Tumbleweed Shows Encryption Software
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MailGate Desktop Messenger encrypts e-mail that stays inside the organization.
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(InfoWorld) - Software developers like to make installation of their programs simple and quick. So do hackers. Analysts at RSA Security early last month spotted a single piece of PHP code that installs a phishing site on a compromised server in about two seconds, the vendor noted in its monthly online fraud report for June, released on Tuesday. The code contains all of the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and graphics needed for the fraudulent Web site, which spoofed a financial institution that RSA did not name in the report. The ".exe" file automatically installs the code and graphics in the right directories, RSA said. It means the hacker did not have to repeatedly access the compromised server to upload graphics or other code for the site, potentially reducing the chance of the computer's security software or network software detecting something awry, RSA said. "By using such kits, fraudsters will be able to further automate the process of hijacking servers and creating new phishing sites," the report said. It doesn't bode well forÂ combatting the problem of phishing, where hackers try to elicit passwords or financial information via look-alike Web sites. Despite efforts to quickly shut sites down, phishing sites averaged a 3.8-day life span in May, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which released its latest statistics on Sunday. Data from market analyst Gartner released last month showed that phishing attacks have doubled over the last two years. Gartner said 3.5 million adults remembered revealing sensitive personal or financial information to a phisher, while 2.3 million said that they had lost money because of phishing. The average loss is $1,250 per victim, Gartner said. Â
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Program showing how to use flaw in Windows' handling of graphics files hits the Net--back up your family photos and beware.
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New utility from PivX keeps intruders out of Windows systems.
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In a new post to his blog, Chris Hartjes, spurred on by an article in the latest edition of php|architect magazine (covering protecting your code), has shared a few opinions starting with a certain paragraph near the end.   To start, I will focus on the paragraph above. What I get out of that is that if only your source was closed and hidden from prying eyes, it would not have bugs in it. Which is, of course, total nonsense. Code has bugs because it's open and they feel safer? There are two kinds of bugs: application bugs (which is the code I would write) and system bugs (in this case, bugs that that appear from PHP itself). I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do if there is a bug in PHP that causes my application to crash except to point this bug out to the people who have the ability to fix it.   He goes on to talk more about how protection like this (the article talks about using the IonCube Encoder) will not stop someone if they're really determine to get at the code underneath the encryption. His only suggestion is to make an application good enough that people wouldn't want to try to steal it as much and would rather pay for their version.   Encode your stuff if you want, but be aware that the minute you choose to do that you are telling your customers "I don't trust you" and I have a hard time understanding a business model that assumes people are going to want to steal the stuff you sell.
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Program isn't entirely benevolent: it also downloads files to infected PCs.
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SafeKeeper module stores passwords, encryption keys in ThinkCentre desktops.
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The software maker has acknowledged it was wrong when it told users certain file formats were insecure.
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Software maintains security on laptops when they're outside the network.
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(InfoWorld) - Security researcher Joanna Rutkowska has demonstrated several methods that sophisticated rootkits can use to hide from even the most reliable detection method currently available -- hardware-based products that read a system's RAM. Rutkowska is a researcher with security firm Coseinc Advanced Malware Labs. She recently outlined several ways of getting around the UAC (User Account Control) feature introduced in Windows Vista. Several researchers have identified problems with UAC. The demonstration, given at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va., indicates that if a rootkit is advanced enough, there currently is no way it can be reliably detected, Rutkowska said. Rootkits are designed to hide some activity from observers and have recently been used to conceal the presence of Trojans and hacker backdoors -- not to mention Sony BMG's copy-protection software. Several hardware-based systems exist for acquiring an image of a computer's RAM, the most reliable way to detect the presence of certain kinds of rootkits, Rutkowska said. Those include Tribble, Komoku's CoPilot, and RAM Capture Tool from BBN Technologies, but she said none are particularly easy to find. Rutkowska's findings mean system designers may need to come up with a system architecture better suited to forensic analysis, such as an interface dedicated to memory acquisition. "We live in the 21st century, but apparently can't reliably read the memory of our computers," she said at the presentation. "Maybe we should rethink the design of our computer systems, so that they were somehow verifiable." Rutkowska's presentation outlined three types of attacks, one that crashes the machine when RAM acquisition is attempted, a "covering attack" that allows the acquisition tool to see only garbage when it inspects certain parts of physical memory, and a "full replacing attack" that allows the tool to see false information when it scans parts of physical memory. The denial-of-service attack could leave investigators legally liable for crashing the system, Rutkowska said. The "covering attack" might allow investigators to see the malware's "hooks" in some cases, but would make it impossible for investigators to analyze the malware. And the "full replacing attack" could simply mean that the malware is never detected at all, she said.
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Backdoor drafts, security moms and up-armoring
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With so much focus on security in the enterprise, it might have been inevitable. A Swiss security research lab is testing the market for zero-day vulnerabilities at an auction site called WSLabi. Security researchers stateside are skeptical.
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Security workers warn that encrypting stored data doesn't truly protect it, and you're fooling yourself if you think so.
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Also: Visual Studio and SQL Server updates Microsoft is prepping a security software suite that will take it deep into Symantec and McAfee heartland. They won't be quaking in their boots just yet: the suite, called Stirling, hits the streets in 2009, at the earliest.â¦
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Ziff Davis - Holes in KOffice and RealPlayer allow attackers to take over a user's system.
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Latest PEAR Releases:Net_LDAP 1.1.0a2pearweb_gopear 1.0.3HTML_TagCloud 0.1.3Console_GetoptPlus 1.0.0RC1Crypt_GPG 0.4.0LiveUser 0.16.13
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Beta search app creates vulnerabilities that may threaten your data's   security.