I appreciate the welcomes extended by all of you long timers. Thank you all for being so very inviting.
I think I'll be spending most of my posting time inside the Cafe SETI after reading the threads in Politics.
I do have one question. I've spoken about BOINC and SETI to friends and people at work. Many of them have expressed fears about the security of the system.
While I don't have any important information in my hard drive, many people do and aren't willing to expose themselves.
Have there been any instances of hackers breaking into the computers of participants?

I appreciate the welcomes extended by all of you long timers. Thank you all for being so very inviting.
I think I'll be spending most of my posting time inside the Cafe SETI after reading the threads in Politics.
I do have one question. I've spoken about BOINC and SETI to friends and people at work. Many of them have expressed fears about the security of the system.
While I don't have any important information in my hard drive, many people do and aren't willing to expose themselves.
Have there been any instances of hackers breaking into the computers of participants?

To my knowledge no (through Boinc itself). Please get second opinion as I have only been on the boards about 11 months and may have missed stuff earlier. I can't see how Boinc is anymore insecure than a computer playing a game over the net.

You download Boinc from the offical source and join legit projects. If you have a firewall you set it up correctly and only allow access to certain places and ports.

I mean when you play a game online you have to connect to server and usually have several ports open for the game. In may opinion they both have the same risk.

Boinc is not always connected to net. It only connects either when you let/tell it or when it needs to send results back or download more work. I don't think it sits there leaving a port open all the time.

You can also have your computer(s) set to 'hidden'. So we can't see them. Thus it is even harder for us to gather information on you to start an attack.

I'm sure others around here know more than me. Please check with them as well. If I am wrong please let me know.

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

Thanks Gavin...I hadn't even considered the gaming side of the security issue.
Most of the guys at work do quite a bit of gaming and shouldn't worry about BOINCing.
I notice that I've changed the topic of this thread without thinking...maybe one of the mods could place these last few postings into a new thread.

A good internet security suite is your best protection, like Avira or Kaspersky.
Freebies, and the Apps that came with your computer as usually junk.
Norten sucks up resources like a hog, McAfee is junk (I put Kaspersky on one computer running McAfee and it found 384 Trojans, viruses, and spyware apps. even though McAfee's .dat files were up to date), Microsoft One Care is the joke to the industry, Clam is good, Zone Alarm is OK but has firewall issues, especially with port 134, BitDefender is very good, etc.

Just like on the Enterprise, you have to protect your 'poder from the Borg.

No one is going to do it for you...and more than Boinc, your bank accounts can get assimilated.

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Account frozen...

Zone Alarm is OK but has firewall issues, especially with port 134,

Hey Darth,

What issues are you referring to? I'm interested to know what you have heard or know. When you get time, let me and maybe others here know. I'm genuinely interested.

Thanks...

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

I hope no one minds that I am moving off-topic posts from "Trekkies" here.

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I hope no one minds that I am moving off-topic posts from "Trekkies" here.

. . . eh, go right ahead Ozz ;)

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

A good internet security suite is your best protection, like Avira or Kaspersky.

Agreed.

Norten sucks up resources like a hog, McAfee is junk

Agreed.

(I put Kaspersky on one computer running McAfee and it found 384 Trojans, viruses, and spyware apps. even though McAfee's .dat files were up to date)

Similar story. At the Intermediate Health care facility I work at, when I was first contracted, I found tons of viruses and trojans on one of their computers. I told the guy in charge of purchasing about it and he went out and bought McAfee Suite (something that had firewall and Antivirus). He installed it on the weekend while I was gone, updated it and ran it. It caught three trojans. The firewall prevented several apps from working properly and he didn't know how to create exceptions.

I arrived the next day and was informed of the connectivity problems. I checked the computer and saw McAfee was installed. I immediately created exceptions for all the appropriate programs. I then went to the root of the C: drive and saw that there were still trojan executables listed. I checked the AV to see when it was ran, and it showed that he indeed ran it on Saturday.

I installed Ad-Aware and ran that. Took care of 16 malware. I then installed NOD32 and ran it. Deleted the rest of the trojans/viruses (6 of them) even though McAfee was updated and had ran.

Since installing the McAfee suite, the users have been complaining about a tremendous slow-down on the PC. Even though I am their IT guy, I am not authorized to uninstall it since it was purchased by the owner's nephew, and both the owner and the nephew are familiar with the McAfee name. I'm leaving NOD32 on there (but not installed as a run-time app) just in case.

Similar slow-downs were experienced on two friend's PCs that had purchased McAfee. I suggested they uninstall it and install NOD32. Slow-downs went away. Had used Norton for a few years prior with same results. I will not be using Norton or McAfee again anytime soon.

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NORTON's a bloody 'Infiltrator' to the Entire System - i've refused THAT Program for quite a number of Years now . . . use CA Internet Suites . . .

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

I refuse to use Norton or McAfee as well. At least one of them has always come with the laptops I have bought.

The P4 I bought nearly four years ago, I uninstalled the AV and my system slowed to a crawl. The shop thought it was a RAM fault. After testing it they reinstalled the OS and it was back to normal. Lesson: Don't follow the uninstall instructions, especially when you know better. I should have done it my way and not the recommended way.

Recently my P4 laptop died and I need a laptop so I replaced it with a C2D based one. Again trial AV and Vista. Took too long to boot. Since I wanted XP and had a spare copy and reg key nuked the drive and installed XP, thus avoiding trial AV.

XP booted way faster than Vista.

Personally, I run ZoneAlarm firewall and AV. I also have Spybot, Ad-Aware and Hijack this. Also because of the internet setup where I live and at uni/work, my firewall (ZoneAlarm) is the last defence line. At home there is two other firewalls before it (the DSL router/modem firewall and the ISP's 'basic' firewall). At uni/work there is something similar (proxy and gateway along with NAT firewall(s)), along with isolated network segments etc. It is impossible for a computer in one lab to connect to a computer in another lab.

Key points: Never rely on one thing or trial software. Have multiple tools and multiple lines of defence.

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

Zone Alarm is OK but has firewall issues, especially with port 134,

Hey Darth,

What issues are you referring to? I'm interested to know what you have heard or know. When you get time, let me and maybe others here know. I'm genuinely interested.

Thanks...

I posted a lengthy reply to your original request, but your post got moved, so my reply got stuck in the Trekkie thread. I had to delete it since it was left hanging. I should have copied it first, but didn't think of that at the time since I didn't know what the f*** happened, to these admittedly off topic posts.

I was incorrect about port 134...it's port 113. The bottom line is that ZA's adaptive stealthing of that port can be fooled with certain spyware, and leave your computer wide open. But the chances of that happening are somewhat remote. Nothing is perfect, and even the best Enterprise system can be cracked, but one would always want to make it as hard as possible...

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Account frozen...

I posted a lengthy reply to your original request, but your post got moved, so my reply got stuck in the Trekkie thread. I had to delete it since it was left hanging. I should have copied it first, but didn't think of that at the time since I didn't know what the f*** happened, to these admittedly off topic posts.

I could have moved it for you.

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Zone Alarm is OK but has firewall issues, especially with port 134,

Hey Darth,

What issues are you referring to? I'm interested to know what you have heard or know. When you get time, let me and maybe others here know. I'm genuinely interested.

Thanks...

I posted a lengthy reply to your original request, but your post got moved, so my reply got stuck in the Trekkie thread. I had to delete it since it was left hanging. I should have copied it first, but didn't think of that at the time since I didn't know what the f*** happened.

I was incorrect about port 134...it's port 113. The bottom line is that ZA's adaptive stealthing of that port can be fooled with certain spyware, and leave your computer wide open. But the chances of that happening are somewhat remote.

Thanks. I have heard about 113 and ZoneAlarm. Since you mistakenly said 134 and I hadn't heard anything about it you got my interest.

I didn't notice the posts being moved at first, but got lucky and happen to look at the new thread instead of blindly posting away. :)

Thanks for the effort you went through. Stuff happens.

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

@ Gavin - Computer Associates Internet Suites uses a Licensed Version of ZoneAlarm PRO with their Suites . . . (in case you didn't know) and ALL works well for mi . . .)

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

@ Gavin - Computer Associates Internet Suites uses a Licensed Version of ZoneAlarm PRO with their Suites . . . (in case you didn't know) and ALL works well for mi . . .)

ZoneAlarm works well for me. Mainly because I kind of know how to lock it and my computer down. It's not perfect, but I and my family have used the ZoneAlarm firewall for years now and not once has it been broken (I have probably have been lucky) and the handful of viruses that have gotten in (through Internet browsing) have been detected by it. It doesn't always remove them successfully and so I have had to manually get rid of some. Not always easy but I have beaten them all so far and I intend to keep them all at bay.

Thanks for the thought and suggestion.

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

@ Gavin - Computer Associates Internet Suites uses a Licensed Version of ZoneAlarm PRO with their Suites . . . (in case you didn't know) and ALL works well for mi . . .)

ZoneAlarm works well for me. Mainly because I kind of know how to lock it and my computer down. It's not perfect, but I and my family have used the ZoneAlarm firewall for years now and not once has it been broken (I have probably have been lucky) and the handful of viruses that have gotten in (through Internet browsing) have been detected by it. It doesn't always remove them successfully and so I have had to manually get rid of some. Not always easy but I have beaten them all so far and I intend to keep them all at bay.

Thanks for the thought and suggestion.

Your Welcome . . . the ZoneAlarm has always been on mi Systems - ever since they Originally came out with the 'free version' Years ago - and i've NOT had problems with it either . . .

Have a Great Day Gavin . . .

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

As of discussion we have winners of Kaspersky and NOD32 how about Webroot Security suite and Computer Associates suite? does any body have comparing experience with these?

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Mandtugai!

As of discussion we have winners of Kaspersky and NOD32 how about Webroot Security suite and Computer Associates suite? does any body have comparing experience with these?

I'll get right back to you on that one...give me a few minutes.

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Account frozen...

Gavin, one other thing, ZA's intruder lookup is like having your computer drop its' drawers...by sensing a probe, then probing back tell the computer at the other end that you are there...

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Account frozen...

Gavin, one other thing, ZA's intruder lookup is like having your computer drop its' drawers...by sensing a probe, then probing back tell the computer at the other end that you are there...

Which is why mine or any in my family doesn't do that. It just ignores them. No reply and no attempt to lookup the intruder. Drop the packets/probes etc into the void and pretend they never arrived.

Like you said, tracing back is just another way of telling others that you are there since you are using similar techniques that they used to find you.

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.