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Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Worm's spread shows holes in patch system. The MSBlast worm's quick spread supports the view that patches, while necessary to increase the security of specific computers, can't be relied upon to protect large networks. [CNET News.com]

No kidding. Try getting it right the first time.

7:36:40 PM

McDonald's adds more Wi-Fi to its menu. The fast food chain says it plans to sell Internet access inside 100 locations in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. [CNET News.com]
7:34:04 PM

Win32 Blaster Worm is on the Rise

Win32 Blaster Worm is on the Rise

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday August 12, @10:06AM
from the i-can't-hold-her-together-any-longer-captain dept.
EvilNight writes "You know you've got it when a 60 second shutdown timer pops up on your screen. The virus uses the RPC vulnerability. It looks like it's reaching critical mass today. Luckily, it's an easy one to stop: Download this security update. Once you've installed that patch, go here and download the removal tool."

[Slashdot]

1:18:13 PM

From CERT/CC:
The CERT/CC is receiving reports of widespread activity related to a new piece of malicious code known as W32/Blaster. This worm appears to exploit known vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Interface.
The W32/Blaster worm exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft's DCOM RPC interface as described in VU#568148 and CA-2003-16. Upon successful execution, the worm attempts to retrieve a copy of the file msblast.exe from the compromising host. Once this file is retrieved, the compromised system then runs it and begins scanning for other vulnerable systems to compromise in the same manner. In the course of propagation, a TCP session to port 135 is used to execute the attack. However, access to TCP ports 139 and 445 may also provide attack vectors and should be considered when applying mitigation strategies. Microsoft has published information about this vulnerability in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026.
Trend Micro, Inc. has published a set of steps to accomplish these goals. Symantechas also published a set of steps to accomplish these goals.
9:54:06 AM

Jury Orders Microsoft to Pay $520 Million. A federal jury said Microsoft's Internet Explorer infringed on a patent from a Chicago-based software company and the University of California. A Microsoft attorney said the company will appeal. [Technology News from eWEEK and Ziff Davis]
9:19:20 AM

Is Zip coming undone?. Incompatible new versions of the popular file-compression format could put the squeeze on users and as a result unravel support for Zip. [CNET News.com]
9:15:23 AM