Question; Can they snoop our computers ?
- Thread starter taodr
- Start date
Not if you are a loser.
MSN Messenger goes right through Zone Alarm; I have no reason to believe other apps can't bypass a software firewall as well. Since ZoneAlarm isn't open-source, how do you know it's not trojaned by the company? And there's lots of stuff running on XP that most users don't know about. Windows phones home in multiple ways.
Hardware firewalls are better, but still not perfect. They're just one line of defense. Uninstall everything but the apps you *need*, use crypto where possible. Resist the urge to say anything stupid on the internet. Buy a program to encrypt your hard drive (or use Mac OS X's FileVault if you're that lucky). Shred, then burn, all the evidence. Keep to yourself.
If you're using Windows, you're doomed security-wise anyway. A stripped down OpenBSD running the open-source QTStalker charting app or an online app like Prophet.net would be the best for the totally paranoid. Of course, you have to be a total geek in order to configure it properly, but at least you'd be, and feel, safer. But every step away from Windows is a step into painful configuration and incompatibility. You have to be a MAN to ditch Windows -- probably more than 20% of the people here have tried, but not many can do it....
The end result of all of this worrying is that you're spending more time securing your system than using it to make money. You won't have to worry about all the stuff on your computer, because poor people aren't a target of the man.
First get rich, *then* worry about "the man". Big Brother's definitely out there, and getting more and more invasive all the time, but unless you're breaking the law big-time, he'll be content watching your every move in the "real world" and not bother monitoring your PC use. He's got lots of people to spy on, so he's gotta choose his victims with a risk:reward ratio. Stay under the radar by not posting comments like this one. Plan NOW to leave the country for a tax haven.
And it can't hurt to publicly pretend you think harrytrader's crazy.
Hardware firewalls are better, but still not perfect. They're just one line of defense. Uninstall everything but the apps you *need*, use crypto where possible. Resist the urge to say anything stupid on the internet. Buy a program to encrypt your hard drive (or use Mac OS X's FileVault if you're that lucky). Shred, then burn, all the evidence. Keep to yourself.
If you're using Windows, you're doomed security-wise anyway. A stripped down OpenBSD running the open-source QTStalker charting app or an online app like Prophet.net would be the best for the totally paranoid. Of course, you have to be a total geek in order to configure it properly, but at least you'd be, and feel, safer. But every step away from Windows is a step into painful configuration and incompatibility. You have to be a MAN to ditch Windows -- probably more than 20% of the people here have tried, but not many can do it....
The end result of all of this worrying is that you're spending more time securing your system than using it to make money. You won't have to worry about all the stuff on your computer, because poor people aren't a target of the man.
First get rich, *then* worry about "the man". Big Brother's definitely out there, and getting more and more invasive all the time, but unless you're breaking the law big-time, he'll be content watching your every move in the "real world" and not bother monitoring your PC use. He's got lots of people to spy on, so he's gotta choose his victims with a risk:reward ratio. Stay under the radar by not posting comments like this one. Plan NOW to leave the country for a tax haven.
And it can't hurt to publicly pretend you think harrytrader's crazy.
If a computer was never online and data was only brought in to it and out of it via a CD could a hacker get a program to hide on the CD and bring data out of the offline computer to an online computer when the CD was put into the online computer and then transmit it?? Could I not scan the CD and check filesizes, look for bogus executables, etc and be really, really secure??
Max
Max
I don't think it is a "paranoid" question at all.
Front-ends to IB are very popular, and could be written by anybody with any intention. Firewalls are great, but if you need to give the program permission to access the internet in order to run, you don't know if it is sending personal information along with accessing "appropriate" information.
If I were a hacker and wanted to target people, the first thing I would do is write some cool charting app for IB, include a keylogger, get account numbers, and create some turmoil.
I hope I am wrong and things are more secure than that, but I doubt it.
Front-ends to IB are very popular, and could be written by anybody with any intention. Firewalls are great, but if you need to give the program permission to access the internet in order to run, you don't know if it is sending personal information along with accessing "appropriate" information.
If I were a hacker and wanted to target people, the first thing I would do is write some cool charting app for IB, include a keylogger, get account numbers, and create some turmoil.
I hope I am wrong and things are more secure than that, but I doubt it.
It's VERY unlikely, depending, of course, on the filetype. I'm assuming you're an insanely dangerous to the "Man"/conspiracy theory loving/book of revelation studying/anti-illuminati/x-files believing/9-11 coverup detecting/uberparanoid enemy of big brother and his demonic freemason army*. If you only transfer .txt files over from the internet you're in no danger (such as many stock data files). Avoid executables. Don't use MS Word or Excel because they may run VB macro viruses (or turn off Macros in Options). Use Notepad instead, or OpenOffice.org as your Office Suite. Basically, an offline computer is a clean computer. If you're that paranoid, you can format your PC, install known good versions of your software (although if it's not online, it can't phone home anyway), and manually type in your data by hand. Just follow 20 stocks or whatever and it's not that bad. I used to do it "back in the day". Come to think of it, I made more money than when I follow 2000 stocks. Hmmm...
If you are planning on finding the holy grail, and are afraid of others scooping your secret or jumping you on your trades, it'll be your broker instead of some unnamed hacker screwing you over -- and they won't need access to your system, since you're the goose that laid the golden egg. But the biggest part of the equation is finding the holy grail first. None of us have found it (or they won't tell me if they have, anyway), so the probability that you find it is really not good. However, if you DO find it, feel free to PM me, as I could use a bit of holy grail action in my life....
You probably don't need to be *that* paranoid; the most important thing is to come up with a good solid system and just keep chugging away at it until you've made your millions, and focusing too much on security can distract you from your ultimate goal, which is to be too busy sunning yourself in Bermuda to ever post here again.
Getting systematically hacked is about the same odds as winning the lottery, and even then, nobody could figure out your system anyway.
*Hey, so am I! Nice to meet you, brother!
I'm sure they could..
I've had two credit card numbers stolen and used in the past 4 months. I mostly do online purchases and ebay, and never open any strange attachments or emails. This is in between two reformats, so I'm at a loss at how my number is getting out there.. but I'm thinking there is some deceptive key logging program on here. Just watch your monthly statements like a hawk and be sure to dispute them immediately.
I've had two credit card numbers stolen and used in the past 4 months. I mostly do online purchases and ebay, and never open any strange attachments or emails. This is in between two reformats, so I'm at a loss at how my number is getting out there.. but I'm thinking there is some deceptive key logging program on here. Just watch your monthly statements like a hawk and be sure to dispute them immediately.