<< Small Business Server news - week of December 20, 2004>>

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

From: Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz SBS Rocks [MVP] (sbradcpa_at_pacbell.net)
Date: 12/20/04 

Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:40:50 -0800

In case we forget to say to everyone.. Have a very Happy Holidays!

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Kevin's song of the week - a real classis
news://msnews.microsoft.com/ObKoiMe5EHA.2180@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl
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Okay I'm typing this up on the standalone laptop and Trend just updated
for the second time today so there must be some nasty thing around....
let's be careful out here

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Blogs of interest this week:

Microsoft Monitor: Another IE-Only Affair:
http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/005518.html
SMBs in SBSland are already aware of MACs in our space...this is why we
recommend .lan domain names rather than .local these days.

Small Business Trends: Anti-Trending and Other Trends for 2005:
http://www.smallbusinesses.blogspot.com/2004/12/anti-trending-and-other-trends-for.html

Blog as a business plan --
Small Business Trends: PowerBlog Review: BusinessWorks:
http://www.smallbusinesses.blogspot.com/2004/12/powerblog-review-businessworks.html

He posts, he SharePoints, he Blogs... I think he doesn't sleep!:
http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/12/18/26328.aspx

Presidents Update: Leadership:
http://thenorwichgroup.blogs.com/fieldnotes/2004/12/leadership.html

Microsoft Security Bulletins for 12/14/04:
http://msmvps.com/secure/archive/2004/12/14/25278.aspx

F-Secure's Annual Virus Report for 2004:
http://msmvps.com/harrywaldron/archive/2004/12/18/26230.aspx

New XP SP2 Firewall Patch in Windows Update:
http://msmvps.com/harrywaldron/archive/2004/12/18/26229.aspx

Microsoft at Home - AN EXCELLENT SECURITY SITE:
http://msmvps.com/harrywaldron/archive/2004/12/16/26076.aspx

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Long prison term for Lowe's wi-fi hacker
A 21-year-old Michigan man was sentenced to nine
years in federal prison Wednesday in federal court
in Charlotte, North Carolina for his role in a
failed scheme to steal credit card numbers from
the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores by
taking advantage of an unsecured wi-fi network
at a store in suburban Detroit.
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10138
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39181363,00.htm
http://www.crime-research.org/news/16.12.2004/851/
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/hacking/2004-12-15-lowes-hack_x.htm
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Zafi worm dominates email systems
The mass-mailing Christmas e-card virus Zafi.d
is clogging huge amounts of bandwidth and now
accounts for one in 15 of all emails, antivirus
companies said on Thursday.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020345,39181368,00.htm
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160109

Zafi worm proves a holiday pest
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5494047.html
Christmas card virus 'ataks'
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5493768.html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39181365,00.htm
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P2P Battle Reaches FTC
The Federal Trade Commission officially entered
the brawl over peer-to-peer software Wednesday
as it hosted the first day of a two-day P2P
workshop in which both sides accused each
other of trying to deceive government regulators.
Representatives of P2P software companies charged
that content interests have tried to demonize
P2P in an attempt to effectively kill it.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,66051,00.html
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Students uncover dozens of Unix software flaws
Students of iconoclastic computer scientist
Daniel Bernstein have found some 44 security
flaws in various Unix applications, according
to a list of advisories posted online. The flaws,
which range from minor slipups in rarely used
applications to more serious vulnerabilities
in software that ships with most versions
of the Linux operating system, were found
as part of Bernstein's graduate-level course
at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5492969.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/16/unix_flaw_homework/
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Microsoft anti-spyware tools will be free -- for now
Microsoft Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer
frustrated users of its Windows software new tools
within 30 days to remove spyware programs secretly
running on computers. But it might cost extra in
coming months.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/10433671.htm
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10146
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5493756.html?tag=default

Microsoft buys Giant to attack spyware
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160115
Microsoft posts critical configuration patch
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5494557.html
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Report: DHS cyber security lagging
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
is having some homeland cyber security issues
on its systems providing remote access to
telecommuters, according to a newly-released
report by the DHS Inspector General's office.
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/10148
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Feds dread ID deadline
Federal agency officials say they will be hard
pressed to meet deadlines for issuing interoperable
identification cards to comply with Homeland Security
Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12. Speaking today in
Bethesda, Md., at a breakfast meeting sponsored by
AFCEA International, officials at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology said they
face substantial requests for revisions to the
draft standard they issued Nov. 8 as a first
step in complying with the presidential order.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1213/web-hspd-12-16-04.asp
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Re:Viewing 2004: The security industry
Consolidation, outsourcing and the Microsoft
factor... Yesterday we revealed what the year saw
in terms of the changing face of security threats
but the industry itself has undergone more than
a little change, as Will Sturgeon explains.
http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39126605,00.htm
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A happy - and secure - Christmas
Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert
to give their views on recent virus and security
issues, with advice, warnings and information
on the latest threats. This week Dave Martin,
principal security consultant at LogicaCMG,
highlights the perils of a little too much
Christmas cheer.
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160105

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Antispam law ruled unconstitutional
A Maryland judge has tossed out a lawsuit against
an alleged spammer, saying a state law restricting
unsolicited e-mail is unconstitutional because
it unfairly restricts interstate commerce. Durke
Thompson, a trial judge in Montgomery County,
ruled that the Maryland law unduly discriminates
against out-of-state commerce, a restriction
that's generally prohibited by the U.S.
Constitution.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5491683.html
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Polyglot virus is Xmas party pooper
An email worm which poses as a Christmas
greeting began spreading widely yesterday.
Zafi-D comes as an infectious attachment
to emails written in a variety of different
languages,including English, Spanish, Russian,
Swedish and Hungarian. Anti-virus firms believe
the worm was created in Hungary.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/zafi-d_worm/

Merry Virus to You
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Merry-Virus-to-You&story_id=2014.58546980
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/12/15/holiday.worm/index.html
http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39126556,00.htm
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Net stores get ready for Santa cons
A couple of days before Thanksgiving, mom-and-pop
e-tailer Tina Koenig's phone kept ringing with calls
from people verifying they'd won a laptop. The only
problem: Koenig had no idea what they were talking
about. Cybercriminals had used her online gift store
in a "phishing" scam, which set up a fake version
of the site to try to extract visitors' credit card
information. An e-mail enticed victims to the fake
site by telling them they had a prize. The lure
was a free Hewlett-Packard laptop computer.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5491389.html
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'Phishing' attacks rocket in November
Fraudsters ramped up "phishing" attacks by 29
percent in November, according to a new report.
The number of phishing sites, or fake Web sites
set up to fool victims into handing over personal
information, reached 1,518 last month, the Anti-
Phishing Working Group said in a report released
on Wednesday. The total was up almost a third
over October and three times the level in
September.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5491794.html
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Business PCs riddled with porn
Workplace porn in the UK is rife. More than
70 per cent of firms have disciplined staff
in the last two years as a result of workers
viewing pornographic images on company PCs,
a survey published this week reveals.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/workplace_smut_survey/
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Five important fixes in MS December patch batch
Microsoft's regular monthly patch delivery
slipped into port yesterday carrying five new
patches, each described by Redmond as "important".
First up there's a flaw (MS04-041) in WordPad
that potentially allows malicious code to be
executed. All flavours of Windows (XP, 2000,
2003 and NT) need patching.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/ms_december_patch_batch/
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Home Office calls for cybercrime shakeup
The government has warned that police and law
makers need to step up their efforts to fight
crime on the internet. A Home Office report
called The Future of Netcrime Now, which it
began work on two years ago and published
last week, said that police need to try and
get ahead of the growing problem of cybercrime
if they are to successfully tackle it.
http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39126539,00.htm
http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/internet01.htm

Police must be trained to fight net crime
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160092
Cyber-crime: how to fight back
http://www.crime-research.org/news/15.12.2004/848/
Businesses failing to recognise cybercrime dangers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/businesses_fail_to_recognise_cybercrime/
IT industry's 12-point cyber-security plan
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1160087
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New agreement will strengthen network security
In an initiative to secure computers and networks
worldwide, Air Force officials entered into an
agreement with Microsoft to purchase software
and support for more than a half-million computers.
Under the agreement, in partnership with Dell
Computer Corp., all existing Air Force software
and support contracts will be combined into one.
The resulting contract will affect about 525,000
computers, officials said.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123009418
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Cryptography Research wants piracy speed bump on HD DVDs
Analysis Just about a year from today, if not
sooner, if we believe the outpourings of both
the DVD Forum and the Blu-Ray Disc Association,
we will be able to go out to the shops and buy
blue laser, high definition, high density DVDs
in two completely different designs. We will
also be able to buy the players and recorders
by then, as well as studio content from virtually
every major studio in the world, on one or the
other system.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/15/cryptography_research/

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Wireless worries: Unauthorized hot spots and rogue warriors
Many businesses and educational institutions
have their own wireless networks-- but are often
faced with policing rogue wireless hot spots
brought in by employees or students. The rogue
hot spots can be a security risk and possible
can conflict with their own networks. In this
ZDNet audiocast, we'll look at the issue of
rogue wireless security, what can be done
to detect and block unwanted hot spots, and
address specific wireless security solutions
for protecting wi-fi access points.
http://itpapers.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=112518&promo=200010
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Relevant Pages

  • [NT] Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (MS04-025)
    ... Get your security news from a reliable source. ... * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Service Pack 6a ... Navigation Method Cross-Domain Vulnerability ...
    (Securiteam)
  • SecurityFocus Microsoft Newsletter #75
    ... Microsoft's Internet Security & Acceleration Server with fault-tolerance ... The Microsoft UPnP Vulnerability ... Relevant URL: ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • SecurityFocus Microsoft Newsletter #120
    ... Strengthening Network Security: FREE Guide Network security is a ... MICROSOFT VULNERABILITY SUMMARY ... Microsoft Windows File Protection Signed File Replacement... ... PlatinumFTPServer Information Disclosure Vulnerability ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • Re: A 6% fix from Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-040 - 828750
    ... Now if the geeks over at Microsoft could get "infected" with some of this ... The Internet is already mind blowing in the way it can bring people ... that creates an unacceptable risk of security compromise and we need to shut ... down all Internet browsing with IE. ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: A 6% fix from Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-040 - 828750
    ... Now if the geeks over at Microsoft could get "infected" with some of this ... The Internet is already mind blowing in the way it can bring people ... that creates an unacceptable risk of security compromise and we need to shut ... down all Internet browsing with IE. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)