Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt or "Martial Arts Forum Viruses And Security Issues"
The following email seems to be making the rounds. I'm not certain of the source, but the points it brings up need to be cleared up.
"If you participate in on-line forums such as martialtalk.com and e-budo.com, the security of your computer and personal data may have been seriously
compromised."
While I cannot speak for the good folks at e-budo, I can speak for MartialTalk and it's "relations". MartialTalk uses the industry leading vBulletin software, a well and regularly maintained commercial discussion forum software. It is not a free program. MartialTalk and it's sister forums are regularly upgraded and patched against the latest threats. In addition, the servers our sites are on are regularly upgraded, and actively monitored against intrusion and other problems.
"Like most of these types of forums, they use cookies to track your movement and record you Internet Protocol (IP) Address to identify your computer.
This information gets recorded in thier data base along with your user name. So they know who you are, where you are and where you go on the internet.
They will run scripts that can gather other personal information off of your computer. If you use things like Quicken and Microsoft Money, they know what bank you use, what credit cards you use and other vital personal data."
This is not accurate, and in some ways is in fact libelous.
MartialTalk does use cookies, however you can disable and block them at your end.
Your IP address is recorded, in both the forum database and the servers web logs. Any site you visit will record your IP address in it's logs.
The rest is fantasy.
We can't follow you around the internet.
We can't run scripts on your system, snoop through your computer or steal your private data.
Those actions are illegal, unethical and against everything we stand for.
Anyone who does do those actions should be procecuted to the full extent of the law.
"This information then can be sold to marketing companies and spammers and can also be used for identity theft."
True, to an extent.
Your information can be sold to marketers, however to do so is against our posted privacy policy.
It could be sold to spammers, but the small number of addresses in our databases are of no interest to them as they deal in the hundreds of thousands of addresses, usually sniffed from public postings, or peoples own websites.
Identity theft is also hard to do when one is missing vital information such as phone numbers, street addresses or most importantly, social security numbers. We collect none of these, and in fact are not allowed by law to ask or use the later.
"This is also now a popular way to spread viruses. If you use the Private Message feature to read notes from someone, you may very well find that your computer has unwanted and perhaps even harmful programming installed."
I am unable to find a single verifiable case of a virus being transmitted through a forums Private Message system. If anyone can point me at this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Viruses are executable programs. PM's are plain text. It just doesn't work that way.
"If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information and the security of your computer, you should stay away from these types of forums."
If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information, install a good anti-virus program and keep it updated daily, a solid firewall also kept up to date and more importantly properly configured, and an anti-spyware package again kept up to date and properly configured. Also, disable the HTML feature in your email program, and take the time to read up on how to make that program secure against threats. Make sure that you install all security updates to your operating system. That is the only way to be safe. Not listening to some crackpot who doesn't know what he or she is really talking about.
If you are really concerned, then keep your personal data on a PC that is not connected in any way to the internet.
Most forums are safe, as long as they are run by ethical people and properly maintained.
Be safe, and educate yourself on how to properly safeguard your system.
The following email seems to be making the rounds. I'm not certain of the source, but the points it brings up need to be cleared up.
I'd like to take this line by line.
"If you participate in on-line forums such as martialtalk.com and e-budo.com, the security of your computer and personal data may have been seriously
compromised."
While I cannot speak for the good folks at e-budo, I can speak for MartialTalk and it's "relations". MartialTalk uses the industry leading vBulletin software, a well and regularly maintained commercial discussion forum software. It is not a free program. MartialTalk and it's sister forums are regularly upgraded and patched against the latest threats. In addition, the servers our sites are on are regularly upgraded, and actively monitored against intrusion and other problems.
"Like most of these types of forums, they use cookies to track your movement and record you Internet Protocol (IP) Address to identify your computer.
This information gets recorded in thier data base along with your user name. So they know who you are, where you are and where you go on the internet.
They will run scripts that can gather other personal information off of your computer. If you use things like Quicken and Microsoft Money, they know what bank you use, what credit cards you use and other vital personal data."
This is not accurate, and in some ways is in fact libelous.
MartialTalk does use cookies, however you can disable and block them at your end.
Your IP address is recorded, in both the forum database and the servers web logs. Any site you visit will record your IP address in it's logs.
The rest is fantasy.
We can't follow you around the internet.
We can't run scripts on your system, snoop through your computer or steal your private data.
Those actions are illegal, unethical and against everything we stand for.
Anyone who does do those actions should be procecuted to the full extent of the law.
"This information then can be sold to marketing companies and spammers and can also be used for identity theft."
True, to an extent.
Your information can be sold to marketers, however to do so is against our posted privacy policy.
It could be sold to spammers, but the small number of addresses in our databases are of no interest to them as they deal in the hundreds of thousands of addresses, usually sniffed from public postings, or peoples own websites.
Identity theft is also hard to do when one is missing vital information such as phone numbers, street addresses or most importantly, social security numbers. We collect none of these, and in fact are not allowed by law to ask or use the later.
"This is also now a popular way to spread viruses. If you use the Private Message feature to read notes from someone, you may very well find that your computer has unwanted and perhaps even harmful programming installed."
I am unable to find a single verifiable case of a virus being transmitted through a forums Private Message system. If anyone can point me at this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Viruses are executable programs. PM's are plain text. It just doesn't work that way.
"If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information and the security of your computer, you should stay away from these types of forums."
If you are concerned about the integrity of your personal information, install a good anti-virus program and keep it updated daily, a solid firewall also kept up to date and more importantly properly configured, and an anti-spyware package again kept up to date and properly configured. Also, disable the HTML feature in your email program, and take the time to read up on how to make that program secure against threats. Make sure that you install all security updates to your operating system. That is the only way to be safe. Not listening to some crackpot who doesn't know what he or she is really talking about.
If you are really concerned, then keep your personal data on a PC that is not connected in any way to the internet.
Most forums are safe, as long as they are run by ethical people and properly maintained.
Be safe, and educate yourself on how to properly safeguard your system.
