There has been a recent increase in the "hacking" of people's internet connections in order to place malware on individual machines. Where it was once sufficient to have a good AV in place to stop malicious email, it is now necessary to protect the connection itself. My firewall reports at least a dozen attempts weekly by various of the "W32" search worms mentioned above – all blocked, of course.

Complaints here indicate that a fair number of people are exposing themselves to risks that I haven't encountered. While this may have a lot to do with where you go on the web, and what you do at places you visit (my browsing is pretty boring), proper machine setup can be a big help. Unfortunately, it can also be rather confusing.

There is help if you want to be "more safe."

Norton Security Check has been significantly improved since my last visit, and the results were pretty impressive.

There are several choices there, but the one immediately of interest is the "Scan for Security Risks." If you select this one, Norton will scan your internet connection and will tell you what needs to be fixed. It immediately detected that I was behind a firewall, and "asked permission" to test the firewall. (It suggests getting permission from your network administrator before giving permission.) It immediately detected that my machine was connected via LAN and through a host. The firewall prevented it from identifying anything beyond the one machine on my LAN with the physical internet connection (the "Host").

It verified that commonly hacked ports were blocked by my firewall, with the exception of one "vulnerable" protocol that I have to leave running because of her machine where she insists on using Win2K. (Not a big concern, since the firewall should block anything malicious, but it allows a hacker to "see" her machine, and it would be better if she was completely "invisible.")

If the Security Check finds vulnerabilites, it should give you links to instructions for what you can do about it. In some cases, there are simple adjustments you can make to settings. In many cases it may offer to show you what Norton products can fix things for you, and I'd suggest looking; but you don't have to buy Norton. By looking there, you can learn what kinds of help you need so that you can make an informed choice about how to get fixed.

This is NOT a scan to see if you're infected. It's to tell you what you need to do to avoid being infected.

Other AV/Spyware/Adware sites may have similar utilities, but this one is highly recommended for anyone who's concerned and hasn't run anything similar in a while.

John