Scary story
Aug 12th 2003, 9:42 am
#1
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Joined: May 2003
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 334
Scary story
The story below is from the Age in Melbourne - originally from the NY Times. British story though but haven't seen it on the BBC site.
A warning to keep your anti virus software set to automatically download updates and to install a good firewall as well - try www.zonealarm.com for a free firewall which works well (the free one is excellent for home computers - you can ignore the upgrades to ZoneAlarm Pro which you have to pay for).
'Trojan horse' hacks into computer and ruins a life
August 12, 2003
A rogue program corrupts an internet link and gets a family man arrested over child pornography. John Schwartz reports from London.
One evening late in 2001, Julian Green's seven-year-old daughter came out of the computer room of their home in Torquay, southern England, and said: "The home page has changed, and it's not very nice."
When Mr Green checked the machine, he found that the family PC seemed almost possessed. The internet home page had somehow been switched so that the computer displayed a child pornography site when the browser software started up. Even if he turned the machine off, it would turn itself back on and dial the internet on its own.
Mr Green called the computer maker and followed instructions to return his PC to a G-rated state. The porn went away, but the computer often crashed and kept connecting to the internet even when "there was no one in the blinking house", he said.
But Mr Green's problems were only beginning.
Last October police searched his home and seized his computer. They found no sign of pornography in his home but discovered 172 images of child porn on the computer's hard drive. They arrested Mr Green.
This month Mr Green was acquitted in the Exeter Crown Court after arguing that the material had been gathered without his knowledge by a rogue program created by hackers - a so-called Trojan horse - that had infected his PC, probably during innocent internet surfing. Mr Green, 45, is one of the first to use this defence successfully.
He was eventually exonerated, but his life has been turned upside down by the accusations. His ex-wife went to court soon after his arrest and gained custody of their youngest child and his house. Mr Green, who is disabled because of a degenerative disc disease, spent nine days in prison and three months in a "bail hostel", or halfway house, and was allowed only supervised visits with his daughter.
"There's some little sicko out there who's doing this," Mr Green said, "and he's ruined my life. I've got to fight to get everything back."
He said he had no clue how the rogue software showed up on his computer. "I never download anything, and as far as I knew, no one had," he said.
Anti-virus software and programs can ferret out and disable Trojans, but they must be kept up to date to be effective in a fast-changing field. Mr Green had anti-virus software on his computer, but it was outdated.
Things started turning around for Mr Green after the British press wrote about his acquittal, he said. One of the parents from his daughter's school, who hadn't spoken to him since the arrest, began talking to him the other day.
"She must have said, 'Perhaps he's not a pervert after all'," Mr Green said.
- New York Times
A warning to keep your anti virus software set to automatically download updates and to install a good firewall as well - try www.zonealarm.com for a free firewall which works well (the free one is excellent for home computers - you can ignore the upgrades to ZoneAlarm Pro which you have to pay for).
'Trojan horse' hacks into computer and ruins a life
August 12, 2003
A rogue program corrupts an internet link and gets a family man arrested over child pornography. John Schwartz reports from London.
One evening late in 2001, Julian Green's seven-year-old daughter came out of the computer room of their home in Torquay, southern England, and said: "The home page has changed, and it's not very nice."
When Mr Green checked the machine, he found that the family PC seemed almost possessed. The internet home page had somehow been switched so that the computer displayed a child pornography site when the browser software started up. Even if he turned the machine off, it would turn itself back on and dial the internet on its own.
Mr Green called the computer maker and followed instructions to return his PC to a G-rated state. The porn went away, but the computer often crashed and kept connecting to the internet even when "there was no one in the blinking house", he said.
But Mr Green's problems were only beginning.
Last October police searched his home and seized his computer. They found no sign of pornography in his home but discovered 172 images of child porn on the computer's hard drive. They arrested Mr Green.
This month Mr Green was acquitted in the Exeter Crown Court after arguing that the material had been gathered without his knowledge by a rogue program created by hackers - a so-called Trojan horse - that had infected his PC, probably during innocent internet surfing. Mr Green, 45, is one of the first to use this defence successfully.
He was eventually exonerated, but his life has been turned upside down by the accusations. His ex-wife went to court soon after his arrest and gained custody of their youngest child and his house. Mr Green, who is disabled because of a degenerative disc disease, spent nine days in prison and three months in a "bail hostel", or halfway house, and was allowed only supervised visits with his daughter.
"There's some little sicko out there who's doing this," Mr Green said, "and he's ruined my life. I've got to fight to get everything back."
He said he had no clue how the rogue software showed up on his computer. "I never download anything, and as far as I knew, no one had," he said.
Anti-virus software and programs can ferret out and disable Trojans, but they must be kept up to date to be effective in a fast-changing field. Mr Green had anti-virus software on his computer, but it was outdated.
Things started turning around for Mr Green after the British press wrote about his acquittal, he said. One of the parents from his daughter's school, who hadn't spoken to him since the arrest, began talking to him the other day.
"She must have said, 'Perhaps he's not a pervert after all'," Mr Green said.
- New York Times
Aug 12th 2003, 10:02 am
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2003
Location: Currambine WA
Posts: 280
Firstly updating your antivirus is a must
Secondly you must use a firewall especially if you’re on a LAN Norton personal firewall is a very good one and very cheap
Hackers use a program called sub seven to take over your pc
But there must be a program on your machine called a Trojan horse first for them to be able to interface with your computer
This program called sub seven is so clever that it tells you when a screen saver is on so you know when the person is away from there machine
Don’t open anything without scanning it first using a good antivirus
I use PC-cillin antivirus which is a very good program it has a monitor which sits in your tray and scans everything that goes in and out of your pc and scans web pages as well
If you are looking at dodgy internet sites you will get your fingers burnt
It’s a dangerous world out there with a lot of clever people about
Be careful out there
http://www.uksecurityfocus.com/threat/trojans.php
http://www.silicon.com/news/500013/1/1020214.html
Secondly you must use a firewall especially if you’re on a LAN Norton personal firewall is a very good one and very cheap
Hackers use a program called sub seven to take over your pc
But there must be a program on your machine called a Trojan horse first for them to be able to interface with your computer
This program called sub seven is so clever that it tells you when a screen saver is on so you know when the person is away from there machine
Don’t open anything without scanning it first using a good antivirus
I use PC-cillin antivirus which is a very good program it has a monitor which sits in your tray and scans everything that goes in and out of your pc and scans web pages as well
If you are looking at dodgy internet sites you will get your fingers burnt
It’s a dangerous world out there with a lot of clever people about
Be careful out there
http://www.uksecurityfocus.com/threat/trojans.php
http://www.silicon.com/news/500013/1/1020214.html
Last edited by bussie; Aug 12th 2003 at 10:12 am.
Aug 12th 2003, 10:02 am
#3
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Joined: Jun 2003
Location: Mandurah WA
Posts: 1,395
We had this dicussion last night with my Daughter who is 11 years old. She came through to us in the living room and told us that she had pornography posted to her on the internet. She is unable to get into any adult programmes.
I too, clicked onto a site (think it was expats) and a load of dirty pictures came up.
I am not into all this computer jargon, and do this and that to get rid of it. It is a real worry as to what this world is really coming too. At least when it was in magazines, they were kept on the top shelf (or in the back of your dads wardrobe) haha.
It really needs to be put under control, or banned altogether.
Whisky
I too, clicked onto a site (think it was expats) and a load of dirty pictures came up.
I am not into all this computer jargon, and do this and that to get rid of it. It is a real worry as to what this world is really coming too. At least when it was in magazines, they were kept on the top shelf (or in the back of your dads wardrobe) haha.
It really needs to be put under control, or banned altogether.
Whisky
Aug 12th 2003, 10:52 am
#4
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Joined: Oct 2002
Location: Sussex
Posts: 1,927
We have taken all access away from our son`s internet use. As a keen computer user ( like most teenagers) he was going onto to sites to find cheats and walkthroughs. But after using his computer one day i looked in on his emails to my surprise he had over 100 unread mails most offering sex chat and loans. Pop ups were another problem not like the ones i get on mine these were sexually graphic ones.
footie chick
footie chick
