This is a message to all the home users out there. I apologize in advance for the bluntness, but the message has not been sinking in.
If you have a system at home, and it is not protected by some form of firewall (either hardware or software), your computer is a potential weapon of cyberterrorism. If you do not regularly monitor the appropriate vendor sites for important updates to the software you are using (like the OS itself), your computer is a potential weapon of cyberterrorism. If you do not use antivirus software, and keep it updated (yes, that means you have to subscribe to the update service), your computer may be a weapon of cyberterrorism. The average system is probed for weaknesses within 20 minutes of being placed onto the Internet. Sometimes it's not even that long. How many of you have had your systems online, unprotected, for months or even years? If you do not do these things, your computer is probably already a member of some hacker's botnet, and you have no way to even tell. Let's hope the hacker that controls your computer is not a cyberterrorist, eh?
As a weapon of cyberterrorism, your computer can be instructed to attack the terrorist's target of choice, using any number of methods. That target may be a power grid providing power to a large portion of the nation. It might be a commuter train signaling system that threatens the lives of people in 23 states. Maybe the target is a sewage treatment plant that provides clean water to the local population. Your computer may have already been an accomplice in such attacks, and you would never even know it (Blaster infected over 1 million systems in the first 24 hours, and that wasn't even well-written).
Do you folks understand that your poorly-secured home computer may contribute to the deaths of actual people? We're no longer talking about "Some hacker took down eBay for 3 hours *snicker*". We're talking about "Some hacker took out a train signalling system and 50 people died when two trains collided in Pittsburgh".
That's not a headline I want to read. Secure your systems at home. Email me if you need help.