Grid computing boosts hacker network

Read this .

I think to combat this every computer sold should have a halfway decent firewall as standard because most people don't know the risks and even if they do they wouldn'y be bothered going to the trouble of getting one anyway.

At first it sounded like he was talking about dnet.. www.distributed.net but oh well. I will admit that I don't use a firewall on my connection, and I definally know the risks. I also know that a firewall on the computer isn't going to keep the computer from getting hacked. Your firewall should be between your computer and the internet. Yes, personal firewalls are useful for some things, but not everything.

More importantly is to educated the users. If people are still dumb enough to download and run files from untrusted sources, they deserve to have their computers used. Also, it says that the hackers are sniffing connections to ecommerce sites. That means that they have already compromised a router or something between the end user and the site. If that is the case, then they probably know how to get past your firewall anyway. Especially if it was some firewall that Mircosoft bundled with their operating system.

very interesting article although poorly written. SETI has always been a cool concept but i never imagined the grid protocol to be used for cracking encryption. i am surprised no one has started a project that its participants take part in it by choice. i can see every script kiddie with a decent system their mommies bought and a broadband connection donating its use in a grid dedicated to cracking or some other lamness.

I would love to be able to set somthing like that up but I would never participate in one... too...whats the word? o yes Lame. But if I could say I cracked a password using 100 other folks comps without them even knowing about it I think I would definitely be a happy camper