Trojan horses gallop into networks | Tech News on ZDNet

Trojan horses gallop into networks | Tech News on ZDNet: "An outbreak of Trojan horse programs is hitting networks around the world, an e-mail security company has warned. "
Make sure your Anti-Virus is up to date and if you're running NAV you might want to think about replacing it with one that works!
Joe@GeekMeet 2005

Patch Tuesday: 3 Critical Bugs to Fix

Next Tuesday, July 12th, Microsoft will release patches to three critical errors, including Windows and Office.

What time is it anyway?

I don't mean to totally confuse, but the time zone that we have used on our blog has been Pacific time. That was set when this blog was very inactive and was merely an experiment to see if it worked. Ever since our blog has been more active with people posting and reading from across the US and around the world, I have been concerened about it. So in honor of Geek Meet, I thought it was time to make us all equally disadvantaged on the time. As of this morning the blog is officially on UTC (essentially the same thing a Greenwich Mean Time or GMT). This gives us all an equal advantage or disadvantage and is of course the universally accepted time standard. Sorry for any confusion. This will eliminate some confusion and will undoubtedly create other confusions. But however confusing it is, this is fair to everyone in whatever time zone you happen to be. It was not fair the way it was.

Are We Headed for an Internet Winter?

As I noted this week, a new trojan that mimics a Microsoft security bulletin was squelched. This nefarious e-mail disguises itself as a Microsoft security bulletin and contains a link to malicious software that gives attackers complete access to the infected machine, security researchers are reporting. A couple of weeks ago, I mused that the Internet as we know it is doomed.

Here is some ammunition for our live discussion on the OnComputers radio show, July 10th, 2005. The question before the house is: will the growing threats on the Internet dramatically change corporate and consumer behavior, leading to a major decrease in Internet activity -- an Internet winter.

• 59 million Americans have dealt with spyware. They are changing how they approach the Internet based on bad experiences with viruses, spyware, and identity theft.
• IBM says the number of phishing attacks is at an all-time high, up 225% in May.
• INternet hacking is no longer the province of teenagers; professional criminals are behind much of today's Internet crime. These criminals are acting in concert.
• With 246,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission on identity theft, independent estimates put the number of victims of identity theft in the past five years at a staggering 1 in 5 Americans. NBC News reports that the identities of 50 million Amercians have been stolen or compromised in the past six months. The Internet is one of the key vehicles for identity theft.
• On the technology front, viruses and trojans are merging and becoming polymorphic. This smart malware is flying under the radar of anti-virus products, the first line of defense for many consumers and enterprises.
• There is a 50 percent chance your unprotected Windows PC will be compromised within 12 minutes of going online, says security vendor Sophos. That means your machine may be hijacked before you can install anti-virus, firewall, and adware software on a clean install of any version of Windows prior to SP2. Do not plug in your network cable until all of your safety/security software is installed. Unfortunately, older versions of Windows do not install network drivers and protocols unless a network connection is available. Catch 22.
• Life is not much safer inside the business world's firewall, as evidence of the recent Veritas Backup flaw reveals. Aberdeen Group reported this week that only a small fraction of enterprises have best-in-class policies and practices in place to deal with security on networks and infrastructure, information access, and governance.
• Businesses face a number of threats to hard-one consumer business on the Internet, as the pharmacist CVS found recently in a compromised consumer-facing application.
• The biggest threat to enterprises comes from the inside, security experts tell me. It can be a trivial exercise to get the keys to corporate jewels.
• It's getting hard to know what and who to trust on the Internet. The latest attack used a Microsoft security bulletin lookalike to spoof users. If users stop paying attention to Microsoft security bulletins, their machines will become a lot more vulnerable over time.
• The complexity of the multiple technologies (e.g., TCP/IP, routing, switching, Microsoft Windows internals, HTTP(S), Javascript, and all of the options these have) is absolutely beyond the capacity or ken of all but a handful of geek consumers. It requires multiple specialists in the enterprise world too. In short, computer users are unfit (but not necessarily incapable) of protecting themeselves.
• User education alone is not the answer, says Jakob Neilsen.
• Strike-back systems are not the answer, says Larry Seltzer.

Predictions of the demise of the Internet go back a decade -- before the general public really knew about the Internet! Are we headed for Internet winter, or will Darwinian selection win out with (massive) adaptations to thwart the black hats? We'll discuss this on Sunday.

-- Peter S. Kastner

Internet Users Adjust to Unfriendly Internet

Spyware: The threat of unwanted software programs is changing the way people use the internet, reports the Pew Research Center

Spyware and the threat of unwanted programs being secretly loaded onto computers are becoming serious threats online. Nine out of ten internet users say they have adjusted their online behavior out of fear of falling victim to software intrusions. Unfortunately, many internet users’ fears are grounded in experience - 43% of internet users, or about 59 million American adults, say they have had spyware or adware on their home computer. Although most do not know the source of their woes, 68% of home internet users, or about 93 million American adults, have experienced at least one computer problem in the past year that are consistent with problems caused by spyware or viruses.

FAQ: Wi-Fi mooching and the law

Wardrivers watch out! This is a very tangled and murky web (as opposed to Web). It's kind of fun to try to figure it out. Maybe someday we will have a clearer picture. Until then, this is a pretty good FAQ to get you started.

Geek Meet 05! What we're talking about....

Dallas,TX: GeekMeet 2005.... Some of us have already arrived, we had delicious indian tacos last night. Thank you SOOO much Jayna and Jack!! Then dessert was (drat I can't remember the proper Indian name, much LESS how to spell it ;) ) fry bread, powdered sugar and blueberries, yuuuummmmmm [are you jealous yet??]!! Today some of us are going to Hurricane Harbor in Arlington, my boys are very excited!! but on to the geek talk. Poor Gail was stuck in the plane on the RUNWAY for over 2 hours, cause American Airlines didn't have gates available to disembark :/ She called us, to let us know that she had been told to put on her seat belt and raise her tray table to its original upright position... We were concerned they were gonna fly her somewhere ELSE! But, she ended up at the gate, and was whisked to the above mentioned yummy meal, and good conversation, some of which I found links for. Wish you were here....
MissM/Jane


Surfers get smart on spyware - vnunet.com

Rumored Microsoft Adware Deal Raises Red Flags

Google to release Firefox toolbar | CNET News.com

and as I was scanning tech news, looking for links, I ran across this too Techworld.com - Three critical Microsoft patches this month

Microsoft Downgrades Claria Adware Detections

Gator not a threat???? At least according to MS.....


courtesy of locolobo

Blake Ross on Firefox and Beyond � The new Firefox tag line

Courtesy of GeekNewsCentral this is hysterical: "If you put my grandfather in a room with God and gave him one question, he would not ask for the meaning of life. He would not inquire as to the existence of poverty or the vagaries of human nature. No, he would ask, and I quoth: Do you use Firefox?" go read the rest ;)

MissM

Microsoft Employee Volunteers For Computer Hardwiring

Technological advances will one day allow computers to be implanted in the human body -- and could help the blind see and the deaf hear -- Bill Gates said Friday. But the Microsoft chairman says he's not ready to be hardwired.
"One of the guys that works at Microsoft ... always says to me 'I'm ready, plug me in,"' Gates said at a Microsoft seminar in Singapore. "I don't feel quite the same way. I'm happy to have the computer over there and I'm over here."

He must be worried that the computer is running Windows...

Opinion Column by PC Magazine: RFID: Tagged, You're It!

Opinion Column by PC Magazine: RFID: Tagged, You're It!
By John C. Dvorak
Show me your RFID!
Joe

Pigs Will Fly When Sun Offers Windows OS

Tom Goguen, vice president of operating platform marketing for Sun, said last week that while Sun currently has no definite plan to strike a deal with Microsoft to sell Windows, the vendor will consider it if customers and partners think it's a good idea.
Don't we watch a wonderful industry? That Sun, once Microsoft's most vocal critic, no enemy, would sell Micsorodt Windows Server should customers want it is a true sign of how hard it is to make a buck in the high tech industry. Combined with Michael Dell's throwaway comment a couple of weeks ago that Dell would sell Apple's OS X -- if customers wanted it.

Makes me think I woke up in the twilight zone this morning. Must have been the dream about pigs flying. Hey, more unusual things have happened. I worked for a company, Arthur D. Little Inc., that once made a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Anyway, Dell and Sunn will sell the competitor's products because customer satisfaction -- the real thing, not the platitudes -- is what can make or break direct-selling tech companies today.

KVM-Mac update

Well, for the record it WAS the Pentium 3 causing my KVM to beep. I confirmed it. Shut everything down as before and waited. Sure enough after 4 hours the KVM went nuts again. I pulled power cord on the Pentium 3 and after 30 seconds the beeping stopped. Again, go figure. The Mac Mini? All is well. Haven't had much time for it but, It's working fine.
Gail, the new look is fine by me :-).

OnComputers Podcast

This is the On Computers podcast for 07-03-2005. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Swiping Back At Credit-Card Fraud

This article seems especially appropriate today since we were talking about companies eschewing the Internet due to security concerns on the show. This article sure paints a rosier picture than we did.

Microsoft about to buy into a BIG mistake

They're gonna buy Claria (the makers of Gator)?????

And I agree with the headline. But as one commenter posted, what better way to report to MS what software you have on your computer, as an anti-piracy measure, of course.
*Tongue firmly in cheek*

Perhaps another blogger has a better perspective on any positive business angle for Microsoft.
Any thoughts????

UPDATE:As I read through the article, there was a link to a previous show guest Ben Edelmen,
and his concerns with it, even more info at that link.
P.S. Well I tried to find the link to the show, and couldn't quickly, but I'm sure you heard it :)

U.S. to Retain Oversight of Web Traffic

From the article:

"A unilateral decision by the United States to indefinitely retain oversight of the Internet's main traffic-directing computers prompted concerns Friday that the global telecommunications network could eventually splinter."

Fasten your seatbelts and hang on tight!