Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!npeer01.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!post01.iad.highwinds-media.com!newsfe01.iad.POSTED!6b61fb94!not-for-mail From: Knute Johnson User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110424 Thunderbird/3.1.10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: [OT] Looking for help with security issue References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 48 Message-ID: X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsdemon.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 17:37:49 UTC Organization: NewsDemon Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 10:37:01 -0700 Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.programmer:4390 On 05/21/2011 08:59 AM, Ten Blade wrote: > As per the subject line, this is very much an off-topic question. The > reason I'm asking it here is that I have lurked here for a long time and > respect the technical skills of the people here more than anywhere else I > can think of. I'm hoping you can point me to a newsgroup or website where I > can find similiarly knowledgeable people in the field of computer security. > > In a nutshell, I picked up some malware the other day and I'm trying to > find out what I need to do to be 100% sure that I've resolved the problem > completely and have changed any passwords that may have been exposed. > > My first thought was that I should take advantage of the old maxim that > "Google is your friend" and just search for answers that way. > Unfortunately, that only revealed that there are many, many websites that > purport to handle security issues - but few, if any, of them seem very > credible. In fact, a lot of them seem like deliberate tricks to exploit > user naivete about security. Many sites begin by offering you a "free > checkup" without making any serious attempt to explain what this checkup > does. Apparently, even though you don't know these people or their > intentions, you are just supposed to assume that they are benevolent and > won't do you any harm. I'm afraid that is just more than I am willing to > do. > > I'm looking for a place where I can find knowledgeable people that can give > me advice on security matters and are willing explain what they want me to > do and convince me that those steps won't leave me in worse shape than > before I started BEFORE I undertake any steps that they advise. I'm > moderately technical but probably not technical enough to really be sure of > my own understanding of issues so I'd like to find a place where I can ask > advice of people that won't make me regret going there. > > I've got many basic questions and some advanced ones. I'm also on a budget, > which is basically zero, which rules out some options. > > Can anyone direct me to a website or newsgroup where I can find such > people? If so, I'd be very grateful! > > > If you are running windows, don't listen to anybody that says it can be cleaned. You need to format and reload the O/S from scratch, it's the only way to be sure. -- Knute Johnson s/knute/nospam/