rr style scanning of non-customers

Sun Jun 15 04:54:33 UTC 2003

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 jlewis at lewis.org wrote:
> The last time this topic came up, it was suggested by others that either
> trojan or virus software was installing/creating open proxies.  I wrote
> that off as people being overly paranoid.  I'm sorry to say that I now
> know this to be true and have seen many installations of at least one
> strain of such proxy software.

According to a study by America Online, 89% of the computers with
broadband connections are not safely configured.  91% of the computers had
what AOL categorized as spyware installed.  In reality, the connection
method isn't the determining factor.

http://www.staysafeonline.info/press/060403.pdf

Although firewalls and anti-virus helps, it doesn't prevent a determined
user from infecting his own system.  Honeypots and passive detection
systems aren't picking up the whole story.  The user is an important
part of evaluating the security equation.