Eyes On Spies
Parts reprinted from PC World - May 2001 (pg. 146b)
Here 's How to stop the four most common methods snoops
use to monitor you on the Internet.
Cookies
The most familiar and most widely adopted monitoring tool is the cookie. A
cookie is a small data file - usually containing a unique indentification
number - that your Web browser stores on your hard drive when a site sends it a
certain command. Every time you request a page or item from the site, the
server connects that request to your unique identifiation number, giving the
company an exact record of what you viewed on its site.
Some Web sites use the cookies to keep track of an online "shopping cart" ;
others want to record every click you make at a site. Cookies aren't
necessarily malicious, but they do let sites or advertisers make a click - by -
click record of your surfing habbits. Cookies from ubiquitous ad servers like
DoubleClick can track you on every site for which they serve ads.
How to Defeat Cookies
Sites use cookies for various reasons. If you completely disable them, many
Web sites won't work the way you want them to. But you can limit the number of
cookies your browser consumes.
1) Use Cookie Blockers :
The free
Cookiewall from AnalogX.com
( only works for Internet Explorer users at this time ) and the Guidescope
from
http://www.guidescope.com
( not sure what this product works with but I think it works for all browsers.
) for example, let you set cookie rules for each site you visit.
2) Periodically Clear your Cookie file :
If you use Netscape, search for a file named cookies.txt and delete it. If
you use Internet Explorer, navigate to
C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\
and
C:\Windows\Cookies
and delete the entire contents of both folders.
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Web Bugs
Insidious and
more
difficult to fight than cookies, Web bugs are minute, invisable grapgics that
load with a Web page. Because Web bugs behave like banner ads, they provide
your computers unique IP address and the location of the page your looking at
to the server that sends the bugs - but - because you do not see them, you
never know they're there. Web bugs can also identify you by setting cookies
and if you return to the same page later by retrieving them.
How To Defeat Web Bugs.
Web bugs are basically located in graphics files. If you disable image loading
in your browser, you won't be bugged, but you won't see any other graphics,
either - and that a trade-off most people aren't willing to make. But these
tricky files can be fooled.
1) Stop Cookies first :
Before you try to blck the Web bug itself from loading, you have to
disable cookies. You can use the tools listed in the section above. If you
use Intenret Explorer 5.5 you can use a beta tool that lets you block or allow
cookies on a page by page basis. ( I looked for this tool and it appears it
was removed from their site.) I suggest the Analogx tool listed above if you
use IE.
2) Use Privacy-protecting Web Proxy software:
Freedom ( from
www.Zeroknowledge.com
), Internet Junkbuster ( from
www.junkbuster.com
), and Guidescope (mentioned above ) are all forms of proxy software. They
block your real IP address from loading the webpage first to their servers and
then to your computer. The drawback: Using web proxies can slow your surfing.
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Spyware and Removal Tools.
One thing often not mentioned is free and shareware programs that add in a bit
of a bonus that you most likely do not want. I am talking about the practice of
piggie backing a type of ad program or internet use tracker in with the
software. Most know about programs like Gator, and Aureate's offerings that to
tracking on the web by the use of DLL files included within the install process
of other programs. What many do not know is even in the case of many of these
install routines that give you the option to not install the "free web
enhancements" add them to your system anyway. Even setting them up to use part
of your system resouces to do their dirty work. Removal of some of them will
leave the freeware program in operative or at least crippled to some extent.
So be aware of this before you proceed to go digging around to remove them.
Many of them are stopped by a firewall that passes the Gibson Research site's
Leak Test program
which you can freely download and test your firewall with for leaks.
The next tool is to get a detection and removal tool for getting these DLL
files off your system. By far the one that seems to work most effectly from
what I can see is the
Ad-Aware 5.5
program ( about 840 kb free ) from the
LavaSoft Website Homepage
and it seems to deal with most of the problem within a few minutes. I
strongly suggest you consider it's use to remove the problems and free up some
of your system resources and it is one of the best 850k of hard drive space you
will use.
You may also be interested in the
SpyChecker Adware/Spyware database
which allows you to check a program before you download and install it for
possbile known spyware routines. Again a Free service. It also has links for
other removal tools if you are interested.
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Trojan Horses
Trojan Horses present themselves to the victim as something worth possessing -
such as a small game or an image file - to mask their true mission: to sneak
into a PC and surreptitiously monitor, control, damage, or steal data. Trojan
Horses themselves may not cause damage, but they let hackers or spies sift
through your PC's files, disable virsus checking software, or even use your PC
to mount a distributed denial - of - service attacks against another PC on the
Internet. Legitimate sites typically do not use Trojan Horses.
How To Defeat Trojan Houses
1) Use Antivirus Software :
Most tools can detect nearly all Trojan Horses. To protect against
emerging new ones, keep your virus definition files updated.
2) Maintain a Personal Firewall:
A good firewall can protect you even if a Trojan Horse gets in.
Software like
www.zonelabs.com
firewall, ZoneAlarm, can tell you if a program surreptitiously lets someone
else view or control your PC's data. ( see the
helps and links
page for more information about firewalls and antivirus software. )
3) Don't Open Attachments;
Victims must allow the Trojan horse into their PC and activate it.
Most Trojan horses arrive as an email attachment, so never open an EXE file
until you know exactly what it does. Then scan the file with a currently
updated anti-virus software anyway, before you run it. You may also wish to
make sure you have the preview of attachments turned off on Microsoft Outlook
Express or any mailer you may be using, as well as have your anti-virus
software set up to scan your incoming email. Most of the current crop of
anti-virus software will allow for this option. If you are using or receiving
ZIP files by email you may also wish to check to make sure your antivirus
software is set up to scan these also before they are opened. Some programs
are not set up to do this by default, and you may need to set these functions
on yourself.
4) If you do have a Trojan Horse :
Some Anti-virus software detect but cannot remove Trojan Horses.
Simply Super Software's Trojan Remover (
www.simplysup.com
) is designed to rid your PC of snak attackers.
Text version of this page.
Use the Text version for a more printer friendly version.
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Parts of this page are quotes/reprints from Eyes on Spies - PC World - May
2001 - Andrew Brandt ,
Author -
Other additions made by Joanna (aka easy2confuse)
revised last: 09-12-2002
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