Virus Drains Data Bundle R10 000 later.

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very good question. How do we actually know its a Virus? Becoz Vodacom said it "May" be? He says his AV is up to date and running 24/7.

What if its a Rootkit? I've come across some nasty ones. And rootkits can only be picked up by Rootkit Detection software, as far as i know. And can only also be removed by that software.
 
ambo said:
Riiiight?!?!?
They will take the blame if they are at fault but they will not do anything for you for your own stupidity.
They have occasionally paid out to prevent bad PR - the same thing happened when people got scammed in the early days of ATM's. Don't expect it to continue forever though. People need to learn to take responsibility for their actions (and own stupidity)
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Now Now girls no need to get defencive!! All I asked was a simple question. Seeing as this is the first time I've ever heard of this I was asking a rhetorical question. Glad some of you guys don't work at my local Vodashop. They would be bankrupt by now. You need to calm down and answer the question professionally.
I know you guys ar passionate about your product, this I respect But to climb into my friend caracter is not the answer. If Vodacom knows about this problem then why have they not informed us about it????????
AAAAHHHHH maybe because they score out of our misfortune?????
My folks are pastors and have recently purchased a Modem. R10 000 would cripple them. They have a stand-alone computer with a usb HSDPA Modem attached. Why would they not leave it connected???? Unless they knew about this problem. Not all of us are in the game and as "knowledgeable" as you.
 
xrapidx said:
How do you know it was a virus though?
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Don't think he knows it for a fact, rather it was a suggestion by the support people.

Virusses do account for most background data, so they normally get fingered first.

But don't discount automatic updates, especially the virus programs themselves! Nowadays every program tries to do updates when they see an on-line connection.

The other big one, as already mentioned is P2P, and also streaming.
 
Bruce000 said:
Thanks for your POSITIVE feedback. The thing is he does have AVG not even the free addition. The AVG automatically updates every day.
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No Problem :D

On a more serious note. Even with a Virus scanner you need to utilise 100% of your Firewall too and block anything that want to do anything youre not asking for. I once lost a whole lot of $$$ when I visited a University website. I did not realise that with that page their radio station started playing, as my speakers was turned off. R60 later......And now I use Adclock Plus to keep those nasties out.

ernstn said:
You have a firewall that stops anything on earth. Suddenly, to take a leave out of IS's excuses, there is a denial of service attack on your IP address
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This would be useless on Vodacom If you use the Internet apn as VC blocks incoming traffic.
 
yup... I think its probably p2p... A tip for anyone... if you're not using it...switch it off... I'm not talking about the PC, but rather your broadband connection.
 
People should do a hell of a lot of research before connecting their PC's to the internet via post paid methods. I never use more than a 1Gig bundle on a prepaid sim. Anything can go wrong. 9 times out of 10 when a customer has used up such alot, it is umanaged or unchecked P2P applications that are allowing tons of data to be uploaded. Don't use these apps unless you are prepared to babysit them or know how to cap or regulate their uploading and downloading limitations. R10K is only 5000MB (OOB) which is not alot and can be uploaded or downloaded in far less than 3 days. Doubt it was a virus your friend had.
 
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ic said:
@Bruce000, it might interest you to know that ambo does not work for Vodacom nor for any Vodashop.
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Thanks ic :) was just thinking i'd love it if i had thought up HSDPA and it was 'my' product and i could be earning money off it - we can all dream :D
 
Ignoring who's fault it is, I think ISPs in general have a responsibility to put systems in place to alert users to unusually high usage when the user is being charged by the meg. Reasonable defaults can be set and the user can change them, and have the option of where to send the alert (sms or email, even to multiple destinations) when the usage in the last hour is greater than the threshold.

This applies to 3g, adsl, hosting companies... all ISPs.
 
asmith said:
Ignoring who's fault it is, I think ISPs in general have a responsibility to put systems in place to alert users to unusually high usage when the user is being charged by the meg. Reasonable defaults can be set and the user can change them, and have the option of where to send the alert (sms or email, even to multiple destinations) when the usage in the last hour is greater than the threshold.

This applies to 3g, adsl, hosting companies... all ISPs.
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This is why I'm confused.:confused: When I went over my bundle i received an sms on my laptop warning me that I had gone over! Lesson learned!!
 
This thread is making me worried. Using a Linksys router with a 5GB account, what steps can I take to prevent this happening to me. All LAN PC's use NOD32 updated via a local mirror, and all have atleast Win XP firewall activated. Unfortunately, I can't baby-sit all the users, and some of them are prone to doing silly things online.

I did speak to the VC helpdesk a while ago about setting a limit on our account, so that instead of going into OOBR's, the account would be cut-off. The consultant I spoke to said that it is very difficult, and a bit hit-and-miss. She suggested that I check balances frequently. Surely there must be something that works better.
 
You do get an sms saying you have used so much of your bundle, the sms also says this message could be upto 3 hours old. You get one at 80%, 90% and 100%.

But in your case the virus was already stealing data, in a normal situation you data usage would not have ran so far out of the data bundle.
 
I cant see a virus doing that much damage over such a little time... unless it was SERIOUSLY sending spam... ask your ISP exactly what you did, surely they have to provide audit records?

Can an ISP say you used 10GB and not tell you how? It's like Telkom saying you made international calls for 8 hours, but not being able to tell you the numbers you called.
 
Why not impose a hard cap by default on all new accounts?

So you won't go over your cap, and should you have the need to continue working further, then you can phone the call centre (or whoever) and request extra bandwidth.

This way you'll be able to pick up problems long before you'll be notified that your bandwidth is being frittered away.

Also what xrapidx said....
 
The_Librarian said:
Why not impose a hard cap by default on all new accounts?

So you won't go over your cap, and should you have the need to continue working further, then you can phone the call centre (or whoever) and request extra bandwidth.

This way you'll be able to pick up problems long before you'll be notified that your bandwidth is being frittered away.

Also what xrapidx said....
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Agreed!!! We had a 3G cap on our company ADSL!! When we ran out we had to phone and ask them to extend the cap.
 
xrapidx said:
I cant see a virus doing that much damage over such a little time... unless it was SERIOUSLY sending spam... ask your ISP exactly what you did, surely they have to provide audit records?

Can an ISP say you used 10GB and not tell you how? It's like Telkom saying you made international calls for 8 hours, but not being able to tell you the numbers you called.
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When 3G cards came out, some folks had bills as high as 40K!!!
The billing would show something like > 8:00 am 950 000Kb, 9:00 am 950 000Kb, 10:00 am 950 000Kb etc etc etc

Thats how the viruses worked, ofcourse then the SPs credited the customers but not anymore!
 
The_Librarian said:
Why not impose a hard cap by default on all new accounts?
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I think this is already the case. I could be wrong. I don’t think this account was New though.


CodeMaster what about setting up Smoothwall as additional security on your connection(s). I am setting up one myself now on my to-be ADSL connection. :D
 
JK8 said:
When 3G cards came out, some folks had bills as high as 40K!!!
The billing would show something like > 8:00 am 950 000Kb, 9:00 am 950 000Kb, 10:00 am 950 000Kb etc etc etc

Thats how the viruses worked, ofcourse then the SPs credited the customers but not anymore!
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Well, I feel the responsibiliy falls on the client/user... maybe in the states you sue your isp.. :p
 
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