Monday, April 27, 2015
TeamViewer is a proprietary computer software package for remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing and file transfer between computers.
Features:
Versions are available for the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows RT, Windows Phone and BlackBerry operating systems. It is also possible to access a machine running TeamViewer with a web browser. While the main focus of the application is remote control of computers, collaboration and presentation features are included.
TeamViewer can be used without charge by non-commercial users, and Business, Premium and Corporate versions are available.
TeamViewer GmbH was founded in 2005 in Uhingen, Germany UK-based private equity firm Permira acquired TeamViewer GmbH from Durham, NorthCarolina-based software developer GFI Software in 2014. The company also host an online backup cloud service called Airbackup.
Establishing connections:
TeamViewer may be installed with an installation procedure, although the 'Quick Support' version will run without installation. To connect to another computer, TeamViewer has to be running on both machines. To install TeamViewer, adminidtrator access is required, but once installed it can be run by any user. When TeamViewer is started on a computer, it generates a partner ID and password (user-defined passwords are also supported). To establish a connection between a local client and a remote client, TeamViewer generated ID and password of either client are required. The local client requires the remote client's ID and password to gain control over the remote client, whereas the remote client requires the local client's ID and password to gain control over the local client.
Security:
In the default configuration, TeamViewer uses one of the servers of TeamViewer.com to start the connection and the routing of traffic between the local client and the remote host machine. The software then determines how to establish a connection. In 70% of the cases, after the handshake a direct connection via UDP or TCP is established; the other connections are routed through TeamViewer GmbH's router network (via TCP or HTTP-tunneling).
Fraudulent uses:
TeamViewer and similar services have been used to commit fraud via telephone calls. People are called, either at random or from a list, by criminals claiming to represent a computer support service which has identified the victim's computer as being infected by malware, sometimes using the name of a company such as Microsoft. They then ask the victim to give them access to their computer via a remote control service. From this point they can do anything they want. Typically they confuse the user with spurious jargon and offer to "repair" the computer and supply several years' of service for a payment; in addition to a freely offered agreed payment, this gives them the victim's payment card details. They may also infect the computer with malware, delete files, and steal files.
