Posted on 06/25/2004 10:41:28 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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| Internet Attack Exploits Microsoft Software Flaws Fri Jun 25, 2004 08:25 PM ET By Duncan Martell SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A potentially dangerous attack on personal computers by a virus designed to steal financial data and passwords from Web users rippled across the Internet on Friday, computer security experts said. The attack, which surfaced earlier this week and is known as the "Scob" outbreak, exploits a vulnerability in servers using Microsoft Corp.'s IIS software and has been called more dangerous than the recent "Sasser" and "Blaster" infections. The infected servers in turn exploit another vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to install a Trojan Horse virus on the PCs of Web surfers who visit the infected Web sites, said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Internet security company Symantec Corp. "All of this takes place while it looks like you're viewing the same Web page," Huger said. "You don't even know that parts of your browser have been redirected to another Web site."
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness team warned on its Web site that "any Web site, even those that may be trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code." The Trojan Horse places a keystroke logger on users' PCs and is designed to capture credit card numbers and passwords and send them back to a server in Russia, said Michael Murray, director of vulnerability and exposure at computer security firm nCircle Network Security.
By late Friday, however, the threat to users' personal data has been diminished, at least for now. "The server appears to have been shut down in the last eight hours," Murray said. "We don't know if it was shut down by authorities or whether it was accidental." The attack is more alarming than most because there are no patches available yet from Microsoft to fix the vulnerability in Internet Explorer that lets the hackers take control of computers, security researchers said. On its Web site, Microsoft said users could search for the files "Kk32.dll" or "Surf.dat" to see if their PCs were infected. The company also suggested users set their browser security level to "high."
Experts also urged computer users to update their anti-virus software protection software Most anti-virus software has been updated so that it can prevent the Trojan Horse from being installed, but because there is no patch yet available, there's no way to prevent future attacks to install the virus, Huger said.
"The truly alarming part is there is no patch available for that vulnerability," Huger said.
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It's amazing that so much can amass on a computer, that it grinds to a halt. Recently, I was hit by such a swift succession of popups, that I looked at "View - Source" and saw that it came from a timed popup program. When it happened again, the popups came up faster than I could close them, and my computer froze. I had to reboot to get going again. I know I have a bunch of garbage - I just don't have enough experience to find it.
That was good of you and your wife to help out that way. I find in general that computer people are very generous with their help. Good thing for junior geeks like me. :oD
And if spyware is a risk, then by all means avoid Drudge's site. He drops anywhere from 3 to 7 spyware programs into your computer per visit.
I just fired it up, and peeked at their web site, for the first time in a long time. Looks like the scenery has improved, but for some reason, on this particular machine, it freezes up. I think it might be my ancient joystick.
Incidentally, this is version 0.9.3 running on Debian sid (unstable) on a very old machine with a Matrox G400.
Super. Now back your files, up. Reinstall Windows (i.e. Clean install), reinstall whatever files you want, install Systemworks and Ghost your machine. But only if you have a CD burner (that's supported by Ghost) or a second HD installed.
I promise you - it'll be well worth it. BTW - read the instructions on Ghosting...:-)
Ok, only one HD, yes to CD burner, but I haven't a clue if it's supported by Ghost.
Yikes! Are you advising me to do what my friend told me about? :oO
That's the spirit! :)
Very good to know! And he has the nerve to go on and on about the Patriot Act!
:oD
Don't let the computer get you too frustrated, and they can be. I've been working with them for a long time, and they still get my goat sometimes. It helps to remember that ultimately, it's nothing but a really fast adding machine. Have fun!
I don't see it as frustrating as much as scary. I realize my knowledge is limited, and I don't want to wreck the darn thing. If I bite off little chunks of tasks, and go slowly, then I can relax.
In the beginning, I was a little afraid to even go near my computer, but then I realized that I had nothing to fear, as long as I didn't hit Delete any time I was unsure. I guess the same philosophy still applies!
Much thanks for your encouragement.
Always have a backup! If you can burn CDs do that, if not get a USB or Firewire drive to copy your files there. It give some peace of mind knowing that if the darn thing catches fire, you still have you budgets and tax forms and whatnot.
I'm so paranoid though, I wouldn't keep sensitive information on the same machine I use for web browsing. A friend from my wife's work was doing tax work for his accounting business on the same machine that his son used to download music. I couldn't help but cringe at that. Banks are starting to offer online banking and businesses online bill paying and the like. These things are great, but I don't think the average computer user puts much thought into security. With so many hostile programs floating around out in the wild that record keystrokes or take over the machine, people need to be careful. Having been the victim of identity theft and credit fraud (the old fashioned paper kind) it's a big issue with me.
Sorry to go off on a tangent. :)
You found a date! Just bring your computer box alone to my house. I'll connect it to my server through my Belkin switch and clean it up.
I built my own SCSI-320 server tower with cables running all around to things I also set up and has 9 fans. You can't buy this stuff in a store. It comes by FED-EX and is $.
Some date huh? The last lady for whom I took the covers off got scared back to Santa Clarita:):):) LOL
Bob
Doesn't matter now - you have both - give it a whirl and see what happens.
"One day my cd-rom opened up by itself! I almost flipped out, no joke."
I had the same thing happen to me with my cd player. Tried to find out through google search if ANYONE ever had this to happen and what to do about it. But never could find a solution.
Finally couldn't take it anymore (it was opening and shutting by itself over and over), so I just bought a new one and took out the old one. The new one is great -- no problems. What a relief!
Guess it's time to delete some of my old emails. I have about 46 hundred in there, none of them spam! :oD Guess it's also time to try out the old defragmenter for the first time. BTW, what is disk cleanup? :oD The only maintenance I've ever done, is keep up my subscription to Norton Anti Virus, and run regular scans. (I can hear all the lurkers groaning! LOL!)
I have a CD burner, and I thought of saving my valuable files, as a back up, and also in a clean up effort, but I'm a pretty busy person. It looks like the time for this has arrived, however, and I'll have to figure out how to do it, in a methodical "installment plan."
I'm so paranoid though, I wouldn't keep sensitive information on the same machine I use for web browsing.
A big reason why I won't abandon my dial up in favor of something speedy, is due to security concerns. I don't want to be perpetually connected to the net. More bad stuff can happen that way.
Banks are starting to offer online banking and businesses online bill paying and the like.
I have made some net purchases, and tax e-filing, but rather do a clean up before I give it another go. I don't want to do net banking and bill paying, because I've felt that doing those kinds of transactions are too risky for my tastes.
With so many hostile programs floating around out in the wild that record keystrokes or take over the machine, people need to be careful. Having been the victim of identity theft and credit fraud (the old fashioned paper kind) it's a big issue with me.
I don't even know if I have a keystroke recording program on my computer, although I have had a takeover of my search button. It seems like this stuff has gotten very aggressive fairly recently. I think you have the right idea, and better to be safe than sorry.
Well, now that I'm aware, and embarking on my first clean up project, I plan to keep myself alert. I'm sorry for your experience, and grateful that identity theft never happened to me.
Sorry to go off on a tangent. :)
No, that's fine, and very much to the point of keeping a clean computer. And very good food for thought. :o)
Hmm. Does he mean to bring only the original shipping carton?
Let me ask you a question, please. A few months ago, I went to this very cool website:
From the homepage, you can get to the Interactive Sky Chart. I had two of these screens set up, one with my coordinates, and one with the coordinates directly north of me, up in Canada. I was rapidly flipping between the two, making comparisons (because the same constellations look lower in the sky, while in Canada), and all of a sudden I saw a flash. I thought I might have killed the computer!
Well, I didn't, but from then on, I have a really crummy thing going on. My monitor screen looks lighter, and for every line of print, there is a shadow that runs across the screen. The symptoms did not become worse, and I saw that the problem did not involve the monitor, because the color test (that shows right before the monitor shuts off, which is right after the CPU shuts off) looks great.
I figure that any man who has 9 fans could take a stab at this, and make it sound good! :oD
Some date huh?
Sure! Why not? After the computer is cleaned up, you just take the girl out for dinner and a movie. :o)
Oh, okay! Guess there's no going back now! LOL!
Screen lighter = seems kind of washed out.
Thanks for considering my plight.
The absolute worst thing that can happen is you have a clean install.
Unless you forget to backup some files you meant to save...heh heh..
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