Net-Sec newsletter 
Issue 37 - 06.11.2000 
http://net-security.org 

This is a newsletter delivered to you by Help Net Security. It covers weekly 
roundups of security events that were in the news the past week. Visit Help 
Net Security for the latest security news - http://www.net-security.org. 


Subscribe to this weekly digest on: 
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Table of contents: 

1) General security news 
2) Security issues 
3) Security world 
4) Featured articles 
5) Featured books 
6) Security software 
7) Defaced archives 



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We are glad to announce that, in association with Zero Knowledge 
Systems, you can win several copies of their cutting-edge Internet 
Privacy software - Freedom. For your chance to win, please submit 
your opinion on the following topic: 

What are the current Internet privacy threats? 

Opinion submit form is located on: 
http://www.net-security.org/your-opinion/zks/ 
============================================================ 




General security news 
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IT SECURITY SPENDING MISSING MARK 
Despite an expected 300 percent spending increase on information technology 
security over the next four years, bad decision-making will leave U.S. companies 
almost as vulnerable to security breaches as they are today, according to a new 
report issued by Forrester Research. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/001030-3.shtml 


CANADA'S HOLES A THREAT TO U.S? 
"James Adams, who has worked with the NSA and the CIA, told the National 
Post Canada's vulnerability is a concern to security circles in Washington. That's 
because so many major U.S. corporations have offices in Canada". Hmm who 
would tell them that sytem administrators and their security expertise is crucial 
for the state of computer security in those "U.S. corporations", and not to 
generalize the security situation to the whole Canada... 
Link: http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20001030/445647.html 


DOWNPLAYING THE SITUATION 
On Friday, Microsoft said the attackers had roamed its systems for five weeks. 
Now, Microsoft insists that they had high-level access for just 12 days, were 
monitored during this time, and that no damage was done. 
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_998000/998449.stm 


'INFECTING' THE BACKBONE 
"The president of Israel's leading Internet-service provider, Gilad Rabinovich, 
tells Newsweek that hackers have tried 'to infect the Internet backbone' of the 
country". Strange but as article speaks about Denial of Service attacks and mass 
spamming, where should we put the verb infecting? 
Link: http://www.hoovershbn.hoovers.com/bin/story?StoryId=CoFU84bWbsfntvtaWnMe 


GATEWAY SECURITY "NOT TOTALLY WORKED OUT" 
The official charged with ensuring Britain's public bodies can interoperate 
electronically has shed more light on the confusion surrounding the Government 
Gateway project. Anwar Choudhury, deputy director in the Office of the e-Envoy 
at the Cabinet Office, said on 31 October 2000 that the security infrastructure 
of e-government "has not been totally worked out yet". 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.kablenet.com/kable.nsf/Frontpage/B59CDF190B182238802569890057D826 


MIDDLE EAST CYBER TENSION COULD ESCALATE 
Some(?) security experts are warning that the electronic skirmish in the Middle 
East could escalate and spill over to the United States. Tensions in the Middle 
East have spread to the online arena, with an increased level of activity against 
Web sites related to Israel and pro-Palestinian organizations, according to the 
FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC). However, Yoran's firm 
services clients in the Middle East, and they have not been threatened. 
Link: http://www.crn.com/Sections/BreakingNews/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=21152 


DECREASE YOUR STRESS 
Much of a systems administrator's stress comes from unexpected downtime 
and dissatisfied users. This month in Pete's Super Systems, Pete introduces 
two free tools that will help reduce the chances of both. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-10-2000/swol-1027-supersys.html 


VNUNET WRITES ABOUT ANTIONLINE DEFACEMENT 
Vnunet picked up a story about AntiOnline defacement. While writing this item 
the web site was currently not available, but I read earlier that they published 
information about the break in. I remember that it started with something like 
'between millions of hack attempts, we had a successfull break in'. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.vnunet.com/News/1113199 


IT TASK FORCE DISCUSSES SECURITY 
The Indo-Singapore task force on IT, communication and systems has held 
its first meeting in New Delhi and discussed various issues related to 
e-commerce laws, content, online security and ways to establish joint 
research and development efforts 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://asia.internet.com/2000/11/1101-india.html 


DOES IT MEETS MINIMUM SECURITY STANDARDS? 
Benchmarks for measuring security got a boost this week when the Center 
for Internet Security released a first draft of consensus security actions for 
Solaris systems. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.sans.org/cissummary.htm 


SEACH, SPAM, ETC. 
If you often use search engines, next Wired story will look strange, because 
it talks of some current issues surrounding search inquieries. At least it looked 
strange to me ;) Slashdot also picked it of course... 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,39896,00.html 


UBER ATTACKERS 
NewsMax.com has a FUD article saying that targets by 'Russian hackers' 
are "America's power plants, telecommunications systems, bridges, dams, 
sewage treatment plants, water stations and other key installations." 
Link: http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2000/11/1/24737 


HUSHMAIL BACKS UK ANTI-SNOOPING EFFORT 
UK Internet civil liberties group Cyber Rights & Cyber Liberties has teamed up 
with US email encryption company Hush Communications to overcome the RIP 
Act, which was recently made law. Through a joint project 'Cyber-Rights.Net', 
the pair will provide a route to bypass snooping regulations in the UK and at 
the same time draw attention to what they view as international moves to 
synchronise Internet surveillance. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/43/ns-18819.html 


HITACHI UNVEILS SECURE NOTEBOOK RANGE 
Electronics giant Hitachi has launched a range of secure notebook PCs 
specifically aimed at companies and users looking to safeguard their data and 
equipment from malicious attacks. The HN7200, 7300 and 8300 notebooks, 
which go on sale next month, come equipped with remote networking facilities, 
a configurable firewall and email filtering tools aimed at defending workers based 
outside the corporate firewall from attempted hacks and malicious code appended 
to emails. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.vnunet.com/News/1113381 


MCAFEE VIRUS DEFINITION CRASHES WINDOWS 
Keeping virus scanning software files current is usually a good idea... except for 
today. Network Associates has confirmed a bug in the latest McAfee VirusScan's 
virus definition file that could cause many Windows systems to freeze during start 
up. The problem is an incompatibility between a recent virus remedy file and the 
scan engine software in VirusScan. For those bitten by this bug, the only solution 
is to boot Windows in Safe Mode and disable VirusScan's system scanning at start 
up. Then, when an upgraded version of the scan engine is applied to the system, 
the user can go back and re-enable startup scans. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/43/ns-18853.html 


NEW SAFE HARBOR DATA PRIVACY WEBSITE LAUNCHES 
Commerce Department Under Secretary Robert LaRussa announced the opening 
of a new website that enables U.S. companies to sign up online to participate in 
the U.S.-European Union "safe harbor" data privacy framework and thus comply 
with EU privacy rules. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://cipherwar.com/news/00/safe_harbor_2.htm 


CRACKERS ATTACK PRO-ISRAELI SITE 
Pakistani-based attackers attacked a U.S. website belonging to a pro-Israel 
lobby, stealing credit card numbers and member records in the latest volley in 
what has become an online war. The attack, against the American-Israel Public 
Affairs Committee, consisted of the attackers defacing its website with 
pro-Palestinian slogans and e-mails downloaded from the webite databases. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39950,00.html 


NET DAD VINT CERF SLAMS RIP 
Vinton Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet, has attacked the RIP 
bill as a dangerous new piece of legislation. Speaking at the Compsec conference 
in London yesterday he commented: "Oh my god. A lot of us in the US are very 
worried about the RIP Bill, it has raised some of the same concerns as Carnivore." 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/14451.html 


MICROSOFT'S SLOPPY ADMINS 
The Dutch hacker Dimitri, said to IT World that Microsoft failed to install a patch 
for a known bug, which let him enter one of Microsoft's servers. A Microsoft 
spokesman confirmed that the hacker reached at least one server, but said that 
Microsoft security personnel were rechecking their servers for holes to patch. 
Funny (or tragic) thing is that Microsoft doesn't secure their servers with their 
own patches... 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www2.itworld.com/cma/ett_article_frame/0,,1_3315,00.html 

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Security issues 
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All vulnerabilities are located at: 
http://net-security.org/text/bugs 


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IIS 5.0 CROSS SITE SCRIPTING VULNERABILITY 
Using specially designed URLs, IIS 5.0 may return user specified content to the 
browser. This poses great security risk, especially if the browser is JavaScript 
enabled and the problem is greater in IE. By clicking on links, just visiting hostile 
web pages or opening HTML email the target IIS sever may return user defined 
malicous active content. This is a bug in IIS 5.0, but it affects end users and is 
exploited with a browser. A typical exploit scenario is stealing cookies which 
may contain sensitive information. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959321,32876,.shtml 


MICROSOFT TO GEORGI GUNINSKI 
Microsoft takes reports of all security vulnerabilities seriously. That being said, 
we'd like to share the events surrounding the receipt and impending resolution 
of this issue. The Microsoft Security Response Center received a report of this 
vulnerability on October 24th, as Georgi states below. Within 24 hours of r 
eceiving Georgi's notification, we had a draft patch designed to correct this 
problem. What's more at issue here is the manner in which Georgi has decided 
to release this security advisory. We informed Georgi that we were working to 
address the issue and would probably have a patch available in short order 
(within eight days of the time he reported it to us). We asked that he give us 
time to finish the patch so we could do a joint release, thus protecting our 
mutual customers and reporting the issue in a responsible manner. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959339,58883,.shtml 


GEORGI GUNINSKI REPLIES TO MICROSOFT 
I did not reply to secure@microsoft.com's emails because they were just 
informative emails without any questions. Here are some quick checkable facts 
regarding Microsoft's time to release a patch: Since Microsoft claims "Microsoft 
takes reports of all security vulnerabilities seriously" I'd like to point out that 
Microsoft has not fixed several vulnerabilities for very long time. One of them 
is file reading bug in IE 5.5 and has not been fixed for 3 1/2 months. Has they 
taken them seriously? The least they could do would be to inform their 
customers about a workaround. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959359,54942,.shtml 


REMOTE COMMAND EXECUTION VIA KW WHOIS 1.0 
There is a vulnerability in Kootenay Web Inc's KW Whois v1.0 which allows 
malicious users to execute commands as the uid/gid of the webserver. The 
hole lies in unchecked user input via an input form box. The form element 
< input type=text name="whois"> is not checked by the script for unsafe 
characters. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959380,40592,.shtml 


MINOR BUG IN PAGELOG.CGI 
Any file on the system with a '.log' extension readable by the uid/gid of the 
webserver can be viewed. In addition, two files with extensions of '.txt' and 
'.log' can be created in any directory on the system that is writable by the 
web server. This bug lies in the failure of the script to check for directory 
traversal. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959395,24878,.shtml 


ADDITONAL THEORY ON PAGELOG.CGI SECURITY ISSUE 
At this time this is just a theory, since i can't seem to find any sites running 
pagelog.cgi to test it, or a copy of the code anywhere to take a look at it. But, 
in theory, if you were to append a %20 to the address you should be able to 
open any file it is capable of displaying. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959438,13878,.shtml 


SAMBA 2.0.7 SWAT VULNERABILITIES 
The program swat included in the samba distribution allows username and 
password bruteforcing. An attacker can easily generate userlists and then 
bruteforce their passwords. Comments in the source code show that 
somebody tried to prevent this from happening. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959456,32735,.shtml 


UNIFY EWAVE SERVLETEXEC DOS 
Unify's eWave ServletExec is a JSP and a Java Servlet engine which is to be 
used as a plug-in to popular web servers like Apache, IIS, Netscape, etc. It is 
possible to send a URL request which causes the ServletExec servlet engine to 
terminate abruptly. The web server, however, is not affected. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972959470,90979,.shtml 


PEGASUS MAIL FILE READING VULNERABILITY 
David Harris, the author of Pegasus Mail, has released a utility called WSendTo 
that protects against the file reading vulnerability discussed on BugTraq a 
few weeks ago. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973042673,34444,.shtml 


"MALFORMED MIME HEADER" VULNERABILITY PATCHED 
Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in 
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5. The vulnerability could enable a malicious 
user to cause an Exchange server to fail. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973042712,32774,.shtml 


ALLAIRE'S JRUN DoS 
A denial of service vulnerability exists within the Allaire JRun 3.0 web application 
server which allows an attacker to bring down the JRun application server engine. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973132487,53954,.shtml 


HOTMAIL CAN ACT AS EMAIL AMPLIFIER 
Hotmail can act as email size amplifier with a factor of at least 1000, allowing 
flooding and mail-bombing a victim while using a negligible amount of your own 
bandwidth. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973132501,46670,.shtml 


UNIFY EWAVE SERVLETEXEC UPLOAD 
Unify's eWave ServletExec is a JSP and a Java Servlet engine which is used as 
a plug-in to popular web servers like Apache, IIS, Netscape, etc. ServletExec 
has a servlet called "UploadServlet" in its server side classes. UploadServlet, 
when invokable, allows an attacker to upload any file to any directory on the 
server. The uploaded file may have code that can later be executed on the 
server, leading to remote command execution. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973132522,4578,.shtml 


NETSCAPE SERVERS HEAP BUFFER OVERFLOW 
An exploitable heap buffer overflow vulnerability was discovered in the Netscape 
Directory Server product. The Netscape Certificate Management System also 
has several server components that share the problem. Vulnerable systems 
allow the execution of arbitrary code as the user running the services. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973132538,13785,.shtml 


NETSCAPE SERVERS DENIAL OF SERVICE 
A bug in several components of the Netscape Servers suite of products allows 
and attacker to successfully conduct a denial of service attack against the 
vulnerable systems. The Netscape Certificate Management System has also 
several server components that share the problem. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973132561,625,.shtml 


"NETMON PROTOCOL PARSING" BUG PATCHED 
Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in 
Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 server products and Systems 
Management Server. The vulnerability could allow a malicious user to 
gain control of an affected server. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973135591,74009,.shtml 


"INDEXING SERVICES CROSS SITE SCRIPTING" PATCH 
Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in 
Microsoft Indexing Services for Windows 2000. This vulnerability could 
allow a malicious web site operator to misuse another web site as a means 
of attacking users. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973261837,75960,.shtml 


MULTIPLE NETWORK MONITOR OVERFLOWS 
The Windows Network Monitor tool allows an administrator to capture network 
traffic destined to the local host or all traffic on a local network. Network Monitor 
is designed to capture network traffic before the information can be viewed in 
the graphical interface. Individual packets received from the network are parsed 
to provide a readable representation in the user interface. Each application level 
protocol is parsed by a separate dynamic linked library within Network Monitor. 
One of the vulnerable libraries, 'browser.dll', is documented in the samples section 
of the Visual C++ documentation in the MSDN library. Multiple stack overflows in 
various function calls within Network Monitor's parsing libraries may allow remote 
attackers to gain control of the Network Monitor application and execute 
arbitrary code. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973261858,1489,.shtml 


NAI'S DISTRIBUTED SNIFFER AGENT PROBLEMS 
NAI's Distributed Sniffer Agent can be overflowed remotely to grant SYSTEM 
privilege. Additional vulnerabilities exist in the management protocol to allow an 
attacker to recover logins passwords, take control of the agent, and delete logs. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973261889,85022,.shtml 


"ACTIVEX PARAMETER VALIDATION" PATCH 
An ActiveX control that ships as part of Windows 2000 contains an unchecked 
buffer. If the control was called from a web page or HTML mail using a specially 
malformed parameter, it would be possible to cause code to execute on the 
machine via a buffer overrun. This could potentially enable a malicious user to 
take any desire action on the user's machine, limited only by the permissions of 
the user. Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates this vulnerability. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973261905,68040,.shtml 


BUFFER OVERFLOW IN NETWORK MONITOR 
Internet Security Systems (ISS) X-Force has discovered a buffer overflow 
vulnerability in Microsoft's Network Monitor utility. The vulnerability allows 
code to be executed on the remote computer with the privilege levels of 
the current user. Administrative privileges are required to run Network Monitor. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/973261921,19800,.shtml 

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Security world 
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All press releases are located at: 
http://net-security.org/text/press 

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ZKS INTRODUCES MANAGED PRIVACY SERVICES - [31.10.2000] 

Zero-Knowledge Systems, the leading developer of privacy solutions, 
introduced its new Managed Privacy Services offering to solve the privacy 
challenges of businesses and enable enterprise to thrive in a privacy-conscious 
climate. Delivering a unique combination of technology, policy and strategy 
expertise, Zero-Knowledge Managed Privacy Services (MPS) enables clients to 
turn privacy into a competitive advantage by leveraging rich data resources 
while building stronger and more profitable relationships with customers, 
employees and partners. MPS is based on responsible and ethical information 
management in accordance with relevant legislation and industry standards. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973006780,81960,.shtml > 

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INFOEXPRESS STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN CANADA - [31.10.2000] 

Responding to exponential growth in demand for effective remote access 
security for enterprises, InfoExpress announced the opening of a new office 
in Ottawa, Canada, the fast growing high-tech capital city. The new office 
will focus on marketing InfoExpress' award-winning CyberArmor Enterprise 
Personal Firewall Suite(TM) and FireWalker VPN Suite(TM) to companies in 
Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and the northeastern United States. In addition 
to sales activity, engineering support will also be available from the Ottawa 
office. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973006842,37204,.shtml > 

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ERAP VIRUS SUSPECT ARRESTED IN PHILIPPINES - [31.10.2000] 

Reports from the Philippines indicate that a 19 year old male youth has been 
questioned by the authorities about the so-called "Erap Estrada" worm. The 
youth, who has not been named, was arrested on October 22 by agents of 
the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at his house in Laguna. Floppy disks 
and other computer equipment were seized by the Anti-Fraud and Computer 
Crimes division of the NBI. The man was later released pending further 
investigation. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973009201,9686,.shtml > 

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TOP TEN VIRUSES REPORTED TO SOPHOS IN OCTOBER - [01.11.2000] 

This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down the ten most 
frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos, the world leaders in 
corporate anti-virus protection. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973009653,81553,.shtml > 

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VENTUREWORX ANNOUNCES STAKE IN SECURITY FIRM - [01.11.2000] 

VentureWorx announced an equity stake in Vynamic™ an Internet infrastructure 
company providing security solutions expressly designed to support the needs of 
the e-Learning marketplace. Vynamic utilizes a proprietary, secure student ID 
technology, which insures that students are authenticated and all online learning 
transactions are encrypted and protected. In addition, Vynamic's secure student 
ID enables both corporate training and academic e-Learning platforms the ability 
to protect their intellectual property by "locking in" their course content. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973041155,37624,.shtml > 

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ALADDIN AND DST PARTNER - [01.11.2000] 

Aladdin Knowledge Systems, a global leader in the field of Internet content and 
software security, and Digital Signature Trust, an affiliate of Zions Bancorporation 
and an issuer of trusted digital identity certificates, announced a partnership that 
combines Aladdin's eToken and DST's TrustID certificates to provide highly secure 
digital certificate storage and authentication. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973041378,67098,.shtml > 

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NEW ENCRYPTIONT TECHNOLOGY PREMIERED - [01.11.2000] 

CNET's Download.com launched the world's first encrypted Instant Messenging 
utility. The Encrypted Messenger program is unique in that it protects user's 
online chat and instant messenging by encrypting the text in real-time. The 
program will help quell the fear of consumers who are wary of potential online 
privacy invasions both from hackers and from accidental eavesdropping by 
programs such as Carnivore and Echelon. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973086289,42744,.shtml > 

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SC MAGAZINE AWARDS LATEST CYBERWALLPLUS - [01.11.2000] 

Security Solutions, Inc., a leader in distributed intrusion prevention solutions for 
e-Business networks, announced that SC Magazine has performed a technical 
product review of its CyberwallPLUS family of firewall products and awarded 
them its highest overall rating of 5 stars. The review is published in the October 
issue of SC Magazine. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973087847,13789,.shtml > 

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SECUREPRINT BIOMETRIC SOLUTION UNVEILED - [02.11.2000] 

Intermate and LCI SMARTpen Inc. introduce SECUREprint, an elegant solution 
that enables the secure printing of confidential or sensitive data to any 
standard laser printer through biometric authentication. The concept consists 
of two parts, the LCI SMARTpen, a biometric authentication system based on 
the users unique signature, and LCI Intermate's SECUREprint card for standard 
laser printers. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973135001,25125,.shtml > 

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INTEL SELECTS SAFENET'S ENCRYPTION BOARD - [02.11.2000] 

SafeNet, Inc., formerly IRE, the foundation of Internet security and de facto 
leader of VPN technology, announced that Intel has licensed its SafeNet PCI 
board to accelerate encryption functionality of the Intel NetStructure 3130 
VPN Gateway. The integration of SafeNet PCI into Intel's NetStructure product 
offers the highest performing VPN gateway available for fast and secure 
Internet communications for mobile users, between offices and partners, 
and over corporate networks. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973135554,92946,.shtml > 

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CONTROL RISKS GROUP RELEASES RISKMAP 2001 - [03.11.2000] 

The business risk consultancy, Control Risks Group, launches its annual survey, 
RiskMap 2001 detailing the political, security and reputational risks that will 
define the international environment in the year ahead. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973262892,95889,.shtml > 

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BINDVIEW'S FREE TROJAN SCOUT FINDS QAZ TROJAN - [03.11.2000] 

Following recent hacks exposing Microsoft product code, BindView Corporation, 
a leading provider of IT administration and security management solutions, 
announced Trojan Scout, software that not only identifies the security 
vulnerability created by the QAZ Trojan, but also offers instruction for 
closing the "backdoor" created as a result of the intrusion. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973264008,56796,.shtml > 

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ANOTHER TREND MICRO PARTNERSHIP DEAL - [03.11.2000] 

Trend Micro Inc. has joined forces with Taiwan Telecommunications Network 
Services Co., Ltd., Taiwan's largest value-added network service provider and 
third-largest ISP, to protect TTN customers from the threat of Internet-borne 
viruses. Through this strategic alliance, TTN will offer its dial-up, broadband 
and lease-line Internet subscribers an optional virus scanning and cleaning 
service for their email messages and user mailboxes, using Trend Micro's 
award-winning antivirus technology 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973264084,15124,.shtml > 

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BRILAW INTERNATIONAL WINS GOLD AGAIN - [04.11.2000] 

Stockport based Brilaw International has been re-accredited as a " Gold CSN 
Partner". This is an accreditation that relates to the reselling and adding value 
to Citrix. Citrix is the ultimate solution for organisations wishing to speed up 
applications, reduce their IT overhead and improve security. Brilaw International 
has renewed its commitment to the Citrix brand by complying with the new 
demands Citrix has placed on its premier resellers. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/973337772,2484,.shtml > 

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Featured articles 
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All articles are located at: 
http://www.net-security.org/text/articles 

Articles can be contributed to staff@net-security.org 

Below is the list of the recently added articles. 

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SONIC: SELF-UPDATING INTERNET WORM DISCOVERED "IN THE WILD" 

Kaspersky Lab, an international anti-virus software development company, is 
warning users of the discovery of a new internet-worm, Sonic. This worm was 
discovered in France and Germany on the morning of 30th October 2000. The 
distinctive feature of this malicious program is its ability to update itself (ie: to 
automatically download additional component functionality) via the Internet. 

Read more: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/viruses/sonic.shtml > 

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RISK E-BUSINESS by Randy M. Nash 

Well, it's finally happened. I had my first close encounter with real life 
crackers! A good friend of mine recently went to work for a small Internet 
startup company (I generally refer to them as "3 Men and a Web Server"). 
I sent him an email Tuesday morning after the long President's Day weekend. 
His response came as a complete surprise, "Hey, I was just thinking about 
calling you. We've been hacked! Can you help us out?" 

Read more: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/risk.shtml > 

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We have a new section opened in cooperation with Newtork World Fusion, 
listed below are the seven articles added to that section. 


WATCH OUT FOR FAX VOTE SCAM by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/fax-vote.shtml > 

BANKS AND BIOMETRICS by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/banks.shtml > 

FORGED HEADERS AND THE LAW by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/forged.shtml > 

HOW TO RESPOND TO A HOAX by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/hoax.shtml > 

PEER-TO-PEER SOFTWARE AND SECURITY by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/peer.shtml > 

UNAUTHORIZED VULNERABILITY SCANS by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/scans.shtml > 

SNIFFING E-MAIL by M. E. Kabay 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/nwf/sniffing.shtml > 

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Featured books 
---------------- 

The HNS bookstore is located at: 
http://net-security.org/various/bookstore 

Suggestions for books to be included into our bookstore 
can be sent to staff@net-security.org 

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CISCO ROUTERS FOR IP NETWORKING BLACK BOOK: A PRACTICAL IN DEPTH GUIDE 
FOR CONFIGURING CISCO ROUTERS FOR INTERNETWORKING IP-BASED NETWORKS 

Explores complex topics in-depth, in the popular Black Book format, using a 
complete systematic approach to Cisco IP networking along with examples 
and diagrams. Covers the most important routing concepts by introducing 
the subject and then going through relevant practical examples. The 
configurations in this book were implemented in a lab with real Cisco routers. 
Especially written as a comprehensive guide for intermediate and advanced 
network professionals, or network specialists studying for the CCIE certification, 
to help answer all major router configuring and troubleshooting issues. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576106101/netsecurity > 

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WINDOWS 2000 REGISTRY (NETWORKING SERIES) 

This book targets professional users, system administrators, and support 
specialists. It enables the reader to master Registry concepts, properly use 
all of its features, plan and implement the most appropriate Registry backup 
strategy, and solve the most common problems using the Registry. This book 
contains in-depth information,and offers tips, tricks, and useful techniques for 
editing, customizing, and securing the Registry. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1584500816/netsecurity > 

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UNIX NETWORK PROGRAMMING, VOLUME 1: NETWORKING APIS - SOCKETS AND XTI 

The classic programming text Unix Network Programming has been updated by 
author W. Richard Stevens to encompass three new volumes. There have been 
a few changes in the computing world since 1990 (the year the original was 
published), and Stevens has taken the opportunity to create a complete set of 
reference manuals for programmers of all skill levels. The first volume, Networking 
APIs: Sockets and XTI, covers everything you need to know to make your 
programs communicate over networks. Stevens covers everything from writing 
your programs to be compatible with both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) 
and IPv6, to raw sockets, routing sockets, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), 
broadcasting/multicasting, routing sockets, server internals, and more, plus 
a section covering Posix threads. Stevens also notes compatibility issues with 
different operating systems so that readers can create code that is more 
portable, and he offers plenty of advice on how to make code more robust. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/013490012X/netsecurity > 

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DNS AND BIND 

This book's early chapters give a view of DNS from high altitude, explaining 
basic concepts such as domains, name servers, and name resolution. From 
there, the authors proceed on a more practical tack, presenting specific 
instructions for setting up your own domain and DNS server using BIND. 
The authors then tell you what to do as your domain grows and you need 
to add more machines, subdomains, and greater throughput capacity. They 
also talk a lot about nslookup and C programming with the various DNS and 
BIND libraries. Administrators will find the chapter on BIND debugging output 
particularly helpful. Here, the authors translate BIND's mysterious error 
messages and offer specific strategies for fixing and optimizing the program. 
This edition covers BIND 8.1.2, but pays lots of attention to older versions 
that are still in wide use (4.8.3 and 4.9). The authors are careful to note 
differences among the versions. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565925122/netsecurity > 

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Security Software 
------------------- 

All programs are located at: 
http://net-security.org/various/software 

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SAINT VERSION 3.1 

SAINT (Security Administrator's Integrated Network Tool) is a security 
assessment tool based on SATAN. Features include scanning through a 
firewall, updated security checks from CERT & CIAC bulletins, 4 levels of 
severity (red, yellow, brown, & green) and a feature rich HTML interface. 
Changes: Check for folder traversal vulnerability in IIS 4.0 and 5.0, JRun 
server vulnerabilities, iPlanet Directory Server and Certificate Management 
System, hex-encoded dot-dot-slash vulnerability in web servers, dot-dot 
-slash vulnerability in Web+, and HTTP PUT vulnerabilities. This version 
has a new custom scan level, giving you more control over which probes 
SAINT will run. 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/973132818,56196,.shtml > 

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POWER CRYPTO 1.0 

PowerCrypto lets you type in, or paste in, messages for instant encryption. 
The encrypted nonsense text can then be copied into e-mails, as ordinary text. 
The receiver then copies this nonsense text into PowerCrypto and decrypts your 
secret message, IF and ONLY IF, he has your secret key. The program also 
handles all types of files; documents, programs, pictures, and music files, for 
example. 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/973043805,81111,.shtml > 

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COMPUTER SOUND SECURITY SYSTEM 1.04 

CSSS programme provides effective premises guarding by means of a microphone 
or several microphones, which act as sensors and a modem, which acts as a 
signaling (informing) device. The CSSS principle of action consists in microphone 
(microphones) survey on the scale of real time and highly intellectual analysis of 
coming signals on the basis of special algorithms based on the methods of speech 
cognition. Due to the flexible system of tooling the user is able to adjust the 
action of the programme himself in accordance with the specific requirements 
of the premises. The system can be adjusted for different frequency ranges 
and different levels of average total sound signals amount received from the 
microphone or all microphones in the system. So, it’s possible to adjust the 
system e.g. for human steps only (low frequency sound signals) i.e. the level 
will start rising considerably after the appearance of low frequency sound 
signals. 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/973043978,70494,.shtml > 

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OKIDOKI GUARD 1.1.2 (MACOS) 

Okidoki Guard is a simple program designed to password-protect your computer. 
After you put in your name and password, an icon will be placed in the startup 
folder. After you reboot your Mac, a password prompt screen will come up, 
asking for your password. 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/973044264,7082,.shtml > 

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STEALTH SIGNAL 3.8 

Stealth Signal is a laptop security system that specializes in providing peace of 
mind to you, the laptop owner. Stealth Signal equips your computer with an 
undetectable software-based transmitter that sends homing signals to our 
monitoring network. These signals are transmitted at random times over any 
Internet connection or phone line. 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/973044421,5870,.shtml > 

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Defaced archives 
------------------------ 

[01.11.2000] - Silverton Chamber of Commerce 
Original: http://www.silverton.org/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/01/www.silverton.org/ 

[01.11.2000] - Royal Jordainian Web Site 
Original: http://www.rja.com.jo/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/01/www.rja.com.jo/ 

[02.11.2000] - Governo do Estado da Paraiba 
Original: http://ntiserv1.saude.pb.gov.br/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/02/ntiserv1.saude.pb.gov.br/ 

[02.11.2000] - Cybernet 
Original: http://www.cybernetinc.net/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/02/www.cybernetinc.net/ 

[02.11.2000] - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee 
Original: http://www.aipac.org/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/02/www.aipac.org/ 

[02.11.2000] - SCM Labs, Inc. 
Original: http://www.scmlabs.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/02/www.scmlabs.com/ 

[02.11.2000] - SimTel Computers DBA 
Original: http://www.simtelcomputers.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/02/www.simtelcomputers.com/ 

[03.11.2000] - Jewish Bible Association 
Original: http://www.jewishbible.org/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.jewishbible.org/ 

[03.11.2000] - Yizrael Valley College (Mihlelet Emek Yizrael) 
Original: http://www.yvc.ac.il/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.yvc.ac.il/ 

[03.11.2000] - Quantum Computer Services 
Original: http://www.myownemail.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.myownemail.com/ 

[03.11.2000] - the hehe.com e-mail service 
Original: http://www.hehe.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.hehe.com/ 

[03.11.2000] - Visiting Israel Students Association 
Original: http://www.visa.org.il/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.visa.org.il/ 

[03.11.2000] - Health Infosystems Association, Israel 
Original: http://www.healthinfonet.co.il/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/11/03/www.healthinfonet.co.il/ 

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staff@net-security.org 
http://net-security.org