Technology scare at home

This weird and scary thing happened last night. Around 11 p.m. my husband who was browsing on the net received an SMS saying – your data folders are visible on my computer – please protect your data. Captain Desai. Or some such thing. Initially dismissing it as spam, my husband messaged back saying who is this – it was a Bombay mobile number.

Captain Desai called back saying he could see a couple of our work folders on his computer. And he read out file names. And asked my husband, you work with ** don’t you?

A complete stranger. And he had access to our computer. And our mobile number.

After a long chat with him, this is what we found. My husband had shared on of his work folders between our desktop and his laptop last week when he was working from home – and we used our Sify connection to access the net from both.

And this had been shared across the Sify network. Essentially, anyone connecting to the net through Sify broadband could have seen the folders. (I am always ready to expect the worst from Sify, but this?)

Samaritan Desai was shutting off his computer when he saw the message – …will affect other users on this network. Concerned about these “other users” he had no clue existed, he looked and found our computer. And found a few old Orange bills stored there. And found our mobile number. And let us know.

So, Captain Desai, many thanks to you. If you ever read this…

And the more worrying aspect about security – or the lack of it that technology brings with it. I cannot describe the feeling of vulnerability which overtook us suddenly and forcefully last night.

My geek (and other :)) – blogger friends out there, I look forward to your thoughts on this one.

19 comments

  1. ow ow… I wont blame Sify here. ( i dont work with sify, but am into Networks and Security ). Your data will be open for everyone in the case you have mentioned if you dont use a VPN. Please use a VPN to share things over a public network, or this is what you will end up in. Configuring it is very simple and you can check the microsoft site for details ( i presume you are using a MS OS ).

  3. There’s a lot to be scared of in the world of scams and spam, with a new technique sprouting up seemingly every nanosecond.. One of them… comes via e-mail,inviting the recipient to FriendGreetings.com, where they can download an e-card — along with code that sends the card to everyone in your address book.Security experts warn people to use safe computing practices.The threat here is real, but easily thwarted with an ounce of prevention and Web wariness…

  4. It is very critical that you install a firewall if you are using the net on anything faster than dial-up. A free and very good firewall is ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com).

    Second, yes, when you are using Cable Internet, if you share your files, you are at risk. Use a USB flash drive to transfer data between laptop and desktop.

    You can also set permissions on your shared folders (allowing only people with passwords to read them – but Windows is not very secure so these passwords are easy to break). As a rule it is advisable that you never share any files on a public network.

    Finally, you could just switch to Airtel DSL if it’s available in your area. A little expensive, but much better than most of the so-called cable internet that I’ve seen, here in India.

  5. Prasanna, thanks – *dumbness alert* what is VPN? in any case, I am assuming my husband took some precaution before he shared the folder since he works in the internet space and therefore I guess has more knowledge than me on this. I was not blaming sify – well, not entirely 🙂 but this was damn scary…. will ask him.

    Aparna, yes, was quite a scare. this guy was really nice and took the trouble of finding our contact details to get in touch. but just the fact that he could go thru our files and find our contact details… mild shudder

    Gangadhar, I have never thought seriously about this before but yes, I reealize now the threat is real…

    I wonder how people who are into p2p sharingcope – surely the dangers are much more?
    Harini, any thoughts?

    TTG, thanks. we do have zonealarm on our computer but we obviously need to take a lot more care… wil it make a difference on another ISP like Airtel or is this situation likely in any service?

  6. collective consciousness… spiritual possibility becomes virtual reality..:)… but yes, from a security point of view, not exactly great news…

  7. good grief!! that convinces me i was right… the only way you can *truly* protect data is to write it on paper and lock it up. this computer business always bloopers! if theres any method by which you CAN protect your stuff with absolutely no leaks, its bound to be so complicated you need to blindly trust the techie setting up the systems for you! :s

  8. You can try this but since I’m not into network security, I don’t if it works. Once my client sitting in the USA could see my folder by just typing my computer’s IP address into his browser.

    Anyway, go to (you’ll find it in “My Network Places”) Network connections; right click on the network connection you use to connect to the Internet; click the Settings button. There, things are self-explanatory. Select and deselect some options and then get your computer checked by…may be Captain Desai again 🙂

  9. The only thing that you need to do when you are sharing a folder is to remove the “Everyone” from the security tab.

    But for the message “…will affect other users on this network” which you mention, will only be shown when you are shutting down the computer, which is sharing the folder and not the computer which is accessing this shared folder. May be Samaritan desai was not explaining himself honestly, when you called him.

  10. Well , Sify is in the business of selling Internet access.
    Not protecting users who may expose their data to the WWW

    I do not work for Sify nor am a fan or a critic , I am not in their market also.

    There are two ways you can secure your data.
    1> hardware
    Buy any router , linksys or dlink or a good brand.
    Connect your pc to the router and the router to the cable modem.

    2> software
    ZoneAlarm as someone has already mentioned.
    if you are running windowsXp pro , it comes with a builtin firewall
    There are other free firewall products for personal use.

    Of this hardware approach is the best , it may cost a little money , but its the safest.

    Sorry if i sounded harsh on you in the beginning , i didnt mean to.
    Internet Access is a two way street , just like you can access Yahoo! , someone else can access your PC and the services being offered on your PC , in this case file sharing.

    Turn off all the un necessary services on your PC.
    Enabling Firewall on XP Pro SP2 is easy.

    And Finally Purchase a hardware router.

    Broadband connection without a hardware router is asking for trouble.

  13. If you are “Windows Sharing”, Almighty help you. It is the single biggest source of all the ugly things on internet. Disable it. Now!

    The easiest way to share files secure across the desktop and laptop is as suggested by TTG – use flash memory. Downside being, if flash memory stick is lost (with confidential/private data,) it’s gone forever. In case of Windows, at least, it is secure when you switch it off.

    A more difficult way is to use SSH. The server can be set up by following instructions given at
    http://www.certaintysolutions.com/tech-advice/ssh_on_nt.html. Patience is the key to do this.
    Then use the client available at http://strawberry.resnet.mtu.edu/pub/ssh.com/SSHSecureShellClient-3.2.9.exe to connect.

    This solution is only addresses secure sharing problem.

    Couple of tips, if you already don’t know.
    If you are not using firefox already, switch to it ASAP. It is far more secure than IE. Any creepy website will not be able to install spyware on your system. Install Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html) to get rid of any spyware already installed.

  14. Thanks all for your suggestions – your gentle and some not so gentle prods.
    (Am using firefox)
    (methinks Desai need not have bothered at all – he did. and that makes him a samaritan for me)

  15. good god charu!
    i have been using pacific internet’s cable internet services for two years.
    and the two years i have been an avid p2per. which means that i share some downloaded files.
    never, (and one of my biz partners chks for this kind of breach regularly) has my machines’ security been compromised. the ISP ensures that. i don’t just pay them for the connection i pay them for teh service. And that service includes securiy. TEchnically speaking everyone in my area who has an internet connection provided by my cable wallah should be able to see my comp and vice versa. THat doesn’t happen.

    i am a user. not a network specialist. i am not supposed to be. the ISP does that. so i don’t need to know about zone alarm or router or anything else. I am an enthusiast and find out about it – that is a different matter. But netwroks, that is not what i am supposed to configure – it is supposed to be done for me. and two years touch wood – the ISP has given me decent service. That is probably because they aren’t a big company like SIFY or TATA. my other friends who have big ISP’s providing their service have these complaints. (btw MTNL and VSNL are more than decent in both their service and their security)

    i don’t think that u should be going on a guilt trip on this. call up Sify customer service and give them grief.

    if you were a US company that had outsourced bandwidth to SIFY this would be front page news on breach of security. because you are an Indian customer sitting in Mumbai, why should you take the shit!!

  16. Harini, when i wrote this on my blog, I knew it was inviting smartass comments – so the guilt trip is actually not so bad. yes, I think sify has no business taking security so lightly…

  17. Does anyone know if you can use a wireless router with SIFY broadband connection? Since, it requires a dialer software downloaded to the pc, I am unable to configure my wireless router to connect. Please advice how to do this…

    As usual SIFY customer care is clueless.

    Thanks,
    Bala.

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