Help Avoiding DDOS Attack, PC Hack

Hi folks. I've got a website (http://www.manufacturedhomebuyers.com/) which was written in FrontPage 2002 and which is being hosted on a Unix/Linux server, and I upload it from my laptop computer (Windows XP Home SP2, 1 GB Ram, Windows Firewall is turned ON). Well, apparently, someone has gotten really pissed at me, and they posted stuff about me on a public Bulletin Board (I found ot because I could tell a lot of people were coming to my web site from this BB, so I checked it out). Now their friends and aquaintences are all talking about destroying my life -- starting with my web site and my PC. (I have 2 networked computers at home -- 2nd one is desktop with XP Pro, also with Windows Firewall enabled -- and if they wiped them out, it pretty much would ruin my life.) They are specifically mentioning a DDOS attack and hacking my personal computer. Is DDOS a denial of service attack? Wouldn't that be against my website host? Do I need to inform them (godaddy.com)? Could anyone tell me how to protect or check my PCs/network/website to be safe? These guys seem serious, several claim to be computer gurus, and I can't afford to lose my web site or my systems! Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Since no-one else has replied, I will try to give you some ideas:

Windows built in firewall is about as usefull as a broken light bulb. You should try something like ZoneAlarm (available on this site)

For more info for your website, you could look here:
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/newsflash.html
That is a complex explanation of help, but your ISP should have already done all of that.

For you, there are lots of links for info here:
http://staff.washington.edu/dittrich/misc/ddos/

This link is a beautiful explanation, and has links for prevention:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci557336,00.html

Your best prevention will be to ensure that you windows is fully updated from the MS Update (In Internet explorer, Tools/Windows Update.

I don't think your home PC can specifically be targetted with a view to a DDOS attack, I think you should keep monitoring them to see what they are thinking to do about your home PC, and then come back to us.

N.

 

Thanks for the help. I've done some reading on the links you gave me, and I'm about to check out Zone Alarm. From what I've read about DDoS attacks, it seems unlikely these guys could successfully pull that off on my ISP, but I guess you never know. I was afraid the Windows Firewall might not be much help for my personal computers. Is McAfee good? I've always used McAfee AV, so it should integrate in with the McAfee menu/interface I already have installed. Thanks again!