Windows 7 Beta Second RC to be released in May

According to Arstechnica, the Next version of Windows 7 Beta will be Released In May.

[ad#cricket-right-ez]It looks like someone flipped the switch a little early. The Windows 7 Release Candidate download page on TechNet has made a premature appearance, much like the beta download page did before the beta was released to the public. The public RC will apparently be coming in May 2009, and not in April as previously rumored. The RC testing program will be available at least through June 2009, and the actual build will expire June 1, 2010. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions will be available in English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish.
[Via Arstechnica]

It will be available soon to download. According to Ars this will be good until 2010, I am guessing around February or March but that is just speculation on my part.

Remember:

  • This is a Beta and when it is over you won’t be able to use the OS anymore
  • This isn’t the complete OS, Knowing Microsoft this will be limited in some way to encourage your to buy the full version down the road.  Also they want to have some features for only Commercial Release.
  • There will always be security holes when it comes to Windows 7 so don’t use it exclusively, since this is a beta.  Microsoft will not keep it up to date until it goes Commercial!

I did a podcast on this OS and if you want to hear the two discussion we talk:

  1. Mike Tech Show Listener Round Table Topic:  Symantec issue, Security, Web Hosting, Windows 7 Beta
  2. Mike Tech Show Listener Round Table Topic:  Windows 7 Beta

Both of the podcast we had a really good discussion on features and what we thought of the OS.  In the future when The next RC comes out we will want to get back together to talk about what they did different.  Please join use and let us know what questions you have.  This will better help us connect with the listeners.

What will happen on April 1? Conficker discussion!

I saw that F-secure has posted what a Question and Answer on the Conficker Worm.  I wanted to talk about this a little myself:

Q: I heard something really bad is going to happen on the Internet on April 1st! Will it?
A: No, not really.

Q: Seriously, the Conficker worm is going to do something bad on April 1st, right?
A: The Conficker aka Downadup worm is going to change it’s operation a bit, but that’s unlikely to cause anything visible on April 1st.

[Via F-secure Website]

[ad#cricket-right-ez]I am like everyone else, I really don’t know what will happen it is always going t to be media exposure when it comes to Worms, Viruses, or Trojans.  Virus Writers whoever “THEY” are, will always want to update there infected systems to keep the virus(Also worms, and Trojans) on peoples systems.   This is the way of security firms will always have to predict them, keep up with them, or just follow them.  This will never  change because as virus writers want to find even more ways to infect systems that is the necessity of Anti-virus Software.

I don’t know what will happen on April 1, you most likely will be fine if not you won’t know it until you try to update your system or update your anti-virus software.  One way you can find out if your infected is by trying to serf to security vendors like F-secure, Norton, and Kasperky.  If you Can’t get to those sites then you most likely have a Virus or Worm, and it could be this worm!!

  1. Make the worm harder to detect — This is a common practice they want to be able to hide the worm for as long a possible.  So they will always tweak it to make it that much hard to detect and remove.
  2. Make the Worm easier to infect systems —  This is another common practice, because without having systems there is no need for a Command and Control server.  The worm could do things such as Denial of Service, Or send out spam, or steal sensitive information.  This is the nature of why people make viruses, Trojans, or Worms.
  3. Easily update the virus software — as with any software the virus writers will come up with easier ways of updating the software, because the security will do whatever they can to prevent the update.  This is also the nature of why there will always be updating of the code.  They will put in more ways to keep the virus, worm or Trojan from being blocked.   Like the Conflicker has some Peer to Peer functionality, so if one company blocks the update another way it could get the update is Peer to Peer.  So you can’t block it very easily.

So what will happen April 1?  Who knows it could be a normal day, or it could be the biggest [intlink id=”3208″ type=”post”]April Fools joke[/intlink] ever.  That is why I put that in my last blog post.  With so much Media Frenzy the security firms don’t know what the Worm will do when it updates, all they can do is wait.   So let’s take a deep breath and relax, there’s nothing we can do just yet!!

The April fools Joke, You’ve got a computer worm!

Cluely’s blog talks about this and I thought I would talk about it a little myself!!

[ad#cricket-right-ez]This is the newest version of the Conflicker/Downadup variant of the little worm.  There seems to be people who are worried that April 1, there will be a major wake up in security no holds bar problems.

Some people have got rather confused as to what the April 1st deadline really means. The truth is that Conficker is not set to activate a specific payload on April 1st. Rather, on April 1st Conficker will begin to attempt to contact the 50,000-a-day potential call-home web servers from which it may receive updates.

[Via Graham’s Cluely Blog]

Now let’s talk about this a little, this worm won’t do anything else but ask for updates on April 1, and we don’t know when the virus writers will implement the update it could be a month down the line.  You could[intlink id=”3171″ type=”post” target=”_blank”] Backup[/intlink] your software and use the free program [intlink id=”2883″ type=”post” target=”_blank”]Autopatcher[/intlink] to help make sure your system is completely up to date with windows security.  You can’t forward the to that date to find out what will it call home to.    We don’t know what it will do when they update to the conficker.c program all we know it starts to try to call to certain domains on April 1, 2009.  So you should install [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Anti-virus and Firewalls[/intlink] where you think it is needed.

I am sure though this will be an really big April Fools Joke from the Virus Programmers, they will be laughing at the hysteria of people trying to find out all the important information on April 1, and yet it might not start to happen until much later!!  You are the first line of defense from getting a virus or any malware.  So let’s keep our heads on straight and not go over board!  Only time will tell, and I am sure what happens on Apr 1, 2009 will be a new day.


The Seriousness of the Twitter Vulnerability?

twitter_110 The main question is how much do you want to know about this?  Yes I am talking about a Vulnerability that could risk your twitter account or even yet inject malious software into the computer.

[ad#cricket-right-ez]We’ve seen that there have been [intlink id=”2650″ type=”post”]twitter phishing[/intlink] in the past, and [intlink id=”3008″ type=”post”]Facebook phishing[/intlink] have made people wonder out much do we depend on Twitter.

Lance James and Eric Wastl have provide Proof of Concept for this vulnerability, according to Information Weekly:

James cautions that XSS vulnerabilities should be taken seriously because they can reach beyond Web pages. “A lot of people think XSS is limited to the Web,” he said. If there’s another vulnerability in the victim’s browser, the Twitter flaw could be used to launch additional malicious code, he explained.

As you can see there is more to this problem then meets the eye.  For one using the [intlink id=”2980″ type=”post”]URL redirects[/intlink] could be one way this could be used.  No telling what other vulnerabilities lay for the client side twitter programs.   Twitter has a long way to go to be security minded, and yet Twitter hasn’t said what they will do to fix this problem.

I for one would like to see this problem fixed just as quickly as possible due to the security risk involved to me, the consumer.  Twitter needs to jump on this and fix it to prevent any more attacks against there twitter audience. Although it doesn’t hurt to have [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Anti-virus And a good firewall[/intlink], it all depends on End user to prevent this for the time being.

Come on Twitter, Fix this problem.

New spam Campaign — Casino Anyone?

Looks like there is a new Campaign going on with regards to having VIP access.

geocitiesspam

So I go to the site:

geocitiesspam1

[ad#cricket-right-ez]

I decide to have a little fun and download the file.  The Filename is “Smartdownload.exe“.  Now you shouldn’t install any software or programs from sites you don’t know about or have any idea of what changes are going to be made.  I use CWSandbox to better understand this file.  Here are a few thinks I’ve found:

  • This program connects to three different IP’s [Your broadband Modem,200.122.168.237, and 212.201.100.136]
  • It also Changes your Autoexec.bat file.  (Not good)
  • Changes access flags on several different program (not good either)
  • It also tries to be Anonymous.  If you checks the logs out your self you will find it very interesting.
  • It looks like it connects to the servers every time you boot up!! (Not good either)

I don’t know what it is trying to do but everything I see about this file makes me think this is trying to avoid virus detection.  I ran Kasperky and Avast file check, it came up clean.   I think what happens is you download the virus after you install this software.  I wouldn’t download this or install it, even though it advertise you 800% free that has to be scam or just a flat lie to get you to install software.  Everything about this program doesn’t make me want to to install this software, although it doesn’t seem to be a virus.  It however does make me want to delete the file.  Remember to use[intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”] Anti-virus and Firewalls[/intlink], that is your first line of defense.