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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

MPack Runs Rampant

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

IN FOCUS: MPack Runs Rampant

NEWS AND FEATURES
- Latest ZLOB Plays on People's Desire for Online Video
- HP to Provide Web Application Security
- PatchLink Moves to Unify Protection and Control
- Recent Security Vulnerabilities

GIVE AND TAKE
- Security Matters Blog: Hack the Beta--Win a Game Box
- FAQ: Preparing AD for Exchange 2007
- From the Forum: Preventing Power Users from Creating Shares
- Share Your Security Tips

PRODUCTS
- Continuous Authentication and Encryption
- Wanted: Your Reviews of Products

RESOURCES AND EVENTS

FEATURED WHITE PAPER

ANNOUNCEMENTS


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=== IN FOCUS: MPack Runs Rampant =============
by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

The need to secure your Web servers has never been higher. In the past,
many people worried about potential damage to their company's
reputation should their site be broken into. After all, a defacement
negatively affects not only a Web site but also a company's public
image.

But there's another more dangerous aspect to keep in mind: Your site
might be turned into a vicious attack vector, making you responsible
for damaging any number of innocent peoples' computers. Anyone with a
public-facing Web site has a serious responsibility to protect its
visitors. And if you're hosting other peoples' Web sites, your level of
responsibility is exponentially higher.

A case in point that clearly demonstrates the need for vigilance is the
relatively new MPack tool--not to be confused with the compression
software of the same name.

MPack is an automated, intelligent, server-based attack tool that is
being used to infect untold numbers of computers. It's basically like
Metasploit, except that targets are pushed towards MPack en masse. The
tool is PHP-based and is a flexible attack platform complete with a
back-end management and monitoring interface. The server components are
used to deliver exploit payloads to browsers, and people place links to
an MPack server into Web pages all over the Internet.

The primary motive of MPack is to generate income through criminal
activity. Its creators have been selling the tool for about $700 since
at least December 2006 along with attack modules that evolve as new
attack types become possible. According to Panda Labs, new modules cost
anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on the level of exploitation a
module can carry out.

Recently, intruders using MPack established domains to host Web sites
to contain links to attack code and broke into numerous Web hosting
accounts (and quite possibly privately operated Web sites) to include
attack code in the pages of those unsuspecting, compromised Web sites.
The attack code typically consists of IFRAME tags that tell a visitor's
browser to load a malicious Web page inside an existing Web page. The
browser can be instructed to load a malicious Web page without the user
having to take any action other than to visit the compromised Web site,
and the IFRAME can be coded to not even be noticeable on the
compromised site. So the visitor might remain completely unaware that
exploitation is taking place.

The malicious Web page contains code that, when run, can determine the
visitor's OS and browser type and then deliver corresponding exploit
code. Code exists to exploit Windows, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS systems as
well as at least seven browsers and various components, such as Apple
QuickTime, WinZip, and other common tools. MPack can also be made to
instruct a vulnerable computer to download malicious files. From there,
a huge range of possibilities opens up.

Panda Labs reports that one Web server recently inspected contains
7,644 Web pages infected with links to MPack-based exploits. Exactly
how many sites and pages have been infected remains unknown; however
one trusted source told me that at least one major hosting company
(which I won't name) found that its servers were compromised through a
combination of exploits, and as a result, a large number of index.php
files were overwritten to contain exploits based on MPack.

In that incident, I was able to take a look at several of the affected
sites because I know the operators of those sites. The intruders made a
puzzling choice to completely overwrite every file that contained the
string "index" with a simple IFRAME tag to launch exploits. Since all
the index pages for the affected sites suddenly started showing up
empty, the break-in became obvious sooner rather than later.

I have no idea why the intrusion was made so obvious. Had the intruders
inserted an IFRAME tag into existing HTML instead of overwriting pages
entirely, the intrusion could have gone undetected for a very long
time, and the number of infected computers would have risen
tremendously.

If you're interested in more details about MPack, Panda Labs published
a detailed analysis of the MPack attack platform, available at the URL
below in PDF format.

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

Latest ZLOB Plays on People's Desire for Online Video
While ZLOB has been tracked in more than 1,000 renditions since late
2005, several security firms reported that the latest ZLOB outbreak
takes social engineering to a new extreme to lure people into its trap.

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HP to Provide Web Application Security
HP will acquire SPI Dynamics, maker and provider of Web application
security assessment software and services.

http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=5BC27:4160B336D0B60CB1E7712365DBE4E093

PatchLink Moves to Unify Protection and Control
PatchLink will acquire SecureWave, thereby taking another step
towards unified protection and control.

http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=5BC29:4160B336D0B60CB1E7712365DBE4E093

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

SECURITY MATTERS BLOG: Hack the Beta--Win a Game Box
by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=5BC2F:4160B336D0B60CB1E7712365DBE4E093

Here's an opportunity to put a beta security product through the
wringer and possibly win one of several game boxes in the process.

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FAQ: Preparing AD for Exchange 2007
by John Savill, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=5BC2D:4160B336D0B60CB1E7712365DBE4E093


Q: How do I manually prepare my AD forest and domain for Exchange
Server 2007?

Find the answer at

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FROM THE FORUM: Preventing Power Users from Creating Shares
A forum participant wants to disallow power users from creating or
modifying shares. He's looked through Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and
can't find a way to remove the Shares snap-in under Computer Management
or just lock it out. If prevention isn't possible, is there a way to
turn on auditing for share creation? To join the discussion, go to

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=== PRODUCTS ===================================================
by Renee Munshi, products@windowsitpro.com

Continuous Authentication and Encryption
2factor announced Real Privacy Management (RPM), a two-factor
private-key software solution that can be deployed standalone or inside
a software application, device, or chip. RPM continuously generates new
256-bit secret keys that are used to mutually authenticate each party
and to encrypt/decrypt every data transmission in real time. 2factor
also announced SecureWeb, a small auto-loading applet that invokes a
secure instance of the user's default browser. SecureWeb runs RPM to
authenticate and encrypt sensitive transactions. For more information,
go to

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=== RESOURCES AND EVENTS =======================================
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This white paper shows how you can lower costs, improve security,
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