AOL security breach
I do not know if you were already aware of this breach but I was pretty surprised when I heard it because I never heard about this breach. AOL is a very popular brand and it is worthwhile to stay informed about how they protect their millions of customers.
According to CNET, hackers have illegally compromised an undisclosed number of its member accounts by targeting key company employees with an email virus. The AOL spokesman said that the perpetrators gained access to the accounts when unsuspecting AOL staff downloaded a virus infected email attachment, also known as a Trojan horse.
When the victim downloads the attachment, it automatically establishes a connection between the employee's computer and the sender's. This allows the hacker to gain access to AOL what would be normally restricted to employees. Unfortunately, these attachments were designed to attack those employees who were able to review account data such as credit card numbers and passwords.
The spokesman claims that this has only affected a small number of accounts.
I know I probably shouldn't laugh at this, but ... HA HA HA! I
I know I probably shouldn't laugh at this, but ... HA HA HA! I cannot believe that an organization as large as AOL (especially being an ISP) is so horribly defensless against a simple trojan.
Why are their staff computers allowed to establish connections outside of their network on any port other than 80 or 443? And why don't they have Intrusion Detection Systems in place ... or a virus shield?
Am I shocked? Yes. Suprised? No.
Wow, I really can't believe some of these stories -- so EASY to fix these vulnerabilities before they become a problem!!
I know this topic is very old, but it would not be here if the w
I know this topic is very old, but it would not be here if the website owner did'nt want it here.
Well, AOL, where do I start? Oh, protection!
All this companies protection is built around protecting AOL and AOL Only.
If hackers were able to get into the databases of AOL, so were'nt their employees. AOL has their own staff of hackers looking for the big hole in their scripts.
They also have their own TROJANS that are installed onto their users computers, that are detected by a few Virus Protecting Programs.
These TROJANS are supposedly mistaking for other files only getting info of the users computer though. That's real funny. Because I dont remember catching a TROJAN while using CHARTER Broadband, JUNO, NETZERO, PEOPLE PC or VERIZON DSL.
I have also used AOL on lots of different comps and have had trouble using the service because of Virus Protection Programs I use and certain Firewalls that detect the TROJANS from AOL.
One good thing about using AOL is, using Methodus Toolz! It goes to show, how come this hack utility is so widely used against AOL users but, it cannot be used against any other ISP?
"Let's all sit back and wonder"???
Out of free & paid programs, I prefer:
zonelabs.com for a Firewall and
grisoft.com for Virus Protection
