Category: Virus

Pirated iWork’09 — Shows users they’ll not smart!!

Paul

Pirated Version of iLife 2009 for Macintosh users are getting hit hard by a Virus.  These users seem to think they are immune to viruses or trojans, and install software without second thoughts.  Now I know this isn’t funny to some but at least 20,000 have been macintosh computers have been infected by this little OSX.Trojan.iServices.A.  Now did Apple help this out by making people think the OSX was immune to Viruses?  Some reports are saying this little Trojan is hard to get rid off.  Intego puts out a security Alert for this little Trojan.  Microsoft should jump on this like a hot knife through butter with there ad campaigns.  I would be laughing all the way to the mall.  No longer are Macintosh’s  safe from viruses, Trojans, or Spyware.

So you think you have the Trojan? I do not know how to get it off the system because I am a PC user, but I just had to comment on this and make sure people knew what was happening in the world of malware.   I’d suggest checking out my Malware Resource page and maybe there you’d find something that will work for you in removing this trojan.  Although it cost 79$, Mac users need to start using more common sense with their computers and not download software from untrusted sites. Security should be brought to the forefront when it comes to Apple.

Spammers defies Bill Gates ‘magic Solution’

Paul

Sopho’s published statistics and I thought I would talk about it here.   Bill Gates promised to have a Magic Solution 5 Years ago.   Sophos Also provide a Chart of the Dirty Dozen:

dirty-dozen-q408

Sopho’s also is claiming that “US retains its crown as spam king“.    I don’t think so because of the the Other 32.4%.   The US can’t be the main culprit to spam.    So What was this ‘Magic Solution’ that they promised 5 years ago?

Microsoft has two techniques in mind for solving the spam issue, both based on the premise of changing the economics of email to place a greater burden on the sender.

[Via CBR]

Microsoft did have some good ideas but they wouldn’t work for right now because the first part of the ‘magic Solution’ was to add  mathmatical question to each and every email we sent out.   I know that this wasn’t going to work because hackers have already created a systems to get around the captcha verification.

[ad#ad2-right]Spammers of course are the ones  who is sending out the spam but they have people who write virus software, which I consider a hacker.  You see they want to infect systems so they can easily send out even more email.  When a system becomes a Botnet they usually are used to send out email.  If your curious as to what a Botnet is Check out the Wikipedia entry for further details.  So they need these systems to be able to send out spam, and other types of email phishing.   Most of the time a spammers  spam just for money because they make money by spamming people.   I hate spam because it clogs up our email accounts with unwanted emails.

So Did Microsoft come up with a fix?  According to Sopho’s they seem to be dropping percentages from 2004 to now in the US.   I have to wonder if Microsoft proclomation made them worry and go outside of the US.   I don’t think it will stop in fact, I suspect with the economy like it is we will undoubtedly start seeing even more spam and even more computer infections.

In order to prevent yourself from viruses and computer infections, you will need to install Anti-virus software and a Good firewall, not just the Default Windows Firewall.  This will greatly increase your chances of not getting a virus and possibly help prevent some of the spam.   You should also tell your associates or customers the benefits of preventive updates.  You should also remind people about not clicking links in emails and also not everything you read is true.

More Information on the downadup Worm

Paul

If your working to get rid of this Downadup Worm, F-secure is giving out a free removal tool to help with that task.   According to F-Secure Worm:W32/Downadup.gen description which Talks about how bad this worm is.

[ad#ad2-right]Due to companies not updating the MS 08-067 patch, it is the primary way for this worm to get onto a system.

Graham Cluely’s Blog ask a question and got quite a few answers from the users. The results of the poll are 53% believe the hackers are to blame, and 30% think the System Administrators are to blame, and 17% think Microsoft is to blame for this worm.

I have a mix feelings over who is to be blamed for this worm. I think the person who wrote this, did it for a specific reason. We can’t expect any software we use to be 100% safe, even Macintosh are not 100% safe. Microsoft isn’t to be blamed because they tried to patch this as quickly as they could. I know that companies have a hard time keeping up with Microsoft updates, and they really can’t be blamed. I think Hackers are always going to make a virus just because they can. That’s in there nature and we will never be really rid of the virus or worm writers. They are in it for the Money, to boast, to take control of, or steal sensitive information. Windows being the Alpha Dog, people are always going to test the waters because of that.

So who do you think is to be blamed?  I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.

Who do you think is to blame for the Downadup Worm?

1) End Users
2) Microsoft who did patch it
3) The person who Wrote this Worm
4) Companies who didn’t implement updates
5) No one it is going to happen
6) People who pay the writers of Virus/Worms

View Results

Make your own poll

If you think someone else is to be blamed just make a comment.

Please bear in mind that this poll is not scientific and is provided for information purposes only. The comments expressed on this page are those of a subsection of poll participants, and not necessarily those of Tech-linkblog. Tech-linkblog makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the results other than that they reflect the choices of the users who participated.

Barack Obama isn’t leaving the White House!

Paul

In a story from Sophos, some e-mails are going around saying that Barack Obama is not going to be president or that he will not be inauguration.   Sopho’s also makes a great comparison for the two sites and it does try to look like the official site.

obama-fake-blog

[ad#ad2-right]

Which if you click on the “Continue Reading” link it will try to send a file “Speech.exe” which is W32/Waled-Gen or Mal/WaledPak-A.   It is a fake site to look like the real site, it is never a good idea on clicking on links that looks real. For those of you who want to watch the Inauguration online I would suggest Hulu:

You can watch it happen when it happens. So sit back relax and enjoy the show!!

Admins are shaking in there boots due to the Ms 09-001 Patch

Paul

I have to talk about this because this is a big deal.   According to Techworld and I’ll quote:

“This one scares me – a lot,” says Eric Schultze, CTO of Shavlik Technologies. “It is a lot like Blaster and Sasser. It is the same exploit vector. If I am an attacker and I can touch NetBios then I can execute code with no credentials.”

[via Techworld]

[ad]Now This is due to the fact of what is happening with an update that came a few months ago the MS 08 – 067 that still people haven’t patched their systems.  According to F-secure the Downadup/Conflicker has grown overnight by a million computers being infected.

Now why are they scared of the recent patch (MS 09-001), because of so many vectors of infection, you don’t need any credentials.  The virus  does not  need to know any passwords or user names to gain access.  Just like the Downadup variant that is hitting the internet right now, this virus tries to access accounts by guessing weak passwords or even putting itself on flash drives or other mobile media to get other systems infected.

So why are admins scared over this new patch?

Most  companies don’t patch there system as quickly as Microsoft would like them to.   You see most companies have quite a few computers depending on the size of the company it could be quite a lot.  So many in fact that it would have several IT personal just to keep the system going.
[ad]

So why don’t they just put the new patches on the systems?

Depending on the size of the company and what they do has a lot to do with them updating there systems.  Some use really special programs or have a network going that is vital.  Even the smallest update to the system could bring the network or the program down.  Most companies liketo test it out on test machine for a while to make sure that the patch doesn’t  prevent the business from doing business.   Here are a few articles that prove why companies do not want to just install patches automatically:

Some companies are using older systems like Windows ME or some older Windows Operating systesm.   Although there isn’t anything we can do about those because Microsoft has stopped supporting them with updates and all.  I know we are all thinking thesame question?

Is there a way to fix the problem with Windows Updates?

I personally don’t have an answer but I am sure hackers will find ways to exploit codes so they can get on your system so way.  I’ve recently read a story about Adware Author and now I understand even more about why people do all of this.

This is one of the questions every admin has to ask themselves?  How do we update all of the systems we are responsible for?  There are no easy answers to this.