Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Puter viri ......

Monday, December 13, 2010

Puter viri ......

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I went into school early today... earlier than usual... to get a head start on the days shoveling.

When I arrived, I found my computer locked up, displaying a memory error warning. It took several hard boots to get it even a little alive, and what I found was not pretty. A call to I.T., an hours scanning, and some very, very nasty viri showed themselves.

By the end of the day it was operational, but it revealed another issue. In trying to track the source, I.T. gave me logs for my desktop, as well as some other data. Careful review of my computers internet logging showed it to have had a long and interesting bit of lifestyle going on..... AFTER I left school on Friday.

I changed passwords, changed routines, and would have alerted administration.... if there had been anyone around to talk with.

Meanwhile I have 787 pages of internet logs to browse, hoping to find some clues.

I will find him.... I know that. I always win. :-)

2 comments:

Bryn, North Wales, UK said...: Looking forward with interest to your follow up on this one; the sort of misuse you allude to would be grounds for immediate dismissal in any company I've worked for over this side of the pond.
The logs will give you a clue, but access to your PC after hours would seem to be the main issue? Any surveillance tapes available for access control to your building/office at the times in question? Who has keys?
I like playing detective!; December 15, 2010 at 7:09 PM
Carteach said...: The plot thins....

While scanning, I found a hidden hijack malware tucked away. It was sending the browser to some very interesting sites.

I suspect I walked away Friday afternoon with my computer locked, but the browser open, and this malware took a nice romp around some crappy sites.

Meanwhile, I am hunting the bugger down on my hard drive, and/or IT is.

The bright side, IT loaded a double shot of memory into the box, which I have been asking for since a year ago.; December 15, 2010 at 7:15 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.