Tuesday, November 23, 2004
I'm sorry, but you can't use me as the reason you don't run a virus scan
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
But I well say again here that yes I've changed over to AVG Anit-Virus sys(which is free). And I've set it up to update every day and scan as well. I also am running Ad-aware for spyware every week and finding anywhere from a half dozen to 8 tracking programs everytime. And yes that's on every puter that's been in use. All 6 these days.
These are thing that you should maybe use your Yahoo calendar for or something that well tell ya to do what needs to be done that works to keep you safe.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Monday, November 22, 2004
OK, so you don't have to look and find it here's the URL to "Radio-Locator"
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Radio-Locator You can search for station that broadcast over the Internet (free) by city/zip code, state, or call letters. So go a head and find that station you loved from where you were born, and raised. Or from were ever or when ever in your live. I remember a great county & western station I love when I was in the USMC. And yes it still great. and you can search by format as well. And it's has international seach as well.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Hackers Use Web Sites, Ads to Infect PCs
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
By Brian Krebs, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Hackers co-opted several popular Web sites including comedycentral.com over the weekend, using them to infect thousands of computers with a virus that can be used to steal passwords, bank accounts and other personal information.
Displaying an increasingly sophisticated approach to online theft, the hackers gained control of a German online advertising services firm and served up thousands of Internet ads designed to send visitors to one of several Web sites where the hackers had installed the virus.
Hackers also can use the virus to plant programs on victims' computers that send out spam, flood monitors with pop-up advertising or attack other Web sites, said security researchers who analyzed the code.
The virus started spreading late Friday when people using some versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser visited sites containing the ads, computer security experts said. The ads directed computers to download the virus from several Web sites, including comedycentral.com.
It does not affect computers that contain the Service Pack 2 software upgrade that Microsoft released in August for Windows XP (news - web sites) customers. So far, the upgrade has been downloaded approximately 130 million times, according to Microsoft. There are an estimated 200 million XP users worldwide.
Customers using older Windows versions should update their anti-virus software, stay away from unfamiliar Web sites and set their browser security level to "high," said Stephen Toulouse, security program manager at Microsoft.
Sites that ran the poisoned ads included TheRegister.co.uk, a technology news publication, and Ilse.nl, one of the largest Internet companies in the Netherlands.
The ads were managed by Falk Solutions AG, a German company that handles online advertising for Web sites such as Sony Pictures Digital, NBC Universal Television Networks and A&E Television Networks.
Slightly more than 2 percent of the ads served during a six-hour period on Saturday contained the malicious computer code, according to a statement released by Falk. The company said the attackers reconfigured Falk's ad servers so that one in every 30 banner ads that ran on its clients' sites would redirect visitors to the Web sites hosting the virus.
None of the media companies that Falk serves responded to requests for comment.
Tony Fox, a spokesman for comedycentral.com, confirmed that the site hosted the virus until technicians discovered and removed the file on Saturday afternoon. Fox said the company is still trying to determine when and how the virus was placed on the server.
Joe Stewart, a researcher at Chicago-based Internet security firm Lurhq, said when the attacks first began Friday evening he spotted some ads linking to the same virus planted on the Web site of Lion's Gate Films. A spokeswoman declined to comment.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based anti-virus company McAfee Inc., detected more than 30,000 infection attempts since the attack started early Saturday morning, said Vincent Gullotto, senior director for the company's anti-virus emergency response team.
The virus tried to attack about 20,000 computers in the United States that use McAfee's anti-virus software for home users, Gullotto said. Another 9,000 attacks targeted European home users.
Toronto-based company Rydium, which places banner ads on Web sites using Falk's advertising technology, received a flood of calls Monday from customers who had gotten complaints that their Web sites were infecting visitors' computers, said spokeswoman Julie Ford.
The attack was similar to one last June that prompted warnings from U.S. government cyber-security officials. That virus infected the Web sites of the Kelley Blue Book automobile pricing guide and MinervaHealth Inc., a Jackson, Wyo., company that provides online financial services for hospitals and health care businesses.
The attack shows that the mere act of browsing the Internet has become a risky activity for many Internet users, said Marcus Sachs, a former White House cyber-security adviser and director of the SANS Internet Storm Center.
"It used to be that if you were a stupid or careless Web surfer, the worst that might happen is you get pop-ups and spyware installed on your PC," Sachs said. "But those rules have changed over the last year so that just by visiting a site -- even one you trust -- can bring not just a nuisance but serious damage."
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Sunday, November 21, 2004
The Spyware Threat And How To Deal With It -by Matt Piercy
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Spyware aka advertising-supported software or adware – has been until recently a fairly benign snooper on your surfing habits. The data it gathers is then used to target you with tailored advertising, either in pop-up windows or emails.
The problem is that these software spies are starting to get nasty. Spyware is being written and propagated with the express purpose of recording personal data such as passwords and credit card numbers, or hijacking your browser and bookmarking porn or other undesirable sites, or grabbing your web dialler. Some spyware even features self-updating code so that conventional freeware removal tools have no effect.
What’s more, unlike viruses and worms, most people with spyware on their computers have asked for it, albeit unwittingly. Many websites may ask you to register or sign up to them to receive content, and by doing so you may agree that spyware can operate on your PC – but this critical point is often buried in lengthy Ts & Cs where most users won’t see it.
Spyware everywhere
And it isn’t a small-scale problem. Research in the US in Spring 2004 showed that 1 in 3 PCs scanned had spyware hidden on its hard drive. A total of 650,000 PCs were scanned, finding more than 18 million spyware tools.
Nor is spyware confined to home users. The average amount of spyware on business machines is similar to home users’ – largely because most companies don't have centralised, managed anti-spyware protection in place. Certain spyware – such as that used by P2P networks like Kazaa – is also bandwidth hungry as it communicates a lot of data between machines, which can be a problem on corporate networks.
It’s becoming such a sizeable problem in the US that the Government voted unanimously in Spring 2004 to approve the first-ever anti-spyware bill. The Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass (Spy Act), approved by the US House of Representatives, would levy fines up to $3 million for those who illegally collect personal information, change a browser's default home page or bookmarks, log keystrokes, or steal identities.
Evolution
So how has spyware been allowed to get this far without being restrained? The key problem is that we have accepted spyware in a variety of forms for too long. A cookie – the website marketeer’s long time friend – is a form or spyware. Microsoft uses various forms of friendly spyware to help most of us in our everyday work, by tracking what documents and applications we’ve used recently and giving us quick, one-click access to them.
But in the same way that Internet worms evolved to take advantage of email, malware authors are now taking spyware away from its neutral roots into Internet crime – whether by hijacking browsers and diallers, keystroke logging or laying the groundwork for mass spamming. These authors are also using tricks from the virus world by finding and exploiting browser vulnerabilities to their advantage.
This means that spyware be installed even on a fully-patched Windows machine running the latest anti-virus software. A partial solution is to combine AV with a personal firewall – but even this isn’t a complete fix. Spyware can get installed through ActiveX which is enabled with MS Internet Explorer. Alternatively, it can exploit vulnerabilities that are patched in Internet Explorer – so-called zero day vulnerabilities because the loophole is exploited before the patch is available and widely deployed.
Disabling ActiveX is an option – but it makes surfing difficult because many websites actively rely on using ActiveX. It’s frustrating to have to click “Yes” every single time the web browser asks you about running ActiveX scripts and controls.
Managing the problem
So spyware has become both a security and a management issue for companies as it becomes destructive. But how do companies manage the problem? There’s currently a dearth of corporate anti-spyware tools which integrate with other security applications, such as anti-virus and desktop firewalling.
However, this is soon to change. Anti-virus vendors are starting to introduce spyware and adware pop-up blocking and removal to their core anti-virus and Internet Security solutions. These will be updated in exactly the same way as conventional virus signatures, and will give policy-based centralised management of this emerging issue – helping to nullify the threat from self-updating malicious spyware programs while giving IT staff the option to allow non-aggressive spyware.
By putting spyware on the security map, companies can ensure that the more malicious spyware elements do NOT come in from the cold.
Dealing with aggressive spyware
- use freeware tools to audit your PCs and identify what spyware is resident.
- use the same tools to try and remove unwanted spyware: a combination of two tools often works where a single tool fails.
END
OK,or you could stop useing MS's IE browser and start useing Firefox and Opera. Start using ad-aware from lavasoft.com
And Spybot can find some that ad-aware can't.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
