Torian Group Times “Technology with Integrity”

Tens of thousands of malware-serving web pages, crafted to reach a high search engine ranking, are showing up in the first page of returns from Google, Yahoo and Live.

www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2222961,00.asp 

Identity theft is becoming more sophisticated. Spear Phishing is a targeted attack combining research, email, and bogus web sites, aimed at wealthy individuals or companies with financial data. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301522.html

Fake emails are circulating with a reply address from the Department of Treasury, notifying you that a complaint had been filed against your company. The attached .PDF installs a Trojan virus if opened.  www.websensesecuritylabs.com/alerts/alert.php?AlertID=830

Malicious software is big business, and is becoming more sophisticated and targeted to sources of money.  PDF Report on the Russian Business Network, a major hub for malicious software activity. The article is very technical, but gives you an idea how sophisticated it is getting. www.bizeul.org/files/RBN_study.pdf

Most of the world’s spam comes from about 50 sources, including Russian Business Net. www.spamhaus.org/statistics/spammers.lasso

Spy vs. Spy online www.connectitnews.com/usa/story.cfm?item=1507

Top security risks in 2008, including a list of updates needed. https://www2.sans.org/top20

 

We are now recommending that all our clients who have any financial or personal identity data on their network use a firewall which monitors outbound traffic for anomalies. This could catch software that phones home with your data.  We are also available to do a short presentation to your staff on computer security best practices. 

 

Microsoft updates were released Dec. 11. Three are critical security updates. One addresses a flaw in QuickBooks help files. QuickBooks also released an automatic update – either will fix the issue.

www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-dec.mspx

QuickBooks update:

http://secunia.com/advisories/26566/

www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-069.mspx

 

Office 2007 Service Pack 1 has been released as well.  It is quite large, over 200 MB, so be prepared for a long download.

www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2230248,00.asp 

http://office.microsoft.com  SP1 download site.

 

Google “My Location” uses your cell phone to tell you where you are, and what you are near.

www.google.com/gmm/index.html

www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2223974,00.asp?kc=EWWHNEMNL120607STR4

 

Apple QuickTime has a flaw which can cause a hacker to gain access to your computer. There is currently no fix. Security sites are recommending disabling QuickTime for now.

www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/659761

www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2228559,00.asp?kc=EWKNLNAV120607STR4

 

There is an update for certain Intel processors, intended to fix problems with systems crashing. Proceed with caution – applying this to the wrong system can cause serious harm.

Mobile: Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor.

Desktop: Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor, Intel Core 2 Quad desktop processor, and Intel Core 2 Extreme processor.

Server: Intel Xeon processors 3000, 3200, 5100, and 5300 series.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936357/en-us 

 

Firefox version 2.0.0.10 fixes three security issues in Firefox and SeaMonkey.

www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.10/releasenotes

 

A few people have reported problems with installing the Vista updates released in November. Manually installing the patches seems to work around the problem. See Microsoft KB 941649 and 941600

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsupdate/msg/8734537cb9022d86?dmode=source 

 

Christmas Hi-Tech gift suggestions.

www.dvorak.org/blog/?page_id=8459

www.networkworld.com/research/2007/cool-tools-gift-guide.html?nlhtcomms=ei_120607&nladname=120607unifiedcommunicationsal

http://tech.yahoo.com/holiday/giftideas

 

Christmas scams to watch out for www.scambusters.org/christmas.html

 

Possible “SAFE Act” legislation could affect home Wi-Fi users, with up to $300K Fines.

www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9829759-38.html?tag=nefd.top

 

E-discovery laws may require that you archive email and other documents. You are legally required to secure all relevant data in case of a lawsuit.

www.infoworld.com/article/06/11/17/47FEfedrules_1.html

http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2007/12/zero_tolerance.html?

 

After many years, we will be raising our rates for some staff on January 1.  Tim’s rate will be $105/Hr.; Bill’s rate will be $90/Hr.  Bill Cross received his Microsoft Certified Professional Certification last month.  We will continue to offer a full range of services at rates starting at $40/Hr.

 

 Happy Holidays,

 

Tim Torian

Torian, Group, Inc.

http://www.toriangroup.com