Beware Fake Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is fake. Well, it is and it isn't. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antimalware protection program from Microsoft, but a new malware threat identified by security software vendor F-Secure is also masquerading as Microsoft Security Essentials. You want to avoid that one.
The new malware attack is distributed through a drive-by download as either hotfix.exe or mstsc.exe--both reasonably benign and almost legitimate sounding file names that might not raise red flags with some users.
The "alert" from the threat steals the Microsoft Security Essentials brand, including the little blue fortified castle icon. The software then displays a seemingly comprehensive list of antimalware solutions--including all of the top names that users are familiar with such as Trend Micro, McAfee, Panda, and Symantec-- and identifies those that are capable of detecting and blocking this nefarious threat.

The F-Secure blog explains, "Surprisingly, the only products that seem to be capable of handling the infection are AntiSpySafeguard, Major Defense Kit, Peak Protection, Pest Detector and Red Cross. Never heard of these? No wonder. They are all fake products."

The attackers are counting on users being naïve enough to take the bait and agree to be "saved" by purchasing one of these awesome antimalware tools to help eradicate the threat. But, since these are all rogue antivirus programs what you really end up with is some sort of Trojan that opens the system up to further malware compromise and exploit.

Don't get confused, though. As mentioned above, Microsoft Security Essentials is a legitimate antimalware application as well. It is offered for free by Microsoft, and is in fact a very capable defense against malware. Microsoft just recently expanded the availability of Microsoft Security Essentials to small businesses as well--making it free to install on up to ten PCs.

The Difference Between White Gold and Platinum

Platinum and White gold are visually very similar, but both are distinctly different types of metal. So what are the differences and what specific advantages and disadvantages do they have in relation to each other.

Platinum.
Platinum is a naturally white coloured metal. Platinum will still have other metals added to it, however this will only make up 5% of the whole. Platinum is a denser metal than gold, meaning it is heavier, in fact almost twice the weight of 18ct. Both metals are rare but platinum is rarest meaning its price is a significant amount higher than that of gold.

White gold.
White gold is not a naturally found substance, but is yellow gold, mixed with derivatives such as platinum and palladium to give it, its white colour (nickel is also used in the united states), however due to the high instance of nickel skin allergy it is limited in its usage by legislation in the E.U. There are no set standards to the amount of these colouring metals that are added, however 18ct gold must be by law, 75% pure gold. To add a sparkly finish rhodium plating is usually applied to the finished piece. Rhodium is metal that is similar in colour to platinum which adds a hard, bright white layer over the top of the alloyed gold. This makes the gold look more even white, although over time this will wear away and the more true off white gold colour will show through.

Pros and cons
Platinum is a denser harder metal than white gold, however this makes it significantly heavier. As a result of this a piece of jewellery will be heavier than that of the same piece made in white gold. This can be a good thing as it gives a piece a more sturdy feel however it can also sometimes make other items feel too heavy and uncomfortable. The weight will also effect the price. Not only is platinum more expensive per gram than white gold, but also with its heavier weight it means the overall gram weight of a piece will approximately be doubled, thus giving a huge price difference between the two.
A problem for white gold is that over time the rhodium plating which makes it bright and white will wear away. This will mean that the white will eventually change into a more straw like colour. There are also varying qualities of white gold in regarded to colour. Good quality white gold will be a soft white and it is not necessary to have it rhodium plated. Cheaper poor quality white gold will have a distinctly yellow colour and will not look particularly white without the rhodium plating. The cheaper gold will look yellower as the whitening substances such as platinum and Palladium, due to their cost, will increase its price. Platinum's natural colour is white so it will remain this colour despite ware, however both will scratch and scuff.

Stuxnet: The most serious threat yet

ANALYSIS With so many different forms of threats out there, it is rare that one comes along to stand out from the crowd.

Stuxnet is something unique, however. It has been causing something of a stir in the security community since it was first spotted by a small company from Belarus named VirusBlokAda.

When Microsoft put out an alert over the virus in July, Stuxnet quickly moved from being a relative unknown to something serious.

Then earlier this month, Stuxnet was observed doing something unprecedented: exploiting four zero-day vulnerabilities at once. It is this advanced capability that has caused such a commotion.

So how has it made such a splash in such a small amount of time and what are hackers doing with it?

How does it work?

A trio of big time companies, including Microsoft itself, Kaspersky and Symantec, has been busy tracking the worm.

When it was first identified, Stuxnet was found using a .lnk file vulnerability to spread through USB drives.

Microsoft explained that with this, Stuxnet takes advantage of specially-crafted shortcut files – the .lnk files - placed on USB drives to automatically execute malware as soon as the .lnk file is read by the operating system.

“In other words, simply browsing to the removable media drive using an application that displays shortcut icons (like Windows Explorer) runs the malware without any additional user interaction,” Microsoft explained.

As for the four other vulnerabilities Stuxnet has been found exploiting, one is the same as a flaw used by the notorious Conficker worm last year.

Another uses a vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler to spread, taking advantage of this weakness to send malicious code to a remote computer where it is then executed.

“By virtue of the features of this vulnerability, the infection can spread to computers using a printer or through shared access to one. Having infected a computer connected to a network, Stuxnet then attempts to spread to other computers,” Kaspersky explained.

All of these vulnerabilities have now been patched, but two remain, although they are less serious.

These unpatched security holes are used by Stuxnet to let the attacker move from having limited control over a computer, up to privileged access, meaning a system could be completely compromised. Microsoft has said it intends to fix these in a future security bulletin.

Kaspersky hit by cyber criminals

The Russian-based security firm Kaspersky has fallen victim to the cyber criminals it tries to protect users against, according to reports.

The company, known for its anti-virus software, has supposedly been compromised by hackers who have directed users trying to download Kaspersky’s software to malicious sites. Once they have reached the destination they are then encouraged to download fake anti-virus software, which could compromise their data security.

Users of the software have complained to the company over three separate forums but, despite a user thought to be a Kaspersky employee claiming the issue was fixed, the company denied on the forums there had been any problem to begin with.

Writing about the incident on his blog, Rik Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro, said: “Security vendors have often been the target of both malicious and mischievous hackers and without fail, honesty and transparency have always been the best policy in the aftermath of such an event.”

UPDATE: Kaspersky got back to us and confirmed an attack had hit the site on Sunday, exploiting a vulnerability in a third party app used for website admin.

The company claimed the redirection to the fake anti-virus only lasted three and a half hours and as soon as it was notified, it took the affected server offline within ten minutes.

“Currently the server is secure and fully back online, and Kaspersky products are available for download,” the firm said in a statement sent to IT PRO.

“Kaspersky Lab also wants to confirm that no individual’s details were compromised from the company's web servers during this attack.”

The statement concluded: “Kaspersky Lab takes any attempt to compromise its security seriously. Our researchers are currently working on identifying any possible consequences of the attack for affected users, and are available to provide help to remove the fake antivirus software.”

New Zeus trojan targets Firefox online banking users

A new version of the Zeus trojan has been detected that can exploit the Firefox browser to carry out sophisticated fraud against online banking users, even if the financial institutions are using strong layers of protection.

Zeus 1.4, discovered by Trusteer, supports HTML injection and transaction tampering, two techniques that mean the new trojan can get around strong authentication and transaction signing solutions.

Previous versions of the malware were unable to bypass the security used by Mozilla’s browser.

The Trusteer Rapport service had detected the password-stealing trojan on one in every 3,000 computers it monitors - an unprecedented rate of distribution for new financial malware code.

“We expect this new version of Zeus to significantly increase fraud losses, since nearly 30 per cent of internet users bank online with Firefox and the infection rate for this piece of malware is growing faster than we have ever seen before,” said Amit Klein, chief technology officer (CTO) of Trusteer and head of the firm’s research organisation, in a statement.

The company is recommending financial institutions “maintain a layered approach to malware blocking and make sure they have the proper detection, investigation, mitigation and response tools in place.”

Earlier this month, an RSA Security study revealed that 88 per cent of Fortune 500 firms in the US have potentially been affected by versions of the Zeus trojan.

UK Wi-Fi ripe for hacking

Nearly half of UK home Wi-Fi networks are at high risk of being hacked, meaning danger for home workers and small businesses, according to new research.

A report from insurance and protection firm CPP, showed 40,000 networks across Britain could be hacked in less than five seconds and nearly 20,000 of those didn’t even have a password protecting the network from outside users.

However, the company’s survey showed 82 per cent of UK citizens believed their networks were safe and only one in 20 knew they had been used by unauthorised people.

“This report is a real eye-opener in highlighting how many of us have a cavalier attitude to Wi-Fi use, despite the very real dangers posed by unauthorised use,” said Michael Lynch, an identity fraud expert from CPP.

“We urge all Wi-Fi users to remember that any information they volunteer through public networks can easily be visible to hackers. It's vital they remain vigilant, ensure their networks are secure and regularly monitor their credit reports and bank statements for unsolicited activity.”

The research was carried out by an ethical hacker called Jason Hart, who is also a senior vice president at network security firm CRYPTOcard.

“When people think of hackers they tend to think of highly organised criminal gangs using sophisticated techniques to crack networks,” he said. “However, as this experiment demonstrates, all a hacker requires is a laptop computer and widely available software to target their victims.”

Hart claimed with the rise of smartphones and wireless networks, hacking had become far easier and it was a real concern, both for consumers and businesses, to keep their data safe.

“Hackers [can more easily] crack usernames and passwords, allowing them access to emails, social networks, and online banking sites and even to assume the online identity of their victim,” he added.

“It's vital that both businesses and individuals think very carefully about network security and what information they provide when going online."

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is one of the fastest growing, and potentially most disruptive IT innovations for a generation.

The move to cloud computing is being likened to the arrival of the personal computer, a move that changed the IT face of the industry, and how businesses use technology.

Within four years, worldwide spending on could computing is expected to reach almost $150 billion, according to analyst firm "http://www.gartner.com/" target"_new" Gartner.

Gartner is seeing growth in both the number of businesses signing outsourcing deals, and the size of those deals. Cloud computing programmes covering a thousand or more users are becoming more common, as chief information officers (CIOs) see cloud computing as a strategic option.

Experts are predicting that some businesses will be able to run most, if not all, of their IT services in the cloud. Evidence from smaller enterprises and start ups support this, with businesses opting to rent, not buy, much of their IT. Laptops and a good-quality internet connection can replace much of the conventional infrastructure for managing data and carrying out business processes.

For businesses with more complex needs – and more critical security requirements – moving all computing to the cloud might not be practical. However, it is likely that almost all businesses will move at least some applications or services to the cloud. Many have already done so, though services offered by vendors such as Google and Amazon.

As with any new or emerging technology, though, the cloud is attracting hype. The potential of cloud computing has to be tempered with some practicalities.

Businesses might not have applications that are “cloud ready”, be prepared to hand over control of critical data, be comfortable with data security arrangements or even have the bandwidth to run large parts of their business remotely. These are some of the issues that IT PRO will be exploring in more depth in "http://www.itpro.co.uk/cloud" target="the cloud computing channel.

What is the cloud?

Cloud computing’s quick growth, and the fact that the cloud has emerged organically from a range of services provided by different vendors, rather than according to an industry standard, poses some practical considerations for IT professionals.

In some cases businesses will already be using cloud computing services, without defining them in that way; in others, vendors that have provided remotely accessed IT – itself a service that dates back to the 1960s – have added a cloud computing label to refresh an existing product. Elsewhere, though, businesses are using services such as Amazon’s EC2 or Microsoft’s Azure platform, which most industries observe represent “pure” cloud computing.

The most widely accepted definition of cloud computing comes from the US National Institution of Standards in Technology (NIST). NIST defines cloud computing as "http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/" "model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources".

As NIST sees it, cloud computing can be divided into three main categories: software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service.

Software as a service

"The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure", as NIST puts it. This includes applications such as hosted email or CRM.

Platform as a service

“The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications, created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider,” according to NIST. This includes environments such as Microsoft’s Azure, or Salesforce’s Force.com.

Infrastructure as a service

“The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software… including operating systems and applications.” Examples include Amazon’s EC2 cloud platform.

Businesses may well be using some, or all, of these services already. Hosted Microsoft Exchange email or hosted SharePoint services, Google’s Docs product and software as a service applications - of which Salesforce.com is perhaps the best known - show the range of services on offer through the cloud.

Increasingly, cloud computing is being used as a byword for bought-in IT services that stop short of full outsourcing deals, involving long-term contracts and the transfer of equipment or staff.

In practice, cloud computing can be defined as technology – including software and hardware – that is owned by others, run remotely from the end-user business, and paid for through a flexible contract.

That pricing model could either be a subscription, per user, per month, or a form of pricing based on IT capacity or even transactions. Consumer services such as Mozy, an online backup service, have already set an example for this, by charging end users per gigabyte of storage they rent.

The cloud in practice

Inevitably, definitions will star to blur, as businesses, and vendors, put the emerging infrastructure to new uses. One business might well use a cloud service to provide a service, in turn, to others; there are already examples of companies building suites of hosted applications, using cloud technologies, for vertical markets such as law firms or estate agency.

At the other end of the spectrum, large enterprises and public sector bodies are going about creating their own, private versions of cloud computing. These use many of the same technology building blocks as public clouds, and even some of the same economic models, through internal charge-back mechanisms.

By putting cloud computing infrastructure behind the firewall and within the control of the IT department, some of the difficulties around security, privacy and data ownership are overcome.

The variety, and potentially the sheer size, of the cloud computing market is also prompting new services to develop, such as cloud brokers – who source cloud computing resources for businesses – and companies that are building technology to connect a business’ various cloud applications and create a common data set.

This, in turn, highlights a number of potential drawbacks to the cloud.

There are little in the way of formal standards governing cloud services, and especially, the way they categorise and store data. According to "http://www.itpro.co.uk/626437/cloud-computings-murky-future"PA Consulting, a lack of interoperability between cloud services could be one of the greatest barriers to their adoption by enterprises, perhaps an even greater barrier than data security.

None the less, all the signs are that cloud computing is here to stay. The onus is on IT departments to integrate the technology with their companies’ broader technology requirements, so that the business can gain the benefits of flexibility, lower costs and quick development times offered by the cloud.

Microsoft Moves to Help Nonprofits Avoid Piracy-Linked Crackdowns

MOSCOW — Microsoft is vastly expanding its efforts to prevent governments from using software piracy inquiries as a pretext to suppress dissent. It plans to provide free software licenses to more than 500,000 advocacy groups, independent media outlets and other nonprofit organizations in 12 countries with tightly controlled governments, including Russia and China.

With the new program in place, authorities in these countries would have no legal basis for accusing these groups of installing pirated Microsoft software.

Microsoft began overhauling its antipiracy policy after The New York Times reported last month that private lawyers retained by the company had often supported law enforcement officials in Russia in crackdowns on outspoken advocacy groups and opposition newspapers.

At first, Microsoft responded to the article by apologizing and saying it would focus on protecting these organizations in Russia from such inquiries.

But it is now extending the program to other countries: eight former Soviet republics — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — as well as China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Microsoft executives said they would consider adding more.

“We clearly have a very strong interest in ensuring that any antipiracy activities are being done for the purpose of reducing illegal piracy, and not for other purposes,” said Nancy J. Anderson, a deputy general counsel and vice president at Microsoft. “Under the terms of our new nongovernmental organization software license, we will definitely not have any claims and not pursue any claims against nongovernmental organizations.”

Software piracy inquiries against advocacy groups and media outlets in other former Soviet republics are less common than in Russia, but they have occurred. This year, the police in Kyrgyzstan raided an independent television station, and its employees said a lawyer retained by Microsoft had played a role.

In China, experts said they were not aware of many cases. They pointed out that if the security services wanted to hound or close advocacy groups, they had many other ways of doing so.

But China has been a minefield for American technology companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo and Google, which have grappled with the country’s Internet censorship, and it appears that Microsoft is hoping to avoid new controversies there.

Microsoft’s offer “will surely promote the health of nongovernmental organizations in China,” said Lu Fei, director of a clearinghouse for these groups.

Software piracy is widespread in the 12 countries covered by the new program, and Microsoft has long urged governments to curb it. But in Russia, officials used the intellectual property laws against dissenters.

The security services in Russia have confiscated computers from dozens of advocacy organizations in recent years under the guise of antipiracy inquiries. Some of these groups did have illegal software, and the authorities have said they are carrying out legitimate efforts to curtail software piracy. But they almost never investigate organizations allied with the government.

Microsoft had long rejected requests from human-rights groups that it refrain from taking part in such cases, saying it was merely complying with Russian law.

But now, the organizations would be automatically granted the software licenses without even having to apply for them, meaning that any programs that they possessed would effectively be legalized. That essentially bars the company’s lawyers from assisting the police in piracy inquiries against the groups.

Ms. Anderson of Microsoft said the company was trying to quickly prepare the automatic licenses for the 12 countries, a process that includes translating them, ensuring that they comply with local laws and disseminating them to the authorities.

Microsoft already provides actual copies of software free to some nonprofit groups. It said that in its last fiscal year, it gave out half a billion dollars worth of programs in more than 100 countries. But it has also found that this policy is not well known in some countries.

In Russia, nonprofit groups said they had already noticed a striking change in Microsoft’s attitude toward these piracy cases. In one notorious inquiry, plainclothes police officers raided a group in Siberia, Baikal Environmental Wave, and seized its computers in January. Baikal Wave’s leaders said they had used only licensed software, but they were unable to get help from Microsoft.

The case was a focus of the article last month in The Times. After it was published, Microsoft gave Baikal Wave free updated versions of software for all its computers and asked the police to drop the inquiry.

The police have not yet formally done so, but Baikal Wave said it was pleased with Microsoft’s reaction and the new program of automatic software licenses.

“The security services will now know that they will not be able to harass nonprofit and human rights organizations and take their computers,” said Galina Kulebyakina, a co-chairwoman of Baikal Wave. “It is outrageous what they did, and now that will no longer happen to others.”

Google: Change Your Password Twice a Year to Keep Safe

Change your passwords twice a year and never reuse them. Those are a few of the tips Google lists in an online security checklist that helps people stay one step ahead of the scammers.

With most Internet users now wary of spam messages, fraudsters have increasingly focused on popular Web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Yahoo, and Hotmail. They break into accounts and then send their messages to the victim's contacts, hoping that the spam will be more effective because it comes from a friend. "People are far more likely to respond to a message from someone they know," said Andrew Brandt, lead threat researcher with antivirus vendor Webroot, speaking via instant message.

The spam can include links to fraudulent pharmaceutical Web sites, phoney phishing pages, or pleas for money. In one scam that has been run for more than a year now, the criminal pretends that he's trapped in a foreign country and asks friends of his victim to wire him funds.

Victims usually don't know how their accounts were compromised, but according to Google there are several ways this can happen. User names and passwords are often stolen in phishing attacks, or via malicious software that records them as they are typed into the computer. Sometimes the criminals hack into Web sites that are linked to Google accounts. "If that site is hacked and your sign-in information is discovered, the hijacker has easy access to your Google Account,' wrote Priya Nayak, an online operations strategist with Google in a Friday blog posting.

And sometimes the bad guys simply guess right. "You use a password that's easy to guess, like your first or last name plus your birth date ('Laura1968'), or you provide an answer to a secret question that's common and therefore easy to guess, like 'pizza' for 'What is your favorite food?,'" Navak wrote.

Keeping your password changed, and using one that's hard to guess, can help thwart many of these techniques.

Webroot's Brandt said that Google's advice for twice-yearly changes is reasonable. He thinks people should change their passwords as often as they can. "I change my passwords at least four times a year, but I'm a security nerd and use password manager software which generates the passwords and reminds me to change them."

Brandt users a password manager that comes with Webroot's security software, but there are free options too. Keepass are two popular choices.

Even with password managers, it's a chore to keep on top of all the different log-in information that most people need to surf the Internet. But for important accounts, the work is worth it, according to Google.

"Online accounts that share passwords are like a line of dominoes," Nayak wrote. "When one falls, it doesn't take much for the others to fall, too. This is why you should choose unique passwords for important accounts like Gmail (your Google Account), your bank, commerce sites, and social networking sites.