Billandkent.com Was Hacked
WARNING! Every time I access your blog, a virus is downloaded to my IE temp folder.
sploit.anr
Downloader.Trojan
Norton AntiVirus gives me an alert each time I refresh your blog's homepage.
This problem has been fixed.
Apparently, a hacker changed a template on my site that generates the index.htm file that gets read every time someone goes to my site.
The html template has been repaired, and taken offline for security. They will not have access to the file in the future. All files on the site have been rebuilt and checked myself. There should be no further problems.
Thank you for letting me know of this problem, and I apologize for the inconvenience. Everyone who goes out on the Internet must have an antivirus package. If you don't, I'm quite sure you have computer viruses of some sort.
I take every precaution to ensure that my site is clean. Even given this, there are very clever people out there with nothing else better to do than to try to hack into sites.
How to check for computer viruses
You should have comprehensive (updates virus signatures at least once a week - preferably daily) virus protection software installed on your computer. Here are a couple:
Norton Antivirus (I prefer this one)
McAfee Virus Scan
Protection against Spyware
Another great threat to computers is what is called spyware. These are programs that get installed to your computer and can do many things that are harmful; anywhere from saving cookies on your computer for tracking purposes, sending back information on your Internet surfing habits, and sending out credit card information on purchases you have made.
Here are a few programs that I use to prevent this from happening:
Ad-Aware, by Lavasoft
Spybot Search and Destroy
Those programs search for spyware after-the-fact, after it has been installed, and it gets rid of it.
I also use a program that monitors in real time to stop spyware from ever making it to your PC in the first place.
Spy Sweeper
5 Comments
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I believe that also. It wasn't a malicious attack based on what I write (at least I don't think so). It was, as Kent said, an attempt to gain information.
I traced the offenders to Estonia. I don't think they were offended by anything Bill wrote. They were trying to plant spyware on unsuspecting computers. I suspect the purpose was to monitor keystrokes for credit card and bank information.
I can also recomment Computer Associates eZTrust Armor suite (includes antivirus and firewall - a clone of Zone Alarm). I find both work very well with none of the problems I had with Norton. You can get to Computer Associates here: http://tinyurl.com/5hr3l
I can't tell you how much hate mail I get from week to week about people who hate what I write about. It ranges anywhere from "you are going to Hell" to "if I ever find you, you are dead" type of comments. Most I regard as empty threats from very very insecure (and some mentally disturbed) people.
Because of this, I have asked that the registrant of billandkent.com (me) be "hidden" from public view. This means that is someone tries to find out my home address through the domain name, it will give them Network Solutions, in Virginia. I pay slightly more for that service, but it gives me peace of mind from the whackos out there.
Sounds like someone doesn't like what you've been writing, and in typical Republikkklan fashion, attempted to just silence you through intimidation.
Same thing happened to me yesterday when I tried to access the site, but fortunately Firefox caught it and asked me if I wanted to download it or not. I said "No way, dude!" Glad you got the problem solved.