Did I pick up spyware by visiting a Web site?
Dave, I was looking at information on the Mirc website and I happened to come across a link called ircnick.com. Since the link came from an official website, I clicked on the link only to be redirected to a site called eta.us. Ever since hearing about phishing and malicious websites (e.g. Googkle) I was concerned as to whether or not the site I was redirected to was insidious in any kind of way (whether or not I had spyware, adware, trojans, etc.). I scanned my computer using various virus and adware scanners (everything was clean). Still feeling uneasy, I need advice, therefore I'm asking you.
I can understand your concern, but fortunately there are some tools available that make tracking down this sequence pretty straightforward. I'm going to use a Unix command-line based tool called lynx to step through the sequence of what was sent from the site. I'm actually doing this on the Mac OS X command line by using the Terminal application that's included with the operating system (it's in Applications --> Utilities).
The first step is to recognize that when you visit a Web page you get two things sent back to you, a HEAD and an actually web page. The header is the http protocol handshake, and you can view it with lynx by using the following command...
I can understand your concern, but fortunately there are some tools available that make tracking down this sequence pretty straightforward. I'm going to use a Unix command-line based tool called lynx to step through the sequence of what was sent from the site. I'm actually doing this on the Mac OS X command line by using the Terminal application that's included with the operating system (it's in Applications --> Utilities).
The first step is to recognize that when you visit a Web page you get two things sent back to you, a HEAD and an actually web page. The header is the http protocol handshake, and you can view it with lynx by using the following command...
posted by Dave Taylor at
10:15 AM
