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When then PFA President Shig Ryan Kishi moved the Academy into the future, establishing a Web site and computerization of our activities, we were one of the first to be prepared for the future that technology would bring us. While it was like, for a while, being the first one in the block to buy a TV set, the rest of the world has caught on quickly.
In 1998, I visited a dentist deep in remote Central America who received his Dental World by computer Internet before the mail got our copies to them. The recent issue of the AADE Newsletter relates a story by its President Richard Galeone concerning how the Internet ties the rural practitioner to dental advances and continuing education. The Internet has been a boon to PFA. And we are using its potential to its fullest, updating our records daily.
Dental World in 1989 was typing the initial copy out on galley sheets to send to the printer, who sent back the proofs, which were edited and sent back for publishing. Now, this is all accomplished in the space of hours when it took weeks before. Our kids mostly have never seen a typewriter.
PFA receives communications from all over the world, at all times of day and night. Questions are answered in electronic pulse time over the letter by mail to some distant country. News is fed into the publication nearly the moment it happens from anywhere in the world. The cost savings in international postage is tremendous and allows us to communicate more often internationally.
But with this advancement have come some serious problems. Investing in a corporate-level computer is costly. And the software that is needed is not inexpensive either. But we did it, knowing the savings would be down the road—as it has been—in time as well as in money.
Unfortunately, as computers became more accessible to those around the world, so have sprouted the hackers, the pranksters, the criminals of the Internet, and basically mean-spirited individuals. At first, they went after military and government facilities. Then they branched out to large corporations. Now, everyone with a hook-up to a computer is at risk.
PC Magazine, in their 12 June 2001 issue, highlighted a story off the cover about “Dangerous E-Mail”—the explosive truth about defusing spam, viruses, worms, and other unwanted messages. Viruses, Trojans, and worms—well named—have reached epidemic proportions all over the world. And when PFA receives communications from all over the world, some contain—knowingly or not—these infections.
Industries have been built around protecting your security. Dental World reported on our Web site many issues ago noting that the report contained studies that, outside of the United States, mostly in Europe, privacy was the number one concern. But in the United States, security was. And so it comes to be. We were using Dr. Solomon anti-virus program at the time. Norton and McAfee are two other very prominent names.
Sometime about March, many officers received an E-mail from Foundation Vice President Carl Lundgren. Mine was blank. I replied to him to discover that he never sent that E-mail. And this has happened to Carl again a couple of months later.
Several years ago, the Dental World computer collected a Trojan that stole the computer password and went on-line whenever the thief wanted to, using PFA time. AOL’s solution was to cut off our access. When the computer was cleaned and a new password instituted, AOL put us back on-line. That is no answer.
So I was aware of the misery such events can cause. I tried loading all the three anti-virus programs, not knowing that some conflict with others.
In June, I received an E-mail from a Trustee, which was contaminated with a W32/Klez.h@MM Worm. A worm is exactly what it sounds like. I was doing the last issue of Dental World and a bubble would appear moving through the copy, like a mole under grass, fragmenting the copy. The worm attacks all your “Exe” programs and disables your firewall protection preventing you from reloading it. I had to defragment my computer every few hours to keep it running.
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McAfee on-line suggested a treatment that was worse than the bite. They sent me a false worm to tie up the real worm. Then I was to download back to my last Windows. If the worm was gone then, I could reload the newer Windows. I followed their instructions and ended up in DOS with very little left to reload. And by this time I had almost forgotten how to use the “F” keys. The last issue of Dental World was gone, as it had infected the disk as well. Two weeks later, with a clean computer, I was back up again.
This time, McAfee loaded it up with all their newest programs to stop these attacks, provided a firewall with filter blocking, and a virus scan second to none. They also upgraded this virus to medium risk alert.
The Central Office computer system had also been attacked and is currently undergoing cleansing and upgrading.
Intentional?
Two weeks ago, I received an E-mail from the Lions District Governor that I know well. He had an attachment labeled “Kernel.” The attachment was empty and McAfee went off like a fire alarm. It was a Klez worm and they deleted the entire packet. I contacted the author. He, too, like Carl had not sent the E-mail.
McAfee’s explanation for this is that the virus steals the addresses of your friends from your files and forwards the worm on in your name.
But last week took the prize. I check for messages four times a day—morning, noon, evening, and about midnight (noon somewhere in the PFA World). Many require immediate replies or forwarding to the proper resource. I received one from my wife from her home computer at about noon. Bracketing that email were two E-mails from her from her office. Home and her office are 20 miles apart! I called her. She did not send the titled E-mail “friends together, forever.” I tossed it over to McAfee. It contained a Klez Worm. It originated from “youme” in Hong Kong via satellite through her computer to her mailing list.
My daily firewall log shows some 70 or more attacks, most nonthreatening and probably spam, but a few are portal attacks, and a couple were identified as worms.
There are two points to this article. (1) If you are sending something to Dental World make sure your computer is clean, and, if you are using an attachment, put PFA in the title. I am NOT going to download any attachments otherwise. I cannot afford a two-week cleaning operation, or the cost of such to the Academy. (2) BE AWARE that this has now reached epidemic status and get your firewall and virus scan updated immediately. I have found that Norton and McAfee are the best with on-line technical help. The cost of their current programs far outweighs the cost in time and money to get your computer cleaned and reloaded.
And do not forget the computer at your dental office if you are on-line there.
The firewall is to filter such attacks. But those hackers out there devise new ways around them. The Virus Scan is your back up. Run it often depending on your E-mail traffic. I get about 40 or more E-mails a day, mostly undetected spam. So I run mine every second day. Months ago, I found two viruses lurking in a program called “Jukebox Music” which I never had used. I deleted the entire program.
This is an international shame that a few on-line terrorists can cause this much damage to personal computers as well as company, military, and government ones. Much money is being spent on Industrial Firewalls and policing the Internet. But catching the perpetrators is difficult when they can bounce their attack through several computers. How do I catch “youme” in Hong Kong?
Turning off your computer from its electric source, or detaching your phone connection will not help. The virus waits at the entrance portal patiently until you go on-line. Then it attacks. Be ready. Be prepared.
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