botnets – Paul's Tech Talk

Blog Success Spam — What not to Do!!

PaulJune 1, 2009

Lately I’ve been getting spam emails with the titles:

Earning thousands blogging? You could be.

Bloggers Paid for Posts

Bloggers Wanted

Learn to blog for paychecks using this freebie video.

Each link sends me to blogsuccess.com, and looks like this:

“Blog Success founders Jack Humphrey and Peter Lenkefi created this to help bloggers make money.” This is what I read in searches. I’ve got to wonder if this is so successful they why do an email spam? [intlink id=”2833″ type=”post”]Most emails lately have been about scams and virus exploits[/intlink]. I am going to stick to the only way you should advertise by getting people to click links to come to my site.

According to Symantec:

Symantec reported that nearly 58 percent of spam is now coming from so-called botnets –networks of hacked computers that can be misused by criminals to steal financial information, launch attacks or send spam.

90 Percent of E-mail Is Spam, Symantec Says

Now if we do the math at least half of these emails sent to me are from hacked computers and are coming from so-call botnets. If they are so caviler about using hacked systems to spam people do you really think they are making enough money with this website of theirs? The old tried and true method for any blogger is TIME, Research and building your community. Other than that there is no really easy way to make money quickly. I just hope they release this and start doing it the right way. This just makes there company become a dark site, in which all you do is bring people in who want to earn money in the bad way.

Zero Day For IE7 Being used in the wild.

PaulFebruary 17, 2009

It looks like IE7 patches are being used right now in the wild. According to TrendMicro:

HTML_DLOADER.AS exploits the CVE-2009-0075 vulnerability, which is already addressed by the MS09-002 security patch released last week. On an unpatched system though, successful exploitation by HTML_DLOADER.AS downloads a backdoor detected as BKDR_AGENT.XZMS.

[Image from TrendMicro Blog]

[ad#ad2-right]As you can see this this can be very bad for the companies who wait a while. Internet Explorer is still being used 1 out of 4 users and I see it it all the time on my stats. The Good news is this isn’t as hard to get rid as the Conflicker but should be taken serious because the writers might start to want to get even more malicious and make it even harder.

This is the next step to prevent yourself from getting caught with your pants down so to speak, you need to patch all systems that have internet access. I still like the Autopatcher because it will do the job with very little input from the user. It also makes it easier for people to patch big systems. You should also consider installing some Free Anti-virus software to help protect the systems you do have.

From the looks of this virus, someone could easily make this into a botnet and you know how that can could affect your systems and your ISP. So it is best to get this months patches on the floor of your company as soon as possible.

You should also consider telling your users to start using Firefox to prevent infection from even happening. Until you patch, you are vulnerable.

Apple’s Immunity, Botnet sanctuary.

PaulDecember 3, 2008

But is Apple projecting a false sense of security just to save face? Many experts repeatedly warn that all operating systems are susceptible to viruses, and as the Mac becomes more popular OS X will inevitably become a bigger target for malicious attacks.

[via Pcworld]

Having said that I feel the notion that Apple is trying to keep there reputation as a virus free system. I can only hope that they stay that way. Which as much as I know, Apple will most like start to be the main source for botnets, because of the lack of security.

[ad#ad2-right]According to reports on this blog, people are worried Apple stance on it being the safest and having so much immunity to viruses. Apple in the past has stated they have mislead people with there firewall. Yet Apple takes down that suggestion of having an Anti-virus(Quietly).

[ad#digg-left]Everything I’ve seen suggest that virus writers and Malware writers will MOST likely start targeting the Mac OS X, they know Apple sense of security is Vulnerable to attack and they will exploit it more and more. So what does that mean for Apple, it just means that soon every hacker who has a botnet will want a piece of the Apple Pie and is right now.

[ad#ad2-left]As PC Trojans go, the programming features of RSPlug.E look fairly basic. PC malware is more highly evolved and usually cleverer. But a programmer – probably a Russian – with knowledge of OSX had taken time to create a Trojan that hits Macs instead of PCs, James pointed out.

[via Techworld]

Which looks like it has already begun. So what can Mac users do, get an Anti-virus and maybe Apple will have to start backing down from the Virus commercials and actually admit it. Sooner or later someone will have to challenge Apple to get them to start admitting to it.