VM Rootkits: The Next Big Threat?

VM Rootkits: The Next Big Threat?: "By Ryan Naraine
Lab rats at Microsoft Research and the University of Michigan have teamed up to create prototypes for virtual machine-based rootkits that significantly push the envelope for hiding malware and that can maintain control of a target operating system.

The proof-of-concept rootkit, called SubVirt, exploits known security flaws and drops a VMM (virtual machine monitor) underneath a Windows or Linux installation.

Once the target operating system is hoisted into a virtual machine, the rootkit becomes impossible to detect because its state cannot be accessed by security software running in the target system, according to documentation seen by eWEEK.

…

Today, anti-rootkit clean-up tools compare registry and file system API discrepancies to check for the presence of user-mode or kernel-mode rootkits, but this tactic is useless if the rootkit stores malware in a place that cannot be scanned.

"We used our proof-of concept [rootkits] to subvert Windows XP and Linux target systems and implemented four example malicious services," the researchers wrote in a technical paper describing the attack scenario.

"[We] assume the perspective of the attacker, who is trying to run malicious software and avoid detection. By assuming this perspective, we hope to help defenders understand and defend against the threat posed by a new class of rootkits," said the paper, which is co-written by researchers from the University of Michigan.

Stealth rootkits are bombarding Windows XP SP2 systems. Click here to read more.

A virtual machine is one instance of an operating system running between the hardware and the "guest" operating system. Because the VM sits on the lower layer of the operating system, it is able to control the upper layers in a stealthy way.

"[T]he side that controls the lower layer in the system has a fundamental advantage in the arms race between attackers and defenders," the researchers said.

"If the defender's security service occupies a lower layer than the malware, then that security service should be able to detect, contain and remove the malware. Conversely, if the malware occupies a lower layer than the security service, then the malware should be able to evade the security service and manipulate its execution."

The group said the SubVirt project implemented VM-based rootkits on two platforms—Linux/VMWare and Windows/VirtualPC—and was able to write malicious services without detection.

The paper describes how easy it is to get the VM-based malware on a target system.

For example, a code execution flaw could be exploited to gain root or administrator rights to manipulate the system boot sequence.

Once the rootkit is installed, it can use a separate attack operating system to deploy malware that is invisible from the perspective of the target operating system.

"Any code running within an attack OS is effectively invisible. The ability to run invisible malicious services in an attack OS gives intruders the freedom to use user-mode code with less fear of detection," the researchers said.

The group used the prototype rootkits to develop four malicious services—a phishing Web server, a keystroke logger, a service that scans the target file system for sensitive information and a defense countermeasure to defeat existing VM-detection systems.

The researchers also used the VM-based rootkits to control the way the target reboots. It could also be used to emulate system shutdowns and system sleep states.

While the prototype rootkits are theoretically offensive in nature, the researchers also discussed ways to defend against malicious use of VM. "

http://www.eweek.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=173285,00.asp

Apple Fixes Eight QuickTime Bugs

ChannelWeb Executive Briefing:

"'Most IT departments probably saw Apple's security update and thought 'that's a consumer application, I don't have to worry about security policies for that,'' said Marc Maiffret, co-founder of eEye and its chief hacking officer, in a statement. 'Those IT departments would be mistaken. There are few people that have not seen a co-worker with an iPod wandering the halls of their organization, and those iPods probably mean iTunes is on your network.'"

The bugs in QuickTime, Apple revealed in a security advisory, are in how the player parses a number of image file formats, including .gif, .tif, and .tga, as well as in other media file formats. Attackers who craft special files, and deliver those files to unsuspecting users, could trigger integer or heap buffer overflows, crash the computer and/or run code of their own choosing.

In response, Apple has posted QuickTime 7.0.4 for Mac OS X 10.3.9 and later, and Windows 2000 and XP. The update can be downloaded and installed via Software Update for Mac OS X users, or from this page for Windows users.

http://www.channelweb.com/nl/execbriefing/showArticle.jhtml?sssdmh=dm4.163137&articleId=175803624

The Sky is Not Falling

Wait for Windows patch opens attack window Tech News on ZDNet:
"A serious flaw in Windows is generating a rising number of cyberattacks, but Microsoft says it won't deliver a fix until next week.

That could be too late, security experts said. The vulnerability, which lies in the way the operating system renders Windows Meta File images, could infect a PC if the victim simply visits a Web site that contains a malicious image file. Consumers and businesses face a serious risk until it's fixed, experts said.

"This vulnerability is rising in popularity among hackers, and it is simple to exploit," said Sam Curry, a vice president at security vendor Computer Associates International. "This has to be taken very seriously, and time is of the essence. A patch coming out as soon as possible is the responsible thing to do."

Microsoft has come under fire in the past for the way it releases security patches. The company has responded in the past by instituting a monthly patching program, so system administrators could plan for the updates. Critics contend that in high-urgency cases such as the WMF flaw, Microsoft should release a fix outside of its monthly schedule.

Details on the WMF security problem were publicly reported last week. Since then, a number of attacks that take advantage of the flaw have surfaced, including thousands of malicious Web sites, Trojan horses and at least one instant messaging worm, according to security reports.

More than a million PCs have already been compromised, said Andreas Marx, an antivirus software specialist at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. He has found a hidden Web site that shows how many copies of a program that installs malicious software have been delivered to vulnerable PCs.

Microsoft has said that a patch will not be made available until Jan. 10, its next official patch release day. That delay could provide an opportunity for attackers, security provider Symantec said on Tuesday. "

The sky is not falling. Most major antivirus programs detect and block this vulnerability. The file has to be opened and it isn't a standard file the browser automatcally opens.

from <http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1907131,00.asp>
AV-Test, which tests anti-malware products, has been tracking the situation closely and has, so far, analyzed 73 variants of malicious WMF files. Products from the following companies have identified all 73:

• Alwil Software (Avast)
• Softwin (BitDefender)
• ClamAV
• F-Secure Inc.
• Fortinet Inc.
• McAfee Inc.
• ESET (Nod32)
• Panda Software
• Sophos Plc
• Symantec Corp.
• Trend Micro Inc.
• VirusBuster

There are work arounds and commonsense that can keep you safe until patch Tuesday, but nothing can protect you from your own bad habits. We've got to stop clicking on links when we don't know the consequences. When in doubt, click the close button.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6016747.html?tag=nl.e539

Time Warner loses Missouri muni fiber fight

"Time Warner this week lost an appeal aimed at blocking the city of North Kansas City, Mo., from extending its fiber optic network to residents and local businesses.

A federal judge rejected the argument, that, under state law, the city could not offer cable television service without first getting voters' approval, and pointed out that although the city was moving forward with plans to provide high-speed Internet access (to which the state law does not apply), it had no plans to offer cable.

Time Warner's lawsuit was dismissedthis spring, and this week's ruling by a three-judge panel in the 8Th Circuit upheld that dismissal.

The city broke ground on the construction of the network on Dec. 8. and expects to begin offering services this spring. Extending the fiber optic network that already connects municipal buildings, the city hopes to offer five tiers of broadband service to nearly all of its 2500 homes and 900 businesses. Speeds will range between a 256 kb/s service for $15 per month to a 30 Mb/s for $160 per month. The standard offering will be a symmetrical 5-Mb/s service for $35 per month."

http://telephonyonline.com/home/news/time_warner_municipal_123005/

Is the Firefox honeymoon over? | George Ou | ZDNet.com

"Is the Firefox honeymoon over? Posted by George Ou @ 2:13 am

Note:
It's always difficult to know how much of someone else's work to quote, but this is important. I don't think Firefox is any more vulnerable than Explorer, but it's being downloaded by a lot of people who think it's invulnerable. Whatever browser you choose you will have to patch and upgrade. You'll have to be vigilant and informed, because software's not perfect, isn't likely to ever be perfect, and only informed users can exert the pressure to make any software better. Ignorance means someone else controls and owns your computer. You're just the one who paid for it.

Be informed. Don't keep paying in time, anguish or money.
Sermon ends here.
Alfred Ingram

[Updated: 9/16/2005 7:22PM] Now that Firefox has become the first viable contender to Microsoft Internet Explorer in years, its popularity has brought with it some unwanted attention. Last week's premature disclosure of a zero-day Firefox exploit came a few weeks after a zero-day exploit for Internet Explorer appeared on the Internet. Firefox not only has more vulnerabilities per month than Internet Explorer, but it is now surpassing Internet Explorer for the number of exploits available for public download in recent months.
Update: A lot of people have complained that I didn't list the number of actual 'in-the-wild' attacks against the two browser platforms. The problem with this theory is that they either didn't read the entire article or they don't understand what I meant by 'published exploits' in the second chart in this blog. When I say published exploit, I mean a downloadable script or source code that can be used to attack real live browsers in the wild. These are not simple advisories that talk about certain theoretical exploits. Published exploits are basically freebies for professional hackers and script kiddies to use in the wild.… "

Here is a break down of recent vulnerabilities:

Month	Firefox 1.x Vulnerabilities	IE 6.x Vulnerabilities
Sept 2005	1	0
Aug 2005	0	4
July 2005	10	1
June 2005	2	1
May 2005	3	1
Apr 2005	9	3
Mar 2005	15	0
Total	40	10

Note that this is not a count of the number of advisories because advisories can contain multiple vulnerabilities. This is a count of the actual number of vulnerabilities.

Here is a break down of recent published exploits:

Month	Firefox Exploits	IE Exploits
Sept 2005	1	0
Aug 2005	0	3
July 2005	4	1
June 2005	0	0
May 2005	4	0
April 2005	2	2
Total	11	6

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=103&tag=nl.e550

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/wp-trackback.php?p=1

Podcast for Ransom, as Easy as 1 2 3

Update: Podcast 'Hijacker' Says Business as Usual

December 6, 2005
Things are a bit more complicated than they originally seemed.

In fact, ther may be no villain here.

“According to George Lambert, creator of the Podkey redirection service that allegedly hijacked a Podcast and held it for ransom, the alleged victim registered with his service to begin with and the "ransom" simply represents fees that would be required to do the custom coding the Podcaster has demanded.

The alleged victim, Podcaster Erik Marcus, recently found that Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes and Yahoo Inc. were using a URL and RSS feed that were not his in order to direct traffic to Marcus' Podcast: Vegan.com's "Erik's Diner" show.

Yahoo's Podcast page gives an RSS feed belonging, not to Vegan.com, but to Lambert's Podkeyword.com.

Marcus contacted Lambert to ask that his listing be removed. Lambert did so. This, however, caused Marcus' listenership to crash by some 75 percent, he claimed. Marcus then asked that his listing temporarily be reinstated on Podkeyword while he worked to fix things with Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes.

Lambert responded that it would be reinstated only if Marcus provided an unspecified payment or agreed permanently to his terms—a description that sounds like hijacking and extortion and that has resulted in Lambert's being harassed around the clock by profane e-mail and phone calls.

However, as Lambert told Ziff Davis Internet News and also explained on a Podcast by David Lawrence, the request for reimbursement was simply to compensate him for the custom coding that Marcus reportedly demanded.

Specifically, Marcus reportedly requested that Lambert allow individuals to find his feed via keyword but not to allow OPML directories to have the feed any longer.

"He wanted me to make sure no other directory services got the information from me, but I can't tell who are directory services, because we're not submitting anything," Lambert said. "People are coming to look at our list. I have a choice: I remove it from anywhere or I [don't] remove it. You can't restrict who comes to look at your Podcast. So his request wasn't technically practical.

"If you want me to come up with a solution, I can try, but that's consulting," he told Ziff Davis Internet News. "That doesn't fall within the bounds of a free service—one that's there to make people's lives better. Is that extortion?"

"I met his [original] request immediately and without reservation," Lambert said. "I said I'd reinstate it for free if he met my terms. If you're asking me to do something custom, you have to pay me to do [it]. That's not unreasonable, and that's not extortion."

…

While Marcus is seeking legal redress for what he refers to as a new form of Internet extortion, Podcasters happy with the redirection service provided by Podkey aren't hesitating to come to its defense.

One such comment demonstrates the possibility of a user having registered with Podkey and then forgotten about it: "From my own experience, I have to say, my dealings with George have always been on the up and up," Podcaster Kevin Devin wrote on Lambert's blog.

"I too had created a Podkeyword for my Podcast WAY back in late 2004. Interestingly, I had actually forgotten about Podkey until iTunes hit with their Podcast directory, which ended up including two different listings for my feed. The Podkey one, and my actual."

…

As it is, Lambert runs the service free of charge, on funds that flow out of his own pocket. "I went and did something, I was volunteering," he said. "They took my free service and now they called it extortion, hijacking. And to be threatened to be sued, and harassed … why would I ever want to do something for people on the Internet again?"

Beyond the profane response to Lambert's alleged wrongs, calmer minds are pointing out that the heart of the problem is this: Once the wrong RSS feed gets into a directory, it's extremely difficult to find out and to fix it.

"I have that problem with one Podcast where some of the listings point to a staging server and not the real server," wrote Dan Bricklin, well-known blogger and the developer of VisiCalc.

"I think in the early days someone subscribed to the staging server while I tested out the Podcast series and some list picked that up and other lists copy from each other.

"This is a big problem. It's not like Google where things are somewhat self-correcting as people point to the one the owner points to," Bricklin wrote. "Once this points wrong it just perpetuates itself and you can't fix it. In this case, the RSS feed owner [Podcaster] got into a bad situation."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1896434,00.asp”

“The manner in which the purported hijacking occurred exemplifies the fact that RSS feeds are far more vulnerable to squatters than Web site domains. The method doesn't require stolen passwords or other overtly illegal methods.

Rather, it merely involves finding a target Podcast and creating a unique URL for it on a Web site that the hijacker can control. The hijacker then points his URL to the RSS feed of the target Podcast.

Next, the hijacker does whatever it takes to ensure that, as new Podcast engines come to market, the page each engine creates for the target Podcast points to the hijacker's URL instead of to the Podcast creator's official URL. ”

Podcast Hijacked, Held for Ransom from eWEEK

By Lisa Vaas

“In an assault reminiscent of the early days of the Internet, Podcaster Erik Marcus recently found that his RSS feed had been inexplicably redirected.

According to Marcus, rather than fully cooperate to address the situation, the cyber-squatter is demanding payment or permanent agreement to terms, and Marcus is seeking legal redress for this new form of Internet extortion.

Marcus publishes Vegan.com and the "Erik's Diner" Podcasts.

Over the course of the past year, Marcus has built his listenership from 100 people per show up to some 1,500. Over the past few weeks, he noticed that Yahoo Inc. had created an entry for his show on its beta site, Podcasts.yahoo.com.

The page had an RSS feed belonging not to Vegan.com, however, but to a site named Podkeyword.com.…

Marcus e-mailed Podkeyword directly in order to "nip this problem in the bud rather than let it grow," he said in his letter to his lawyer, Colette Vogele.

Podkeyword honored his request, Marcus said, after which his listener numbers abruptly collapsed. Marcus came to find that Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service, which shields RSS information from its users, had also picked up the Podkeyword URL.

"This has cost me more than 1,000 listeners per show," Marcus wrote in the letter.…

The manner in which the purported hijacking occurred exemplifies the fact that RSS feeds are far more vulnerable to squatters than Web site domains. The method doesn't require stolen passwords or other overtly illegal methods.

Rather, it merely involves finding a target Podcast and creating a unique URL for it on a Web site that the hijacker can control. The hijacker then points his URL to the RSS feed of the target Podcast.

Next, the hijacker does whatever it takes to ensure that, as new Podcast engines come to market, the page each engine creates for the target Podcast points to the hijacker's URL instead of to the Podcast creator's official URL.

Vogele, a non-residential fellow at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society and head of the firm Vogele & Associates, told Ziff Davis Internet News that she is mulling over a number of approaches to determine which laws might pertain in the case, including claims of unfair competition, trademark infringement/dilution, computer fraud and abuse, trespass, right of publicity and misappropriation.…

Marcus suggested that Podcasters can protect themselves from hijacking by checking to make sure that all Podcast directories and search engines list RSS feeds that point to their official URLs/RSS feeds.

Also, if Podcasters learn of a hijacking, they can write to the hijacker and demand that they cease and desist. Hijacked Podcasters should also write to the Podcast directories and search engines to point out the misconduct.

Those who posted responses to Vogele's Weblog entry on the matter suggested other defensive strategies. One is to rename Podcast audio files on occasion and point to the new names in the legitimate RSS feed, thus causing the malicious site's RSS feed to stop working and hence to cease gaining popularity.

Another tactic is to look at the referrer's tags for Podcast downloads in a Podcaster's Web server logs. Names of malicious sites that point to a Podcast will come up in the logs, and a large number of off-site listener referrals should raise flags.

Another tactic proposed on Vogele's blog is to mention the site and feed URL in each Podcast. Those who take the time to notice what URL they're using may notice that the URL is in fact not the official one. ”

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1894827,00.asp

1 Million Digitized Images Now Available Online from The Library of Congress

“Long before The Library of Congress (LC) made the announcement last week about planning a World Digital Library (WDL), they've been digitizing material of all types for many years along with cataloging books (as you might expect) and offering MANY other services.

One searchable digitized collection from LC that you should know about is a catalog of imagery from the The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. As of today, 1 million digitized images are now available via the catalog. Access to the catalog is free.

It's possible to search the entire collection or individual collections one at a time. It's also possible to browse some of the collections. Finally, most of the images have been given subject access using the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials that now includes hyperlinked subjects for many images. I've also blogged about this thesaurus in the past. For the latest on what's happening at the Prints & Photographs Division, check out this 'What's New' page.”

From the SearchEngineWatch blog Posted by Gary Price

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/051128-205524:

Google Base Raises Features Bar Well Above Craigslist

from Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits:
Posted by Steve Outing on Thursday, November 17, 2005 at 3:19:11 PM

“Google Base obviously is a BIG deal. (See Peter M. Zollman's blog item here yesterday for the basics.) There's no shortage of coverage, analysis, and opinion about it on news sites and on blogs.

Base is many things, it seems, not just a new (and, to newspapers, threatening) classifieds player. A number of observers have called its classifieds function 'Craigslist on steroids.' ”

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=92357

Danger! Will Robinson that Does Not Reprint!

In his article on searchEngine Watch “Indexing Versus Caching & How Google Print Doesn't Reprint” Danny Sullivan takes a serios look at the controversy over Google’s moves to index libraries.

His points are well taken.
Here are more in from the Sullivan Webliography.

Author Wants To Be In Google Print, But Publisher Says No

Google Print Press Review & Just A Bit About Search Inside the Book

Google Print "Only" Interfaces Now Available For More Countries

Stay Current With New Free Full Text Books With RSS Feed from the Online Books Page

Great Google Print Controversy Bibliography & Google Scholar Citing Issues

Is Google Print Headed for Congressional Hearings?

Google Gears Up to Resume Book Scanning

Google Print Now Publishing Out-Of-Copyright Works Gained Through Library Scanning Program

Google Print Is Google's Ninth Most Popular Service

Upcoming Google Print Debates

Google Print--Is it Time to Change Copyright Laws?

And highly recommended to read:

The Difference Between Google Print & Google Library

Common Sense for a Change

Rafe Needleman's c|net article Works for Me: Killing the killer app - CNET reviews provides an often missing balance to the hype about the web being all we need.

As rich and useful as Web 2.0 apps are, today we still need both local and remote applications on a daily basis.

Reports of Microsoft's End are Greatly Exaggerated, Way Premature, and Wishful Thinking

This article: Microsoft's 'big bang' could be its last - page 2 | Tech News on ZDNet is long on schadenfreude and short on reality.

Something like this comes out every time Microsoft announces a ship date (and they should be called slipped dates) for a new product or service. It ignores the one important fact, which is that Microsoft's biggest competitive problem is other Microsoft products.

Isn't it funny how those new capabilities eventually become a competitive necessity? They aren't the Borg, but resistance is futile, we will be upgraded.

Office 12 makeover takes on 'feature creep' | Tech News on ZDNet

“For years, Microsoft has been trying to add features to Office without them getting in the way of people who already know their way around the software.

Unfortunately, the company was a little too successful at making its innovations unobtrusive. In user testing, Microsoft found that nine out of every 10 features that customers wanted to see added to Office were already in the program.

'They simply don't know it's there,' Chris Capossela, a Microsoft vice president, told a developer crowd last week. 'It's just too hard to find it.'

Indeed, Office has become a case study for feature creep--the phenomenon in which a simple technology becomes complicated and unmanageable through the addition of new features. Office, which once had 100 commands neatly organized into menus, ballooned to contain some 1,500 commands located in scores of menus, toolbars and dialog boxes.

Having sensed that the software has reached the limits of functionality, Microsoft has been preparing its most radical overhaul ever for Word, Excel and friends. With Office 12, due next year, the company plans to do away with a system that depends on people remembering which series of menus lead to a particular command. Instead, users will see a 'ribbon' of different commands above their document, with the options changing depending on the task. Microsoft previewed the new look for Office at last week's Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles.

The move could help Microsoft in its perennial quest to come up with enough reasons to prompt current Office users to upgrade, and might also stem some defections to rivals, such as OpenOffice. At the same time, it risks alienating some loyalists, as well as prompting some businesses to question the cost of retraining those accusaccustomed to the current Office.”

I don't see how a ‘ribbon’ is going to solve the problem. Features will still be hidden from users.

I don't believe the problem has ever been features people want to use all the time, but, features used rarely that usually come up when there's a deadline, leaving you barely enough time to do the task. Never enough time for the luxury of searching documentation online or off for the function you need.

Barring a breakthrough in A.I. combined with a telepathic program, I don't see how this is going to work. I think they're assuming a general familiarity with program features most users just don't have. Most people I deal with are only familiar with the specific features they use to accomplish their daily tasks.

Alfred Ingram

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5873597.html?tag=nl.e589

Court Unseals Files on Apple 'Asteroid' Probe

"A California appeals court has agreed with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's request to unseal documents relating to Apple Computer Inc.'s legal campaign to force reporters for three Web sites to reveal their sources for articles that disclosed details about Apple's 'Asteroid' audio product.

A redacted version of the documents, which the California 6th District Court of Appeals ordered unsealed last week, is available on the EFF Web page that covers the history of the case: O'Grady et al v. Superior Court, also known as 'Apple v. Does.'

Three sites—PowerPage.org, ThinkSecret.com and AppleInsider.com—posted articles outlining details about an Apple product code-named Asteroid, which is a FireWire-based audio interface unit that will work with GarageBand, Apple's music composition application.

The EFF said that the documents show that Apple did not exhaust other avenues of investigation, as required by law, before seeking subpoenas against the three sites, which published information about the product before it was released. The EFF is one of the organizations providing legal representation for AppleInsider.com and PowerPage.org.The documents are declarations from two of Apple's security personnel who described the measures they took in investigating the source of the leak of the Asteroid information. They described tracking who had access to the documents and who accessed files on a secure internal serrver. "At a minimum," Opsahl said, "[Apple] should have asked for depositions or
testimony under oath from employees under suspicion.

"While they're willing to seek subpoenas for people without associations with Apple, they failed to review laptops or e-mails," Opsahl said. He added that no investigations were made as to whether confidential information was sent via a Web-based e-mail client or copied to a physical medium.

Apple has claimed that publication of the Asteroid information, and complicity in the leaking of the information, constituted a violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act as defined in California Civil Code 3426.1. The act states that if a company takes reasonable measures to protect information and this information has value in being kept secret, California courts should rule that such information should be afforded protection as a trade secret.

When contacted for comment on the court's decision to unseal the documents, an Apple spokesperson simply restated the company's reasons for filing the complaint. "Apple has filed a civil complaint against unnamed individuals who we believe stole our trade secrets and posted detailed information about an unannounced Apple product on the Internet," the spokesperson said. "

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1859271,00.asp?kc=ewnws091505dtx1k0000599

Threats Spread Thick

Top 5 vulnerabilities as reported by ThreatFocus for Monday, August 22nd, 2005

Date	Title	Severity
8/19/2005	Microsoft [Security Advisory: A COM Object (Msdds.dll) Could Cause Internet Explorer to Unexpectedly Exit]	High
8/17/2005	Adobe [Acrobat / Reader Plug-in Buffer Overflow Vulnerability]	High
8/16/2005	Apple [Security Update 2005-007]	High
8/19/2005	Red Hat [php security update]	High
8/17/2005	Debian [New Mozilla packages fix frame injection spoofing vulnerability]	High

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1850852,00.asp

Worm Could Squirm on Windows XP

"It is important to note that Simple File and Print Sharing is only available on Windows XP machines that are not part of a Windows Active Directory Domain. However, configuring a Windows XP SP1 host to share network resources prior to joining an Active Directory Domain will leave it in the vulnerable state even after the Domain is joined," the company warned.

By Ryan Naraine
“Microsoft late Tuesday warned that the Zotob worm could start squirming through certain configurations of Windows XP SP1 (Service Pack 1).

The worm, which squirms through a flaw in the Windows PnP (Plug and Play) service, has wreaked havoc on unpatched Windows 2000 machines, but new information suggests some Windows XP users could also be at risk.

Late Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. issued a new advisory that confirmed the expanded threat and recommended that users implement workarounds to thwart a new worm outbreak.

Users of Windows XP SP2 are not vulnerable to remote attacks.…”

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1851908,00.asp?kc=ewnws082505dtx1k0000599

8 Out Of 10 Enterprise PCs Spyware Infected

The number of malicious sites hosting spyware has quadrupled since the start of the year, said Richard Stiennon, Webroot's director of threat research, and now number over 300,000 URLs.

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
“On average, enterprise PCs have 27 pieces of spyware on their hard drives, a 19 percent increase in the last quarter alone, while a whopping 80 percent of corporate computers host at least one instance of unwanted software, whether that's adware, spyware, or a Trojan horse.

Worse, said Stiennon, evidence is accumulating that spyware is becoming more malicious than ever.

"The actual maliciousness of it is increasing," he noted. "There's simply more malicious activity per piece of spyware. They're not satisfied with making their seven cents a click by flooding systems with adware; now they're focusing on identity theft, sometimes from within an organization. Spyware's being used by insiders to, in essence, hack their employer or boss."

Instances of such activity during the second quarter included a scandal in Israel and a stymied multi-million dollar bank robbery in the U.K. that was based on spyware.

Part of the bump-up in spyware infection rates and most of the reason behind its increasing nastiness is due to pressure on spyware-as-a-business, Webroot claimed.

"There's an underlying principle that often gets overlooked: spyware's a business like any other," said C. David Moll, the chief executive of Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot. "Like any business, spyware developers are committed to increasing their profit margins by expanding their distribution channels, utilizing new products, and entering new markets.…" ”

http://www.crn.com/nl/crnupdate/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=169600391

Zotob Proves Patching 'Window' Non-existent

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
“Although the initial attack on Windows 2000 PCs by bot worms exploiting a week-old vulnerability hasn't grabbed much traction, the way hackers jumped on the bug is proof that the patching "window" is virtually non-existent, said security experts Tuesday.

"The last week showed once more that there is no more patch window," wrote Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the SANS Internet Storm Center, in the group's daily alert. "Defense in depth is your only chance to survive the early release of malware."

Exploits were circulating within three days of Microsoft disclosing the Plug and Play vulnerability and offering up a patch, and within five days, several bot worms -- notably Zotob.a and Zotob.b -- were attacking systems.

"Microsoft must be fuming that virus writers are exploiting security holes in their software so quickly," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for security vendor Sophos, in a statement. "It's not only embarrassing for the software giant, but a real headache for businesses who need to move quickly to roll out security patches."

The reason for the fast hacker turn-around, said Ullrich, is that attackers are sharing more and more information. "Malware can only develop as fast as it is developing in this case because of extensive code sharing in the underground," Ullrich said. "The only way we can keep up with this development is by sharing information as efficiently.

"We need to outshare the attackers.…" ”

http://www.crn.com/nl/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=168602090

Spyware Researchers Discover ID Theft Ring

“Sunbelt Software Inc., makers of the enterprise-grade CounterSpy spyware protection product, made the discovery during an audit of "CoolWebSearch," a program that routinely hijacks Web searchers, browser home pages and other Internet Explorer settings.

During the research, Sunbelt researcher Patrick Jordan deliberately installed the "CoolWebSearch application on a machine and immediately noticed that the infected system became a spam zombie that was placing callbacks to a remote server.

When Jordan visited the remote server, he was shocked to find that it was being used to distribute sensitive personal information from millions of PC users infected by the spyware application.

"We found the keylogger transcript files that are being uploaded to the servers. We're talking real spyware stuff…chat sessions, usernames, passwords, bank account information, full names, addresses," said Sunbelt president Alex Eckelberry.

…Eckelberry said the sophistication of the operation suggests it's the work of a "massive identity theft ring" that used keystroke loggers to grab confidential information that could be used to create fake online identities.

…"This is the most repulsive thing I've ever seen. It's very painful to see what's in these log files that are being uploaded in real time. We're seeing a lot of bank information and usernames and passwords to get in," Eckelberry said.

The log files included logins to one business bank account with more than $350,000 and another small company in California with over $11,000, readily accessible.

"There are lots of eBay account information and names and addresses of the people owning those accounts. Names, passwords, all matched up," Eckelberry added

He said the server, which is hosted out of a data center in Texas, was effectively a "massive repository of stolen data" that was being replenished in real time.

"As the [log] file gets to a certain size, it gets taken down and a new file starts generating. This goes on nonstop. We've been watching it for a few days while trying to get to the FBI, and it just keeps growing and growing."

While the site is being hosted in the United States, Eckelberry said the domain name is registered to an offshore company. The huge size of the log files is a clear indication that thousands of machines are pinging back daily.

Where users appeared to be at immediate risk of losing a considerable amount of money, Sunbelt has contacted the affected individuals.

Eckelberry said the "CoolWebSearch" payload included a typical adware download that immediately scanned the infected machine for e-mails to use for spam runs. It then sets up a "very intelligent keylogger" that looks for very specific information, noting that the keystroke logger was able to pick up identity-related data for delivery to the remote server.

Anti-virus vendor Trend Micro Inc. provides a free online scanning tool that detects and deletes the "CoolWebSearch" application. ”

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1845248,00.asp?kc=ewnws080905dtx1k0000599

Effective professional blogging

“TechRepublic VP Bob Artner explains what it takes to be an effective professional blogger. He advises avoiding the mistakesof many personal blogs, which he says Bloviate and are Loud,Obnoxious and Gabby.”



http://ct.zdnet.com.com/clicks?c=354577-56849759&brand=zdnet&ds=5&fs=0

Spyware Costs

“A survey of more than 1,000 IT managers and end users reveals that spyware and other unsanctioned downloads are resulting in average monthly costs of $130,000 to IT enterprises. The survey also found that spyware incursions appear to be growing at a rate twice that of computer virus incidents.

…applications that are downloaded and installed on end user PCs without IT sanction, are increasingly represented by instant messaging. "Within the next six months, virtually all end users will have deployed some type of greynet application," the report states. "Based on stated intentions, this number will rise to 93 percent in the next six months."

…Noting that in addition to instant messaging, greynet applications can include P2P file sharing, Web conferencing, Web mail, adware/spyware, and VoIP applications such as Skype, the study found that even among IT managers who have installed perimeter security measures, 77 percent of them had a spyware incident in the past six months. Most of the IT managers said spyware incidents are occurring at the same or greater frequency as six months ago.… ”

http://www.crn.com/nl/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=167100251