Last week I caught a story in the Edmonton Journal about a new group of grizzly-hating Albertans, “No More Grizzlies.” It was nothing more than a “free media” stunt by the usual suspects, created by Calder Bateman, a big Edmonton public-relations firm for an Alberta green group. Press “coverage” mentioned a Web site with a video game where you could throw chainsaws and oil drums at Grizzlies for score … fun for Bobcats, ya know.
Click … .the Javascript loaded, and KABOOM. My screen lit up like Vegas, and both my browsers froze up solid.
Now, I’ve always been pretty careful on the Web: No file sharing, and no “free” Russian girlie pictures, either. For extra safety, my files are stashed on a separate hard drive, with only programs and current documents in the “big box.”
Nonetheless, last fall I got nuked. My file stash was fine, but it took about $150 and a week to get my computer hoovered out and a better (not perfect) virus program installed. Ouch.
So, now that I’m pinching pennies so hard the zinc squeezes out the edges, I get bombed again? Oh, joy!
Rather than unplug the rat’s nest of cables, take the big box (and little checkbook) to the witch doctors, and WAIT for them to rattle their beads and chicken bones, I decided to try clearing the wreckage myself.
I fired up my “emergency” computer and started poking around. It took about four hours, so long because so much “virus” or “malware” information is on anonymous chat rooms and blog-rolls: Who’s credible, who ain’t?
Example: The malware site “windowsprotection.net” is registered in “San Gwann, MT” – actually Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea. Um, no thanks. Add spoof spyware sites that are fronts for Eastern Bloc “entrepreneurs” wanting to pillage your credit card into the mix. I think these weasels have a hit-generator program they run to pump themselves up to the top of search engines. Careful, careful.
Bottom line is, I got hit with a Russian (big surprise, Comrades) “Trojan horse” counterfeit that has about 50 versions floating around. The scam: You click on their windows, and buy “protection” – but you really don’t. All you’ve done is give them your plastic and access to your computer.
When your computer lights up and your browser freezes, the first thing to do is pull your Internet and data cable connections. DON’T click on any of the junk that comes up, except the upper blue bar to move it out of the way so you can shut things down.
You’re done for awhile, period, at least on that computer.
The code that fills our computers is stuffed equally full of security loopholes hackers can exploit. Even worse, all it takes is a few keystrokes to change the Trojan so that antispyware programs don’t recognize the new code combination – until after the next update. It’s sort of like how liberals insist on calling themselves progressives, which works until everyone knows the code.
Speaking of devious, after contacting Calder Bateman, they checked out their site, and it came up clean. In short, my Trojan bomb had a “delay fuse,” to trigger later … putting the heat on the good guys while making the bad guys harder to find and kill. Nice.
Well, I got out of it. If you’re equally brave, cheap, stupid or all three, you can try what I did, it’s not that difficult. Or, you can avoid all this with commercial antivirus protection from a reputable source, or local professional. I’ve used Norton, MacAfee and am currently on G-Data, which the witch doctors at the Computer Place recommended and installed the last time. I added Malwarebytes to the mix, using a free version that must be manually updated…but, be warned, if it’s the wrong “Malwarebytes” portal, you’re hosed.
I’m left thinking how, as the Internet becomes more “capable,” it becomes more hostile and dangerous. Yet another social institution, created with the most idealistic intent, becomes necessary. Now it seems the Internet, like our politics, is a necessary evil – well on the way to plain old evil.