Stop botnets in its tracks With a Firewall!

According to PC World and I’ll quote:

According to FireEye chief scientist Stuart Staniford, detection rates are so poor that, on average, only around 40 percent of security software can detect binaries during the period of greatest infectivity and danger, namely the first few days after a particular variant starts being used by botnet builders.

[via PC World]

[ad#ad2-left]Now let’s talk about this, having been seeing recent surges of people getting infected.  I’ve come to the conclusion that companies like AVG and other Anti-Virus companies are keeping up.   Now true if all you have is an Anti-virus and nothing else that greatly increases your likely hood of getting a virus.

In a recent virus storm, We have people finding my site because of a Good Firewall.   No if he didn’t have anything but Windows firewall then it would of gotten through and you would not of known about it.  So let’s talk about how to prevent botnet attacks.   This is relatively easy and if you follow some common rules.   You to could be less likely to be infected.  I will say this most people don’t do these common tips and they should do them.

[ad#digg-right]So what should you do to help prevent from getting a Virus or Malware.  This is really simple, you want to find an Anti-virus Software that you like, and Firewall that you like also.  You’ll also want to download the tools to better help you in case you do get infected.  Some of these tools I recommend are Hijackthis, Spybot Search and Destroy, Hitman Pro, and Ad-aware 2007 Edition (FREE).  Then Go buy a Sandisk USB memory Stick and put those on there for later use!!  You will always want to keep a backup of those just in case you get infected.

[ad#ad2-right]Make sure you update Windows regularly.  Having seen this time and time again, if you don’t keep windows updated then you lose the battle.  If you have a system that needs updating, I suggest downloading the Clone to Autopatcher.  This little program will download the files needed to update your system without having to be online.  Although, you can have windows update automatically every month but that might not update the recommended updates only the ones that are hot.  It doesn’t matter which way you prefer to update, as long as you do to update regularly, Like every 2nd Tuesday of the Month.

One last tip you should also keep your Firewall and Anti-virus updated.  There is a little program that will do that, it’s call AppSnap.  If you follow all these recommendations you will greatly reduce your chances of getting a virus on your system.

Technorati Officially laysoff 6 people!!

Technorati released today they are going to Lay off 6 people and I will quote:
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Unfortunately, this means sacrifices. Technorati’s management team members are taking pay cuts ranging from 15-25% and employees are taking 10% cut. This also includes the reallocation of staff. We’re laying off six employees today – including two executives — and there are two additional departures we won’t replace. These are high performers who have worked long hours to get us where we are now. They’re also friends, and we’re very sad to see them go. We simply need a leaner and reconfigured mix to get us through 2009.

[via Technorati Weblog]

They will also be taking pay cuts all through the company.  So the recession is hitting them also.  I am sure CEO Richard Jalichandra has the company interest in mind.  According to Techchunch, they have added these recent layoffs ticker.   You can also search my blog for other layoffs that have happened or will happen.

Antivirus Professional 2008 uses Scare tactics

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We came across a rogue today called Antivirus Professional 2008 that uses GeoIP Lookup as part of its scare tactics. This site uses Flash and script to create the effect of an online scan, that then attempts to push an installer at the visitor. The NoScript extension for Mozilla Firefox is an excellent way to mitigate against this kind of garbage.

[Via F-secure]

It seems that there is a site out there, that seems to be trying to scare you into downloading there software. If you have any questions about this site please feel free to check out what I’ve found out:

Registration Service Provided By: ESTDOMAINS INC
Contact: 1.3027224217
Website: http://www.estdomains.com
Domain Name: ANTIVIRUS-ONLINE-SCANNER.COM
Registrant:
N/A
Serento faloimitator@list.ru

Minskay str. 27-14
Kiev
Kiev 237293
UA
Tel. 044.2901732
Creation Date: 07-Jun-2008
Expiration Date: 07-Jun-2009
Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.antivirus-online-scanner.com
ns1.antivirus-online-scanner.com
Administrative Contact:
N/A
Serento faloimitator@list.ru

Minskay str. 27-14
Kiev
Kiev 237293
UA
Tel. 044.2901732
Technical Contact:
N/A
Serento faloimitator@list.ru

Minskay str. 27-14
Kiev
Kiev 237293
UA
Tel. 044.2901732
Billing Contact:
N/A
Serento faloimitator@list.ru

Minskay str. 27-14
Kiev
Kiev 237293
UA
Tel. 044.2901732


[ad#ad2-right]Now as you can see this site is located in Russia, and if that’s the case it is probably some virus itself to take control of your system to do what they want with it. So you best advice is if you think you have a virus then check out my recommendations these are all free to download and try. Unlike this site, they are legitimate and actually do what they promise.  If you want to email them you can but It don’t think it will help.

*UPDATE on that Website*

According to F-secure that site is now Suspended.  Great job guys.  We are now fighting these people even better than I’d thought.

Comfirmed: DHL to Lays off 10,000 workers!!

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According to The Press-Enterprise has announced all 18 U.S. Hubs will close and that means 10,000 workers will be out of a job.  They will keep 3,000 for international business.   I wanted to tell everyone about this as soon as I found out.

There is a rumor that DHL might layoff some of it’s employees. About 8,000 Jobs will be announced to tomorrow when they release the earnings report. Now I know very little about this parent company but they have 475,100 employees and that would mean 1.6% of the people would be laid off!!

According to Business Week there Volume have been going down this year.

(CNN) — A southern Ohio community is bracing for possible layoffs as DHL Express — the largest employer in the area — planned to announce its quarterly earnings report and restructuring details. [Via CNN]

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From what I can tell this will affect the Eastern part of the US. I’ve done a little digging for everyone to see just why they would want to layoff so many people. They have to reduce there spending because there Volume isn’t as it should. This will also effect delivery of packages, and might end up slowing the delivery of Christmas packages.  So pack those presents early and ship them off early, to make sure they get delivered before Christmas!!  To see other layoffs this year just click this LINK.  It will show you all of the layoffs that have/are/or might happen in the near future.

Circuit City to layoff employees and might close several stores!

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Some sources are say this:
The newspaper cited one of the affected workers, who indicated that between 500 and 800 employees would be let go. The layoffs reportedly began yesterday with the departure of several “upper management” executives, the source said.

[via Twice]

Now I know people hate when I blog about this because it is so depressing but I do like to let people know about this stuff so you can know what to expect in the coming future. This is all due to the economy and the recession that is on our doorsteps. If you would like to find out what other companies are laying off that I know about just click this [LINK] and it will show you all the other blog posts that I talked about that have or are laying people off.  I keep telling people to keep there resume’s ready for just this type of outcome.