Companies Just don’t Get it about Spam!

Referrer Spam is a Big Problem!

As you can see this referrer spam is really malevolent, because of how many times it tries to hit my webpage.   It is on different IPS but they wanted to make sure I know about http://dentistinbrooklyn.org and the Address:

Thanks to one of the referrers, if you look closely you will see one for Google Maps and that Brings here:

Best Dentist In Brooklyn
718-544-4545 (866) 690-2935‎
9644 brooklyn st
Brooklyn, NY 11234

As you can see this company paid some other company to ADVERTISE For them without thinking of the consequences of the questionable company can bring your business to it’s Knees. I don’t say this lightly just by talking about this company and how it is doing business by doing a Refferrer Spam makes the company look bad in my eyes and probably gives you a bad taste in your mouth. When people spam, it makes me wonder just how trustworthy they are. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone and you shouldn’t either!! If your looking for a Good trustworthy Dentist, I would recommend checking the Christian Blue Pages and looking their!!


I get my glasses from GlassesUSA. They have a Satisfaction Guarantee and evenPrescription Sunglasess for when your out doors. Give them a try, and I know you'll like them!

Upcoming Patch Tuesday for February 10, 2009

Microsoft Today has released the list of patches for February. Here's the List of things they will patch:

• Internet Explorer -- Remote Code Execution (Require restart) [ CVE-2009-0075 CVE-2009-0076 ]


• Exchange -- Remote Code Execution (No Restart Required) [CVE-2009-0098 CVE-2009-0099]


• SQL -- Remote Code Execution (May Require Restart) [CVE-2008-5416]


• Visio -- Remote Code Execution (May Require Restart) [ CVE-2009-0095, CVE-2009-0096 and CVE-2009-0097]

[ad#ad2-right]

The list of affected operating configurations includes Windows 2000, Windows XP (x86 and x64), Windows Server 2003 (x86 and x64), Windows Vista (x86 and x64), and Windows Server 2008 (x86 and x64). Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003, and 2007, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005, as well as Visio 2002, 2003, and 2007 are also affected.
[Via Arstechnica]

We got several Non-critical updates.  Here's the List of them, some of these are monthly updates and some are just interesting to look at:

• Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter [February 2009] (KB905866)


• Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - February 2009 (KB890830)/Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - February 2009 (KB890830) - Internet Explorer Version


• Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista (KB960544)


• Cumulative Update for Media Center TVPack for Windows Vista (KB958653)


• Update Rollup for ActiveX Killbits for Windows (KB960715)

We got an Update to Media Center and TVPack for Windows Vista to resolve issues with software.   The ActiveX Killbits issues have been identified in ActiveX controls that could allow an attacker to compromise a system that is running Microsoft Internet Explorer and gain control over it.  So we don't exactly know what what issues they are talking about.   I hope this helps your system administrators get ready for this update.  If I were you, I'd having Clone of Autopatcher ready for these updates.  Remember to patch as soon as your company will allow, because waiting to long could make you have even more of an headache.   I'll update the others as soon as I find out the updates.

'Life Owner' won't delete your data!

I received this email from a friend and wanted to talk about this:

VERY IMPORTANT , PLEASE READ THIS

Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail,
AOL and so on.

[ad#ad2-right]This information arrived this morning,
Direct from both Microsoft and Norton

Please send it to everybody you know who has
access to the Internet.

You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail titled 'Mail Server Report'

If you open either file, a message will appear on your screen saying:
'It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful.'

Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC,
And the person who sent it to you will gain access to your
name, e-mail and password.

This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon.
AOLhas already confirmed the severity, and the anti virus software's are not capable of destroying it.

The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself
'life owner'.

PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL
TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to
PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!

THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp

After doing my little research, I've come to the conclusion that this is nothing more than a warning that someone went over board on. I've check this on Snopes and it says that:

This latter version is difficult to classify as either "true" or "false": The virus it references (i.e., the Mail Server Report worm) was a real one, but it's neither new nor currently rampant (as claimed in the warning text), nor does it manifest itself in the fashion described (since the "symptoms" provided in the warning are merely a reworking of the text of an earlier virus hoax). All in all, that message doesn't really merit the dire warning to "SEND A COPY OF THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!"

I decided to send a reply to my friend who email me this "Warning" and tell him this:

[ad#ad2-left]Although,  This is a real worm.  It however is over hyped and under no circumstances will it delete your files.   I'll quote from F-secure:

Warezov.W is a mass-mailing worm that sends itself as e-mail attachments to addresses found on the infected computer.

Typically, a mass-mailer arrives on a computer with an infected e-mail message. In some cases, the infected attachment can start automatically. In other cases, the system is infected when the user opens the attachment. When a typical mass-mailer is activated, it installs itself to the system and creates a startup key for itself in the Windows registry. It then stays active in the system's memory. While active, the mass-mailer searches for specific files (HTML files for example) on all available hard disks for e-mail addresses. Finally, it connects to an available mail server and sends itself to all the addresses it has found.

Aside from this, Warezov.W also downloads another worm variant from a specified website on the Internet.

According to all my sources is if you are worried about this worm, then I highly recommend a good Anti-virus and Software firewall.   This worm is easily detected by all the free anti-virus software out there.    I like AVG because it scans all incoming emails before you even touch the email.   Please don't forward that to anyone else it seems to be an old email warning that isn't really a warning anymore.   It seems to be a scare email where there is no real chance of your data going bye bye.   Just thought you'd like to know!!

So I tell you this, if you have any question of the likely hood of any emails you happen to come buy, you best best it to google it or ask your friend before you open the email up.   It is best also to scan all email attachments before even considering opening them.

Removing Win32/Bagle.HE worm

Here is another virus that seems to be spreading lately.   From the looks of it, it sees to be another email worm.  Here is what eset says:

Aliases

Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.gt (Kaspersky), W32/Bagle.gen (McAfee), Trojan.Tooso!gen (Symantec)

[ad#ad2-right]Win32/Bagle.HE is a worm that spreads via e-mail. The size of its executable is 40565 B .

When executed the worm copies itself in the following locations:

• Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\hidn\
  hldrrr.exe


• Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\hidn\
  hidn2.exe

In order to be executed on every system start, the worm sets the following Registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\drv_st_key

[ad#ad2-left]It seems to have a manual removal process, Unless you pay for the other software but according to the 411 on PC Security:

Win32/Bagle.HE worm is a “threat” that appears in security scans by fake antispyware WinDefender 2008.

The danger of Win32/Bagle.HE worm is supposed to scare you into wasting $49.95 on WinDefender 2008.

Unless you like getting ripped off, don’t download the software the Win32/Bagle.HE worm popup links to. You’re not really infected with Win32/Bagle.HE worm — you’re infected with scamware that you need to remove.

I’ll show you how to get rid of Win32/Bagle.HE worm and WinDefender 2008, for free.

[via 411 on PC Security]

According to this site you can remove it by doing some steps.  I think Kaspersky has an easier way to remove it and it looks like most anti-virus software will remove this.   You need to remember that only you can prevent this from the future.   You should also update your windows update and make sure your system is up to date.

Inside understanding of win32.netsky.q

Netsky.Q is a worm that spreads through e-mail. It is distributed as a 28,008 byte Win32 executable, compressed with PEtite, which drops a 23,040 byte DLL file. It also distributes itself inside ZIP archives.

I saw this on on the net and through we should talk about and let people know how you could get that the worm off your computer. It seems to be a self-replicating worm, it will continue to send out fake messages to people with the subject lines Like:
[ad#ad2-left]

• Delivery Error


• Delivery Failure


• Delivery


• Mail Delivery failure


• Mail Delivery System


• Mail System


• Delivery


• Delivered Message


• Error


• Status


• Failure


• Failed


• Unknown Exception


• Delivery Failed


• Deliver Mail


• Server Error


• Delivery Bot

And with each message there is the reciepts email address at the end.  This worm seems to be spreading like wildfire today.   It is because people have not install

Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS01-020)

[ad#ad2-right]Now how do you get rid of it.  It seems that most of Anti-Virus software would get it done.  All you would need to do is scan for this virus with the latest updated virus databases and will go away.   According E-Trust Anti-Virus they say they can remove it.   This is a really old virus, according to my sources this was first seen in 2004.   In order to prevent this in the future I'd suggest installing a free anti-virus and using it.    This is one smart little worm according to CA IT.


If you have quite a few Desktops in your Office and want to update all of them to the newest patch all in one swoop, I'd suggest downloading Clone of Autopatcher and making an ISO image so you can go around to each computer and install the patches quickly and easily.  Prevent yourself from getting that virus and some others in the future.   This is a friendly tip for all those hard working IT workers.

Internet Explorer still has a Vulnerability after Tuesday Patch!!

I just read this on several blogs and thought I'd share the details with you, it seems that Microsoft didn't know there was a problem with this Bug/Vulnerability.   Computer world has a great article and  says this:

[ad#ad2-right]"The updates Microsoft released yesterday do not address this possible vulnerability," a Microsoft spokesman said today in an e-mail reply to questions, "but I can tell you that Microsoft is investigating these new public claims of a possible vulnerability in Internet Explorer."

[Via ComputerWorld]

I can only hope that Microsoft fixes this Vulnerability soon, I would take a guess that they will try to get this out on the patch cycle if not they will push it out after.   Some things to remember with IE(Internet Explorer) is only use it with Microsoft Updates.   I also Suggest downloading FireFox and checking out my Anti-virus and Anti-Spyrware Page for ways to prevent from getting a virus.