Vulnerable?

Greetings

I understand that with "always on", my computer would be wide open to all
sorts unless it was protected by firewall(s) (I use the router's firewall
and Zonealarm, and AV and anti trojan software).

But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?

Not that i would leave it without the protection, I'm just curious.

Cheers

"Me again" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:419f6031$0$538$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Greetings
>
> I understand that with "always on", my computer would be wide open to all
> sorts unless it was protected by firewall(s) (I use the router's firewall
> and Zonealarm, and AV and anti trojan software).
>
> But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
> switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?
>
> Not that i would leave it without the protection, I'm just curious.
>
> Cheers
>
>
>

yes, because it's not IE that is looking for calls but your OS, e.g. print
and file sharing with other PC's doesn't require IE to be running.

"Me again" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote...
> I understand that with "always on", my computer would be wide open to all
> sorts unless it was protected by firewall(s) (I use the router's firewall
> and Zonealarm, and AV and anti trojan software).
>
> But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
> switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?
>
> Not that i would leave it without the protection, I'm just curious.

Yes it would be very vulnerable.

Many thanks - it all helps in the learning process.

> But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
> switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?

Generally speaking, YES.

Windows has more holes than a very large fine-meshed sieve, and you don`t
need to open any programs for vulnerabilities to be exploited.

Given that you`re behind a router though, the odds decrease rapidly,
although i`d still recommend a monthly scan with an anti-spyware util
such as Spybot Search & Destroy, and they you use another browser (any
other browser !) rather than IE.

Opera and Mozilla (Firefox) aren`t bad as replacements go.

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> > But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
> > switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?
> Generally speaking, YES.

I forgot to mention the recent report from somewhere that an unpatched
WinXP machine connected to the internet for the first time will be hacked
and taken over within 20 minutes.

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On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:17:59 +0000, Me again wrote:

> Greetings
>
> I understand that with "always on", my computer would be wide open to all
> sorts unless it was protected by firewall(s) (I use the router's firewall
> and Zonealarm, and AV and anti trojan software).
>
> But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
> switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?
>
> Not that i would leave it without the protection, I'm just curious.
>

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/262

You have 20 minutes to download your updates/firewall/av software - good
luck.


Seriously though, there are things you can you, like disable uneeded
security holes that are enabled by default.

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kba...rformance.html

Disabling services, disabling netbios and uninstalling file+printer
services you can probably get away without a firewall.

Use firefox rather than IE, use Thunderbird for mail.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:17:59 -0000, "Me again" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
>switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?

Yes. You are connected to the internet, and your operating system has
a whole array of ports which can be connected to by 3rd parties.
Firewalls block these connections, leaving only the ones you want
open.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 17:11:37 -0000, Colin Wilson <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>> > But without all the protection, would my computer be vulnerable if it was
>> > switched on and connected to broadband, but IE wasn't open?
>> Generally speaking, YES.
>
>I forgot to mention the recent report from somewhere that an unpatched
>WinXP machine connected to the internet for the first time will be hacked
>and taken over within 20 minutes.

I can declare this to be false in some cases - I just upgraded 3
machines and none of the machines was taken over in the time it took
for Windows Update to patch them. Which was bl**dy ages....

Mark McIntyre <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> I can declare this to be false in some cases - I just upgraded 3
> machines and none of the machines was taken over in the time it took
> for Windows Update to patch them. Which was bl**dy ages...

I can declare this to be true in others. I built a machine to act as a
cable router for last year and it got splattered with viruses in the minute
or so it took to download a firewall to put on it (didn't have one to hand
unfortunately).
A month or so ago I installed broadband at someone's house who was supposed
to have had adequate software installed. I should have checked but within 5
minutes of being connected there were several instances of tftp.exe opening
up and the whole computer crawled.

I guess it depends whether your part of the Internet is being probed by
malware or not.

--
Colin
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