Remote Control

[abesrve]

My workmate has been playing with various bits of software and has claimed that he has found a way to remote control my PC without my knowledge. We are on a Novell network and I have shut off all the remote services provided by Zenworks as well as the XP Remote Control software. I don't think he has had access to my machine to drop any cliet software on and have had a look just in case.

So, I suppose my question is this:

Is there any software that will run without asking my permission that would allow him to control or have a remote viewer on my machine?

[rowdy_yates]

there is no such software that i have heard of. there is s/w which will push the the client onto the machine and silent install - without required user interaction - and then connect. but there again, a service has to be installed and running on the machine before connection.

if he uses MS rdesktop, you will be kicked off your machine when he connects - unless you guys are running trem serv server.

you can easily protect yourself be installing a well known s/w firewall.

[nihil]

Well the most obvious would be some sort of remote access trojan. Obviously they don't need the proprietary software that you have disabled.

[|3lack|ce]

Nihil is right. Among these, backorifice is one of the best known, but it is easily picked up by any good virus scanner. If you suspect your friend has gotten such a trojan onto your machine, I suggest first going to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and doing their free virus scan, then doing spyware checks with spybot and adaware.

Luck to you!

[edit] fixing url [/edit]

[rowdy_yates]

well, i did assume that proper common sense security measures such as updated AV in real time is running on the machine. otherwise it's open season.

[MrLinus]

Actually, there was a piece of software that I remember a prof had whereby he could push down his presentation/topic to the students without them having software installed. Unfortunately I can't remember the specific software but it was rather impressive because it avoided the problem of students surfing while the prof was talking. I believe, however, that it was dependent on the use of IPX/SPX.

[XTC46]

there are web based programs that require you to go to that webpage, but a program like VNC does not require you to give permission or have a password by default. If he got to your machine while you were away he could have installed it but it has to be running and has an obvious little icon when it runs, of course this could be modified and then be very similar to a remote acces trojan, if you are a network he could have gotten it to do a network install of some type.

[abesrve]

Thanks for the help folks, I'm sure he wouldn't introduce a trojan onto my machine and I don't think he has had any access to my machine. As I said before I've had a look for any rogue software and had a scan to check and there's nothing that I can see.

To be honest I think he was just trying to pull my leg as he has yet to prove anything. Anyone got any suggestions how to get back at him a little?

[hypronix]

Well given that they are on a Novell network then maybe using IPX wouldn't be such an improbable thing [although the protocol was retired and made obsolete].

But I'd go with your guess of 'leg pulling'... anyway, best be safe than sorry.

[Winds8929]

Originally posted here by abesrve
Thanks for the help folks, I'm sure he wouldn't introduce a trojan onto my machine and I don't think he has had any access to my machine. As I said before I've had a look for any rogue software and had a scan to check and there's nothing that I can see.

To be honest I think he was just trying to pull my leg as he has yet to prove anything. Anyone got any suggestions how to get back at him a little?

I'm sure you'll think of something. If not, old fashioned practical jokes usually work.