Dealing With Online Insecurities

With new technologies come new skill sets that, at some point, become mandatory to possess. The computer age has forced millions of us to adapt to a new way of dealing with information. But the basics of life remain the same - among them, self-defense and watching out for danger.

Thomas Caldwell

Good Internet service providers (ISPs) put time and money into offering some protection against the nasties. When choosing an ISP, or renewing your subscription with an existing one, ask about what they do about security. On your list of topics to discuss should be:

Filtering Spam - The humongous amount of junk e-mail (spam) coming over the Internet is making life online miserable for many. Besides "legitimate" e-mail solicitations, many get-rich-quick and pyramid schemes are being peddled, and file attachments containing viruses are also not uncommon.

Many people naturally cry "freedom of speech" when anyone calls for somehow regulating the Internet. I don't know about you, but the idea of any government controlling information gives me nightmares. That is why the better ISPs have systems in place that actively filter out this junk. (The less reputable ones don't; some, in fact, actually sell their customers' user IDs to spam companies.)

An ISP can offer some relief from junk e-mail by simply blocking transmissions from known spam sites. It's easy to tell if your current provider has these safeguards in place. If you don't get a lot of spam, they do; if you get it, they don't. In any event, ask your ISP what they are doing about the problem.

Cookies Eaters - In my July column, I explained how the cookie function can be disabled in Netscape. For those of you who don't yet know, cookies are a system whereby Web browser users can be tracked to see what sorts of sites they like to frequent - a system that is wide open to potential abuse.

An ISP can set up a "cookie eater" (some call them "cookie monster") to prevent any personal information a cookie may pick up from your computer from reaching its "master." The more common term is "cookie-eating proxy," and this is an option that many Internet providers are beginning to provide, though few advertise it extensively. The mechanics are too complicated to go into here, but basically it is a specific port or ports on the ISP's system that filter out cookie data. Ask your ISP if they have a cookie-eating proxy, and how to use it.

Good security personnel - Nothing is better for guarding a bank than guys with guns. There is far more to running a good Internet access service than just a lot of computers and high-capacity digital lines. Security conscious ISPs have staff who handle the above-mentioned tasks and keep hackers and their shenanigans out of the system. Ask your ISP about these folks, and talk to them on the phone if you can. The support staff should also be familiar with the security measures being taken by their company, as well as be able to offer advice about how to keep nasty things from happening to you when plugged into the Internet.

Among other soon-to-be-routine security tasks for ISP engineers will be blocking access to websites running "killer" scripts. No serious incidents have been reported at the time of this writing, but I know of existing websiites running "killer" scripts. No serious incidents have been reported at the time of this writing, but I know of existing websites with scripts for downloading that can shut down your computer or crash your system in one of several ways. In other words, if you stumble upon the wrong webpage, you could possibly lose all the data on your PC. These days, it pays to be at least a little bit paranoid when going online.

In spite of everything a good ISP can do to protect its customers, all of the providers I spoke with are still of the opinion that the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own security. It's a nasty world out there people; don't become a victim.

Two websites you may find of interest pertaining to the above subjects are http://www.junkbuster.com and http://spam.abuse.net.

Telephone fraud?
One reader contacted me over a horrendous phone bill he had received. It seems that several hundred thousand yen in overseas collect calls were billed to his number. The problem was that he hadn't accepted any collect calls.

The erroneous bill may or may not have been the result of a hacker getting into the phone company's computer or - as initially suspected by the reader, after he read my June column - someone tapping into his apartment phone line.

But it doesn't matter how it happened, and it's not his job to find out. If this sort of thing happens to you, don't just complain to the phone company. Demand that they launch an investigation into the possibility that criminal fraud has been committed. You'd be amazed how much red tape such a statement can cut through.?

You can reach Thomas Caldwell at caldwell@gol.com.

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