Researchers Say AIM Vulnerable to Worm Attack
630983
A critical flaw in the way that the AIM client displays Web-based graphics could be exploited by criminals to create a self-copying worm attack, experts warn.
759946
Researchers in the U.S. say they've successfully shown how attackers could compromise a network designed to make it harder to trace Web sites they are viewing.
222388
In what may be the first step toward a major security problem, security researchers have released attack code that will crash Windows machines that are susceptible to a recently patched bug in the operating system.The code is not available to the general public. It was released Thursday to security professionals who use Immunity&#39;s Canvas computer security testing software. It causes the Windows system to crash but does not let the attacker run malicious software on the victim&#39;s system.&quot;It reliably crashes Windows machines,&quot; said Dave Aitel, Immunity&#39;s CTO. &quot;In fact, it blue-screened our print server by accident -- this is a broadcast attack, after all.&quot;That&#39;s the biggest concern for security experts who worry that a more dangerous attack may soon follow as researchers dig further into the vulnerability. The bug is particularly troublesome for two reasons. First, it affects a widely used Windows component that is turned on by default. Worse, no user interaction is required to trigger the flaw, meaning that it could be exploited in a self-copying worm attack.Microsoft patched the flaw in its MS08-001 update, released last week, but it takes time for enterprise users to test and install Microsoft&#39;s patches.The flaw lies in the way Windows processes networking traffic that uses IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and the MLD (Multicast Listener Discovery) protocol, which are used to send data to many systems at the same time. The protocols are used by a range of applications, including messaging, Web conferencing, and software distribution products.For a worm attack to work, the attacker would have to send specially crafted packets to a victim&#39;s machine, which could then allow the attacker to run unauthorized code on the PC. The worm could then spread from computer to computer within a LAN but would generally be stopped from travelling to another network by a firewall.A reliable exploit could be combined with malicious botnet software, giving attackers a way to widen the size of their networks of infected computers. The flaw is rated critical for Windows XP and Vista systems, according to Microsoft.After patching the flaw, Microsoft published some technical research indicating that it would be hard for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability.But Aitel believes that Microsoft may have overestimated how difficult it would be to create reliable attack code. Because it could spread so quickly through a network, a reliable exploit &quot;is going to be worth the effort,&quot; Aitel said. &quot;You can be assured lots of smart people are working on it.&quot;Part of the problem is that IT staff may not be aware of how widely these multicasting protocols are used within their companies, said Russ Cooper, a senior network consultant with Verizon Business. &quot;I am extremely worried that this becomes a problem simply because people are unaware of what they&#39;re already allowing,&quot; he said.If one machine were infected within a network subnet, its attempt to attack other machines might not even be noticeable, he added. &quot;It may look like a large file transfer.&quot;
238166
A new worm has been discovered in the wild that&#39;s not just settling for invading users&#39; PCs--it wants to invade their homes, too.
281583
InfoWorld - Security experts have spotted the first attempts to create an Internet worm that propagates using instant messages and exploits a recently disclosed flaw in Microsoft software.
267586
Security researchers have warned of a vulnerability in most web browsers that could let scammers launch phishing attacks from pop-up windows on trusted websites.
437767
Microsoft is moving to counter some scathing comments regarding a security paper authored by researchers at its Cambridge, England, facility.The paper, &quot;Sampling Strategies for Epidemic-Style Information Dissemination,&quot; looks at how worms sometimes inefficiently spread their code.The research explores how a more efficient method could, for example, be used for distributing patches or other software. The advantage would be that patches could be distributed from PC to PC, rather than from a central server.That method would reduce the load on a server, and patches would be distributed faster. But the patches would have the same qualities as a computer worm, a generally malicious file.Since a story about the paper appeared on Thursday in the New Scientist magazine, the paper has been roundly assailed.&quot;This is a stupid idea,&quot; wrote Bruce Schneier, a security expert, author and CTO of Mountain View, Calif.-based enterprise security vendor BT Counterpane, on Tuesday, before quoting a passage from the New Scientist story on his blog.Schneier wrote that the idea of so-called &quot;benevolent worms&quot; comes up every few years.However, a worm is designed to run without the consent of a user, which doesn&#39;t make it a good method of software distribution, Schneier wrote. The worm patching technique could also make the patches hard to uninstall or interrupt during installation, he wrote.Worms designed to distribute software patches could also be hacked to distribute malicious software, wrote Randy Abrams, director of education for security vendor Eset, in his regular e-mail commentary.Forced patching is also troublesome since some patches may not be compatible with critical software, Abrams wrote.&quot;Breaking into computers is a bad idea,&quot; Abrams said.A Microsoft spokesman said on Monday that the New Scientist story is not inaccurate. However, the writer of the story &quot;sexed&quot; up the research paper a bit, particularly with the headline that used the phrase &quot;friendly worms,&quot; the spokesman said.In response to the criticism, Microsoft said it doesn&#39;t intend to develop patch worms.&quot;This was not the primary scenario targeted for this research,&quot; according to a statement.The company also said it will continue to let customers decide how and when they apply security updates.One of the paper&#39;s authors, Milan Vojnovic, said in a statement that there were no plans to incorporate the ideas into Microsoft&#39;s products. Efforts to reach Vojnovic for comment were unsuccessful.
342444
A new worm has been discovered in the wild that&#39;s not just settling for invading users&#39; PCs - it wants to invade their homes, too.
374369
Traditional antivirus technology may be too slow to protect users, researchers say.
719261
A new version of an old computer worm has a nasty twist, anti-virus firm Sophos warned on Monday. The Rbot-GR worm can use webcams attached to infected computers to spy on users.
434743
A new worm has been discovered in the wild that&#39;s not just settling for invading users&#39; PCs--it wants to invade their homes too.
653917
A new variant of the Mydoom worm that exploits an unpatched flaw in Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer browser is in the wild and posing particular risk to home and small business users, security experts warn.
763326
Researchers say large numbers of wireless routers could be susceptible to a piggyback attack in dense urban areas.
224951
Those who have not changed the default passwords on their home routers may be putting themselves at risk of attack, researchers at Indiana University and Symantec are warning.
677548
Versions of Symantec Corp.&#039;s  anti-virus business security software contain a flaw that could  put millions of computers at risk of a crippling worm attack,  Internet experts warned on Friday.
173750
Rinbot, the on-again, off-again threat that exploits a pair of long-patched vulnerabilities, may be back. But security researchers differ over how serious a threat it actually is.
421758
A security bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer&#39;s drag-and-drop feature could put millions of Web surfers at risk of malicious hacker attacks, researchers warned on Thursday.