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03/30/2007 05:31 AM
(CSO)
If you receive an e-mail offering a download of Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, delete it. A new virus is making the rounds that comes disguised as a test version of Microsoft Corp. current Web browser. Security experts reported no widespread damage Friday morning, but they said the virus is notable for a couple of reasons. The e-mail includes a convincing graphic that looks like it could really be from Microsoft, and the virus is delivered when recipients click on a link rather than in an attachment, which makes it harder to stop it from reaching in-boxes. "The idea of sending a link seems to be a trend among attackers; it’s still fairly new and it works much better than sending a file," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure Corp.
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03/30/2007 05:20 AM
(CSO)With online criminals exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows, security vendor eEye Digital Security Inc. has come forward with an unofficial fix for the problem. The unofficial temporary patch, published early Friday, fixes a bug in the way Windows processes Animated Cursor files, which are used to create cartoon-like cursors in Windows. Security researchers at McAfee Inc. first reported the bug on Wednesday evening, saying that it has been used in Web-based attacks. Microsoft has said that it will eventually fix the problem and it generally recommends that users avoid this type of third-party fix for its products. But in the past, similar patches from eEye and others have been downloaded by tens of thousands of Windows users, unwilling to wait for Microsoft’s updates.
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03/29/2007 02:53 AM
(CSO)Microsoft Corp. confirmed Thursday that Windows, including Vista, contains a critical unpatched vulnerability that can be used by attackers to usurp PCs when users surf to malicious sites. In a security advisory posted Thursday morning, Microsoft’s Security Response (MSRC) team acknowledged a bug in Windows’ Animated Cursor, a component that lets developers show a short animation at the mouse pointer’s location. Animated cursor files typically use the .ani extension, but the MSRC warned that hackers might disguise malicious animated cursors with other extension. The SANS Institute, in fact, said it had received reports of in-the-wild exploits using files renamed to .jpg. "An attacker could try to exploit the vulnerability by creating a specially crafted Web page," the Microsoft advisory warned. "An attacker could also create a specially-crafted e-mail message and send it to an affected system. Upon viewing a Web page, previewing or reading a specially crafted message, or opening a specially crafted e-mail attachment, the attacker could cause the affected system to execute code."
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03/29/2007 07:02 AM
(CSO)
TJX has now owned up to the compromise of nearly 50 million debit and credit cards. According to The Boston Globe, "At least 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen by hackers who accessed the computer systems at the TJX Cos. at its headquarters in Framingham and in the United Kingdom over a period of several years, making it the biggest breach of personal data ever reported."
The breach, believed to have taken place over a few years with the assistance of monitoring software, culled at least 100 data files from the system.
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03/29/2007 06:26 AM
(CSO)Maybe not quaking-in-your-boots scared, mind you, but Redmond should certainly be concerned. I’ll tell you why. Apple has gotten smarter about how it competes with Microsoft. Clearly the underdog, Apple has to make moves that can be seen as both supportive of the Windows marketplace and good for its Mac customers at the same time. The switch to Intel was just such a chess move. Intel hardware makes it easier for Microsoft to create apps for the Mac. It solves a performance problem Apple had. It creates a better experience for Intel-Mac owners because it better supports Windows applications. The CPU architecture also puts Mac and Windows hardware on an easy-to-understand, level playing field. Perhaps most significantly, though, all these advantages appeal to potentially millions of Mac-curious Windows users because it makes the Mac more familiar.
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03/28/2007 01:45 AM
(CSO)Senators and privacy advocates on Monday questioned a U.S. government plan to move ahead with smart card drivers license requirements, saying the cost will run into the billions of dollars and the cards could allow the government to track residents. The Real ID Act, tacked on to a military spending bill in 2005, would require states to save digital copies of source documents such as birth certificates for drivers licenses and it would require states to share information in their drivers license databases. The goal of the new cards, which would include digital photographs and personal information in a machine-readable chip, would be to better ensure that the people carrying the ID cards are who they say they are. Congress passed the Real ID Act in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. The 9/11 Commission recommended that the government take steps to better ensure the validity of U.S. IDs. The pilot of the airplane that crashed into the Pentagon held three state drivers licenses, all of them fake, said Robert Barth, assistant secretary for policy development at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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03/27/2007 02:45 AM
(CSO)
Developers have released a major update to the Metasploit security testing tool designed to run more smoothly on the Windows operating system. Metasploit 3.0, released early Tuesday morning, has been rewritten in the Ruby programming language to make the software faster and less buggy for Windows users, who make up the great majority of the software’s users according to Metasploit developer HD Moore. "Ninety-eight percent of our entire user base runs on Windows and they were really poorly supported," Moore said. By rewriting the program, developers expect to attract new users who had previously been frustrated by the effort required to run Metasploit on Windows. "We’re guessing that we’ll probably get 20 to 30 percent more users just from our improved Windows support," he said.
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03/26/2007 06:07 AM
(CSO)New software has been published on the Internet that could be used to exploit a known flaw in Internet Explorer. The code, which was posted Monday to the Milw0rm.com website, exploits a recently patched flaw in Microsoft’s browser. It could be used to run unauthorized software on a computer that was not updated with the latest Microsoft patches, security experts warn. The vulnerability was first discovered by security researcher HD Moore who posted code last July that could be used to crash the browser. Microsoft patched the flaw in February, but some security researchers say that it will get more attention from criminals because of this latest exploit code.
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03/26/2007 03:29 AM
(CSO)Microsoft is warning of an attack that could be used to divert someone’s Web traffic through a malicious proxy server. Applications such as Internet Explorer use the Web Proxy Automatic Discovery (WPAD) protocol to find a file that enables a browser to configure its proxy settings. However, it’s possible to plant a configuration file that would route traffic through a malicious proxy, the company said. A malicious WPAD.dat file could be placed in the DNS or the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), Microsoft said. The client application looks in DNS or WINS to resolve the name of the hosting that has the proxy configuration file.
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03/26/2007 11:03 AM
(CSO)
According to The Register, beginning June 30, all new Windows PC acquisitions must use a common “secure configuration.” "Changes in US government purchasing policies due to come into effect this summer could have a huge effect on computer security, particularly for Windows desktops," according to a report in The Register. Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, told The Register, “No Vista application will be able to be sold to federal agencies if the application does not run on the secure version of Vista.”
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