What is your computer giving away? (1 Viewer)

[ShiftZZ]

In my current job I am looking at a problem...COMPUTERS

By all accounts, can canyone confirm that each computer con be identified?

I know that IP addresses are logged, along with what type of IE youre using, sceen resolution etc..

What is is the computer leaking about itself?

Ta

ShiftZZ

 

[Wildman]

I beleive microsoft certainly can as everytime an operating system is loaded it adds a signature. They one contacted me to say the laptop I was using had an operating system that had been installed too many time and was therefore unlicenced. The locked the system and it took a lot of phonecalls to get it unlocked.

 

[GJH]

Web hosting companies will routinely record details like the Browser type/version and OS type/version being used by site visitors in addition to the IP Address, which is used to identify geographical location, and ISP. They will also record the paths by which visitors arrive at a web site. All that without the use of cookies which can be used to carry much more if you allow it.

E-mail headers will contain the name by which the originating computer is known to the mail system, the originating mail domain (with IP Address), originating ISP, the various hubs through which the message is routed and the software used to compose the message.

That's quite apart from any data retention requirement for anti-crime measures.

It's possible (as spammers, phishers, hackers do) to hide much of the data behind false addresses but it depends on individual expertise and tools used.

Graham

P.S. Please forward address for consultancy invoice

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[GJH]

I beleive microsoft certainly can as everytime an operating system is loaded it adds a signature. They one contacted me to say the laptop I was using had an operating system that had been installed too many time and was therefore unlicenced. The locked the system and it took a lot of phonecalls to get it unlocked.

That was probably through "Windows Genuine Advantage" which is Microsoft's own tool to try to stop piracy of its software. You have to opt in to it in order to download certain updates.

Graham

 

[ShiftZZ]

The intersting claim is that 'individual' PC's can be identified!

Are they able to identgify such things such as Windows Serial Number? Date of installation of whatever software? Other serial numbers?

Or is it simply a marketing ploy?

As always

ShiftZZ

 

[656]

If you have a firewall installed, then you should be ok. I have windows firewall and one on my router -both standard.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[GJH]

The intersting claim is that 'individual' PC's can be identified!

Are they able to identgify such things such as Windows Serial Number? Date of installation of whatever software? Other serial numbers?

Or is it simply a marketing ploy?

As always

ShiftZZ

Wiki Here. It does use the Licence Key (serial number by another name). However, it is identifying the software to see if it is valid for that machine rather than the other way round. From that point of view it is the individual copy of the software rather than the individual PC which is being identified.

Something at the back of my mind (thinking back to a few years ago working in IT) is that if site licences (which allow installation of up to a given number of copies of a piece of software by a company) are involved then there might be additional checks which are mandatory to sign up to.

Probably easier to comment accurately on specific installations, especially with access to them.

Graham

 

[AdgeRas]

The browser is also giving a lot of information away.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a website that will show you the information that your web browser reveals about your computer:

http://panopticlick.eff.org/

Rasmus