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From the monthly archives:

March 2009

Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries

by Shanmuga

"…The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and

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Conficker and April 1st: Q and A

by Shanmuga

" Q: I heard something really bad is going to happen on the Internet on April 1st! Will it? A: No, not really. Q: Seriously, the Conficker worm is going to do something bad on April 1st, right? A: The Conficker aka Downadup worm is going to change it’s operation a bit, but that’s unlikely

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Google plays down security concerns over Docs

by Shanmuga

"Google Docs users shouldn’t lose sleep over the security concerns a security analyst has raised about the hosted suite of office productivity applications, Google said late Friday. In an official blog posting, Jonathan Rochelle, Google Docs’ product manager, details why the company has determined that the issues included in the analyst’s report are far from

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New BIOS attack renders antivirus useless

by Shanmuga

"A new form of attack that installs a rootkit directly onto a computer’s BIOS system would render antivirus software useless researchers have warned. Alfredo Ortego and Anibal Sacco of Core Security Technologies explained that the attack was possible against almost all types of commonly used BIOS systems in use today.

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Malware Is Getting Formidable, but So Are Your Defenses

by Shanmuga

"…You can think of Conficker as being the state of the art in conventional malware. It not only uses an important vulnerability, but it’s a sophisticated blended attack, using a wide variety of mechanisms to spread: pseudo-random domains, dictionary attacks on weakly-protected network shares, USB drives and more. You can admire the work that went

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Big websites urged to avoid Phorm

by Shanmuga

"Seven of the UK’s biggest web firms have been urged to opt out of a controversial ad-serving system. Phorm – aka Webwise – profiles users’ browsing habits and serves up adverts based on which sites they visit.

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Conficker Removal Instructions and Tools

by Shanmuga

This week SANS Internet Storm Center updated their page on mitigating Conficker. They provide links to Conficker removal instructions from Microsoft, Kaspersky, BitDefender, TrendMicro and Sophos. Conficker removal tools from Microsoft MSRT, F-Secure, AhnLab, Symantec, McAfee, ESET, BitDefender, Kaspersky, Kaspersky and Sophos.

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Questions for Pwn2Own hacker Charlie Miller

by Shanmuga

Interesting interview with Charlie Miller, the researcher who broke into a fully patched MacBook machine using a Safari code execution vulnerability, posted by Ryan Naraine at ZDNet. Some tidbits from the interview: Why Safari? Why didn’t you go after IE or Safari? It’s really simple. Safari on the Mac is easier to exploit. The things

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Intel Chip Vulnerability Could Lead to Stealthy Rootkits

by Shanmuga

"Security researchers have released proof of concept exploit code for an Intel chip flaw that could be abused to compromise computer systems with stealthy rootkits. The attack takes advantage of an Intel CPU caching vulnerability that can be used to get unauthorized access to SMRAM, a protected region of system memory where the system management

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Analysis of Conficker C

by Shanmuga

"Variant C represents the third major revision of the Conficker malware family, which first appeared on the Internet on 20 November 2008. C distinguishes itself as a significant revision to Conficker B. In fact, we estimate that C leaves as little as 15% of the original B code base untouched… Whereas the recently reported B++

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BBC exposes Overseas credit card scam

by Shanmuga

"A criminal gang selling UK credit card details stolen from Indian call centres has been exposed by an undercover BBC News investigation. Reporters posing as fraudsters bought UK names, addresses and valid credit card details from a Delhi-based man.

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Microsoft Announces Availability of Internet Explorer 8

by Shanmuga

"Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Windows Internet Explorer 8, the new Web browser that offers the best solution for how people use the Web. Internet Explorer 8 is easier to use, faster and offers leading-edge security features in direct response to people’s increasing concerns about online safety. A new study commissioned by Microsoft and

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The lifecycle of a trojan horse

by Shanmuga

carrumba over at Megapanzer gives a good overview of the lifecycle of a trojan horse, he writes "What a trojan horse needs first are its configuration settings. The information it knows what to do once it is executed on the target system. At this point we have to know the trojan horse is divided into

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LinkedIn Privacy Settings: What You Need to Know

by Shanmuga

"Since LinkedIn doesn’t require you to share the same types of personal information as you do on Facebook, the service’s privacy settings appear to be much more straightforward than its less business-oriented competitor. But if you leave the default settings in place, you might be surprised to know what information you make public on LinkedIn.

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Privacy group to FTC: Google’s cloud is unsafe

by Shanmuga

"A Washington-based privacy group wants the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation of the cloud-computing services offered by Google – including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and others – to ensure that they are as secure as Google promises they will be.

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Massive Profits Fueling Rogue Antivirus Market

by Shanmuga

"One service that exemplifies a very easy way these bad guys can make this kind of money is TrafficConverter.biz, one of the leading "affiliate programs" that pays people to distribute relatively worthless security software. Affiliates are given a range of links and Javascript snippets they can use to embed the software in hacked and malicious

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How to disable ads in FeedDemon

by Shanmuga

Q: I am seeing too many ads in my free rss reader FeedDemon, how do I remove them? – Budfred A: For those who are not aware FeedDemon is the most popular desktop RSS reader for Windows. Originally a paid application, it was made free about an year ago. There are generally two areas where

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Anonymity and Privacy Should Not Add Up to Prison Time

by Shanmuga

"Under current rules, a criminal defendant can get additional time added to a prison sentence if he used "sophisticated means" to commit the offense. In its testimony before the commission, EFF will argue that sentencing courts should not assume that using proxies — technologies that can anonymize users or mask their location — is a

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Conficker.C primed for April Fool’s activation

by Shanmuga

"CA (formerly Computer Associates) has published an extensive guide to Conficker.C, which includes information on its attack vectors, behavioral analysis, and how to tell if the "C" variant of Conficker is running on your system. This last part could pose a challenge—unlike previous versions, C adopts what DeBolt refers to as a "defensive stance" and

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Is Your PC Part of a Botnet?

by Shanmuga

"So how can you tell if you’re machine is part of a botnet and what can you do about it? Statistically, Macs are safe from botnets, although not completely immune to all threats as we noted here. But if you have a Windows based machine, Prevx suggests you stay on the lookout for an Internet

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