03.22.06
Posted in security, privacy, fraud, hacking at 5:44 pm by HowardG
Cyber-attacks, hacks, and acts of online vandalism perpetrated by loners in attempts to direct attention to themselves were at one time the biggest threat companies had to worry about. For those individuals, breaking into a company’s network produced no direct gain. Instead, they did it for the glory of becoming a cyberspace anti-hero, or at least to relieve the boredom of their humdrum lives. But today, those misguided fools are the least of a company’s network security worries. Malicious attacks are increasingly being carried out for very specific reasons. Cyber criminals are using bot-nets, denial-of-service extortion attacks, and sophisticated identity theft techniques for financial gain. Read the rest of this entry »
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03.01.06
Posted in security, privacy, fraud at 11:27 am by HowardG
The Internal Revenue Service released what it calls its “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for 2006 this month (http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article). The scams range from tax filers making frivolous claims that income tax is illegal, to misuse of trusts and offshore transactions. While most of the top twelve involve fraud perpetrated by taxpayers, number three on the list is phishing, a scam whereby an identity thief attempts to take advantage of an innocent taxpayer and obtain personal financial data.
According to the IRS, criminals using phishing attacks sometimes pose as IRS representatives to gain the trust of an individual taxpayer. Typically, the scam revolves around a fictitious e-mail correspondence sent out, which appears to be from the IRS. Read the rest of this entry »
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02.02.06
Posted in security, virus, worm at 11:52 am by HowardG
Rearing its ugly head in January was the Nyxem worm, also known as Blackdoom, Tearec, Kama Sutra, and Win32/Mywife.E@mm or W32.Blackmal.E@mm. The mass-mailing worm requires users to click on a link or open a file attached to an email to become active. According to a report from US-CERT, the worm targets Windows systems that hide file extensions. The worm’s icon is disguised to make it appear to be a WinZip file. Those who are disseminating the worm attempt to trick people into opening the file by telling recipients it contains free pornographic images.
The worm is disseminated through e-mails that contain subject lines such as “school girl fantasies gone bad”, “the best videoclip ever,” or “Miss Lebanon 2006.”
Once the worm has been launched, the code may do several things. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.30.06
Posted in security, hacking at 11:09 am by HowardG
Cisco Systems recently published a security alert and a fix for its Cisco CallManager product, a piece of call-processing software that works with Cisco’s IP telephony solution. According to the alert, all versions of CallManager are vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks, which could result in interrupted VoIP services or servers rebooting. The Cisco report says that versions of CallManager “do not manage TCP connections and Windows messages aggressively,” and leave known ports vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks. The vulnerability could also allow a user with read-only privileges to gain full administrative access to the system.
In addition to deploying the free software fix available from Cisco, users should also secure the CallManager through standard best practices to minimize the possibility of a successful attack. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.22.06
Posted in security, privacy, law at 4:19 pm by HowardG
The Federal government has been attempting to force Google and other major search engines to turn over information from their databases. Since September 11, the Bush administration has rankled privacy advocates with a host of new measures that infringe on the rights and privacy of citizens, in the name of the fight on terrorism and under the banner of the Patriot Act.
In court papers filed in the U.S. District Court of San Jose, the Department of Justice noted that Google has not complied with a subpoena it issued last year. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.03.06
Posted in security, spyware, microsoft, hacking at 11:15 am by HowardG
Security experts discovered a serious vulnerability in late December, through which hackers can attack a fully patched Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system. The vulnerability involves the OS handling a corrupted Windows Metafile (.WMF) graphic file.
Microsoft has not released a fix for the vulnerability, which has already caused significant damage. Read the rest of this entry »
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12.27.05
Posted in security, virus, worm at 12:07 pm by HowardG
During the holiday season, e-mails and electronic greetings fill every electronic mailbox, and recipients eagerly open them up in expectation of seeing friendly messages from friends, acquaintances, and relatives. But despite the temptation to let down one’s guard when presented with a festive “Merry Christmas” message, it’s still essential to take the standard precautions against malware. This year, PandaLabs discovered a new Trojan called MerryX.A, which delivers a payload much worse than coal in your Christmas stocking. Read the rest of this entry »
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12.14.05
Posted in security, software, microsoft at 11:45 am by HowardG
Microsoft issued two security bulletins on December 13. Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-054 and MS05-055 resolve several newly discovered vulnerabilities, which could, in a worst case scenario, allow an attacker to take complete control over a user’s system. The extent of damage depends on the administrative rights of the user. If a user with administrative privileges were logged on, an attacker would then gain the same privileges, and would be able to install programs, alter data, or create new accounts. A user with fewer privileges would be less affected by the vulnerabilities. Read the rest of this entry »
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11.11.05
Posted in security, spyware, privacy at 2:53 pm by HowardG
A small group of individuals doing business under multiple company names has been disseminating spyware by offering consumers free music files, browser upgrades, and ring tones. Embedded in the free programs, however, were small trojans that downloaded dangerous spyware onto each target computer. In other instances, the group also disseminated its malware by causing a program to be installed in consumers’ computers, which would flash warnings about their computer’s security and spyware. Ironically, the warning itself was in fact spyware, and when concerned consumers would click on the warning, they would download spyware into their systems.
One of the group’s products was called Elitebar, a deceptive type of adware that propagates through social engineering methods, Java scripting errors and dialog boxes.
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, at the request of the FTC, shut down the operation as of November 10, 2005. The courts have frozen the organization’s assets, and the FTC will ask that the deceptive practices be barred permanently. The agency claims that the practices are unfair, deceptive, and violate the FTC Act.
According to the FTC complaint, the defendants created software code that tracked the behavior of Internet users, hijacked home page settings, inserted toolbars and advertising side-frames, and generated pop-up ads. The complaint further stated that the malware often interfered with proper functioning of targeted computers.
The case was made with the assistance of Microsoft Corporation, Webroot Software, and Google Inc. The FTC recommends that consumers take steps to address the spyware risk, including setting browser security to detect unauthorized downloads, using anti-virus software and a firewall, downloading free software only from trusted sites, avoiding clicking on links inside pop-up windows or from spam links claiming to offer anti-spyware software, and to consider deploying a legitimate anti-spyware software solution from a trusted company. In addition to deploying anti-spyware programs, consumers and companies can combat spyware by avoiding use of peer-to-peer sites and instant messaging, which are often conduits of spyware.
The FTC action against the group reflects only a small portion of the growing spyware problem. EarthLink reports that the average PC has 28 spyware programs; a Dell report shows that 12 percent of tech support calls were due to the presence of spyware. In most cases, users do not realize they are downloading spyware. It is often downloaded into the computer automatically in the form of a trojan, along with some sort of nominally useful free program. Spyware can also be launched when users click on email attachments or share files through peer-to-peer networks. In can also take the form of “active code” and hidden inside a Web page, so that it launches automatically when the page is viewed. Because of the latter variation, many companies have taken the step of deploying URL filtering, which blocks many sites that are known to host spyware.
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09.01.05
Posted in security, identitytheft, virus, spyware at 5:34 pm by DarrenS
Spyware has overtaken viruses as the biggest security threat facing Windows computer users. A survey of Australian and New Zealand consumers conducted by Symantec in 2005 revealed that spyware and adware is creating chaos. Read the rest of this entry »
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