More Information on the downadup Worm

If your working to get rid of this Downadup Worm, F-secure is giving out a free removal tool to help with that task.   According to F-Secure Worm:W32/Downadup.gen description which Talks about how bad this worm is.

[ad#ad2-right]Due to companies not updating the MS 08-067 patch, it is the primary way for this worm to get onto a system.

Graham Cluely's Blog ask a question and got quite a few answers from the users. The results of the poll are 53% believe the hackers are to blame, and 30% think the System Administrators are to blame, and 17% think Microsoft is to blame for this worm.

I have a mix feelings over who is to be blamed for this worm. I think the person who wrote this, did it for a specific reason. We can't expect any software we use to be 100% safe, even Macintosh are not 100% safe. Microsoft isn't to be blamed because they tried to patch this as quickly as they could. I know that companies have a hard time keeping up with Microsoft updates, and they really can't be blamed. I think Hackers are always going to make a virus just because they can. That's in there nature and we will never be really rid of the virus or worm writers. They are in it for the Money, to boast, to take control of, or steal sensitive information. Windows being the Alpha Dog, people are always going to test the waters because of that.

So who do you think is to be blamed?  I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Who do you think is to blame for the Downadup Worm? 1) End Users 2) Microsoft who did patch it 3) The person who Wrote this Worm 4) Companies who didn't implement updates 5) No one it is going to happen 6) People who pay the writers of Virus/Worms View Results Make your own poll

If you think someone else is to be blamed just make a comment.

Please bear in mind that this poll is not scientific and is provided for information purposes only. The comments expressed on this page are those of a subsection of poll participants, and not necessarily those of Tech-linkblog. Tech-linkblog makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the results other than that they reflect the choices of the users who participated.

A good free VPN Client -- OpenVPN & more

I've been doing some research on what might be good to use in case, I was away from my home network.  I was thinking how safe am I at Starbucks or other places that I might doing my web.  So I did a little looking around to see which one I liked and I came to the conclusions that only one I need right now is:

The nice thing about this was the simple installation of the software and how easy it was to set it up. This service is in beta but seems to be really well done with regards to the end users. When you install this software and want to connect it uses the OpenVPN software with there configurations. OpenVPN, is a open sourced SSL VPN solution and is free to use. The way this this free is of Ad Supported banners. Now it is cheaper than paying monthly for a VPN service. The ones I've found so far are these few:

• OpenVPN (FREE)(*advertisement)(Linux, and Windows)


• Always VPN (Prepay) (5 GB to 80 GB limit) (Linux, Mac and Windows)*Out of Beta
  


• Hotspot Shield (FREE) (*advertisement) (Windows) (3 gig Cap)
  


• WiTopia (40$/ Year) (Mac, Linux, and Windows)

[ad]There is of course others out that but these are just a few that I saw that looks like the cheapest there is.  Others I've seen cost 40 to 50 dollars a month.   If you have any other ones that are free or cheap let me know.  I don't think we need to pay a lot just to have security on an open network. I'm certain that they're more out there but will keep looking for more later on. I did my initial research and will come back and find more.

*Update Feb 8, 2009*

As of recent a friend emailed me saying telling me to check the site out again and I did.  Not sure when they went out of Beta because I've not been using Always VPN lately due to my Broadband Cricket Prepay Internet.  I just checked and yes they are charging here's the break down:

• 5GB - USD 8.50


• 10GB - USD 15.00


• 20GB - USD 26.00


• 40GB - USD 33.00


• 80GB - USD 47.00

So I must ask why they didn't just keep the 5 GB limit with the Advertising, I do not know but  I did want to let people know that it is no longer free and no longer in Beta.  I went from Always to OpenVPN which still works despite the fact they are using Always VPN back client.   It's open source so it will probably change to something else sooner or later.   If you see it changes let me know, I will update more when I find out more!!