I was going to put this on "I digress" but as internet communication is a big part of the RV lifestyle decided it was relevant here.
I recently got an email from Telstra saying they are updating their security system (as a result of their recent website crash I'm betting).
Telstra Internet Security Update
WE'RE HELPING MAKE THE INTERNET A SAFER PLACE
Did you know that some electronic viruses can infect your computer without you knowing, and can cause other issues on the internet?
How can an infected computer cause such problems? If your computer has been infected by one of these viruses, it might be helping to damage websites or to send spam emails or infections to others, including people you know. It can also slow down your internet connection and use up your data allowance.
To do this, a virus on your computer connects with a server (known as a Command and Control server) and the Command and Control Server can then use your computer to carry out these malicious activities.
What Telstra is doing to help From 14th October 2013, new software will be added on our network to help identify when a virus on a computer (or other device) connected to the BigPond network attempts to contact its Command and Control Server. The new technology will stop that connection, which in turns stops the virus from being able to carry out attacks.
The service does not involve the monitoring of your personal information, it only looks for internet traffic resulting from the activity of viruses on our customers' computers.
What do I need to do? When we turn the service on, you won't notice anything different with your internet connection. While the software will help prevent certain viruses from spreading across the internet, we recommend that you install security software, if you haven't already, to help protect your computer from viruses and other infections.
If you already have security software, make sure it's turned on and that it's up-to-date. Turn on automatic updates if possible.
-- Edited by Duh on Sunday 13th of October 2013 12:54:59 PM
Duh said
07:58 PM Oct 13, 2013
I sent this to an internet guru I know and this was his response;
Wow, thats Big Brother about to put their own internet filter and can monitor anything they want.
What you should know:
Telstra say they are doing this for Virus protection purposes but ultimately, this provides easy access to view someones emails, data and website traffic.
They did not Guarantee they wouldnt look at your private data and have the means and access to do so it is just one more lie and step towards total CONTROL!!!
There is a global control slipknot tightening around the internet, EVERYTHING is or becoming INTERLINKED and monitored.
Artificial Intelligence super computers are being used to analyse information from many large organisations with some of the biggest electronic, phone, GPS, computing, credit card, banking, online trading and many other companies where the artificial intelligence can draw a detailed timeline picture of your daily activities,
Movements, emails, web browsing, physical or online purchases, social media, phone calls, messages and much more. It can predict your movements and virtually paint a picture of your life, past and present,
These computers or entities can paint a personal profile right through to personality and behaviour patterns and classify you.
The only thing you need to know is, ALMOST NOTHING IS PRIVATE anymore!!!
Whats next, you dont want to know
Santa said
08:00 PM Oct 13, 2013
Morning Vic, good to see Telstra are staying on top of things, I've yet to see the email.
Santa said
08:02 PM Oct 13, 2013
Duh wrote:
I sent this to an internet guru I know and this was his response;
Wow, thats Big Brother about to put their own internet filter and can monitor anything they want.
What you should know:
Telstra say they are doing this for Virus protection purposes but ultimately, this provides easy access to view someones emails, data and website traffic.
They did not Guarantee they wouldnt look at your private data and have the means and access to do so it is just one more lie and step towards total CONTROL!!!
There is a global control slipknot tightening around the internet, EVERYTHING is or becoming INTERLINKED and monitored.
Artificial Intelligence super computers are being used to analyse information from many large organisations with some of the biggest electronic, phone, GPS, computing, credit card, banking, online trading and many other companies where the artificial intelligence can draw a detailed timeline picture of your daily activities,
Movements, emails, web browsing, physical or online purchases, social media, phone calls, messages and much more. It can predict your movements and virtually paint a picture of your life, past and present,
These computers or entities can paint a personal profile right through to personality and behaviour patterns and classify you.
The only thing you need to know is, ALMOST NOTHING IS PRIVATE anymore!!!
Whats next, you dont want to know
Pretty high degree of paranoia there Vic, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
Duh said
08:04 PM Oct 13, 2013
Morning Santa, I got it yesterday, I hope it is not a fake email (see copy on my first post here) probing for info etc.
Santa said
08:15 PM Oct 13, 2013
Duh wrote:
Morning Santa, I got it yesterday, I hope it is not a fake email (see copy on my first post here) probing for info etc.
Why not check with Bigpond as to the veracity of the email Vic.
Big Gorilla said
08:19 PM Oct 13, 2013
Duh wrote:
Morning Santa, I got it yesterday, I hope it is not a fake email (see copy on my first post here) probing for info etc.
I received a similar one a few days ago. I deleted it. If you want to follow it through, I would not click on any of the links in the e-mail, just log onto the Telstra web site and search the key words.
brickies said
08:31 PM Oct 13, 2013
Yes I was happy to get an email from Telstra anything like this has to be an help
peter45 said
08:41 PM Oct 13, 2013
Got one too.
gordon_adl said
09:16 PM Oct 13, 2013
Agreed. We're already being monitored. Use your ATM card, it's monitored. Use a reward card of any type, it's monitored. The ads you see on google, yahoo or just about any web page are based on your habits already. Data collection has been happening for decades.
One would have to go completely off the grid to become totally invisible to the world, ie living in some paddock in the middle of nowhere, only living off the land, using no electricity, no banking, no nothing.
For the most part, it's no big deal unless you're actually doing something wrong. Even then there is a good chance you won't get caught out unless the it's someone very wrong.
Santa wrote:
Pretty high degree of paranoia there Vic, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
Duh said
09:56 PM Oct 13, 2013
Hmmmm........I was put through the hoops, got onto their 24/7 chat help box, operator confirmed that Andy Ellis was one of their staff but was not sure about the email, said do not click on any links, however there are two on the email, eg:
"If you cannot read this email click here" and "For more info click here".
I visited my account after logging on and clicked on complaints, after a lengthy identity process including my drivers licence I received an email telling me they are looking into the "complaint (which is asking whether the text of the email I included is genuine and it did have "click here" links on it) and will get back to me......
By the way, while looking at the Telstra page, they had some info on it saying the Yahoo email addresses (ie; gmail) have just announced that any dormant email addresses that have not been used for awhile will be re-allocated to others who will get all future emails to that email address.
I will keep you posted if and when I get a reply to my Telstra query, let's know if any of you get one too from your own queries,
Thanks
Baz421 said
10:30 PM Oct 13, 2013
Question.
Why don't we hear the old line that we need an Australia Card as mooted in the 1970's.
Answer,,,,, scroll down after having a guess,,,
they have accumulated all the data they need since the 1970's, and continue to do so.
My first experience with mass data MATCHING was in the early 1990's when they cross MATCHED (through computers) all states drivers licence names, dob, etc AND CAUGHT HUNDREDS OF TRUCKIES WITH NUMEROUS LICENCES.
So if you become paranoid it will drive you around the bend so to speak,,,, they have their ways, and some of the people probably idolised Maxwell Smart from their younger days.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Sunday 13th of October 2013 10:31:38 PM
cultana said
11:25 PM Oct 13, 2013
Here is a small piece from the AFR paper dated 18 Sep 2013
This We are the first internet service provider in Australia to deploy this technology, which is already used in North America and Europe, said Alan Crouch, director of Telstras Connected Home division, is funny since USA already monitors ALL traffic. So what is the real scope of this software..
As for if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have to worry, well there are many people on the USA airline travel black list and have not done anything wrong, just abureaucratic mistake. like the 3 YO not allowed to fly as the child was listed as "suspect".
barina said
11:32 PM Oct 13, 2013
I received the same email and just kept it in a scam folder incase it was genuine but I never clicked on any links so I figure if it is genuine they will send snail mail or tell me to login to my AC I never follow and click here links. I get them from Paypal regularly but always then just go into my AC via new browser screen and look that way.
Hope it was ok for you.....
GaryKelly said
11:33 PM Oct 13, 2013
I agree that if you're not doing anything wrong, then it's no biggie. On the other hand, who defines what is wrong? And will what is right today become wrong tomorrow? Hehe. Oh well...
Duh said
05:14 AM Oct 14, 2013
The biggest problem is to make sure that it has come from the source stated Gary, with so many scammers etc faking company's logo's and claiming their emails etc are legitimate it pays to be cautious, it is not a matter of being paranoid but just being careful.
I have nothing to hide but by the same token I don't want anyone that is not legitimate getting access to my pc via devious means.
No doubt Telstra feel that because of their recent email server crash (I don't think they ever said what what caused it?) feel they have to tighten their security measures, if that means my emails coming from them are going to be safer from scammers/virus's etc then I'm not concerned in the least. I just want to make sure anything I do get purporting to be from any company etc are legitimate before I go clicking on any links like those in the message etc.
By the way those comments I posted from a "pc guru" were from a very senior and experienced computer engineer, they were personal comments to me, but I thought I would share them, not appreciated by some apparently so I won't bother next time.
Duh said
09:23 AM Oct 14, 2013
The access I and everyone else should be concerned about is from those with ulterior motives, ie; scammers or hackers etc, who pretend to be government or other agencies (banks etc) to get access to your pc. That is the point I am making.
It is not a matter of being paranoid but everyone should take precautions on what they click on or open etc, to do otherwise is just asking for trouble and foolish IMHO.
There is not much we can do with info recorded by government agencies etc, like you have said Baz they have most of it already anyway, especially with info sharing between different government arms etc. I accept that they already have that so why worry about it.
And yep, I am a fan of Maxwell Smart including the re-runs that are still being shown on TV.....
Ontos45 said
10:05 AM Oct 14, 2013
Duh posted:
By the way those comments I posted from a "pc guru" were from a very senior and experienced computer engineer, they were personal comments to me, but I thought I would share them, not appreciated by some apparently so I won't bother next time.
Some on here have never heard of "identity fraud" and probably toss out un-shreaded letters and labled empty pill bottles. I have nothing to hide either, but, why make it damn easy for the baddies?
Peter
PS. Maybe we should have a dedicated "Computer Information" forum on here for members to post any problems they have and queries. I just got caught with some Malware that got through my then free Anti-Malware program. Have now updated to a paid version which caught it. Was overloading HDD and sending information off-line. Called "Bitguard" and a proper pain.
-- Edited by Ontos45 on Monday 14th of October 2013 10:17:59 AM
dorian said
11:04 AM Oct 14, 2013
If you have any suspicious files, then you can upload them to the following free online scanning services:
ISTM that this antimalware protection initiative is a positive thing. It's just an extension of your firewall (everybody has a firewall, right?) that intercepts traffic to and from known malware IP addresses.
"This new network feature is part of our commitment to the iCode. The iCode is a voluntary code of practice for Australian Internet Service Providers to improve cybersecurity for all consumers."
"We do not retain a record of legitimate DNS queries made by your computer and those legitimate queries will be unaffected by the new malware suppression."
What I would like to see is an email from Telstra informing their users when such traffic has been intercepted so that these users can be made aware that malware is active on their machine.
My own ISP already scans all my incoming emails for spam and then quarantines any that are so identified. If I want to see the quarantined items, I can access them via webmail. I can also opt out of this service.
Some ISPs will intercept any emails that contain malware. In fact I once sent some software to Portugal and was told by the addressee that my email had been bounced. My own ISP allowed it to go through (I verified this by emailing it to myself). I uploaded the suspect file to an online virus scanner which did detect some malware signatures, but these turned out to be false positives. I then ZIPped the file and protected the ZIP with a password. In this way the viral code was altered, and the ISP's antivirus software was unable to unZIP the file in order to check it, so it got past the ISP's defences.
dorian said
03:39 PM Oct 14, 2013
It's not private companies that people should be worried about -- they are subject to the law. It's governments that are the BIG worry -- they are above the law.
The last Labor government tried to secretly introduce a "telecommunications data retention" law that would have compelled all ISPs to maintain a record of all IP addresses visited by their users for a 2 year period. The ISPs were sworn to secrecy under penalty of imprisonment. An FOI request produced a heavily redacted document (90% of the document was censored).
Much worse still were the abuses of power by the Howard Government. When whistle-blower Andrew Wilkie wrote a book exposing Howard's lies in respect of the Iraq war, Jackboot Johnny sent his ASIO goons to the office of SBS's Dateline program where they used a crowbar to smash a hard drive belonging to reporter Carmel Travers. One of the goons was asked, "How often have you done it?" The answer was "Oh, 70, 72 or 73 times."
"The government officials responsible claimed they were from the Attorney-General's Department, and spent a day trawling through her computers, looking for sensitive information. When they found any, they smashed the hard drives with a hammer to make sure it was really erased. They referred to the process as 'cleansing'.
This is what the Government officials claimed they were looking for. Carmel had been emailed a draft version of Andrew Wilkie's book 'Axis of Deceit', for research on a documentary. By the time her computers were cleansed, the book had already been on sale for several months, but the draft sent to Carmel contained a few pages that had been deleted from the published version.
Dateline has established that at least five other people received the offending draft. Each one also received a visit from the Government cleansing squad. Among them was LaTrobe University professor Robert Manne, who commissioned Wilkie's book."
"What's particularly Orwellian about this story is that Australia's intelligence agencies have sweeping new powers that can prevent any reporting of incidents like these.
The new laws are designed specifically to target people who are not suspects but merely have information that might be of interest to national security. We and the people we've spoken to have had to take extensive legal advice before proceeding.
These new anti-terrorism laws hang like the sword of Damocles over anyone who becomes caught up in the world of national security. In this case, no warrants were issued under the ASIO act as everyone agreed to the cleansing. If they had resisted, they could have faced possibly five years in jail, and even talking about the fact that the cleansing had taken place would have been a crime. It raises the question of how many secret raids, destruction of research and even intimidation of witnesses may have have taken place."
Bear in mind that we now have Howard's protege at the helm. He has already given us a clue as to the kinds of things to expect. For example, we won't be hearing about any more "children overboard affairs" simply because we will no longer be told when boats arrive.
Perhaps even worse still is the ineptitude of our security agencies which was so comically exposed by the ABC's Chaser program when they publicly gatecrashed Howard's Apec summit using ID badges bearing the words "Joke", "Insecurity, and "It's pretty obvious that this isn't a real pass".
Thanks for the very detailed reply Dorian, very mind blowing to say the least.
And thanks for the link to Telstra, I did contact them but they could not tell me if the email was genuine or otherwise (that was on their helpline chat board) just said not to click on the "click here" bits and to follow it up again on the main Telstra website.
Eventually I typed it into a "complaint" form as I was getting the run around from their system and that was the easiest option. I have not heard back from them yet.
I will still be posting Peter, just won't be adding anyone's private comments to me although anonymously (meaning I did not name them in the comments, although some could regard the comments as heading down the conspiracy track) I am glad I am just an ordinary pc mug, it's all way over my head.
A good idea about a dedicated Computer section, could I suggest you put this to Cindy in a pm to consider.
Duh said
10:14 PM Oct 14, 2013
This is more about whether the email was genuine and whether it was safe to click on the links shown on the email.
Not about "nothing to hide" more about preventing scammers and hackers from accessing our pc's as I have already said on a previous post.....
-- Edited by Duh on Tuesday 15th of October 2013 03:13:28 AM
Ontos45 said
11:44 PM Oct 14, 2013
dorian wrote:
If you have any suspicious files, then you can upload them to the following free online scanning services:
Your files will be scanned by as many as 40 different antivirus software.
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 14th of October 2013 11:06:58 AM
It's knowing/deciding what is suspicious or not mate. Bitguard is masquerading as BtGuard, a legitimate program, easy to miss.
I like to have "on-board" problem solvers for my computer. Don't trust on-line stuff, took me ages to even use a cloud storage on-line program (paranoia?)
Will do Duh
Peter
03_troopy said
01:50 AM Oct 15, 2013
Isn't this where someone writes "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide"
Santa said
02:17 AM Oct 15, 2013
03_troopy wrote:
Isn't this where someone writes "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide"
It's been done.
Duh said
10:15 AM Oct 15, 2013
I just received this reply from Bigpond;
Thank you for taking the time to email BigPondŽ regarding the email you had received. My name is Nelson and I'm sorry that we had not replied to your email in the stated time of 24 hours, as we've been experiencing an unexpected spike in our email traffic.
I would like to thank you for your patience and rest assured we are working hard to reduce our current backlog.
I can confirm that the email you've received recently is a hoax, and wasn't sent from BigPond. We appreciate that you took the time to bring this to our attention as this will help us keep other customers aware and safe from security threats.
If you receive an unsolicited email that asks you to provide sensitive information like your passwords, credit card details, personal information or any other account verification, please disregard the message and delete the message from your system.
If we do need you to update any payment information, we'd ask you to log in to 'My BigPond' through our website: www.bigpond.com. My BigPond is a secure site, verified by the padlock icon that appears in your internet browsers status bar.
I'd also suggest that you click on the link below and fill out the details about this recent email you received. This will help us try to block these emails in the future: http://www.bigpond.com/help/ContactUs/MisuseService/
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Ping statistics for 61.9.172.47:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 34ms, Maximum = 35ms, Average = 34ms
=====================================================
I then looked up the IP address (61.9.172.47) at the APNIC WHOIS database:
Thanks Duh and dorian.
Seems there is more behind this email than can be seen. All my friends that belong to Bigpond got this email as well.
This is what makes it tough for GN that have just got computers so they can keep in touch with family and friends, they don't realise the scams and traps out there.
I was going to put this on "I digress" but as internet communication is a big part of the RV lifestyle decided it was relevant here.
I recently got an email from Telstra saying they are updating their security system (as a result of their recent website crash I'm betting).
Telstra Internet Security Update
WE'RE HELPING MAKE THE INTERNET A SAFER PLACE
Did you know that some electronic viruses can infect your computer without you knowing, and can cause other issues on the internet?
How can an infected computer cause such problems?
If your computer has been infected by one of these viruses, it might be helping to damage websites or to send spam emails or infections to others, including people you know. It can also slow down your internet connection and use up your data allowance.
To do this, a virus on your computer connects with a server (known as a Command and Control server) and the Command and Control Server can then use your computer to carry out these malicious activities.
What Telstra is doing to help
From 14th October 2013, new software will be added on our network to help identify when a virus on a computer (or other device) connected to the BigPond network attempts to contact its Command and Control Server. The new technology will stop that connection, which in turns stops the virus from being able to carry out attacks.
The service does not involve the monitoring of your personal information, it only looks for internet traffic resulting from the activity of viruses on our customers' computers.
Read more about how the service works.
What do I need to do?
When we turn the service on, you won't notice anything different with your internet connection. While the software will help prevent certain viruses from spreading across the internet, we recommend that you install security software, if you haven't already, to help protect your computer from viruses and other infections.
If you already have security software, make sure it's turned on and that it's up-to-date. Turn on automatic updates if possible.
Read more about how to avoid infections.
Andy Ellis
Head of Customer Service and Contact Centres
......................................................................................
-- Edited by Duh on Sunday 13th of October 2013 12:54:59 PM
Wow, thats Big Brother about to put their own internet filter and can monitor anything they want.
What you should know:
Telstra say they are doing this for Virus protection purposes but ultimately, this provides easy access to view someones emails, data and website traffic.
They did not Guarantee they wouldnt look at your private data and have the means and access to do so it is just one more lie and step towards total CONTROL!!!
There is a global control slipknot tightening around the internet, EVERYTHING is or becoming INTERLINKED and monitored.
Artificial Intelligence super computers are being used to analyse information from many large organisations with some of the biggest electronic, phone, GPS, computing, credit card, banking, online trading and many other companies where the artificial intelligence can draw a detailed timeline picture of your daily activities,
Movements, emails, web browsing, physical or online purchases, social media, phone calls, messages and much more. It can predict your movements and virtually paint a picture of your life, past and present,
These computers or entities can paint a personal profile right through to personality and behaviour patterns and classify you.
The only thing you need to know is, ALMOST NOTHING IS PRIVATE anymore!!!
Whats next, you dont want to know
Morning Vic, good to see Telstra are staying on top of things, I've yet to see the email.
Pretty high degree of paranoia there Vic, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
Morning Santa, I got it yesterday, I hope it is not a fake email (see copy on my first post here) probing for info etc.
Why not check with Bigpond as to the veracity of the email Vic.
I received a similar one a few days ago. I deleted it. If you want to follow it through, I would not click on any of the links in the e-mail, just log onto the Telstra web site and search the key words.
Hmmmm........I was put through the hoops, got onto their 24/7 chat help box, operator confirmed that Andy Ellis was one of their staff but was not sure about the email, said do not click on any links, however there are two on the email, eg:
"If you cannot read this email click here" and "For more info click here".
I visited my account after logging on and clicked on complaints, after a lengthy identity process including my drivers licence I received an email telling me they are looking into the "complaint (which is asking whether the text of the email I included is genuine and it did have "click here" links on it) and will get back to me......
By the way, while looking at the Telstra page, they had some info on it saying the Yahoo email addresses (ie; gmail) have just announced that any dormant email addresses that have not been used for awhile will be re-allocated to others who will get all future emails to that email address.
I will keep you posted if and when I get a reply to my Telstra query, let's know if any of you get one too from your own queries,
Thanks
Question.
Why don't we hear the old line that we need an Australia Card as mooted in the 1970's.
Answer,,,,, scroll down after having a guess,,,
they have accumulated all the data they need since the 1970's, and continue to do so.
My first experience with mass data MATCHING was in the early 1990's when they cross MATCHED (through computers) all states drivers licence names, dob, etc AND CAUGHT HUNDREDS OF TRUCKIES WITH NUMEROUS LICENCES.
So if you become paranoid it will drive you around the bend so to speak,,,, they have their ways, and some of the people probably idolised Maxwell Smart from their younger days.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Sunday 13th of October 2013 10:31:38 PM
Here is a small piece from the AFR paper dated 18 Sep 2013
Security upgrade wont monitor customer internet use: Telstra
This We are the first internet service provider in Australia to deploy this technology, which is already used in North America and Europe, said Alan Crouch, director of Telstras Connected Home division, is funny since USA already monitors ALL traffic. So what is the real scope of this software..
As for if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have to worry, well there are many people on the USA airline travel black list and have not done anything wrong, just a bureaucratic mistake. like the 3 YO not allowed to fly as the child was listed as "suspect".
I received the same email and just kept it in a scam folder incase it was genuine but I never clicked on any links so I figure if it is genuine they will send snail mail or tell me to login to my AC I never follow and click here links. I get them from Paypal regularly but always then just go into my AC via new browser screen and look that way.
Hope it was ok for you.....
The biggest problem is to make sure that it has come from the source stated Gary, with so many scammers etc faking company's logo's and claiming their emails etc are legitimate it pays to be cautious, it is not a matter of being paranoid but just being careful.
I have nothing to hide but by the same token I don't want anyone that is not legitimate getting access to my pc via devious means.
No doubt Telstra feel that because of their recent email server crash (I don't think they ever said what what caused it?) feel they have to tighten their security measures, if that means my emails coming from them are going to be safer from scammers/virus's etc then I'm not concerned in the least. I just want to make sure anything I do get purporting to be from any company etc are legitimate before I go clicking on any links like those in the message etc.
By the way those comments I posted from a "pc guru" were from a very senior and experienced computer engineer, they were personal comments to me, but I thought I would share them, not appreciated by some apparently so I won't bother next time.
The access I and everyone else should be concerned about is from those with ulterior motives, ie; scammers or hackers etc, who pretend to be government or other agencies (banks etc) to get access to your pc. That is the point I am making.
It is not a matter of being paranoid but everyone should take precautions on what they click on or open etc, to do otherwise is just asking for trouble and foolish IMHO.
There is not much we can do with info recorded by government agencies etc, like you have said Baz they have most of it already anyway, especially with info sharing between different government arms etc. I accept that they already have that so why worry about it.
And yep, I am a fan of Maxwell Smart including the re-runs that are still being shown on TV.....
Duh posted:
By the way those comments I posted from a "pc guru" were from a very senior and experienced computer engineer, they were personal comments to me, but I thought I would share them, not appreciated by some apparently so I won't bother next time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please keep posting Duh, I find them interesting.
Some on here have never heard of "identity fraud" and probably toss out un-shreaded letters and labled empty pill bottles.
I have nothing to hide either, but, why make it damn easy for the baddies?
Peter
PS. Maybe we should have a dedicated "Computer Information" forum on here for members to post any problems they have and queries. I just got caught with some Malware that got through my then free Anti-Malware program. Have now updated to a paid version which caught it. Was overloading HDD and sending information off-line. Called "Bitguard" and a proper pain.
-- Edited by Ontos45 on Monday 14th of October 2013 10:17:59 AM
If you have any suspicious files, then you can upload them to the following free online scanning services:
www.virustotal.com/
virscan.org/
virusscan.jotti.org/en
Your files will be scanned by as many as 40 different antivirus software.
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 14th of October 2013 11:06:58 AM
go.telstra.com.au/helpandsupport/-/what-is-the-new-telstra-malware-suppression-service
ISTM that this antimalware protection initiative is a positive thing. It's just an extension of your firewall (everybody has a firewall, right?) that intercepts traffic to and from known malware IP addresses.
"This new network feature is part of our commitment to the iCode. The iCode is a voluntary code of practice for Australian Internet Service Providers to improve cybersecurity for all consumers."
icode.net.au/about-icode.php
"We do not retain a record of legitimate DNS queries made by your computer and those legitimate queries will be unaffected by the new malware suppression."
What I would like to see is an email from Telstra informing their users when such traffic has been intercepted so that these users can be made aware that malware is active on their machine.
My own ISP already scans all my incoming emails for spam and then quarantines any that are so identified. If I want to see the quarantined items, I can access them via webmail. I can also opt out of this service.
Some ISPs will intercept any emails that contain malware. In fact I once sent some software to Portugal and was told by the addressee that my email had been bounced. My own ISP allowed it to go through (I verified this by emailing it to myself). I uploaded the suspect file to an online virus scanner which did detect some malware signatures, but these turned out to be false positives. I then ZIPped the file and protected the ZIP with a password. In this way the viral code was altered, and the ISP's antivirus software was unable to unZIP the file in order to check it, so it got past the ISP's defences.
The last Labor government tried to secretly introduce a "telecommunications data retention" law that would have compelled all ISPs to maintain a record of all IP addresses visited by their users for a 2 year period. The ISPs were sworn to secrecy under penalty of imprisonment. An FOI request produced a heavily redacted document (90% of the document was censored).
www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/no-minister-90-of-web-snoop-document-censored-to-stop--premature-unnecessary-debate-20100722-10mxo.html
www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/government-shelves-controversial-data-retention-scheme-20130624-2oskq.html
images.smh.com.au/file/2010/07/23/1710367/Secret-Document.PDF
images.smh.com.au/file/2010/07/23/1710412/Decision_Letter.pdf
Much worse still were the abuses of power by the Howard Government. When whistle-blower Andrew Wilkie wrote a book exposing Howard's lies in respect of the Iraq war, Jackboot Johnny sent his ASIO goons to the office of SBS's Dateline program where they used a crowbar to smash a hard drive belonging to reporter Carmel Travers. One of the goons was asked, "How often have you done it?" The answer was "Oh, 70, 72 or 73 times."
Here is a transcript of the subsequent Dateline report entitled "Sledgehammer Politics":
web.archive.org/web/20050709202557/http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php
"The government officials responsible claimed they were from the Attorney-General's Department, and spent a day trawling through her computers, looking for sensitive information. When they found any, they smashed the hard drives with a hammer to make sure it was really erased. They referred to the process as 'cleansing'.
This is what the Government officials claimed they were looking for. Carmel had been emailed a draft version of Andrew Wilkie's book 'Axis of Deceit', for research on a documentary. By the time her computers were cleansed, the book had already been on sale for several months, but the draft sent to Carmel contained a few pages that had been deleted from the published version.
Dateline has established that at least five other people received the offending draft. Each one also received a visit from the Government cleansing squad. Among them was LaTrobe University professor Robert Manne, who commissioned Wilkie's book."
"What's particularly Orwellian about this story is that Australia's intelligence agencies have sweeping new powers that can prevent any reporting of incidents like these.
The new laws are designed specifically to target people who are not suspects but merely have information that might be of interest to national security. We and the people we've spoken to have had to take extensive legal advice before proceeding.
These new anti-terrorism laws hang like the sword of Damocles over anyone who becomes caught up in the world of national security. In this case, no warrants were issued under the ASIO act as everyone agreed to the cleansing. If they had resisted, they could have faced possibly five years in jail, and even talking about the fact that the cleansing had taken place would have been a crime. It raises the question of how many secret raids, destruction of research and even intimidation of witnesses may have have taken place."
Bear in mind that we now have Howard's protege at the helm. He has already given us a clue as to the kinds of things to expect. For example, we won't be hearing about any more "children overboard affairs" simply because we will no longer be told when boats arrive.
Perhaps even worse still is the ineptitude of our security agencies which was so comically exposed by the ABC's Chaser program when they publicly gatecrashed Howard's Apec summit using ID badges bearing the words "Joke", "Insecurity, and "It's pretty obvious that this isn't a real pass".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser_APEC_pranks
Thanks for the very detailed reply Dorian, very mind blowing to say the least.
And thanks for the link to Telstra, I did contact them but they could not tell me if the email was genuine or otherwise (that was on their helpline chat board) just said not to click on the "click here" bits and to follow it up again on the main Telstra website.
Eventually I typed it into a "complaint" form as I was getting the run around from their system and that was the easiest option. I have not heard back from them yet.
I will still be posting Peter, just won't be adding anyone's private comments to me although anonymously (meaning I did not name them in the comments, although some could regard the comments as heading down the conspiracy track) I am glad I am just an ordinary pc mug, it's all way over my head.
A good idea about a dedicated Computer section, could I suggest you put this to Cindy in a pm to consider.
This is more about whether the email was genuine and whether it was safe to click on the links shown on the email.
Not about "nothing to hide" more about preventing scammers and hackers from accessing our pc's as I have already said on a previous post.....
-- Edited by Duh on Tuesday 15th of October 2013 03:13:28 AM
It's knowing/deciding what is suspicious or not mate. Bitguard is masquerading as BtGuard, a legitimate program, easy to miss.
I like to have "on-board" problem solvers for my computer. Don't trust on-line stuff, took me ages to even use a cloud storage on-line program (paranoia?)
Will do Duh
Peter
Isn't this where someone writes "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide"
It's been done.
I just received this reply from Bigpond;
Thank you for taking the time to email BigPondŽ regarding the email you had received. My name is Nelson and I'm sorry that we had not replied to your email in the stated time of 24 hours, as we've been experiencing an unexpected spike in our email traffic.
I would like to thank you for your patience and rest assured we are working hard to reduce our current backlog.
I can confirm that the email you've received recently is a hoax, and wasn't sent from BigPond. We appreciate that you took the time to bring this to our attention as this will help us keep other customers aware and safe from security threats.
If you receive an unsolicited email that asks you to provide sensitive information like your passwords, credit card details, personal information or any other account verification, please disregard the message and delete the message from your system.
If we do need you to update any payment information, we'd ask you to log in to 'My BigPond' through our website: www.bigpond.com. My BigPond is a secure site, verified by the padlock icon that appears in your internet browsers status bar.
Help with identifying and reducing hoax emails:
For more information about what we do and don't ask for via email, click: http://bigpond.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9108
I'd also suggest that you click on the link below and fill out the details about this recent email you received. This will help us try to block these emails in the future:
http://www.bigpond.com/help/ContactUs/MisuseService/
I thought it would also be handy for you to view other similar hoax emails that have been in circulation: http://bigpond.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15337
Its also important to update your password regularly, for more information on how to do this please visit: http://bigpond.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1216
If you have further questions or clarifications, please feel free to reply to this message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
You can also chat with us via our Live Chat customer service teams:
https://livechat.telstra.com/TCOM:Crowdsupport:Consumer or for Technical Assistance: https://livechat.telstra.com/BP:FAQ
Our live chat teams are available 24x7.
Thank you for choosing BigPond.
Best Regards,
Nelson Ollero Jr.
Telstra Digital Sales and Service
www.bigpond.com
Take control with our convenient Telstra 24x7 apps: www.telstra.com/apps
There you go !
This " if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about " attitude is very immature .
Maybe OK if the good guys are getting info , but that is not always what happens . Well done for checking that out Vic .
Well, I pinged that doman name and got this ...
=====================================================
C:\>ping go.telstra.com.au
Pinging go.telstra.com.au [61.9.172.47] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Reply from 61.9.172.47: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=241
Ping statistics for 61.9.172.47:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 34ms, Maximum = 35ms, Average = 34ms
=====================================================
I then looked up the IP address (61.9.172.47) at the APNIC WHOIS database:
wq.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois.pl
=====================================================
inetnum: 61.9.128.0 - 61.9.255.255
netname: TELSTRAINTERNET101-AU
descr: Telstra Internet
descr: Locked Bag 5744
descr: Canberra ACT 2601
country: AU
admin-c: TIAR-AP
tech-c: TIAR-AP
mnt-by: APNIC-HM
mnt-lower: MAINT-AU-TIAR-AP
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE
mnt-irt: IRT-TELSTRA-AU
changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20000703
changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20021213
source: APNIC
irt: IRT-TELSTRA-AU
address: Telstra Internet
e-mail: IRT@team.telstra.com
abuse-mailbox: IRT@team.telstra.com
admin-c: TIAR-AP
tech-c: TIAR-AP
auth: # Filtered
mnt-by: MAINT-AU-TIAR-AP
changed: IRT@team.telstra.com 20101117
source: APNIC
person: Telstra Internet Address Registry
address: Telstra Internet
address: Locked Bag 5744
address: Canberra
address: ACT 2601
country: AU
phone: +61 3 9815 5923
e-mail: addressing@telstra.net
nic-hdl: TIAR-AP
remarks: Telstra Internet Address Registry Role Object
mnt-by: MAINT-AU-TIAR-AP
changed: nobody@aunic.net 19951128
changed: aunic-transfer@apnic.net 20010523
changed: aunic-transfer@apnic.net 20020115
changed: Kushnil@apnic.net 20020813
changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20050310
source: APNIC
=====================================================
Seems genuine to me ...
Seems there is more behind this email than can be seen. All my friends that belong to Bigpond got this email as well.
This is what makes it tough for GN that have just got computers so they can keep in touch with family and friends, they don't realise the scams and traps out there.
Peter