[Ti] Privacy

[Tarik Bilgin]

On Sunday, June 15, 2003, at 08:40  am, NaegeleWDC at aol.com wrote:

> In the last two days, while surfing the Web, I have been online (e.g., 
> the latest time being at the BBC's Web site) with my Logitech speakers 
> turned on, and I heard what appeared to be "an opening of a door" -- 
> like someone gaining access to my computer.  Just now I heard a 
> "closing of the door" too, which happened yesterday as well.

I've heard this sound with Yahoo Messenger on the Mac when a buddy 
logged in and out.

> Is there any way that someone can gain access to our PowerBooks when 
> we are online without our approval?  I have always assumed that such 
> was not possible, but I am not dreaming.

it totally depends what applications you are running. Yes, there are 
applications you can run which will give people certain access to 
services on your Powerbook.

The most simple of these are: ftp service, web service, ssh service, 
smb (windows file sharing) service, which can all b e switched on and 
off in the sharing pane of Sys Prefs.

You can also be sure as hell that if someone does gain access to your 
computer through some sort of security vulnerability, they probably 
won't advertise it by playing a sound.

if you want a layman's review of your internet profile... try using 
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 and click the "test my shields" and 
"probe my ports" buttons to get an idea of what ports and services your 
computer is offering.


--
Tarik Bilgin
Opalblue
tarik at opalblue.com