Important: New Windows vulnerability!

[Hephaestus]

What on Earth are you on about buddy? This is all new to me, whats going on? [:O]

[Links Shadow]

Not to long ago there was a virus going around called MSBlaster.  It was a realatively vicious virus but did no real damage to the computer, it was more of an annoyance.  Anyway there it has been found that a similar vunerability has been found in the fix that they provided.  So If you run windows 2000, xp, and 2003 you need to go get the new fix for this problem.

Respectfully,
Link's Shadow

P.S. Adrian you beat me to the punch I had just saw the email I got from Microsoft and was about to post a topic about the same thing.

[Squeek]

Thanks for the link Adrian...this one looks like a bad one.

The site says that if you do not install this, it gives hackers a better chance to completely take over your computer.  Which means that you would be operating it, doing something, and feeling all fine.  Then all of the sudden you would lose control over your computer, and anything they wanted to access would be theirs for the picking.  Personally, I'd pull the stupid plug from behind the computer and mess him up []

~Squeek

[AngelicSaiyan]

That's what products like Sonicwall and Zonealarm are for, both of which I do run.  Sonicwall Pro for home network and ZA on my comp.  Never had to worry about stuff like Blaster.  Hint:  Sonicwall prevents intrusion by blocking ports, but ZA lets you know of a connect attempt and prompts you about it every time.  Kinda like having a Stage 0 defense on the front line, while a Stage 1 defense is covering behind Stage 0.  Basically, if something slips by the Sonicwall, ZA will catch it.

[Nick]

Thanks Adrian I downloaded the patch. I've been relying on Norton Internet Security which includes anti-virus protection and a firewall. It seems to be doing the trick, however I am always looking for something better.

You recommended http://www.agnitum.com as I recall. I'm going to take a look at their website. There sure seems to be an extraordinary amount of this malevolant virus activity lately.

Very best,

[Adrian]

Greetings AngelicSaiyan,

quote:Originally posted by AngelicSaiyan

That's what products like Sonicwall and Zonealarm are for, both of which I do run.  Sonicwall Pro for home network and ZA on my comp.  Never had to worry about stuff like Blaster.  Hint:  Sonicwall prevents intrusion by blocking ports, but ZA lets you know of a connect attempt and prompts you about it every time.  Kinda like having a Stage 0 defense on the front line, while a Stage 1 defense is covering behind Stage 0.  Basically, if something slips by the Sonicwall, ZA will catch it.

I have tested several of these firewalls. ZoneAlarm is popular but nowhere near as good as Agnitum Outpost which I posted about recently.

ZA is itself prone to trojans which automatically unload the firewall after a time leaving you vulnerable.

Nick: Yes, Agnitum Outpost really is excellent. There is indeed more and more malevolent activity going on on all fronts. There is no doubting the need for hefty security. It would help enormously of course if M$ didn't release products with security holes in them. The irony of it is, as soon as they announce a security problem they are obliged to announce it to users, at which point the hackers say than you for the info, and go about writing a malware hack for it.

With best regards,

Adrian.

[Tisha]

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  for all you computer-dummies out there, I just did the fix and it was easy as pie!

[Man Of Jade]

Im running mac OS 9.2! I never have to deal with microsoft screwing up all the time[]

I just have to deal with it being a mac...[]

[Nick]

Hi Adrian,

Today I installed Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro 2.0 and Tauscan 1.6 on both my desktop and laptop. The setup was quite easy and the recommended settings were what I used. Thanks for the recommendation as I value your expertise in these matters.

As a former Norton/Symantec user, I was impressed by the comparison studies between the two. When I ran up reviews and surveys in my search engine, I came across further supporting evidence in favor of Agnitum. One test that stood out was how Tauscan stopped Trojans, and literally topped all anti-virus software competitors.

The following is from a comparison review should any members wish to take a look:

The following chart illustrates the effectiveness of Tauscan compared to other current Anti-Virus and Anti-Trojan software. We checked these programs on how effective they were at detecting each of the 3772 Trojans monitored by Tauscan.

The following graph shows how many Trojans (including modifications and variants) each of the applications listed below were able to detect.



I was also impressed by how the Agnitum company welcomes independent testing of all of their products. Thanks again for the suggestion.

Very best,

[Squeek]

How big is this application?  Couple of megs..or like 30-50...

I'm on the slowest 56k modem in the world (the phone line can only handle 28.8 max)...so downloading is extremely difficult on my computer.  I have a FAST computer on a s-l-o-w internet... it's not a good mix.

Thanks in advance []

~Squeek

[Nick]

The beauty Squeek is that the apps are relatively small compared to what I was running with Norton Internet Security (24.38MB!!!). By contrast, Outpost Firewall Pro 2.0 is only 6.08MB and Tauscan 1.6 is only 1.46MB.

I like the way it works better than Norton both as an interface and functionally. Big thumbs up to Agnitum! []


Very best,

[Squeek]

WOW... I expected it to be about 30ish, as alot of programs are... 7 megs will only take me an hour...

I'm gonna download it tomorrow, Thanks!

~Squeek

[Nick]

That's great Squeek. Just follow the instructions, that is, if you have a current firewall, etc. be sure to do an uninstall before you download and install Agnitum's products. Also, if you buy the Outpost Firewall Pro 2.0 and Tauscan 1.6 at the same time they give you a bundled discount.

There is a support link at the website and help topics if you run into any glitches, although it all went pretty smooth from my experience. One thing, when you run a Trojan Horse scan on Tauscan on Win XP or 2000 there is a little box that may have to be unchecked. The website provides an explanation of how to do it (very easy). It is also explained under "known issues" towards the bottom of the page at the following link:

http://www.agnitum.com/support/selfsupport.html

Bottom line, I am very pleased with these two software gems. []


Very best,

[Adrian]

Greetings Nick,

Thank you very much indeed for the feedaback on Agnitum! []

Having been in the high tech computer industry for over 23 years now, I have a very good intuition as to which products are the best and will become market leaders and which ones to avoid. I really do believe Agnitum are going places and will become the recognised leader in their field. As I have said before, Outpost is in a league of its own compared to ZA, Sygate and the others. Outpost Pro 2 has state of the art technology using "stateful" inspection of packets, something usually only found in hardware firewalls at many times the price.

With best regards,

Adrian.

[Squeek]

So I downloaded Tauscan and Outpost Firewall, and ran Tauscan last night while I was offline...

That was so much fun.  I sat there for 20 minutes watching it scan nearly 20,000 files on my computer for Trojans...  And when it's all done...

"No Trojans were found on your computer!"

I've had this computer for 2 years, and constantly on the Internet downloading and uploading and such... it seems near impossible that it's possible to have no trojans.  But I did it!

Thanks for the program []

~Squeek

[Nick]

Glad your computer was Trojan free Squeek! (mine too) [] These are a couple of great pieces of security software that were very easy to install. Agnitum also has the user guides for the firewall software on PDF if you ever want them. However, the software interface is nice and straightforward, and I haven't had any problems whatsoever.


Very best,

[Adrian]

Greetings everyone,

M$ failed to completely fix the RGP exploit which was the exploit used for the "MSBlaster" debacle.

They have announced further vulnerabilities,and you can be sure the hackers will be working on the next malware to exploit it.

Here is the location of the hotfix:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-039.asp

I strongly suggest you install it today before it is too late!

With best regards,

Adrian.