Dial -UP Modem Hi-Jacking
 

Hi,
A friend recently had some serious modem hi jacking which only came to light when his two monthly phone bill arrived.
He only has dial-up. Should the normal anti-virus programmes prevent this or is there some specialist software he could get?
Willby

As I understand it, regularly updated anti-virus software should find and remove most of these - the older the malware, the more likely it is to be found and removed successfully.

Where anti-virus software falls down sometimes is with the latest threats - which are sometimes missed, sometimes detected but unremovable (in the latter case, there is often a threat-specific removal tool) - and with the curious distinction between viruses and spyware: there are some things that you certainly don't want on your comptuer that don't seem to be targeted by anti-virus software. This is decreasing a bit, but it's why we usually advise both anti-virus and anti-spyware software (e.g. AdAware, SpyBot Search & Destroy or Microsoft's Anti-spyware beta).

Hi
Thanks for replies. Will check his pc to see if his Spyware etc is up to date.
Regards
Willby

Once you've got rid of the nasty stuff on his PC, you can install some BT software which makes sure [or tries to make sure] that your PC modem can only dial free and local numbes.

Link is here

RC

If you simply phone BT and ask, they will block your line from dialling all premium-rate numbers within a few hours of asking.

Bang go the calls to the sex lines too!

I've been pretty impressed with my Panda AV. My understanding is that it's more widely used on your side of the pond than over here, but I wouldn't be suprised if it starts to make a name for itself against the likes of Symantec and McAffee...

For anti-spyware, the best is clearly "counterspy" by sunbelt software.

Air-Geko