Ramblings & ephemera

A botnet with a contingency plan

From Gregg Keizer’s “Massive botnet returns from the dead, starts spamming” (Computerworld: 26 November 2008):
A big spam-spewing botnet shut down two weeks ago has been resurrected, security researchers said today, and is again under the control of criminals.
The “Srizbi” botnet returned from the dead late Tuesday, said Fengmin Gong, chief security content officer at FireEye [...]

9 reasons the Storm botnet is different

From Bruce Schneier’s “Gathering ‘Storm’ Superworm Poses Grave Threat to PC Nets” (Wired: 4 October 2007):
Storm represents the future of malware. Let’s look at its behavior:
1. Storm is patient. A worm that attacks all the time is much easier to detect; a worm that attacks and then shuts off for a while [...]

The Chinese Internet threat

From Shane Harris’ “China’s Cyber-Militia” (National Journal: 31 May 2008):
Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few [...]

Details on the Storm & Nugache botnets

From Dennis Fisher’s “Storm, Nugache lead dangerous new botnet barrage” (SearchSecurity.com: 19 December 2007):
[Dave Dittrich, a senior security engineer and researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle], one of the top botnet researchers in the world, has been tracking botnets for close to a decade and has seen it all. But this new piece [...]

Why you should run Windows as Admin

From Aaron Margosis’ “Why you shouldn’t run as admin…” (17 June 2004):

But if you’re running as admin [on Windows], an exploit can:

install kernel-mode rootkits and/or keyloggers (which can be close to impossible to detect)
install and start services
install ActiveX controls, including IE and shell add-ins (common with spyware and adware)
access data belonging to other users
cause code [...]

Microsoft executive sets self up for hubristic fall

From Scott M. Fulton, III’s “Allchin Suggests Vista Won’t Need Antivirus” (BetaNews: 9 November 2006):
During a telephone conference with reporters yesterday, outgoing Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin, while touting the new security features of Windows Vista, which was released to manufacturing yesterday, told a reporter that the system’s new lockdown features are so capable and thorough [...]

Microsoft: only way to deal with malware is to wipe the computer

From Ryan Naraine’s “Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible” (eWeek: 4 April 2006):
In a rare discussion about the severity of the Windows malware scourge, a Microsoft security official said businesses should consider investing in an automated process to wipe hard drives and reinstall operating systems as a practical way to recover from malware infestation.
“When [...]

Killer search terms

From The Inquirer’s “Killer phrase will fill your PC with spam”:
THERE IS ONE phrase which, if you type into any search engine will expose your PC to shed-loads of spam, according to a new report.
Researchers Ben Edelman and Hannah Rosenbaum reckon that typing the phrase “Free Screensavers” into any search engine is the equivalent of [...]