web

Dec 10 2008   1:19PM GMT

The larger world of free technical support - Craigslist computer forum

Posted by: Troy Tate
Networking, tools, documentation, patching, web, IT education, malware, website, anti-virus, troubleshooting, howto, online identity, risk, awareness, education, professional

I recently came across the computer forums on Craigslist. I had heard of Craigslist previously but was not aware of the significant scope of what it offers besides classified ads. I’m not suggesting that folks leave ITKE to the Craigslist computer forums for support - far from that.

I have been watching some of the exchanges between posters on the forums. It amazes me what people will post when the environment provides seeming anonymity. ITKE does offer this also, but the moderators do a great job of keeping the Trolls away. The Craigslist posters do not behave in the same professional manner that ITKE users do. There are many writers on Craigslist that belittle computer user skills for those asking “noob” questions. There are also those who attempt to discredit or otherwise tear down answers from those who have real computer skills and knowledge.

For example, there was a recent posting thread reminding people that the Microsoft Tuesday patches had been released. One feature that Craigslist offers similar to ITKE is the ability to rate postings. Someone rated the patch Tuesday reminder as a “thumbs down” posting. This is really unprofessional behavior. The thread went on to describe that exploits were sure to follow the patches since hackers use the patches to reverse-engineer the vulnerability. Someone asked if the exploits could already exist. Of course they might, but the exploits would become more likely after the patches are released.

The thread also described how the patches are to protect users from themselves. Most users are tempted into doing something (downloading software, answering yes to some popup window, visiting that interesting website) that causes malicious software to do something on their system that is totally unintended by the users… so the patch is there to fix some things that might be otherwise used by these malware writers. Really patching is the only preventive mechanism. Antivirus is a detective method that detects when something is trying to do something it shouldn’t. Patching won’t let those things happen - unless the user makes a poor judgement call… we all do! I have even opened an infected PDF file thinking it was a legitimate document. Fortunately, AV was able to clean up after my mistake.

For some reason, some troll thought they would say that these postings were by a “know-it-all n00b”. It seems like this Craigslist forum user may be one of those miscreants who want people to remain ignorant and cannot handle someone else teaching others about safe computing and answering other users’ questions.

I would like to encourage ITKE readers and IT professionals to help make IT support forums professional and user-friendly. If you have time, watch the Craigslist computer forums, offer support to the users  who don’t have the same professional support available we have on ITKE. Make the trolls look even worse by treating the users with some respect. By sharing our knowledge and skills, we can help users use the computer in a productive manner. Thanks for reading this and hope you join me in sharing knowledge either here on ITKE and/or Craigslist.

Oct 27 2008   8:52PM GMT

Did you see this? - (Wire)Sharkfest 2008 videos - including Vint Cerf - now available

Posted by: Troy Tate
Networking, forensics, Security, tools, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Monitoring, web, reporting, Google, internet, IT education, WAN, LAN, performance monitoring, troubleshooting, Performance, Network TAPs, howto, network analysis, Metrics, wireshark, packet capture, research, education, toolkit, man-in-the-middle, analysis

Checkout the Sharkfest 2008 videos at LoveMyTool.com. If you use Wireshark or want to learn network troubleshooting, this is one of the best resources you can have in your toolkit. The videos will give you a better understanding of this tool and other tools out there.

There is even a video of Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company. Widely known as a “Father of the Internet,” Vint is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Sep 19 2008   12:53PM GMT

Did you see this? - Encyclopedia of internal network security threats

Posted by: Troy Tate
Networking, forensics, Security, tools, Microsoft Windows, Monitoring, Browsers, web, reporting, WWW, antivirus, homeland security, Data security, malware, Policy, design, Firefox, Microsoft, website, troubleshooting, honeypot, botnet, risk, research, awareness, vulnerability, man-in-the-middle

Promisec has released an online encyclopedia of internal network security threats. This is available online for free. There is a lot of information to look through and decide how the risks affect your organization.

Take for example the entry describing GoogleTalk. The site rates it as one of the top 5 internal threats.

The more we know about these risks the better prepared we can be. Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Sep 8 2008   4:49PM GMT

Did you see this? - 2007 Web Application Security Statistics Project

Posted by: Troy Tate
Security, tools, Database, Monitoring, Development, web, internet, DataManagement, WWW, Data security, malware, Policy, website, Metrics, risk, research, awareness, vulnerability, data loss

The Web Application Security Consortium (WASC) is pleased to announce the WASC Web Application Security Statistics Project 2007. This initiative is a collaborative industry wide effort to pool together sanitized website vulnerability data and to gain a better understanding about the web application vulnerability landscape.

 

Goals

1. Identify the prevalence and probability of different vulnerability classes 2. Compare testing methodologies against what types of vulnerabilities they are likely to identify.

 

The statistics was compiled from web application security assessment projects which were made by the following companies in 2007 (in alphabetic

order):

 

- Booz Allen Hamilton

- BT

- Cenzic with Hailstorm and ClickToSecure

- dblogic.it

- HP Application Security Center with WebInspect

- Positive Technologies with MaxPatrol

- Veracode with Veracode Security Review

- WhiteHat Security with WhiteHat Sentinel

 

The overall statistics includes analysis results of 32,717 sites and 69,476 vulnerabilities of different degrees of severity. The detailed information can be found here:

 

http://www.webappsec.org/projects/statistics/

Aug 22 2008   8:02PM GMT

Poor Spelling = Identity Lost

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, Networking, forensics, Security, Browsers, web, reporting, WWW, intellectual property, CA, certificate authority, malware, SSL, design, website, howto, network analysis, online identity, risk, awareness, blog, vulnerability, MITM, man-in-the-middle

Well, I am not the best speller and I know that is true for most people. I have recently discovered how this human weakness can get you into trouble and cause identity loss as well as potential financial loss.

This issue has recently come to light with some of the Black Hat presentations. The actual presentation can be found here. This example actually refers to SSL VPN attacks but consider what would happen if an attacker was able to create a man-in-the-middle SSL proxy using a typosquatting domain name. For example, what if you typed https://www.mybnak.com/myaccount into your browser. The actual address should be https://www.mybank.com/myaccount. This is just a simple typographical error right? Hmmmmm… maybe not!

Consider if an attacker purchased the domain name mybnak.com. They then were able to get an SSL certificate or create a self-signed one that to an uneducated user looked ok. Have you ever seen a message like the following?

How many of you (come on, admit it now) have clicked on this or know someone who would click on this without thinking a second time? Say you did click on Yes and proceeded. The website you go to looks exactly like the one where you intended to go! This is because the address you mistyped into your browser actually goes to an SSL proxy and you just said you trusted the website. You have now fallen into the man-in-the-middle attack.

This looks like the following picture:

This attacker now takes all the traffic you send it, reads it, saves what it wants, repackages it, sends it to your intended destination and returns information back to you (keeping copies of what information is returned) without you knowing that someone is between you and your intended bank. Phishers do use a similar mechanism although a savvy consumer might actually see that the address in the address bar does not match their intended destination at all. In my example, YOU mistyped the address!

Well if this does not scare you into making sure you can type addresses or keep accurate bookmarks then read some of the following and make up your own mind:

Mozilla SSL Policy Considered Bad for the Web

SSL VPN might not be as secure as you think

Black Hat 2008 Aftermath

But, on the other side of this argument consider this story about how a MITM attack saved Columbian hostages.

The internet is not a place to be ignorant about your surroundings. Users must be vigilent and savvy about its use. Maybe there should be internet driver testing and licences?

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Aug 22 2008   3:46PM GMT

Trolls on ITKE - I think not!

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, Networking, Security, web, reporting, internet, CIO, WWW, IT education, intellectual property, design, website, online identity, risk, awareness, blog

Here’s an interesting blog entry I came across this week. I have great respect for John Postel mentioned in the article. He contributed immensely to the design of the protocols on which we depend on for data networks. I really like his Robustness Principle. “Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.”  This is a good statement for life but can be a challenge to address in the IT world. The article and follow-up postings have a lot of nuggets of great thought. Maybe add your thoughts to Mr Schwartz’s post or add some thoughts below here.

Have you had to deal with a troll? What were your challenges and how did it end up? What are your suggestions for handling this global issue?

It is quite amazing if you take a minute to think about it how the global internet provides a whole new environment for crime and abuse. There is no single legal body that can deal with this environment. There are no borders (although countries like China try to control what information crosses theirs).

I do want to commend ITKE for seeming to keeping the trolls away from this useful internet resource. I know it is a challenging job but the TechTarget folks are doing a great job! Let’s thank them for all their hard work by keeping up the knowledge sharing.

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Aug 20 2008   6:19PM GMT

Did you see this? - Need some Exchange advice/support

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, tools, Microsoft Windows, web, CIO, DataCenter, DataManagement, WWW, CA, spam, certificate authority, digital signatures, email, RSS, wiki, Exchange 2007, Outlook Web Access, Policy, Exchange, design, OWA, website, anti-virus, Performance, Powershell, howto, policy enforcement, awareness, blog, toolkit

Maybe you have already read my post about implementing new Exchange 2007 mailboxes for over 2000 users. If not… look here. So, as you see from this event, ongoing support for these global users on a new messaging system is going to be a real challenge.

I found a great blog posting with links to some excellent Exchange resources. Keep this in your toolkit for those times you just can’t find the answer elsewhere to those nagging Exchange problems. I see lots of other IT people struggling with this system and looking for support here at IT KnowledgeExchange.

Some other Exchange resources I recommend are:

Microsoft Exchange Server Resource Site

E-mail archiving

Seven ways to organize your e-mail

MessagingTalk.org - Portal for Microsoft Exchange Messaging & Collaboration

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Aug 18 2008   7:24PM GMT

Did you see this? - Online tools/tutorials - RingOfSaturn

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, Networking, Storage, Security, tools, Monitoring, VoIP, web, reporting, internet, DataCenter, DataManagement, WWW, IT education, WAN, LAN, malware, design, website, troubleshooting, Performance, howto, network analysis, online identity, Metrics, wireshark, risk, packet capture, research, awareness, diagnostics

Ok, I admit it. I’m a network tool junkie. I constantly look for neat tools to perform tasks in the easiest manner possible and give me reliable information. This website from RingofSaturn.com is definitely one of the cooler online tool websites. Check out the browser sniffer tool if you are curious about what information your browser gives up while surfing the web. You might be surprised!

Check out the TCP/IP tutorial. It’s a quick easy read that you can share with those you are trying to explain how a network works.

Checkout this website. I guarantee that if networks are in your blood, you will find something of interest here.

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

Jul 8 2008   5:12PM GMT

Browser warnings - Danger Will Robinson! - or did it just cry “Wolf!”?

Posted by: Troy Tate
forensics, Security, Development, web, reporting, Google, WWW, IT education, antivirus, Data security, malware, Policy, Firefox, website, anti-virus, honeypot, botnet, online identity, Metrics, honeynet, policy enforcement, awareness

I sometimes browse the internet using Firefox. I say sometimes because Internet Explorer is the standard browser at my company and Firefox is not supported by IT. Well, since I work in IT, sometimes you have to test things on behalf of users and also to see how certain sites are different depending on the client browser.

Well, I recently upgraded Firefox to v3. It does seem much better than v2 although some of my useful addins are now broken (when will YSlow get fixed for v3?). One of the new features of Firefox v3 is the ability to report to the user if the visited website is a known potential malware site. This is a good feature! It provides the user with some useful information and education about the dangers on the internet. However, how accurate is this feature? What if you are visiting a trusted website that you frequently visit and now get this message?

For your information, this is the message that you will see when you attempt to visit a site deemed as risky.

Reported Attack Site!

This web site at certification.xxxxxxx.org has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

I blanked out the actual website address above. However, those of you with a bit of detective in you are likely going to figure it out.

What is interesting about this particular warning message is that it is referring to a website that has security as a guiding principle. When you see this message in Firefox, you have three options presented:

• Get me out of here!
• Why was this site blocked?
• Ignore this warning - in very tiny print at bottom of message.

I was curious as to why this site would be considered as a danger. I clicked on the Why was this site blocked? option. The report I received was interesting and as I mentioned earlier, could this be an example of someone crying “Wolf!”?

The report was as follows:

What is the current listing status for certification.xxxxxxx.org

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 6 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 1 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 07/06/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 07/06/2008.

Malicious software includes 1 scripting exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 3 new processes on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 3 domain(s), including lokriet.com, clrbbd.com, catdbw.mobi.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including catdbw.mobi.

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, certification.xxxxxxx.org did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Next steps:

• Return to the previous page.
• If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google’s Webmaster Help Center.

This is great educational stuff, but did it really happen to this particular website? I don’t know, but apparently Google does. With the report of just one incident, does it make this site really worth the notification? How many incidents should it take before a site is considered malicious and who determines what malicious is?

Just something else to mull over in your copious time as you go perusing websites in Firefox.

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!