Windows Internet Security Protecting Your Critical Data

by Fogie, Seth; Peikari, Cyrus

• ISBN13: 9780130428318
• ISBN10: 0130428310
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-27
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

Windows Internet Securitywill help you protect any Windows system against hackers - even if you know nothing about Internet security! Stop exposing your private files; install a personal firewall; protect your e-commerce transactions; avoid worms, Trojans, and hostile Web pages; protect your privacy; and more. Whether you're running XP, 2000, Me, 98, or 95, this book makes Windows security practical and easy!

Author Biography

SETH FOGIE is currently Senior Security Consultant at VirusMD Corporation, where he moderates the firm's Internet Security Help forum. He served six years as a U.S. Navy Nuclear Engineer and earned his MCSE before becoming the Network Administrator for a large retail company.

DR. CYRUS PEIKARI has served as Chief Technical Officer for VirusMD Corporation since 1998. Dr. Peikari is a physician in Dallas, TX who personally has several patents pending in the computer virus field. He has also spoken at Defcon, the annual hacker security conference in Las Vegas, NV.

Table of Contents

Preface	xvii
Studying the Battleground	1	(70)
Computer Architecture and Operating System Review	3	(26)
Understanding the Internals of Your Computer	4	(13)
Size Matters	4	(2)
The Hard Drive	6	(2)
RAM	8	(2)
The Processor (CPU)	10	(1)
Cache	11	(1)
The Motherboard	12	(1)
Bus Speed/Size	13	(1)
The Modem	14	(1)
The Network Interface Card	14	(2)
Serial and Parallel Ports	16	(1)
Summary of the Computer versus Library Analogy	17	(1)
The Modem in Detail	17	(3)
Operating Systems and Internet Security	20	(9)
Windows 95/98/ME	21	(2)
Windows NT/2000/XP	23	(2)
Linux	25	(2)
Other UNIX-Based Operating Systems and Macs	27	(1)
Windows CE	27	(1)
Summary	28	(1)
Understanding the Internet	29	(24)
A Little Byte of History	29	(2)
The Internet Service Provider	31	(4)
What Is an ISP?	32	(1)
POPs	32	(2)
ISP Logging	34	(1)
Proxy ISPs	35	(2)
Web Addressing Explained	37	(3)
URIs	37	(1)
URNs	37	(1)
URC	38	(1)
URLs	38	(2)
Internet Protocols	40	(4)
http	40	(1)
https	40	(1)
ftp	41	(1)
Other Protocols	41	(1)
Breaking Down the URL	42	(2)
The Internet Protocol Address	44	(1)
Domain Name Servers	44	(1)
URL Abuse	45	(4)
Web Pages: Inside and Out	49	(4)
Web Servers	49	(1)
HTML	50	(1)
Scripting and Codes	51	(1)
Malicious Coding	52	(1)
TCP/IP	53	(18)
A Computer: A House	53	(1)
Your Computer Ports: Your Doors and Windows	54	(2)
Roads and Highways: The Internet	56	(1)
TCP/IP: An Overview	57	(4)
TCP/IP: Driving Rules	58	(1)
CEO Analogy	59	(2)
TCP/IP: The Gory Details	61	(10)
Packets	61	(2)
Layers	63	(6)
TCP/IP Handshaking	69	(2)
Knowing the Enemy	71	(66)
Know Your Enemy	73	(10)
The Hacker versus the Cracker	73	(3)
The Script Kiddie	76	(1)
The Phreaker	77	(2)
Ethical versus Unethical Hackers	79	(1)
Global Hackers	80	(3)
Hacking Techniques for Unauthorized Access	83	(24)
WetWare	84	(5)
Social Engineering	84	(1)
Social Spying	85	(2)
Garbage Collecting	87	(2)
Sniffing	89	(4)
What is Sniffing?	89	(1)
How Does a Sniffer Work?	89	(1)
How Hackers Use Sniffers	90	(2)
How Can I Block Sniffers?	92	(1)
How to Detect a Sniffer	92	(1)
Spoofing and Session Hijacking	93	(6)
An Example of Spoofing	93	(6)
Buffer Overflows	99	(3)
Character Manipulation and Unexpected Input Exploits	102	(5)
The Normal Search Engine Process	104	(1)
The Hacked Search Engine Process	105	(1)
Exploiting Web Forms	105	(2)
Hacking Techniques for Attacks	107	(10)
SYN Flooding	107	(3)
Smurf Attacks	110	(2)
System Overloads	112	(1)
DNS Spoofing	113	(4)
Walk-Through of a Hacker Attack	117	(20)
The Goal Stage	118	(3)
Walk-Through of a Hack	121	(1)
Information Gathering	122	(5)
Planning	127	(4)
Execution	131	(3)
Clean Up	134	(3)
Planning the Defense	137	(118)
Building Your Defense Strategy	139	(28)
Fortifying Your Defenses	139	(1)
Virus/Trojan Protection	140	(3)
Virus Scanners	140	(2)
Trojan Scanners	142	(1)
Firewalls	143	(9)
Hardware Firewalls	144	(1)
Software Firewalls	145	(1)
Hardware/Software Combination Firewalls	146	(1)
Which Firewall is Best for You?	147	(2)
Restricting Access by IP	149	(1)
Restricting Access by Port (Service)	149	(1)
Restricting Access by Protocol	150	(1)
Restricting Access by Keyword	150	(1)
Restricting Access by Application	151	(1)
Encryption	152	(11)
Encryption Details	153	(1)
Symmetric Encryption	154	(1)
Asymmetric Encryption	154	(1)
Putting Different Types of Encryption to the Test	155	(4)
Origin Verification	159	(1)
Secure Sockets Layer	159	(1)
Virtual Private Network	160	(1)
Disadvantages of Encryption	161	(1)
What Encryption Does Not Do	162	(1)
Recovery	163	(1)
Summary	164	(3)
Personal Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems	167	(10)
Do Personal Firewalls Really Work?	168	(1)
The Fallacy of ``Laying Low''	169	(1)
Why Do I Need a Personal Firewall?	169	(3)
McAfee Personal Firewall	170	(1)
Norton Personal Firewall	170	(1)
BlackICE Defender	171	(1)
Zone Alarm	171	(1)
Introusion Detection Systems	172	(2)
Honeypots	174	(3)
Stop Sharing Your Computer	177	(10)
Network Shares	177	(3)
Password-Protecting Shares on Windows 95/98/ME	180	(2)
Removing Shares on Windows 95/98/ME	182	(1)
Removing Shares on Windows NT/2000/XP	183	(4)
E-Commerce Security Overview	187	(8)
Thwarting E-Criminals	188	(3)
Who is the Real Criminal?	191	(1)
Stolen Goods Online	192	(1)
Secure Transactions	193	(2)
Mastering Network Tools	195	(22)
MS-DOS	196	(1)
NETSTAT	196	(5)
Ping	201	(5)
TRACERT	206	(3)
NBTSTAT	209	(2)
NETVIEW	211	(1)
NET USE	212	(1)
Password Crackers	213	(4)
Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses	217	(14)
Viruses	217	(1)
A Virus Defined	218	(3)
MBR Virus	219	(1)
Macro Virus	220	(1)
File Infectors	221	(1)
Combination Viruses	221	(1)
Worms	221	(2)
Virus and Worm Prevention	223	(1)
I've Been Infected! Now What?	223	(1)
Trojans	224	(3)
How a Trojan Works	225	(1)
The Backdoor Blues	226	(1)
Detecting and Removing Trojans	227	(1)
Hostile Web Pages and Scripting	227	(4)
Malicious Code	231	(24)
Programming Languages	231	(6)
Low-Level Languages	232	(2)
High-Level Languages	234	(1)
Scripting Languages	235	(2)
Programming Concepts	237	(3)
Program Parts	237	(3)
Malicious Client-Side Scripting	240	(3)
Denial of Service Scripts	241	(1)
Intrusive Access Scripts	242	(1)
Malicious Server-Side Scripting	243	(3)
PHP	244	(1)
ASP	244	(2)
Perl	246	(1)
The Virus/Worm	246	(9)
An Example of Viral Code	248	(7)
Moving With Stealth	255	(46)
Privacy and Anonymity	257	(26)
Cookies	257	(9)
Cookie #1	258	(1)
Cookie #2	258	(1)
Cookie #3	258	(2)
Unpleasant Cookies	260	(1)
Cookie #1	260	(1)
Cookie #2	261	(1)
Controlling Those Cookies	262	(4)
Your Online Identity	266	(4)
Registration Requests and Unique IDs	270	(2)
Online Identification	272	(1)
Hardware IDs	272	(1)
Spyware in the Workplace	273	(1)
Chat Programs	274	(1)
Proxies and Anonymity	274	(4)
Browser Caching	278	(5)
Big Brother is Watching You	283	(18)
Email Spying	284	(3)
Keeping Your Email Private	285	(2)
Web Page Monitoring	287	(3)
Defeating Corporate Web Filters	290	(1)
Chat Program Monitoring	291	(2)
Keep Your Chats Private	292	(1)
Spyware	293	(6)
Spying on the Employee	293	(1)
Spying on the Consumer	294	(1)
Spying on the Family	295	(3)
Government Spyware	298	(1)
Commentary: Ethics and Privacy	299	(2)
Future Trends	301	(24)
Windows XP: New Security Features	303	(14)
The Microsoft Internet Connection Firewall	303	(7)
Windows XP Wireless Security	310	(1)
802.1x---Port-Based Network Access Control	310	(1)
New Windows XP Wireless Features	311	(1)
Microsoft's XP Hacker Test	312	(2)
Test Site Description	313	(1)
File Eneryption and User Control	314	(3)
Future Security Threats	317	(8)
Mobile Computing	317	(2)
Wireless Network Hacking	319	(2)
Automated Hacking	321	(4)
Advanced Topics	325	(24)
Registry Editing	325	(16)
Introduction to Registry Editing	325	(4)
Purpose of the Registry	329	(1)
Parts of the Registry	329	(2)
Using the Registry	331	(5)
Backing Up the Registry	332	(1)
Restoring the Registry	333	(3)
Manipulating Registry Keys	336	(5)
Disaster Recovery	341	(8)
Creating a Boot Disk	342	(1)
Down but Not Out (Computer is Infected, But Still Functioning)	343	(1)
Down and Out (Computer is Inoperable)	344	(2)
Using FDISK/Format	346	(3)
Appendix A Common Trojan Ports	349	(6)
Miscellaneous	353	(2)
Appendix B Annotated Bibliography	355	(4)
On the Web	355	(1)
Books	356	(1)
Internet Search	356	(1)
Hacking/Security Conferences	357	(2)
Glossary	359	(4)
Index	363

Excerpts

PREFACEThe Internet can be a painful experience. Hackers invade our personal computers,steal from us, and humiliate us. Computer viruses destroy years of ourhard work within milliseconds. Corporations and governments watch ourevery move, invading our privacy in an Orwellian nightmare from which wecannot wake.Why are books on Internet Security in such fierce demand? It is becausethey empower us to fight back. The media constantly reminds us of how vulnerablewe are. We are inundated with reports of viruses such as Melissa, ofgovernment spyware such as Carnivore, and of an Internet teeming withthieves. Above all, we fear hackers, the inscrutable criminals who invade themost private parts of our lives.Our primary goal in writing this book was to make it easy to understand.Material of this gravity should be explained carefully. The Internet itself is confusing,and Internet security is one of its most esoteric aspects. Thus, we havetaken great care to explain difficult topics in the most clear and compellingterms, using familiar examples. For instance, we describe how a hacker exploitsbuffer overflows by comparing it to rearranging a stack of music CDs.There is a pressing need for the depth and clarity of our book. With theadvent of always-on, broadband Internet connections, home users and small business owners are now in grave danger from both hackers and malicioussoftware. With knowledge and training, these threats can be minimized.Unfortunately, however, few resources exist for beginners; most security booksare written for expert users. For example, it is impossible for a beginner tounderstand a buffer overflow if he does not even know what a buffer is.Our book assumes no prior knowledge of computers. In the first part, wereview computer architecture and operating systems, explaining the securityimplications of each component. The pace quickens as we delve into the com-puterunderground, analyzing the psychology of hackers and virus writers.Next, we examine how the Internet works, explaining communication networksin great detail. We also thoroughly explain the TCP/IP protocol withclear and simple analogies.Part II is more technical and describes exactly how hackers execute theirattacks. We tackle social engineering, data sniffing, session hijacking, bufferoverflows, and SYN attacks. Although this material is quite advanced, it is neverthelesscrucial for the novice to master. Therefore, we compel interest byusing an actual walk-through of an attack as seen through the eyes of a hacker.Part III empowers the reader to fight back. We inculcate the four basic elementsof Internet Security: backup and recovery, encryption, firewalling, andvirus scanning, with instructions on how to implement each. A special chaptertakes a refreshing approach to personal firewalls and gives an objective reviewof the most common programs. In addition, since Network Shares are such animportant vulnerability, we spend an entire chapter with instructions and diagramsexplaining exactly how to secure Network Shares under each Windowsoperating system. We then strike back at hackers by explaining how to usebuilt-in Windows tools to track them down. This section also covers e-commercesecurity and gives an introduction to computer viruses and antivirustechniques.Part IV helps readers protect their anonymity and privacy on the Internet.It includes a treatment of computer ethics and why they are so important inthe new world order. We explain how to disable the "cookies" that Web sitessecretly place on users' computers in order to track them across the Internet.Similarly, we cover corporate spying: how employers monitor the workplace,and how to block this spying.Part V is a more advanced section designed for those readers who feel readyto learn computer virus debugging skills for themselves. This section includesa walk-through of the risky steps for disinfecting viruses and Trojan horses. Italso