http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB1010104082304162760.djmtemplate=printing.tmpl
January 3, 2002
Tech Center
Home Computers Are Becoming
More Common Target for Hackers
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Computer hackers, once satisfied to test their skills on
large companies, are turning their sights to home computers that are
faster, more powerful and less secure than ever before.
The hackers can steal your identity, destroy your data or use your computer
to launch attacks on Web sites or your friends.
Home machines weren't very interesting targets a few years ago, said
Mikko Hypponen of antivirus company F-Secure in Finland. That's all
changed now.
Experts attribute the threat to several factors:
* Many home computers are now as powerful as business computers, with
enough memory and processing power to make them alluring staging areas for
wide-scale Internet attacks that affect other computers.
* A growing number are connected directly to the Internet through
high-speed DSL and cable lines that remain open all the time. Computers
that are left on around the clock are vulnerable.
* Unlike businesses with permanent security staff, most home users are
slow to secure their computers with the latest antivirus and firewall
software and to plug security holes by downloading the necessary fixes from
software makers such as Microsoft Corp.
* Many home users are unaware of Internet threats and are too willing to
click on unsolicited e-mails that might be infected with malicious programs.
Home users have generally been the least prepared to defend against
attacks, Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Emergency Response Team
Coordination Center warns. In many cases, these machines are then used by
intruders to launch attacks against other organizations.
Internet analyst firm Jupiter Media Metrix estimated that 71.2 million
American households had personal computers in 2001, almost three-quarters
of the nation's households, and 61.2 million had Internet access.
Viruses and worms -- which are viruses that don't need human intervention
to multiply -- make up a large part of the new threats to home computers.
In the past year, users' computers have been infected with malicious
programs with catchy names like Code Red, Nimda, SirCam, Anna Kournikova
and others that could be spread through e-mail or by surfing the Internet.
Antivirus firm Message Labs reported that it detected one virus per 370
e-mails in 2001, double the rate of the previous year.
The potential damage from hackers is also growing.
Several years ago, virus writers were content to simply destroy data on a
computer. Now they can imbed malicious programs that spy on users or steal
their identity, use personal computers to attack other systems and use an
e-mail address book to unwittingly infect the computers of people's
correspondents.
Even the most savvy users have been victimized. An FBI cybercrime
researcher's computer infected with the SirCam program sent out official
documents that spread the virus -- to the bureau's embarrassment.
The federal government is trying to better educate and insulate home users,
hoping it will slow the spread of Internet viruses or worms that could slow
the entire Internet and its e-commerce.
The outbreak of the Code Red Internet worm last summer sparked an
unprecedented show of force from government and private industry.
We've never seen a virus before that would not affect end-user machines at
all; it just jumped from one Web server to another, Mr. Hypponen said. It
really made Code Red more like a weapon than anything else.
Although home computers were not affected, the message government and
private security experts want home users to take from that threat is that
computer maintenance needs to become as routine as locking your house and
car.
Home users need to routinely update their antivirus and Internet firewall
software against the latest threats and check for software fixes that
software makers provide for free.
If you've got a system out on the Net and it's not patched, there's a very
high degree of likelihood that literally in a matter of hours you'll be
popped, warned Amit Yoran of computer security firm Riptech.
New technologies will be at risk to hacking this year, Mr. Yoran cautioned.
Wireless networking, which is now so cheap and easy to use that consumer
models are growing popular, is especially vulnerable.
The standard itself is insecure, Mr. Yoran said. In a large-scale test of
urban wireless networks done by Riptech, experts couldn't find a corporate
network they couldn't break into.
What we're faced with is widespread adoption [of wireless networks]
throughout corporate America and throughout consumer markets and people
haven't really thought through how to protect, he said.
With more and faster computers on the horizon and no sign of hackers giving
up their pursuits, home users will have to take security more seriously.
