Warning from Rapport Trusteer

[rundwald]

The above is protection which banks urge their customers to use.

Having installed it to my computer (Win7 Home Premium 64 bit) it warned me that the hosts file was readable. What is significance?

I have tried to locate the hosts file, but even the tutorial doesn't seem to help, though I note it deals with 32 bit installations. A microsoft help leads me to C:\..........\drivers\etc but Hosts is not listed.

What am I doing wrong?

Once I get it right I recall that at one time MVPS Hosts was recommended over the default one. Is it still?

 

[hackerman1]

hi !

sorry, i don´t understand the question about "readable" hosts-file.

by "MVPS Hosts" do you mean the hosts-file from Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File ?
if so, then yes of course, that hosts-file is recommended.
the default hosts-file is (almost) empty, it doesn´t block any "bad" sites...

 

[rundwald]

In re "readable hosts file", it was what Trusteer warned me about the file's status. That mystified me too. I'll do some more digging to find what they mean

MVPS, yes that's the one.

Does your comment about the default hosts also supply the reason why I cannot locate it having followed C:\........ \SysWOW64\drivers\etc.? Then where is it?

 

[Jacee]

The "hosts" file is typically located at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. The file name is "hosts". Notice that it has no file extension.

​

 

[rundwald]

hi !

sorry, i don´t understand the question about "readable" hosts-file.

-----
the default hosts-file is (almost) empty, it doesn´t block any "bad" sites...

They meant the read only box had not been ticked. I put the confusion down to other Pondside language difficulties.


Found it at last and MVPS now installed. Wonder why an active default Hosts, but only a dummy.

 

[hackerman1]

hi !

hi !

sorry, i don´t understand the question about "readable" hosts-file.

-----
the default hosts-file is (almost) empty, it doesn´t block any "bad" sites...

They meant the read only box had not been ticked. I put the confusion down to other Pondside language difficulties.


Found it at last and MVPS now installed. Wonder why an active default Hosts, but only a dummy.

ok, you meant "read-only" ?

yes, it should be "read-only", to protect it from being overwritten or deleted by virus/malware.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
any "External" program looking at my Hosts file would make me suspicious.

Why on earth would logging on to online Banking require the Bank software to access your Hosts file.

The best banking systems either require a randomly generated key (they give you the card which generates the random number sequence for each logon) or have at least 3 levels of security before you even get to access the initial account page BEFORE you attempt to do any transactions.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[stormy13]

Might want to give serious consideration to getting rid of it after reading this,

A Closer Look at Rapport from Trusteer — Krebs on Security

In these cases, a critical legal question that often arises is whether the thieves compromised the customer’s system or that of the bank’s. I mention this because Trusteer recently built a new component into Rapport called Flashlight, which tries to give partner banks the ability to remotely check to see if their customers’ systems are infected with malicious software. Whether the banks will proactively use that feature to stop online banking fraud is unclear, but such a feature would make it tougher for small and mid-sized businesses that lose money to online bank fraud to claim that their computers weren’t the sole cause of the loss.

 

[jav]

Hi there
any "External" program looking at my Hosts file would make me suspicious.

Why on earth would logging on to online Banking require the Bank software to access your Hosts file.

The best banking systems either require a randomly generated key (they give you the card which generates the random number sequence for each logon) or have at least 3 levels of security before you even get to access the initial account page BEFORE you attempt to do any transactions.

Cheers
jimbo

He is referring to this product:
Trusteer Rapport | Trusteer

Program to secure on-line banking, by locking down browser, encrypting your keystrokes and etc.
For this type of program looking into your Hosts file is pretty natural. (in order to check hosts file poisoning)

Currently recommend by several Banks. Actually, I would say "pushed" instead of "recommended".