Linux: I have several Linux boxes and Linux VMs, but mostly as  
> servers. I have not found any desktop version that does not have  
> some problems doing what you want. X11 is a pain. I don't like the  
> new Ubuntu Union. My linux preferences are Debian and Arch, and  
> Xubuntu if I really want a desktop. Mostly I use desktop for network  
> analysis tools like Wireshark. I've also spent some time setting up  
> a home linux router firewall, and intend to install some intrusion  
> detection. It is interesting to check what is getting hit on the  
> firewall.
>
> Firewall: No OS is invulnerable, and many firewall appliances are  
> very hackable (see devttys0.com). My current hardware of choice for  
> firewall is a Utilite for $219 (utilite-computer.com) which has two  
> ethernet ports. I installed ArchLinuxArm for Utilite and Shorewall  
> for firewall on it. Using shorewall, I can also download block lists  
> from dshield.org or C&C block lists, like Zeus Tracker from  
> abuse.ch... or I can block all of chinanet if I want... (of course  
> after some fussing with linux scrips and IPsets and shorewall  
> rules). Unfortunately, the newer P2P based trojans can get around  
> even this.
>
> IDS: So the next line of defense is something like Snort, intrusion  
> detection, on the firewall. Proper snort rules can often catch 95+%  
> of initial infections based on virus behavior, as the initial  
> infection usually involves an initial download package. That  
> certainly beats most anti-virus software.
>
> Routers: Many home routers have uPnP enabled, which allows systems  
> on your internal net to automatically open up ports on the firewall.  
> Very handy for trojans. uPnP is not the same as PnP.
>
> Agghhhh: The more I study and research this, the scarier it looks.  
> The more modern trojans no long upset your system, but rather sit  
> and hide in stealth mode. They want to remain undetected. Most  
> modern viruses can easily get around signature based anti-virus.
>
> Upgrade: As for upgrading to Win 7, I recommend it (64 bit) for the  
> increased memory available for photo editing. As to increased  
> security, I have not found Win 7 to be that much more secure than  
> XP, other than Win 7 locks things down more in order to frustrate  
> the user. It has only a little impact for viruses. Zeus and Calbert  
> can easily get around UAC (user access control) for example. UAC  
> just makes the user feel more secure. So the first thing I do when  
> installing Win 7 is turn off UAC.
>
> Whatever system you use, mac OS, Linux, Windows - security still  
> mostly depends on the end user awareness. Who knows, check how much  
> power your system is using, you might just be mining bitcoins for  
> someone else.
>
> Wayne S - just call me paranoid hacker
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