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Thread: Should I be worried....?

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Nov 2004
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    Should I be worried....?

    I have recently switched to Firefox after using IE6 (service pack 2 installed) for the last six months. Today I had some financial transactions to perform on line so I first ran Spybot then ran Norton Anti-virus (after first making certain I had all updates to each.) After that, I went about my business.

    I then got a couple of pop-ups on Firefox so - out of curiousity - I ran AdAware 6.0 and found about 44 different "hits" that Spybot and Norton had missed. Most of them were "data miners" which I think are relatively benign (?) but several of them had "malware" as the description. Unfortunately I deleted the files before writing them down so I cannot list them here.

    Should I be concerned that any of these programs were able to log my credit card #, SSN, etc.? Will the fact that I was operating on Firefox instead of IE6 offer me any comfort here?

  2. #2
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
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    Oct 2002
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    Did you run Ad-aware _since_ you started using Firefox and have you used Firefox exclusively since the date you switched?
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  3. #3
    Junior Member
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    No, I hadn't run AdAware since switching over and I had to use IE6 to log on remotely to my work email account.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    Jerichoholic,

    Tiger Shark will take good care of you, I’d only add that you make sure you have the latest Versions of all your anti-malware products and be sure your AV is updated as well.

    Free Versions:

    Spybot S & D 1.3, Def File 2004-11-18

    Ad-Aware is SE Personal, Build 1.05 def file DE1R20 25. 11. 2004

    cheers
    Connection refused, try again later.

  5. #5
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    You might find that what you found was leftover from your IE days.

    A quick test would be to revisit the sites you did for your banking etc. in Firefox and rescan. If you find the same of similar things then you have a problem - not to mention your bank...

    If you find the same again then repost with what you found, if you don't then iit was leftover nd you have nothing to worry about fromn the Bank. Run Spybot and Ad-aware weekly for a couple of weeks. IME, I have had nothing since changing to Firefox.
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  6. #6
    Junior Member
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    Nov 2004
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    Tiger Shark, thank you for your rapid assistance. I revisited the sites using Firefox, ran AdAware again, nothing found...good news, if I read your post correctly.

    For my own education, a couple of additional questions, if I may? As I understand this, then, even if these malware programs were capable of logging information, the fact that I was in Firefox and not operating in IE6 would have made them a non-threat? In the future, if I need to use IE6 for something, it will run the risk of exposing Firefox to the spyware/adware or no?

    Once again, thanks for taking the time to assist.

  7. #7
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
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    Potentially, yes, malware can expose you even though you are running Firefox but that's more to do with the way the malware works within the OS than the fault of firefox.

    If you use IE make sure you are going to trusted sites or scan after using it with both spybot and ad-aware.
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  8. #8
    Regal Making Handler
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
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    Tiger no's his stuff. So this is probably just background info, plus an un-educated quess.

    You may find you will pick up data miner cookies from your banks web-site. They are after all a commercial enterprise and as such may be interested in what you get upto online.
    What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad. - Dave Barry

  9. #9
    Junior Member
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    Nov 2004
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    Thank you again, Tiger Shark. I'm only slightly confused at this point but am cautiously optimistic based upon your second post (the fourth in this thread.) Appreciate the benefit of your time and experience.

  10. #10
    I would recommend that you use AVG by Grisoft as your Anti-Virus. I use it and it works wonders, sometimes it will pick up bugs that Norton's does not. It's free, and you can get it here: www.grisoft.com


    Oh yea, I'm back btw.
    --Kristoph


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