Sunday, November 12, 2006

MS Security Bulletin Advance Notification for November

Microsoft have released an advance notification for the updates that are due to be released next Tuesday.

Don't forget to prepare for the updates as I've outlined in an earlier entry - How To Prepare for Patch Tuesday.

On 14 November 2006 Microsoft is planning to release:

Security Updates

  • One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft XML Core Services. The highest Maximum Severity rating for this is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. These updates will require a restart.
  • Five Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool. Some of these updates will require a restart.
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
  • Microsoft will release an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Download Center.
    Note that this tool will NOT be distributed using Software Update Services (SUS).
Non-security High Priority updates on MU, WU, WSUS and SUS
  • Microsoft will release No NON-SECURITY High-Priority Updates for Windows on Windows Update (WU) and Software Update Services (SUS).
  • Microsoft will release two NON-SECURITY High-Priority Updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification

Microsoft will also be hosting a webcast on Wednesday November 15th 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada), for attendees to ask questions about the bulletins and get answers from the security experts.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Security vendor hit by spite attack: Gromozon vs. Marco Giuliani

There's a spyware called the Gromozon rootkit. The people who make this spyware are trying to trick people into thinking that Prevx made the spyware. Prevx actually makes the only tool that can remove the rootkit.

read more | digg story

Monday, November 06, 2006

Interview with Merijn Bellekom

TeMerc of TIC's and Cexx.org has just brought to my attention, this article at Suite 101

In it, Merijn Bellekom, the maker of Hijackthis, tells us how his program came into being and what is coming up with regards to Vista. In fact, Merijn could do with your help

As it turns out, Merijn needs our help. He needs people who are beta testing Vista RC1 to let him know what kind of errors you are receiving when running HJT. To that end, he asks that you email the errors you get along with the system configuration you are running to hjt.vista.beta@gmail.com

Check out the full interview at Suite101

Saturday, November 04, 2006

YOU'RE BEING TRACKED in Firefox 2.0 - how to disable 3rd party cookies

Issue was raised in latest Security Now. Firefox always blocked 3rd party cookies, now in 2.0 it removed the option. To fix: about:config in your address bar, change network.cookie.cookieBehavior from 0 to 1. I did this immediately. Also in the mozilla forum thread, link to extension that blocks 3rd party cookies.

read more | digg story

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Time Magazine: Why Two Browsers are Better than One

By now you may have heard that the makers of the two leading web browsers launched their latest totally free editions, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla's Firefox 2, within a week of each other. Feature-wise, most news reports have already declared a winner: the long-awaited IE7 may be a vast improvement over its predecessors, but the new Firefox leaves it in the dust. While that's mainly true, here's what you need to know about each one, and why you should have them both on your Windows PC. (Firefox 2 is available for Mac users, although Internet Explorer is not.)

read more | digg story

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Microsoft Ships Windows Defender At Last

Microsoft released the final version of its freeware Windows Defender anti-malware product yesterday. The software was designated beta since Microsoft relaunched it as Windows AntiSpyware nearly two years ago after acquiring it from GIANT Company Software.


Langa Blog: Microsoft Ships Windows Defender At Last

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Free Antivirus Programs Compared

A review on the 3 main free antivirus programs out there. I've tried them all myself and agree that AntiVir is the best of the three. All are better than having no antivirus, and some are better than paid antivirus programs.

AntiVir is easy on system resources, easy to use, and detects a large number of spyware programs as well. It's very good at detecting and removing the zlob trojans, aka SpywareQuake, SpyFalcon, Pest Trap, and all those other programs that have that balloon that that says you are infected.

AVG and Avast are good, too. Avast does annoy me because it talks to you. Yes, it will say things like virus definitions update or virus detected. A warning window and maybe a quick sound would be fine. You can turn it off, but it still silly.

read more | digg story

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Internet Explorer 7 Is Now Available

Internet Explorer 7 is finally out of testing and ready for anyone to use. It's been years since IE 6 came out. I think this is the longest time between new IE versions since it came out. Internet Explorer 7 finally brings tabbed browsing to the world of IE. Every other browser has had this for years, and it's one of the reasons I used Firefox. For those who haven't used tabbed browsing, it may not seem like a big deal, but once you start using tabs, you don't know how you manged before tabs. There's many other new features to IE that have been in other browsers also. RSS, built in search tool, and many other features Internet Explorer has been sorely lacking. It also has many security improvements. Time will tell on whether they help.

Check out IE 7 and download it here.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Careful where you download IE7 from

The Register is reporting that hackers are luring unsuspecting users to a fake download site for IE7 by an email that purports to be from support@microsoft.com. Trouble is, when they get there they aren't getting IE7 but a site loaded with trojan downloader codes. Full story here.

Whilst I'm on the subject of IE7, Yahoo have released their own version of IE7 today, even ahead of Microsoft. Great if you like the Yahoo toolbar etc. Personally I think I will wait for the clean version from Microsoft. You can check this site out for more information from Microsoft.

Internet Explorer 7 will be delivered through Automatic Updates - customers should complete preparations by November 1

Monday, October 16, 2006

Free Smileys From Ask.com Not so Free After all

Spyware researcher Ben Edleman takes a look at how Ask.com uses bait and switch tactics to get their toolbar installed. He even compares Ask's tactics to encyclopedia salesman trying to get their foot in your door.

While some may like having the cute smileys, the real reason is to get an Ask toolbar installed on your computer. Ben says that the toolbar moves the address bar (where you type in a web address) and puts their toolbar in the same place. That way,you may use the toolbar thinking you are just typing the url of where you want to go. After using the toolbar by mistake, you end up on an Ask search page full of advertisements.

Ask used to be called Ask Jeeves, but they retired that name and the butler mascot and go by Ask now.

read more | digg story

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Top Five Phish Brands for September

Paul Laudanski of Castle Cops has been very busy just recently, jetting all over the place giving presentations on Phishing Incident and Termination (PIRT). Because of this he hasn't yet had time to publish his top 20 list for September

However I do have a top 5 list so I hope that will do you for now. If you want to have a look at Paul's presentation then you can download it here. As always, the PIRT Squad are working very hard on our behalf, so don't forget to report your phishing emails.

  1. PayPal => 168

  2. eBay => 112

  3. Wachovia => 32

  4. Nationwide => 16

  5. BOA => 13
Anti phishing volunteers are always welcome, if you want to join the fight then Click Here to become part of PIRT


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Sunbelt Counterspy Update 427

CounterSpy 1.5 latest update definition is 427

CounterSpy is able to catch more spyware than almost every other utility on the market because the CounterSpy threat database (with the signatures of every spyware and malware utility we can identify) is constantly updated. Our researchers constantly look for ways to improve our spyware searching database so that it catches all spyware that could potentially be on your system. Keyloggers, spyware cookies, remote access trojans (backdoors), and more are all identified.

http://research.sunbelt-software.com/download.cfm

CounterSpy offers a 15 day fully functional trial. So that means you can not only test how it detects spyware, but how well it removes spyware, malware, and other threats.