Category: Windows 7

Fake Scareware Sites Popup after the Pifts.EXE Conspiracy

Paul

There Seems to Be a Fake site that are popping up today right after what happened with PIFTS.EXE. I just happen to Google it to see what people are talking about and this appears on the front page.

Not a real site!!

As you can see this leads to a server in Poland and once you go to it you see:

Not a real virus scanner

I will be reporting this to Phishtank. This is scareware which means  there is no real VIRUS because and you
Should never believe the screens when you see something like this. According to Wikipedia:

[ad#ad2-right]Some websites display pop-up advertisement windows or banners with text such as: “Your computer may be infected with harmful spyware programs. Immediate removal may be required. To scan, click ‘Yes’ below.” These websites go as far as saying that a user’s job, career, or marriage would be at risk. Products using advertisements such as these are often considered scareware. serious scareware applications qualify as Rogue software.
[Via Wikipedia]

So if you are worried you have a virus or think you have a virus I would advise you to download one of the free Many anti-virus software and firewall. This is nothing new with the companies who are doing this but don’t buy anything because people are trying to scare you into thinking you have a virus. That rarely is a valid software and you should use the ones that you trust. If you find a site like that please report them to Phishtank and other sites that way we can protect everyone who goes there.

I hate Snopes Spam

Paul

As you know Snopes is used to find out about urban Legend and Rumors:

I received a Virus alert from my RSS feed about Email virus warning.  It even adds a Snope URL.  The Author just copies and pasted the virus warning into the blog without even going to Snopes.
[ad#ad2-right]

According to Snopes and I’ll quote:
Although the Postcard virus is real, it isn’t a “BIG VIRUS COMING” (it’s already been around in multiple forms for a long time now), it will not “burn the whole hard disc” of your computer, CNN didn’t classify it as the “worst virus” ever, and it doesn’t arrive in messages bearing a subject line of ‘Invitation.’

[Via Snopes]

Now as you can tell the link described in the blog post was “http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp”. If you went there, you’d have seen this as a not really true and some parts of this might be but that part about burning your Hard drive or even consider the Worst virus isn’t true.

Some things you need to consider before forwarding anything is:

  • Is it completely True?

  • Is it Legitimate?  (True blown warning about something like a product recall  or something important like that)

  • Does it Say to Forward? (if so it is probably not wise)

  • is it from a Friend (If so you might want to remind the friend nicely that it isn’t nice to send spam)

If you follow some of these suggestions you’ll be making the Internet a far better place for everyone.  Remember if you don’t know, it’s time to learn.  if you do know, it is time to teach.  These are the fundamental aspects of using the internet the right way.  Also if it is a fake virus warning you should tell them to get a Free Anti-virus and Firewall to better protect them.  Also  remind them that if they keep their system updated then they shouldn’t be too worried.  Remember only you can prevent a Computer Virus and it’s up to you keep your system up to date.

Microsoft Releases the Patch Information for March

Paul

Microsoft Has Released the Patch information For march and This is what is expected to be patch on March 11, 2009:

  • Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (Kb949029) — This security update resolves several privately reported and publicly reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.  (affected System : Microsoft Office)

    • [ad#ad2-right]

  • Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution (Kb949031) — This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office Outlook. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if Outlook is passed a specially crafted mailto URI. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. This vulnerability is not exploitable by simply viewing an e-mail through the Outlook preview pane. (affected System : Microsoft Office)

  • Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (Kb949030) — This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a malformed Office file. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. (affected System : Microsoft Office)

  • Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution (Kb933103) — This critical update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components. These vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user viewed a specially crafted Web page. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.  (affected System : Microsoft Office)

These Four are all Critical and should be applied the week of March 11, 2009.  Their are Seven Patches coming out, but these are the main focus.   According to Microsoft they have released MS08-014, MS08-015, MS08-016 and MS08-017 to better help you find out which ones are affected.

Now is the time to get AutoPatcher ready and make sure it is up to date on any patches that might of came out this month that you didn’t know about.  Also consider downloading the new version of Anti-virus and Firewall software while you are it.  In case you come accross a rogue virus and need to disinfect it!!  Some of these patches for this month is due to the EXCEL vulnerability that is out right now and is in the wild, so that should be your top priority once Tuesday come around.  Remember hackers will start exploiting these patches on Wensday and you will be racing against the clock.   One last bit of information for the Mac Users you should also apply these patches they are vulnerable to according to Microsoft.  I’ll update as more information becomes available!!

A Sneak Peak at the A600 3G Broadband Cricket Card

Paul

So I was doing a little research and found this nugget from my Affiliates Network:

Features:

Removable Memory Format:  microSD
Storage Capacity External memory up to 4GB
Text Messaging Yes
Contact Directory Yes
Language English/Spanish

Wireless Capabilities:

Technology CDMA
Mode Tri-Band
Data Transfer Speed 3G (EVDO Rev 0, Rev A) and 1x
USB Broadband Modem (A600) Looks interesting, and I am thinking this will be the next thing the company will start Advertising for. Right now though, it cost 119$ with a 50$ Mail in Rebate and you spend 69$. With a CDMA only USB Card like the UM100, you know the speed of that. Now According to Wikipedia for 3G and I’ll quote:

Thus users sold 3G service may not be able to point to a standard and say that the speeds it specifies are not being met. While stating in commentary that “it is expected that IMT-2000 will provide higher transmission rates: a minimum speed of 2Mbit/s and maximum of 14.4Mbit/s for stationary users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle,”

Now this is a much improved speed and I will be testing this in the future but for right now it is untested. I’ll have another article in the coming months about this. I also like the look of this but haven’t seen it first hand. The other thing I like is the the 4 Gigabytes of MicroSD memory. [intlink id=”3171″ type=”post”]I can see a whole range of useful programs you can install on the USB and make it Portable to a point[/intlink]. I’ll improve on that later on once I play around with what you can have on the card and what you have to have to use the USB modem. The Modem supports Windows 2000 through Windows Vista 64 Bit, also Supports Macintosh.

More to Come!!  (Check out the UM100 Review)

[ad#text-broadband1]

PDF Zero Day Vulnerability in the Wild

Paul

From sources all over the internet, Adobe made a sent out a Security bulletin yesterday:

APSA09-01 (Buffer overflow issue in versions 9.0 and earlier of Adobe Reader and Acrobat)

[ad#ad2-right]A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.

Adobe Plans on patching this March 11, 2009

and According to some other reports are saying:

Symantec Security Response has received several PDF files that actively exploit a vulnerability in Adobe Reader. We are continuing to remain in contact with Adobe on this vulnerability in order to ensure the security of our mutual customers.

[via Symantec]

With PDF files being used all over the business world, this will create undo problems with the IT Field.  This also could be used to make Botnets and make the network involved become sluggish.   It must be warned that there are a whole wide variety of possibilities that could be done with this exploit.  Shadowserver Foundation recommends disabling the Javascript in your Adobe Reader.  Until the patch comes out you will need to be careful on what you open up and possibly check each and every PDF with an Anti-virus.  This should help minimize the likely hood of getting a virus or Trojan, but is not going to be a 100%.  The only way you can prevent a 100% right now is not to use PDFS until they have Fixed this problem.