As Conficker approaches the first anniversary of its appearance in the wild, the Shadowserver Foundation says that at least seven million IP addresses — each representing one or more computers — are now infected by the worm.http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/4941/confickers-first-birthday-looms-seven-million-ips-still-infected/
Perhaps a very good idea for the seven millions to look at the free:Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) Antimalware Software under:http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
-Urs
The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) provides an in-depth perspective on the changing threat landscape including software vulnerability disclosures and exploits, malicious software (malware), and potentially unwanted software. Using data derived from hundreds of millions of Windows computers, and some of the busiest online services on the Internet, this report also provides a detailed analysis of the threat landscape and the changing face of threats and countermeasures and includes updated data on privacy and breach notifications. The seventh volume of the report is now available: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=037f3771-330e-4457-a52c-5b085dc0a4cd&displaylang=en
Scammers are targeting social networks with phishing scams and relying more heavily on worms and Trojans to attack computers, according to security trend reports to be released Monday by Microsoft and McAfee.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10387768-245.html
The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (v7) was released today and can be found here:http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/SIR.aspx
The McAfee press release along with report (PDF) can be found here:http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3591
The Windows 7 security story has three main chapters that have received a fair amount of attention: DirectAccess, BitLocker To Go, and AppLocker. With these, as well as features such as BranchCache and enhancements to UAC (user account control), officials at Microsoft have said they feel they are pushing out their most secure operating system yet.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Windows-7-Security-Story-May-Appeal-to-Enterprises-549002/
EMET, short for Enhanced Mitigation Evaluation Toolkit, allows developers and administrators to add specific security protections to applications. Unlike mitigations released in the past, EMET doesn't require programs to be recompiled, so it can be used to fortify applications even when the source code isn't available.
http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2009/10/27/announcing-the-release-of-the-enhanced-mitigation-evaluation-toolkit.aspx
Cyber criminals have found a new launching pad for their scams: the phone systems of small- and medium-sized businesses across the U.S.
In recent weeks, they have hacked into dozens of telephone systems across the country, using them as a way to contact unsuspecting bank customers and trick them into divulging their bank account numbers and passwords.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140018/Internet_phone_systems_become_the_fraudster_s_tool
Yes it does, at least according to a recently released report [PDF] by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) which basically correlates data on the known piracy rates for particular countries and their malware infection rates, using public sources.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4605&tag=col1;post-4605
Report: http://global.bsa.org/internetreport2009/2009internetpiracyreport.pdf
Urs
If you purchased a brand new computer today with all the latest security software and plug it into the Internet, how long would it be before the first hacker probed it? Answer : About four hours...
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=12100CEDYE09
Probing? 4 hours? I attached lately a new FW to my ISPs network, it took less than ONE minute until the first knocked on the wall! ;-)However, the interesting fact would be, how strong such a new machine with all the latest (security) software installed would remain unhacked!?!
Knowing that you can get hacked (sorry, probed) every day, why are still so many products open by default? No initial passwords, disabled by default, not locked down by default, etc., etc., etc.
With shopping and banking transactions occurring primarily online today, password stealing has become a common cyber crime. Whatever the vector of attack, in many cases some sort of password-stealing malware makes its way onto victims’ computers.
McAfee Research Report: http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/reports/6622rpt_password_stealers_0709_en.pdf
Some suggestions for creating strong passwords:http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/create.aspx(This btw. is on our new Online Saftey page - go and have a look!)
The U.S. continues to dominate as the main source of the world's viruses, producing 15.9 percent of all viruses. It is followed closely by Brazil, which produces 14.5 percent (similar levels to last month's 14.1 percent).
You can see more about virus trends from the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report:http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/SIR.aspx
A Virginia woman discovered that her married boyfriend had other girlfriends, and she decided to seek revenge online. According to federal prosecutors, she hired computer hackers to help.
Elaine Cioni paid hackers $100 [U.S] for the password to her boyfriend’s AOL e-mail account, according to prosecutors, and for an extra $100, she received the e-mail passwords of her boyfriend’s wife, children and one of his girlfriends.
No one had a clue she had access.
The Washington Post recently reported that she was caught only after she started making harassing phone calls to her boyfriend and his family. (She used an online “spoofing” system that disguised her voice.)
Convicted of violating federal law, she is serving a 15-month prison sentence.
;-)
The Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) team at Microsoft released two security testing tools.
BinScope Binary AnalyzerBinScope is a Microsoft verification tool that analyzes binaries on a project-wide level to ensure that they have been built in compliance with Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) requirements and recommendations.http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=90e6181c-5905-4799-826a-772eafd4440a
MiniFuzz File FuzzerMiniFuzz is a very simple fuzzer designed to ease adoption of fuzz testing by non-security people who are unfamiliar with file fuzzing tools or have never used them in their current software development processes.http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b2307ca4-638f-4641-9946-dc0a5abe8513
SANS released the "Top Cyber Security Risks" report which covers March-August 2009. The report features attack data from TippingPoint intrusion prevention systems protecting 6,000 organizations, vulnerability data from 9,000,000 systems compiled by Qualys, and additional analysis and tutorial by the Internet Storm Center and key SANS faculty members.
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=8091
Simply visiting one of the "Top 100 Dirtiest" Web sites - without downloading or even clicking anything - could expose your computer to infection and put your personal information into the hands of criminals, anti-virus software company Norton Symantec said.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/top-100-virusinfected-websites-exposed-20090820-erc8.html
Computer scientists in Japan say they've developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute.
Last November, security researchers first showed how WPA could be broken, but the Japanese researchers have taken the attack to a new level, according to Dragos Ruiu, organizer of the PacSec security conference where the first WPA hack was demonstrated. "They took this stuff which was fairly theoretical and they've made it much more practical," he said...
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/08/26/new-attack-cracks-common-wi-fi-encryption-minute
From SecurityTube: "We kick started the exploit code research series on SecurityTube by creating the assembly language primer (13 videos), buffer overflow basics (nine videos), and format string (in progress) exploitation videos. However, we concentrated on Linux OSs in all the videos. We have plans to release a new set of videos on using windows as the attack platform."
http://securitytube.net/Windows-Exploit-Programming-Primer-video.aspx
From Lenny Zeltser: "My popular malware analysis course has helped IT administrators, security professionals, and malware specialists fight malicious code in their organizations. In this free webcast, I introduce the process of reverse-engineering malicious software. I cover behavioral and code analysis phases, to make this topic accessible even to individuals with a limited exposure to programming concepts. You'll learn the fundamentals and associated tools to get started with malware analysis."
http://zeltser.com/reverse-malware/malware-analysis-webcast.html
This paper [PDF] covers the technologies and security flaws phishers exploit to conduct their attacks, and provides detailed vendor-neutral advice on what organisations can do to prevent future attacks. Security professionals and customers can use this comprehensive analysis toarm themselves against the next phishing scam to reach their in-tray.
http://www.ngssoftware.com/papers/NISR-WP-Phishing.pdf
The research reveals that nearly half (46 percent) of Britons use the same password to login to their banking, shopping and social networking sites with a further 54 percent confessing to using variations of the same password. And with the average person visiting 23 different sites each month that require a login they are an easy target for fraudsters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6125081/Security-risk-as-people-use-same-password-on-all-websites.html
This is not really news, but after so many awareness campaigns, warnings, etc. kind of a surprise? Hm... but wait! Perhaps I should now go and changes some of my passwords as well... ;-)
Btw., you can test the strength of your passwords here: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx
Amazon and Microsoft have been pushing cloud-computing services as a low-cost way to outsource raw computing power, but the products may introduce new security problems that have yet to be fully explored, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/090309-researchers-find-a-new-way.html?hpg1=bn
Noted security guru Bruce Schneier, chief technologist at BT, has scoffed at Google's claims about its new OS, just announced yesterday. According to the Google blog post, Chrome OS represents a complete redesign of the underlying security architecture of the OS "so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware, and security updates." A bold statement to say the least...and apparently one Schneier doesn't think too much of. "It's an idiotic claim," he says.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/security_guru_calls_chrome_oss_security_claims_idiotic.php
The number of exploits being written to target specific software vulnerabilities could be at all-time highs, new threat figures have suggested.
Fortinet's Threatscape report for June, which actually covers the period between 21 May and 20 June, reveals that of the 108 new vulnerabilities added to its firewall intrusion detection system in the period, 62 were being actively exploited.
http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=118749
Protecting computer equipment is something that everyone should be concerned with today. It seems every week there is a news report of another stolen laptop with sensitive or confidential data on it. Here is a checklist that will help you prepare and protect your computer equipment while traveling anywhere as well as at special events:http://www.covert-operative.com/web/Laptop_travel_security.pdf
And, in addition, here is the security guide to customs-proofing your laptop:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9892897-38.html
As Windows 7 is not too far away and as many are allready using or testing Windows 7, here a list of interesting documentation:
What's New in Windows 7 for IT Pros (Beta)http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/dd349334(en-us).aspx
Windows 7 Security Enhancementshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560691.aspx
An entire Web site has been 100% developed on the Commodore 64. The little keyboard box you see there and that big huge disk drive is where the Web page is stored. So… if it takes a while for the Web site to load on your computer, especially the picture, remember the computer is only 1 Mhz in speed and only has 64 KB of RAM. The disk drive itself has only 2KB of RAM and is also running at 1 Mhz. Can you imagine how such a primitive system did this? Amazing.
[Microsoft CSS Security is not aware of any public exploitation of C64 vulnerabilities…]
http://www.c64web.com/