Broadband and Malicious Software
Posted Wednesday, January 25th, 2006 5:47 pm by Abe Olandres
Viewed 3846 times | Related entries: Ask PTB!, Personal Computing, Security
One of our reader pionts us to an article recently published in Manila Bulletin which states:
If you’re reading this and already have broadband access at home, it would be wise to disconnect from the Internet and turn off the switch after use because even if the PC is off and the connection is not, malicious software can still creep into your PC’s system.
This advise was given by writer Peachy Limpin on her article Internet Security 101, with full copy you can read here. Our reader wants to know if the statement is true.
Personally, I have not encountered any case of such nature nor have I read any materials which might suggest that such scenario could occur. The closest I can remember would be those Cisco routers with backdoors embedded in the hardware itself. My DSL router has always been on 24/7 for the last couple of months but I have yet to experience anything like that.
We’d like to hear your comments and opinion.
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20 Responses to “Broadband and Malicious Software ”
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I sent a note to Peachy about this and she admitted her mistakes. Problem is, it was never corrected. Oh well…
[...] I know its a typo, quite funny in fact, and it’ll probably be worthy of submission to Jay Leno, Just remember that this is the same broadsheet that published an article that a PC can be infected even when turned off. [...]
Yah right.. 100 mbps… siguro nakita nya yung internet connection niya sa lan card na naka set ang speed sa 100mbps .. basta good connection kahit 256kpbs ka lang.. sa LAn Card mo ay 100mbps pa rin yan.. kasi 10/100 mbps usually ang lan card..
wifi gmit ko.. gumagamit kasi ng LAN CARD instead of modem.. pati den DSL.
I’m neither a journalist nor an expert in blogging. However I do know the difference between blogs and newspapers.
1. Target Audience. Newspapers are read by millions and have a variety of audiences, from the housewife to the CEO, even the president. It is the burden of the newspapers to provide, true and unbiased articles. If an article is published in the Editorial page, readers will be more forgiving. If it was on the front page, maybe not, causing them to buy the next broadsheet, sorry no room for lapse of judgment here.
2. Credibility. Newspapers should write the truth, unless it’s a tabloid paper. And I expect to get the truth in newspapers more than I do in blogs. At least newspapers should make the reader somewhat smarter after putting it down. They can choose the words and provide the angle to the article but to report incorrect information are apples and oranges. If an article was incorrect usually, the editorial staff makes a public correction. But as I have posted before, there is some truth in the story but not enough to tell the whole nation that it’s a major issue.
wrencelot,
on your 2nd point, i am a staunch believer that blogs are are not a reliable source of facts. Information, yes, in the form of opinions. But for facts, no. Anyone can blog and anyone can claim anything in a blog.
On the 3rd point, I am the forgiving type. We are all human and make mistakes.
let me get this straight, these words of buwayaman, because bloggers write for free, they are excused for writing that is lacking of their judgement..
1st, that writer is a pinay, manila bulletn is a philippine based publication, whoever put that thing on digg.com is possibly a pinoy too, and wherever you look at it, it dsnt look good..
2nd,just like her, when you say something like bloggers write for free so we are excused for writing something that is lacking of judgement (or something to that effect) is enough for people to think that you are not a reliable source of information (http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/blogs-as-source-of-news)
3rd, no one is excused for having a lapse of judgment, no one, not even the president..
4th.. i cant think of the fourth one.. but lets just hope no one finds your comment buwayaman worth digging..
I too dugg the article to and included it in my blog.
But to wrencelot, most of us bloggers do not get paid to write our blogs. So if we make lapses in judgement, I think we can be excused.
But for someone to write this kind of nonsense in a major broadsheet and pass it as “internet security” is downright atrocious.
Right now I checked and 30 people have dugg it. Manila Bulletin should be ashamed.
now i feel guilty for the writer.. just like everyone else here who blogs, a paid writer is also a person who can have a mistake with his or her chosen words.. if we are going to digg each other for those little mishap that we wrote in our blogs, i think digg.com would not be what it is today..
I just dugg your DIGG posting, rabasolo.
http://digg.com/security/PC_infected_even_when_turned_off_
I finally got to read the whole article. Writer has no business writing about tech matters, let alone on internet security. The claim that her internet connection jumped to 100Mbs should be a clue already.
I posted my whole reaction and analysis at http://www.technopinoy.com.
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