First of all I must say, the reason I have decided to join these forums is because I have found an incredible free firewall that I am so impressed by, I felt compelled to join these forums and try other Comodo products.
I got a new pc (XP) last year and it came with a 90 day subscription to Norton Internet Security (2006). I was actually pretty happy with Norton but then my subscription ran out and I was left without virus updates. I procrastinated for three months before finally deciding it was time to uninstall it and get something up to date.
Ive learned quite a bit about computers and internet security and malware and various things in the past year, so I was prepared to make educated decisions about what software to try.
Before I try any new software I always thoroughly seek out reviews and recommendations so I know if something is worth trying or not. I always seek out multiple sources for those reviews and recommendations.
I believe internet security starts with a good quality firewall. I read quite a few really good reviews about Comodo firewall and decided I would try it out.
I have used Comodo firewall for about 5 months now and its incredible. I will not be trying any other firewalls because I simply dont need to. I am very happy with Comodo firewall 3 and feel very protected.
I tried Avast anti virus and it ended up not working out for me. I am on dial up internet and its very slow as it is, but because all HTTP traffic went through Avast's "web filter" servers it slowed my connection down even more. It would take 5 minutes just to load a freaking web page. I switched to AVG and like it better, though I'd like to find something I like more, as far as anti virus.
As of right now I use Comodo firewall 3, Comodo memory firewall, AVG anti virus free edition, BOClean, Windows defender, Ad-aware 2007 (sucks, so freaking buggy cant even update signatures or software), and firefox with Noscript and Adblock plus. I feel pretty secure but would like to find AV I like more.
Ok, enough with the long introductions.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9746451-7.html"The FBI used a novel type of remotely installed spyware last month to investigate who was e-mailing bomb threats to a high school near Olympia, Wash.
Federal agents obtained a court order on June 12 to send spyware called CIPAV to a MySpace account suspected of being used by the bomb threat hoaxster. Once implanted, the software was designed to report back to the FBI with the Internet Protocol address of the suspect's computer, other information found on the PC and, notably, an ongoing log of the user's outbound connections."
"The exact nature of these commands, processes, capabilities, and their configuration is classified as a law enforcement sensitive investigative technique, the disclosure of which would likely jeopardize other ongoing investigations and/or future use of the technique," Sanders wrote. A reference to the operating system's registry indicates that CIPAV can target, as you might expect given its market share, Microsoft Windows. Other data sent back to the FBI include the operating system type and serial number, the logged-in user name, and the Web URL that the computer was "previously connected to."
"After CIPAV is installed, the FBI said, it will immediately report back to the government the computer's Internet Protocol address, Ethernet MAC address, "other variables, and certain registry-type information." And then, for the next 60 days, it will record Internet Protocol addresses visited but not the contents of the communications.
One possibility is that the FBI has persuaded security software makers to overlook CIPAV and not alert their users to its presence.
Another is that the FBI has found (or paid someone to uncover) unknown vulnerabilities in Windows or Windows-based security software that would permit CIPAV to be installed. From the FBI's perspective, this would be the most desirable: for one thing, it would also obviate the need to strong-arm dozens of different security vendors, some with headquarters in other countries, into whitelisting CIPAV.
Earlier this week, News.com surveyed 13 security vendors and all said it was their general policy to detect police spyware. Some, however, indicated they would obey a court order to ignore policeware, and neither McAfee nor Microsoft would say whether they had received such a court order."
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/07/fbi_spyware"FBI Spyware in a Nutshell
The full capabilities of the FBI's "computer and internet protocol address verifier" are closely guarded secrets, but here's some of the data the malware collects from a computer immediately after infiltrating it, according to a bureau affidavit acquired by Wired News.
• IP address
• MAC address of ethernet cards
• A list of open TCP and UDP ports
• A list of running programs
• The operating system type, version and serial number
• The default internet browser and version
• The registered user of the operating system, and registered company name, if any
• The current logged-in user name
• The last visited URL
Once that data is gathered, the CIPAV begins secretly monitoring the computer's internet use, logging every IP address to which the machine connects.
All that information is sent over the internet to an FBI computer in Virginia, likely located at the FBI's technical laboratory in Quantico."
I have a few questions.
1. will any Comodo products protect a computer user against CIPAV or similar spyware? - if so, how? Please elaborate.
I dont think BOClean would protect against this, as it uses signatures to detect known threats. I have not tried CAVS 2 beta, so I have no opinion if it would stop it or not.
The only Comodo product which has a chance to protect against this type of advanced spyware would be Comdo firewall 3, in my opinion.
2. Has Comodo been forced to whitelist CIPAV or any government/FBI/police spyware? - Would Comodo whitelist if requested?
3. If you think any Comodo products would protect against this, how confident are you? 0%-100%
If at all possible I would like to hear from some Comodo people. Employees, Programmers, anyone. I respect the members of these forums but I would like to hear from someone involved in the development of Comodo products, as they know them best.
While this FBI spyware was used for good, necessary purposes, the vast majority of spyware/malware is used for bad reasons. This FBI spyware is very advanced from what I can tell, and if the FBI can create advanced spyware, so can other people. I personally dont want to fall victim to some kind of advanced malware.
Ive read some of Melih's posts about why he started Comodo and why he offers free products and I wanted to say thank you for making such a great firewall free for everyone. It was actually pretty inspirational reading one of his posts - I am a musician and Im trying to make my way in this world. I want to release my music by myself, without any of the hassles of greedy companies .... I mean record companies. Its good to learn of people building an idea from the ground up into a solid, competitive, successful company. Hopefully one day, I can find my own success.
Thank you Melih
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