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Previous Securities Related Articles   

February 27, 2002 | Byte - As we have said in the past: Never, ever, open a file attactment to a e-mail message until you check with the sender first. This article from Chaos Manor has an example of this and also discusses system upgrades. A worthwile read.

February 13, 2002 | CNet - A government-backed computer security group warned of a security flaw that could make computers across the Internet and within company networks vulnerable to hackers.

January 9, 2002 | CNet - Antivirus companies warned PC users Tuesday that future Macromedia Flash movies could carry malicious viruses and worms.

January 2, 2002 | Microsoft - Microsoft has created a page that will check your Internet Explorer browser for the latest security upgrades. Windows Assistance tried it using Windows 98 and IE 5.5 and all it did was recommend upgrading to IE 6.0. Give it a try and see what you think.

December 22, 2001 | NY Times - Consumers and corporations using Microsoft Corp. new Windows XP software are being warned by the FBI to take added steps against hackers who might try to take advantage of major flaws. see note

December 20, 2001 | Microsoft - Unchecked Buffer in Universal Plug and Play can Lead to System Compromise. This could result in intruder running code of their choice. This is not a trival security breach. It can destroy your entire file system if not fixed!

Expect more bulletins involving Microsoft software with unchecked buffers.

December 17, 2001 | Microsoft - This is a cumulative patch that, when installed, eliminates all previously discussed security vulnerabilities affecting IE 5.5 and IE 6. In addition, it eliminates three newly discovered vulnerabilities. This patch supercedes MS01-055. To download the patch go directly to the Download page.

Important Note: Before you can apply the patch to IE 5.5 you must have installed SP2. This Service Pack is a 17MB download. Suggest you get someone with fast Internet access and then once downloaded burn to a CD. IE5.5 SP2 can be downloaded from this page.

Is it just us or Microsoft? Tried to install patch for IE6.0 and was informed we needed to have IE6.0 installed. Excuse me! We have IE6.0 installed on Windows XP just like Microsoft installed it!

October 31, 2001 | CNet - A new variant of the Nimda worm has started spreading slowly throughout the Asia-Pacific region, antivirus experts said Tuesday.

The variant, called Nimda.E, spreads using the same methods as the original worm, but its files have been renamed to mimic existing Windows files.

August 8, 2001 | CNet - Adobe's popular PDF file format -- known to anyone who's ever called up a tax form on the IRS Web site -- has generally been considered immune to viruses. But a new virus carried by programs embedded in PDF files raises concerns that the format itself could become susceptible.

July 24, 2001 | LA Times - The nation's leading Internet security group issued an extraordinary warning Monday that vast numbers of home computers with high-speed Internet connections are being targeted by hackers who use them to launch potentially devastating online attacks.

July 24, 2001 | LA Times - Practicing Safe Computing Can Minimize Chances of Invasion. Home users can take several easy steps to avoid being infected with the tools used by hackers to launch online attacks.

note: The two above LA Times articles may not be online for long. I advise everyone to read these stories and learn all you can about online security. Finally go to CERT's page on safe online security.

July 23, 2001 | PC-cillin.com - W32.Sircam.Worm: This worm is a high-level program created in Delphi that propagates via email using SMTP commands. It sends copies of itself to all addresses listed in an infected user's address book and in temporary Internet cached files. It arrives with a random subject line, and an attachment by the same name.

June 11, 2001 | CNet - A program created to automatically overload Microsoft's Web and e-mail servers has been discovered on several corporate networks and may have spread further on the Internet, anti-virus researchers said Friday.

June 1, 2001 | Trend-Micro - This hoax warns against a virus contained in a file called SULFNBK.EXE, that arrives hidden in an email message.

SULFNBK.EXE is a Windows System file that is installed in the Windows Command folder when the Windows Operating System is installed. Therefore, the presence of this file does not necessarily mean a system is infected.

SULFNBK.EXE is a utility used to restore long file names on the Start menu, when it is replaced with MS-DOS-compatible (short) file names in 8.3 format. For example, the Accessories folder on the Start menu may be displayed as "Access~1" if the SULFNBK utility is not installed.

This file is not destructive or malicious, but it can be infected with a virus and could be mass mailed. The virus PE_MAGISTR.A. is capable of using the SULFNBK.EXE file to propagate. If you receive an email with the attachment SULFNBK.EXE there is a possibility that the file is infected. Trend Micro recommends that you scan your system with HouseCall, Trend Micro's free online virus scanner.

If you fell for the scam and deleted sulfnbk.exe then see the article on how to recover this file from your Windows CD.

May 24, 2001 | PC World - CERT/CC, one of the most important reporting centers for Internet security problems, has been offline sporadically this week due to a distributed denial of service attack.

April 27, 2001 | PC World - Customers of software giant's Premier Support service could have been infected, company says.

April 19, 2001 | PC World - Can hackers trick Explorer into misrepresenting file types, disguising viruses? Microsoft's Windows Explorer and Web browser Internet Explorer can be tricked into masking dangerous files as innocent ones, a security specialist says. 

March 31, 2001 | Central Command - W32.Winux is the world’s first cross platform virus capable of infecting computers using both the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.

March 29, 2001 | Microsoft - The Security Bulletin Search Page now includes a search function that will let you view all of the security patches available for a particular product according to the service packs you've installed on your system. Microsoft stated that this feature was a most requested improvement. Gee, I wonder why?

This is just the latest step in the campaign to simplify the process of keeping systems secure, which Microsoft outlined in a recent security essay.

March 21, 2001 | NY Times - Two cryptologists announced yesterday that they had found a flaw in the most widely used program for sending encrypted, or coded, e-mail messages. If confirmed, the flaw would allow a determined adversary to obtain secret codes used by senders of encrypted e-mail. see note

March 7, 2001 | Trend-Micro - Naked Wife Email Virus. The email has the subject line "FW: Naked Wife" and the attachment NakedWife.EXE. NakedWife.EXE is a Flash program. Do not start or save the attachment. This is a very destructive program.

Upon execution the attachment displays a "Flash" window. While the window is displayed, this Trojan deletes files with the following file extensions in the Windows and System directories: DLL, INI, EXE, BMP, LOG and COM. 

It propagates via MS Outlook and Outlook Express, by sending out an email to every email address listed in the infected user's address book.

February 21, 2001 | AnchorDesk - David Coursey, Executive Editor, AnchorDesk, has developed a simple 5-point plan for protecting your data.

February 14, 2001 | WinAssist - On February 13, 2001 PBS aired a Frontline documentary about computer hacking, Hackers. Prominent throughout the documentary was mention of a program called BackOrifice. Back in August, 1998 Microsoft issued a Security Bulletin, MS98-010, outlining the dangers of BackOrifice. Check it out. Then travel to the PBS site for the documentary.

February 13, 2001 | C-Net News - [update] A virus posing as a photo of Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova spread aggressively on Monday, as major security companies rushed to update their anti-virus software to detect the fast-spreading e-mail virus.

February 7, 2000 | C-Net News - A maker of anti-virus software warns that computer users may not have learned much from the "Love" bug, which caused so much disaster for Internet users last May.

February 5, 2001 | NYTimes.com | A New Trick Gives Snoops Easy Access to E-Mail.

January 26, 2001 | Microsoft - Microsoft has released a patch, MS01-002, that eliminates a security vulnerability in Microsoft® PowerPoint 2000. The vulnerability could allow a user to construct a PowerPoint file that, when opened, could potentially run code on the reader’s system. note: The patch for this fix has been updated since it's original release.

January 20, 2001 | PC World - Remember Melissa? It's been almost two years since that infamous worm swept through the world's e-mail servers, spreading faster than any virus ever had before. Now a new variant of Melissa threatens to get past the defenses designed to protect us from the original.

January 19, 2001 | C-Net News - C-Net reports on several new viruses that are hitting various OSs and applications, including Shockwave.

January 19, 2001 | Gibson ResearchLeakTest is used to check your firewall's vulnerability to an extremely common and easily exploited design flaw revealed by this test. At this time, every firewall but one is vulnerable to this danger, and some are more vulnerable than others.

November 10, 2000 | CERT - There continues to be new variations of the Love-Letter e-mail virus. This one has the subject line: 'US PRESIDENT AND FBI SECRETS =PLEASE VISIT => (http://WWW.2600.COM)<=' and the body contains: 'VERY JOKE..! SEE PRESIDENT AND FBI TOP SECRET PICTURES..' with an Attachment: (random_name.ext).vbs' Do not open the attachment. Destroy the email message. To review what damage this virus can do go to the 'CERT® Advisory CA-2000-04 Love Letter Worm.'

October 10, 2000 | Chaos Manor - The Covert team at pgp.com have identified a huge hole in the architecture of Microsoft's NETBIOS-based data communications architecture. This remote exploit (so named because someone can do this from practically anywhere, so long as both he and his target are connected by either the Internet or a private network) gives malicious individuals the ability to fool any Windows 9x/NT/2000 computer into connecting to a network share or other service of the attacker's choice, thus setting the stage to execute a Trojan that will give him the ability to take control of the targeted computer. 

September 22, 2000 | New worm creates a new notepad.exe of it's own. Once on your computer it will spread itself to other computers and also has the capability to load and run far more dangerous programs. The link above will give details but it also provides you with a special registry file that will allow you to remove this worm's entries in the registry.

August 26, 2000 | CERT - A serious problem in the handling of certificates when encrypting with PGP versions 5.5.x through 6.5.3 has recently been discovered.

Note: The NY Times requires that you register. Do it. They require very little information for what is probably the best general news site on the web.