Stuart H

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a wierd question but its something thats been bugging me for ages.

My ISP operates Surftime, so I have two numbers that I connect through (one for the free service and one for use during the day which costs 1p a minute). When I'm connected through the daytime (paying) number my firewall (Norton Personal Firewall 2000) sits very quietly on the taskbar and says nothing for the whole of the session. However, as soon as I connect with the free number it is flashing up all sorts of stuff involving Trojans of varying desciptions all the time.

I've checked my 'puter against the GRC.com site as well as the Norton Internet Security website and it keeps telling me that my computer is very secure and my NetBIOS isn't leaking etc etc, however it bothers me that while I'm connected through the free number my system is being attacked all the time.

Could my ISP have some sort of security system running on the daytime number that they don't have on the free number?

I'm fairly dischuffed with them anyway as the standard of service is worse than useless (connections hanging, POP3 up & down like a yo-yo, tech-support constantly engaged etc) so I think I may be changing anyway, but it would be very handy to know the answer to the above for my parting e-mail!!!.

Cheers

ChrisB

Stuart,

I use BTi Free and ZoneAlarm rapdily builds up a lot of hacking attempts and other network traffic.

Quite a lot of it comes from miss-configured PCs. You will get some kids performing port scans and messing around though. I'd be surprised if somebody really came after a home user unless they wanted to inplant something on your to PC (which they then can use to attack other machines). I'd expect people to be more interested in your work machine .

To be honest, I pretty much ignore the alerts from ZoneAlarm now. I don't even bother to report the attempts these days.

Being on dial-up is a level of security on it's own as well.

Cheers,

Chris.

GranTurismo

Hello,

I would suggest that the Free number connects to a different IP netwoprk with a Firewall with a lower security level on it. This could just be an oversite by your ISP.

Try ping locl host when connected to either service. The third number in the IP line may be different indicating you are on a different IP subnet.( Or something like that)

I would ask thier helpdes if you are concerned about security and it is important (i.e business use)

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Stu

You're not paranoid 'bout security are you?

Stuart H

Who me?? No not at all!

jjones

try signal 9 solutions Conseal firewall. have tried it and found it to be excellent.

tried other software firewalls and had loads of false alarms.

also keep an eye on the Bytes Sent on the dial up monitor - this should be nice and low unless you are uploading a file or sending an email etc.

Stuart H

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Have e-mailed the helpdesk twice - No reply
<LI>Have 'phoned to find out where my replies are. Told someone will call me back - No call back
<LI>Spoken to helpdesk supervisor who said "We can't discuss issues of network security with our customers"
</UL>

I now think they're taking the p*ss and there is something about the free service they don't want to tell me. Why can you never get a straight answer out of these people?

This would also be the same company who automatically disconnect you after 2 hours "to protect network integrity". Strange that they don't value their "network integrity" when your using the paying dial-up number.

Rant over. I feel better now!

dsmith

Stuart,

Have you checked within the Dial Up properties that all the settings are the same. They shouldn't differ apart from the TelNo. Maybe some odd services are enabled in the free configuration.

Try changing the number in the "non-free" configuration to the free number temporarily. if the affect remains this would rule out your PC settings. Of course if there are different usernames for the two services then this is not possible.....

Regards
Dean

Stuart H

All the settings are the same (user name & password etc). I've even tried deleting the originals and creating new ones.

Have just phoned them again, now waiting for call-back from the 'Product Manager'. Not holding my breath though......

Stuart H

Oops, posted twice.

[This message has been edited by Stuart H (edited 18 October 2000).]