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RSS feedsWhile the internet has brought us quick access to lots of useful information, the flipside is that it has exposed us to unsavoury images and harmful viruses.
So it should come as no surprise that the latest threat - porn diallers - combines malicious software and pornography.
Like most threats, though, there's no need to panic. We'll explain what they are and, more importantly, how to deal with them.
A porn dialler is a small application that installs itself on your computer and changes your internet settings to dial a premium rate telephone number for internet access, rather than the phone number of your ISP.
Next time you connect to the internet, you'll run up huge call costs, which you probably won't even notice until your next phone bill arrives.
So why a 'porn' dialler? The reason is that these diallers usually originate from pornography websites. Certain websites don't charge a subscription fee but instead generate revenue by requiring visitors to access the service on a premium rate number.
With costs at anything from £1 a minute upwards, websites can rake in considerable sums regardless of whether their 'customers' are even looking at their site.
Dial D for dialler
While there are some legitimate websites which make it clear that you are about to download a premium rate dialler, plenty more hide this fact. This makes it worryingly easy to get duped and end up with a porn dialler installed on your PC.
The good news is that porn diallers don't just install themselves - they need your specific acceptance first. The bad news is that, as a result of the way that these diallers first make their presence known, it's easy to accept their installation accidentally or even unknowingly.
It's all too easy to end up at a pornographic website, as anyone who has mistyped a web address or clicked on an innocent-looking link will testify.
Visiting such a site usually results in a blizzard of pop-up windows, one or more of which is often a dialogue box asking you to confirm or reject download and installation.
Most people's first reaction when faced with a plethora of pornographic pop-ups is to click wildly until they disappear. But one false click on an 'OK' rather than a 'Cancel' button and you've got yourself a porn dialler.
Of course, the easy way to avoid this trap is to make sure you read what you're clicking on before you click it, regardless of its source. But, unfortunately, many porn dialler pop-ups won't explicitly state what you are agreeing to.
A message might actually say that you're missing a vital piece of software and you won't be able to access websites without it, or the message might be in a foreign language.
The key rule here is that, if you don't understand the message or are worried about a website's content, don't agree to any pop-ups. If you can't find the Cancel button try pressing the ESC key instead, as this is the same as cancelling a request.
Have I got one?
Porn diallers can sneak onto your system and it can be difficult to detect that you've got one running.
There aren't any clear-cut rules for detecting a dialler, as different varieties have different ways of working, but we can give you some general tips on what to look out for.
First, have any strange files appeared on your computer? Porn diallers often leave telltale signs around your PC - try looking on your C drive for odd files, such as any called dialler.exe.
Many diallers can be removed using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, so have a quick flick through the list of installed applications and see if anything suspicious has appeared.
If you go online and find that you can't send emails, this could be a sign that you have a dialler installed and are connected to a premium rate number.
To prevent abuse, ISPs only let users that are connected to their service send email through it, so a fault here suggests that you're not connected to the correct service.
Finally, next time you connect to the internet, check the dial-up box and make sure that it's using the correct settings.
The telephone number is key here, because you should be connecting to a local rate number starting with 0845. If you're not, then a dialler could be at play.
Removal remedies
Before we get into the nitty gritty of removing a dialler from your system, there are a few precautionary steps you can take.
The best is to call your telephone company to see whether it can block access to premium rate numbers. If you don't use them, then you won't miss them and any premium rate dialler will be stopped dead in its tracks.
Next, check your Internet Explorer security settings to make sure that your web browser is doing its best to block malicious applications from installing on your PC.
If you already suspect that you have a dialler on your PC, or have the phone bill to prove it, there are a few steps you can take to remove the files.
The easiest method is to check the Add/Remove Programs list and remove any applications that allude to being a dialler. If you've got a particularly nasty variant that has hidden itself, you're going to have to resort to additional software.
Antivirus software is a good place to start but not all packages detect diallers, as a dialler could be a legitimate piece of software that you have chosen to install.
Check the documentation that came with your antivirus application to see whether it will detect and remove diallers. You can also check the online help - press F1 when you open the application.
Finally, if you haven't got it already, download Ad-aware 6 from our website here. This is a free application that scans your PC for nasty files and applications, including diallers, and can remove them from your system.
Staying one step ahead
Although porn diallers can be an expensive problem, there is a way to deal with them and even ways to prevent them from attacking your PC.
As long as you regularly use Ad-aware and your virus scanner to purge your PC of malicious software, then you're one step ahead of the crowd and better equipped to deal with any problems.
What about broadband?
If you have broadband then you don't have to worry about the effects of porn diallers so much, as you don't use an ordinary modem and telephone line to connect to the internet. A dialler can do very little if there is no dial-up connection to hijack.
But if your broadband PC is connected to a phone line to send and receive faxes, you can still suffer the effects. However, the slow connection speed will be a dead giveaway that you're suffering from a dialler and are connecting over a telephone line rather than broadband.
Security settings
Internet Explorer has a range of security settings designed to stop malicious applications from installing or, at the least, bring up a warning dialogue.
If the security level has been reduced there is a higher chance that a dialler can sneak its way onto your PC.
To confirm your settings, start Internet Explorer and select Internet options from the Tools menu. Click on the Security tab and select Internet from the 'Select a web content zone to specify its security settings' box.
The slide bar in the 'Security level for this zone' should be set to Medium. If it's not, click on the Default level button and click on the OK button. This isn't guaranteed to stop you getting a dialler but it helps reduce the risk.
See also:
Telco works with regulator to block internet traffic to suspect numbers 06 Oct 2004
Prevention is better than cure when it comes to premium-rate dial-up scams 11 Aug 2004But no joy for 19,000 customers disputing dialler-affected phone bills 29 Jun 2004
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