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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

SANS Updates Its Annual Top 20 List

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=== CONTENTS ===================================================

IN FOCUS: SANS Updates Its Annual Top 20 List

NEWS AND FEATURES
- Microsoft Licenses Group Policy Conversion Tool to Ease Vista
Migration
- Forefront Client Beta Available; New Forefront Server Products
Coming Soon
- Web Application Security Report to Debut in January
- Recent Security Vulnerabilities

GIVE AND TAKE
- Security Matters Blog: Windows Vista Security Guide Available
- FAQ: Using FrontPage to Backup or Restore a SharePoint Site
- From the Forum: Setting Up Security Groups
- Know Your IT Security Contest
- SharePoint Pro Online--LIVE! Event

PRODUCTS
- Manage USB Drives for Access and Storage
- Wanted: Your Reviews of Products

RESOURCES AND EVENTS

FEATURED WHITE PAPER

ANNOUNCEMENTS


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=== IN FOCUS: SANS Updates Its Annual Top 20 List ==============
by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

In the past, the SANS Institute published an annual list, Top 10
Vulnerabilities, that outlined the most serious vulnerabilities facing
system administrators on a variety of platforms. The list was later
expanded to the top 20 vulnerabilities. This year, SANS has changed the
name of its list to the SANS Top-20 Internet Security Attack Targets.

The list is divided into four categories--OSs, cross-platform
applications, network devices, and security policy and personnel--along
with a special section that discusses zero-day attacks. The OS category
is almost entirely devoted to Windows. Areas that need special
attention on Windows platforms include Internet Explorer (IE), Windows
libraries (DLLs), services, overall system configuration, and Office.

The cross-platform applications category is broad and includes common
targets of attack such as Web applications, database software, P2P and
IM applications, media players, DNS servers, backup software, and
various types of management servers.

As history shows, new targets of attack typically include emerging
technologies, which are usually less mature and thus prone to include
exploitable bugs. VoIP technology is a case in point. SANS points out
that both VoIP servers and phones have become major targets, with no
fewer than four vulnerabilities reported in the hugely popular Asterisk
VoIP server platform, two vulnerabilities in Cisco Call Manager, and at
least seven vulnerabilities in VoIP phones.

Two long-standing information security problems have been the existence
of excessive user rights and the use of unauthorized devices. Both
these problems could be related to insufficient or nonexistent security
policies. Such problems could give rise to situations in which users
inadvertently open security holes into a network or introduce malware.
The problem could also lead to the exposure or theft of sensitive
company information.

Phishing is of course a major problem and makes end users a major point
of attack. Phishing attacks, like other forms of social engineering,
are designed to glean sensitive information from unsuspecting users.
Attacks can be very sophisticated and highly tailored and targeted.

Last, but certainly not least, are the ever-present zero-day exploits
that have plagued security administrators since computers came into
mainstream use. Although historically, most zero-day attacks have
targeted Windows platforms, other OSs aren't immune. The SANS list
points to Windows and Apple OS X as the current major points of attack.
However, zero-day exploits have also turned into attacks against
various Linux platforms, Wi-Fi devices and their drivers, and other
commonly used technologies. In fact, the Kernel Fun blog is currently
hosting a "month of kernel bugs" that affect various platforms,
including BSD and Linux. In some cases, no patch is available for the
bugs posted, which of course puts millions of users and many businesses
at serious risk. How fun is that?

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The SANS Top-20 Internet Security Attack Targets report is a good
resource for security administrators to use as a means to gain insight
into what others see as the most serious attack vectors. The report is
free at the SANS Web site in HTML or PDF format, and administrators
would do well to carefully review the report to make sure that they've
got all their bases covered.

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=== SPONSOR: Scalable Software =================================

Reducing the Cost of IT Compliance: Streamlining the IT Compliance Life
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compliance lifecycle, and dramatically reduce your company's costs!

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=== SECURITY NEWS AND FEATURES =================================

Microsoft Licenses Group Policy Conversion Tool to Ease Vista Migration
The ADMX Migrator tool, developed by FullArmor, will be available
for free to convert ADM templates to ADMX.

http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4109F:886699

Forefront Client Beta Available; New Forefront Server Products Coming
Soon
Microsoft released the Forefront Client Security public beta and
announced that Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Forefront
Security for SharePoint will be available in December.

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Web Application Security Report to Debut in January
WhiteHat Security will soon begin offering a quarterly report on the
vulnerabilities affecting enterprise Web sites.

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Recent Security Vulnerabilities
If you subscribe to this newsletter, you also receive Security
Alerts, which inform you about recently discovered security
vulnerabilities. You can also find information about these
discoveries at

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=== SPONSOR: Liquid Machines ===================================

Liquid Machines and Windows RMS: Rights Management for the Enterprise
Extend Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) to support
enterprise requirements for information protection, including
proprietary business data.

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=== GIVE AND TAKE ==============================================

SECURITY MATTERS BLOG: Windows Vista Security Guide Available
by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=410A6:886699

Microsoft published its official Windows Vista Security Guide. It's
available at the TechNet Web site now.

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FAQ: Using FrontPage to Backup or Restore a SharePoint Site

Q: How can I use Microsoft FrontPage to back up or restore a Microsoft
SharePoint site?

Find the answer at

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FROM THE FORUM: Setting Up Security Groups
A reader has set up two security groups on a shared folder; one
allows special modify access and the other allows modify access. With
the security setting applied, users can create subfolders but can't
rename files. Is there a solution for this? Join the discussion at

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13 best entries, and the winners will receive a Zune media player--
plus, we'll publish the winning entries in the Windows IT Security
newsletter. Email your contributions to tipswinitsec@windowsitpro.com.
Prizes are courtesy of Microsoft Learning Paths for Security:

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SharePoint Pro Online--LIVE! will be a premier virtual event for
developers and administrators of SharePoint products and technologies.
Brought to you by MSD2D and the Windows IT Media Community, this event
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desktops of attendees, educating them on various SharePoint topics.
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=== PRODUCTS ===================================================
by Renee Munshi, products@windowsitpro.com

Manage USB Drives for Access and Storage
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drives from a variety of manufacturers into corporate storage and
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=== RESOURCES AND EVENTS =======================================
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In this free podcast, Randy Franklin Smith outlines five evaluation
points to consider when choosing your antispyware solution. Download it
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=== ANNOUNCEMENTS ==============================================

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