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.... Richard Rossbauer
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January 31,
2006
Just a couple of days left to
prepare for the
BlackWorm attack - Are you ready?
"The CME-24 (BlackWorm,
et al) is really as bad as the news stories make it out to be.
SANS(*) Internet Storm Center has records of more than 300,000
victims." (Quote from the SANS website on Jan 31, 06)
Estimates on the number of
infected computers may vary. There's no absolute way to know how
many are infected and about to be attacked on
Friday, February 3.
Just make sure you have taken all of the precautions discussed in my
January 26, 2009 Posting
(*)SANS is the most trusted and by far the largest source for
information security training and certification in the world. It
also develops, maintains, and makes available at no cost, the
largest collection of research documents about various aspects of
information security, and it operates the Internet's early warning
system - Internet Storm Center.
... Richard
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January 30,
2006
Are you sending spam
email to your friends?
Did you know that sending one
email message to just 5 friends could grow into more than a million
copies circulating on the Internet?
Nearly everyone has received
a cute or funny joke email, virus hoax message, lists of amazing
facts... you get the idea. You've probably received your share of
them, too.
How often had it been forwarded before it arrived in your email box?
How many names with email addresses were shown in the header?
How often have you forwarded it on to your friends? Could this be
considered Spamming?
Are you a Spammer? Probably, but Certainly not intentionally.
What a gold mine of email addresses for any hacker that might
receive a copy! ...
and you know where that can lead.
I just read a post in the Imagine Kitty Magazine Blog titled "Quit
Spamming Me!" It explains what's really going on in this quote --
"Many of these emails are scams to harvest email
addresses from the internet.
Some unscrupulous people start these so that they
can have your email address
and when you forward it to me it doesnt matter
if I delete it because you sent it
out to 10 of your friends with my email address
in the header and they forward it
so I get porno email anyway."
He explains how the numbers grow, and how quickly they can reach the
million mark.
Read "Quit
Spamming Me!" HERE.
I hope you consider this message next time you forward one of those
emails to friends.
I know I will.
...... Richard
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January 26,
2006
Serious ALERT
About BlackWorm and the
February 3rd attack date
Your computer could be one of
the approximately 2 million that have already been infiltrated by
the Blackworm. This worm is different and more serious than other
worms for a number of reasons. In particular, it will overwrite a
user's files on February 3rd.
The Sophos anti-spyware
compny reports that this worm, (also known as W32/Nyxem-D worm,
Email-Worm.Win32.VB.bi or W32.Blackmal.E@mm) can spread via email
using a variety of pornographic disguises in an attempt to disable
security software. If launched it tries to disable a number of
anti-virus and firewall products on a user's computer, and attempts
to gather other email addresses from the infected computer, in an
effort to spread itself further.
The best thing to do right now is to run your anti-virus
software. At this point, the worm will be detected by up to date
anti virus signatures. In order to protect yourself from data loss
on February 3rd, you should use current (Jan 23rd or later) anti
virus signatures
The First Thing You Should Do is
Update your Anti-Virus Programs and
Run a Full System Scan!
If you have the option of updating your firewall software, be sure to do
that, too.On January 25,
2006, Firewallguide.com reported that this worm attempts to
disable/remove any anti-virus software on an infiltrated system (and
does this every hour while the system is running),
If a user's machine was infiltrated and infected before January 23rd
anti-virus program updates, anti-virus software can't be expected to
clean up the infection.
What will BlackWorm do to your system? It will disable
most anti virus programs and delete them. The worm will e-mail
itself using a variety of extensions and file names. It will add
itself to the list of auto-start programs in your registry.
The following file types will be overwritten by the virus: DOC,
XLS, MDE, MDB, PPT, PPS, RAR, PDF, PSD, DMP, ZIP. The files are
overwritten with an error message( 'DATA Error [47 0F 94 93 F4
K5]').
.... Richard
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January 20, 2006
WMF Update: Win 9x patch for the concerned
Worried about the WMF exploit and your old Windows 9x system? I
had my concerns because one of my computers has the aging Windows
98SE OS.
Alex Eckelberry, President of Sunbelt Software Co -- posted this
advice in his recent blog
"Dont play around with unsupported hotfixes for something
that, based on the best data available, is not a significant issue.
Keep your AV sigs (signature files) updated and move on.
And remember that malware authors themselves are interested in
market share.
Windows 9x systems is a waste of time for them". (Read
his whole post here)
That made me feel a little better because I do work hard at keeping
my Safeware up to date.
I hope all of our readers do, too.
... Richard
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January 14,
2005 Don't
be
Casual about passwords...some reminder information
Your passwords are the
keys you use to unlock your computer and online accounts.
Be sure that your passwords are
difficult to crack.
Strong passwords provide the best
security against intrusion by hackers and thieves.
If they can get into your computer files, your personal
information could used to open new credit card accounts, apply for a
mortgage, or even chat online disguised as youand you wouldn't know
it until it was too late. You can
Frustrate
the Password Crackers.
It's not hard to create strong passwords. With a small amount of
effort on your part and some tricks provided in this
Microsoft article, you can help improve the security of your
computer.
Cut and paste this address into your browser address bar if the
above link isn't active on your computer :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password.mspx
... Richard
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January 5,
2006
Get theSecurity update for WMF
vulnerability
Published by Microsoft on January 5, 2006
Get the security update for the Windows Meta File (WMF)
vulnerability from Microsoft Update. The bulletin title for this
update is: Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow
Remote Code Execution (912919). Learn more about why Microsoft
released this update.
To update your home computer,
CLICK HERE and follow the steps on this page.or
Cut and Paste this address into your browser address bar :
http://www.microsoft.com//athome/security/update/bulletins/200601_WMF.mspx
... Richard |
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January 5, 2005 (Repeat)
Stinger updated as of November 22, 2005 to include
protection against the
Sober@MM!M681
worm.Add this
protection to your new computer update your backup protection for
your existing machines
STINGER,
the Free virus checking and removal
tool (compliments of McAfee's Anti-virus and Vulnerability Emergency
Response Team -
AVERT) was
updated November 22, 2005 to detect and remove more than 50
current viruses including the
Sober@MM!M681
worm.
It's a great
little program that fits neatly on a floppy disc - a perfect way to
clean up your computer if a worm or other 'rogueware' has disabled
your ability to get back on the Internet to update your
security ware.
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Whenever updated versions becomes available, I'll post
a notice here, on the Firewalls and Virus Protection website and
in the Security Alert News Reporter. Download the current version
here at
McAfee
STINGER |
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... Richard |
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January 1, 2005
the
official U.S. Marines "Toys for Tots"
program
The 5th Annual Internet Toy Drive was another great success.
Special thanks to everyone who participated .... Thanks ever so much, Richard
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(UPDATED)
A Little More Experience with RSS Readers for
adding current Web Feeds to your daily reading lists
The more I use I use
it, the more I like it! I'm talking about the RSS feed reader on the
MyYahoo page.
It was all a bit intimidating a few
months back when deciding to add a RSS reader to my Desktop. There
were quite a few choices available. Some seemed very complex while
others sounded as if they'd be easy to set up. Some even required
downloading software in addition to the Reader ...so I tried 3 or 4
products and selected some feeds to follow.
For awhile I was using two RSS Readers, but after many months of
experience, I have found that using just one meets all of my needs,
and it's very easy to set up. .
More and more of my favorite websites, newsletters and blogs
display
|XML|RSS|
buttons.
Now, even more display the
button. Clicking on it automatically adds that feed to my personal
MyYahoo page.
Using RSS feeds has saved a lot of time!, I don't have to go on a search for the latest
information published on my favorite sites -- every new bit of information, post, or
announcement appears in my RSS Reader. (The new IE7 is expected to
refer to these as "Web Feeds.")
Soon you'll find that many of your favorite sites display the little
buttons. There will be more and more in the days ahead. If you don't
have a Free 'MyYahoo' page, it's very easy to get one from the
Yahoo site.
The same is true for 
and
After you put the first Web Feed into you RSS Feed Reader and have
up-to-date notices delivered to you without having to worry about
opening an email notice, you'll appreciate how great this RSS stuff
really is. Try It. You'll enjoy it!.
......Richard | |
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