Tracy,

Yes, I was thinking that the primary danger would be in the event a hacker got access to your machine, the LMHOSTS file would be useful to them. But if a hacker gets that kind of access to your machine, all sorts of bad stuff can happen.

So, assuming you are behind a firewall, and that your machine is otherwise airtight, the LMHOSTS file by itself is not be a problem. Correct?

Your security knowledge and experience is greater than mine, even if my name is Steve Gibson *grin*


>You are correct. I should've pointed to a better link. However, I believe that using the lmhosts file is dangerous. It's been awhile since I've worked solely with netbios, but if I remember correctly, all a hacker has to do is read the information in your lmhosts file and they have all of the network shares you use if they are in there. Access to your machine now gives them easy access to the machines you connect to. Also, once the location of your lmhosts file is found and they have access to your system, they can include your lmhost information into their own using: #INCLUDE \\MARKETING1\public\lmhosts and the MARKETING1 can be replaced with your ip address.
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