One option for those (including myself) who are concerned either about
another application hijacking the Prime95 communication link, or a Trojan
masquerading as Prime95 is to use an adequate firewall. One application for
Windows PCs is ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com), and it's free. It blocks both
external access to your computer, and perhaps more importantly, only allows
the programs you approve to access the outside world _from_ your computer.
ZoneAlarm creates MD5 checksums for each program that tries talking to the
Internet, and thus prevents another program from calling itself "Prime95" to
gain access. For a good discussion of available firewalls, see
http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm.
Regards,
Ethan
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 22:21
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Mersenne: Security of prime95
> By giving out incorrect information? "The network communications
> between the
> server and client pose no risk as there is no instruction
> payload" is simply
> wrong.
>
> I'm not trying to scaremonger. I don't think the risks are that
> great either,
> or I wouldn't be running it. I can't speak for anyone else, but
> what /I/ find
> reassuring is to be told that security was a primary consideration in the
> project design, implementation, and testing. I do not find it
> reassuring to
> be told that there is "no risk".
>
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