Posted on 06/29/2004 2:07:10 PM PDT by zeugma
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Browser Helper Objects (BHO) scanning tool
------------------------------------------BHODemon is a free tool that will list all Browser Helper Objects that are installed on a Windows system by scanning the registry and give you the ability to disable them. This will also list "good" BHOs as well, but nevertheless is a useful tool in detecting and disabling malicious software.
It is available at: http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm
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New scam targets bank customers
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On June 24th, a visitor to the SANS Internet Storm Center reported that his company was "...in the middle of a very disturbing ... issue regarding the adware/spyware/IE exploit genre..." He requested help analyzing an "encrypted or compressed" file that had been downloaded to a machine at their site. Tom Liston, one of our volunteer handlers, spent the weekend analyzing this issue. His findings are summarized here.
The victim of the attack found that a file called "img1big.gif" had been loaded onto their machine. Because of the account restrictions on the person running the machine, it had failed to install properly, which was why it had come to their attention. It is this file that they forwarded to the SANS Internet Storm Center for analysis.
The file is not a graphic file at all. It is actually a 27648 byte Win32 executable that has been compressed using the Open Source executable compressor UPX. This file decompresses to an 81920 byte file which contains two Win32 executables bound together. The first portion of the file (and what actually runs if the file extension is changed and the program is launched) is a "file dropper" Trojan, designed to install any executable concatenated to its body. The second half of the file consists of a Win32 DLL that is installed by the file dropper under WindowsXP as a randomly named .dll file under C:\WINDOWS\System32\. This DLL is installed as a "Browser Helper Object" (BHO) under Internet Explorer.
A "Browser Helper Object" is a DLL that allows developers to customize and control Internet Explorer. When IE 4.x and higher starts, it reads the registry to locate installed BHO's and then loads them into the memory space for IE. Created BHO's then have access to all the events and properties of that browsing session. This particular BHO watches for HTTPS (secure) access to URLs of several dozen banking and financial sites in multiple countries.
When an outbound HTTPS connection is made to such a URL, the BHO then grabs any outbound POST/GET data from within IE before it is encrypted by SSL. When it captures data, it creates an outbound HTTP connection to http://www.refestltd.com/cgi-bin/yes.pl and feeds the captured data to the script found at that location.
A complete write-up of Tom's findings is available online at http://isc.sans.org/presentations/banking_malware.pdf
Please direct any questions about this issue to the Storm Center using our online contact form at http://isc.sans.org/contact.php
{Posted by Marcus H. Sachs, SANS Internet Storm Center Director}
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Handler on Duty: John Bambenek, jbamb-at-pentex-net.com
I stole the following from someone. Can't remember who. Thanks to whoever you are!
FREE PC PROTECTION:
(Not an exhaustive list. Your results may vary. Void where prohibited. For entertainment purposes only. No wagering, please. Whattayawantfernuthin'.)
(Thanks, but "Buy a Mac" doesn't qualify as "FREE PC protection")
read later
Just read this on CNET. Very serious, although if you keep up with the MS patches you will be OK. These pop-ups are the one you see on Drudge all the time that emulates a Windows Pop-up window and says you have computer problems.
I suggest you install all MS patches ASAP.
thank you!
Not so sure about that this time.
From CNET second to last paragraph.
While the latest program is installed on Windows computers using a known vulnerability, the helper file hack exploits a feature, not a flaw, and could work with most major browsers, Sachs said.
Thankfully, I don't have any cash, thus I-net money transactions are irrelevant at least at this time.
But with ZoneAlarm, Norton, and the Win firewall up (and all patches to-date installed,) GRC gives me good marks and there are no bugs on this box.
Find wood, knock hard and often...
Ever try running MS's Windows update? That piece of crap looks for ways not to run on your machine. XP, anyways, and MS's help is of no help at all.
I get better info from sites not affiliated with MS.
I've got pretty much the same setup going--check Windows Updates regulary, auto update the Norton Antivirus, run Spybot Search and Destroy regulary, run Ad-Aware regulary, running Zone Alarm always, and have NAT at the Linksys router. And now using Mozilla Firefox browser. I too get high marks from GRC. But that's an awful lot of stuff to keep up with. Are normal people actually doing all of this stuff? I kinda doubt it.
..While I suggest a better alternative, due to this CERT advisory.
These people should be shot in the street and left for the rats to pick their bones.
Avoid online game sites--when others use my computer to play games is when I get spyware. At all costs DO NOT download Kazza. My daughter did this and I spent nearly 8 hours removing nearly 500 pieces of spyware and malware from her less than one month old computer.
I just started using firefox. When I run a browser check it says that my browser is Netscape and the liscense is Mozilla/firefox. Does this mean that I need to update my Netscape and Firefox? sorry just a little confused how the two interrelate.
An alternative is Kaza Lite. It doesn't load the spyware nor the popups and it has a "speed up" feature to download from several people at a time. Works great and no headeaches.
So, are you saying that the real fix is to install Linux and Mozilla? I would agree that this would be a much better solution to staying with microsoft windows.
Tell us what you really,?i> think IronJack. I'd have to agree, but personally, would like to see fire somehow thrown into the mix. I can't think of a worse way to die.
That's where I'm headed... Firefox already on both home machines, and 3 MandrakeLinux CD's that I burned yesterday sit before me waiting to be installed.
I wasted days trying to get rid of a new hijacker and I'm tired of doing Microsoft's cleanups for them.
BTW, here's the best forum I found so far:
...and irony of ironies, I found it via a porn site that hates this garbage as much as I do.
Well sure, Linux or Mac would be the safest way to go, but I'm going to school for networking and it's pretty much all Windows - with a little bit of Linux. I've got Mandrake on the other half of this XP machine and I'd love to use it all the time but I have to get real cozy with Windows and all the crap that comes with it. That's the way of the real world.: (
Ever try running MS's Windows update? That piece of crap looks for ways not to run on your machine.
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I hear ya! That's when the start of my recent problems began, on my last update that didn't finish (XP Pro). Either that, or as someone suggested here earlier, going to a linked photo may be a big problem. Don't know, haven't figured out my problem yet, even after trying to use the IE troubleshooter. I can't connect for more than 3-4 pages, then IE quits "can't find server". Even Netscape (my preference) is affected.
I tried all steps here also at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314067&Product=winxp
No avail, think I'll have to call the local weenie to help me out pretty soon, lol.
So, how do you update XP? (Please answer private, so's to be sure I see it.)
PS, in case anyone wonders, I have to log on to my employer's server to get here.
indexing bump
Anybody else have a suggestion?
I've had all the necessary checks/balances in place and always update everything. I still got recent problems. Haven't figured them out yet (see post of mine just a few minutes ago for particulars.) So, I do think people are aware and doing updates, etc. but, something new is always around to bite us in the A$$, seems to me.
new firefox user bump for later...
Windows XP.
I now have a 30-pound doorstop.
"I now have a 30-pound doorstop."
Ouch! Have you tried pulling the drive, jumpering as slave, and using a working machine to examine the drive & files? You might be able to get some of your data back.
A self-booting Linux CD like Knoppix can sometime help, too:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1024002/posts
Knoppix Linux penetrates Windows security. I used it to rescue/recover from Windows crash
Hey thanks, but that was the first thing I did. And have tried numerous times, using different dates, for several months past. It really seems like TCP/IP connectivity doesn't respond to that fix. Thanks for the response though!
Hey FRiend, let me know if you get a fix, will ya, by Freepmail? I've got a similar doorstop with XP Pro, LOL!
Firefox user bump.
I love my XP box for things like games and Windows apps, but Firefox and Thunderbird are a nice layer of protection.
Plus, I don't know what I ever did without tab browsing.
I am building a Fedora v2 laptop for general browsing and email at home.
BTW - What are you taking specifically? A DNET program of some sort?
Your on the right track, it is a connectivity issue.
What kind of connection do you use? dial-up?
Am I the only one for whom half of this PDF file (wherever he's quoting code) is a bunch of unreadable gunk?
Some people don't change the oil in their cars, nor keep enough air in their tires. Some people don't paint the exterior wood on their houses.
Some people don't wash their hands before eating.
Some people spend a lot to REPLACE stuff that's in an early grave, too.
bump
I also use Thunderbird and Firefox.
new user to the mozilla browser also. then i installed firefox and thunderbird. this was last week i had been having nothing but trouble with spyware on my machine. after closing IE for the last time i can report that i have been bug free!!! i have kinda made my mozilla my fave although i do like firefox and thunderbird ,so iam keeping them all. great products!
An 18 month course called "Network Security Systems" at a trade school here in Chicago. I'm about halfway through.
BTTT
I can't say this enough to anybody who'll listen. Image your machine(s).. Don't care what you use - Ghost, Drive Image, etc. You may need to purchase a CD burner or a second HD, but it's well worth it. I re-image at least once a week. Takes all of 20 minutes and !voila!, I'va got a clean install - all apps, settings, etc - just the way I left 'em.
I'm in the process of looking for a new job myself at the moment, because the MS zealots are incrementally making my life more difficult day by day.
If it were up to me, companies that put critical infrastructure on microsoft operating systems would be held criminally liable for their actions. :-)
Excellent advise.
I've got a couple in my class. I call 'em MS coolaid drinkers. They're so pigheaded. They won't even TALK about something else - let alone consider it an Operating System. I asked one of 'em the other day what he would do if his boss told him to install a Linux server. He said he would quit his job. Something wrong with those people.
Sure it's possible to avoid MS products and my hats off to you if you've found a way to do it.
I was firing up Suse Linux 9.1 Professional when My Motherboard crapped out, so that machine is sitting on the patio workbench while I think about what to do.
Installed in less than an hour complete with browser.....
I was impressed....
Got to figure out how to get Firefox installed on when the machine is running again!
It was going to be my main machine, AMD64 with a gig of fast memory, but it has just given me headaches .
Oh that is a great website.... we were talking about that the other day on a thread Shadowace started.
Got several of us to try Firefox..
Must be "bad computer Karma" month- the Mobo on my backup PC died about 3 weeks ago- power supply zapped it.
Oddly enough, I tried SUSE's 9.1 home version, but the bleeding thing wouldn't log on to the internet, or let me log in to the system at startup ( naturally, being the one who set it up, I was administrator ) so I finally RMA'd it back to them. Ironically, their LiveCD that boots off the CD worked fine, so I suspect a defective disc.
Anyway, I am a-setting here looking at those CD's I burned and wondering "how badly do I want to learn yet another OS?"
Let me ask you a dumb question- how do you do that? I've been using the old Netscape control-n to pop up another browser when I need it.
Well with Firefox, on the bookmarks, work your way thru the folders to the entry that you would normally just click on with the left button, use the right mouse button instead and you will get a list of options, my system shows nine such....
for me...the top three say open, open in new window, open in new tab.... so I normally use one of the two latter ones, so I would keep each new thread in its own window, and cut and paste , reply activity for that thread in that window but on a new tab.
Now when I want to close out the thread and my activity, the other tabs, just click on the big red X in the upper right corner and respond to the question box that firefox throws up asking if you want to close the window and all associated tabs......pretty neat.
I have looked at other browsers and I don't recognize that they have the capability quite like this.
RIGHTO!!!!!!
But you are some ways there, if you can run knoppix...
I am not a total novice since I had some training on AIX before I left Big Blue, but it didn't stick very well.
Appreciate it... as I slap my head and go "Duh!"
I keep forgetting that "advanced Windows" is right-click. There are days I miss the command line where you tell the damned thing what it's supposed to do. Of course, this is from a guy who was content with DOS 3.3 until around 1998...
Just go around clicking the right mouse button, all kinds of interesting options show up,.... works with the Free Republic,
post, search, my comments,....etc.
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