Net-Sec newsletter 
Issue 36 - 30.10.2000 
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: 
http://www.net-security.org/text/newsletter 

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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HELP NET SECURITY ANNIVERSARY 
We are proud to announce the second anniversary of HNS. In these 2 years 
the site has grown and with dedication and enthusiasm it became all we ever 
wanted it to be. This doesn't mean we are going to stop here, we'll keep on 
working to bring you even more updates in all the sections, as well as original 
content. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the visitors, 
contributors, affiliates and advertisers who have been with us these past 2 years 
and that have supported us, giving us the opportunity to make the site better 
day by day. If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions, please e-mail us, 
we would like to hear from you. 

HNS staff 
staff@net-security.org 
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General security news 
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VIRUS THREAT'S BAD AND GETTING WORSE - ICSA SURVEY 
The number of corporations infected by viruses this year has risen by 20 
percent, with the pace of infections accelerating rapidly, according to a report 
issued Monday by anti-virus consulting firm ICSA.net. Larry Bridwell, content 
security program manager for ICSA Labs, and a study co-author, said the 
company's 2000 report indicates the danger for corporate "virus disasters" is 
worse now than it has ever been in the six years that ISCA has been conducting 
its annual virus surveys. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.computeruser.com/news/00/10/24/news7.html 


SECURITY THROUGH OBSCURITY 
Is security through obscurity ever a useful way to protect your network, or 
does it just make things easier for corporate spies and hackers? This week in 
Unix Security, Carole Fennelly investigates who's benefiting from this security 
tactic. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-10-2000/swol-1013-unixsecurity.html 


US AND EUROPEAN HACKERS 
"U.S. hackers are basically proving things to themselves for ego. European 
hackers include a significant number of individuals motivated by political, religious, 
and cultural deeply held beliefs," said Gartner Group computer security analyst 
William Malik. Bob Sullivan did an article, in which he is talking about difference 
between European and US hackers (at least his point of view). 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2644086,00.html 


BAD SIGNS 
"Digital signatures are not signatures, and they will never fulfill their promise" - 
Bruce Schneier's opinion on The Standard. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,19485,00.html 


SDF PREPARES TO COMBAT CYBERTERRORISM 
Japan's Defense Agency (SDF) is set to develop computer systems to combat 
attempts by cyber attackers to disrupt the country's defense operation by 
breaking into key computer systems, sources said Monday. 
Link: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20001024b5.htm 


DANISH VIGILANTE 
CRN has a piece on Danish security company Vigilante and their product - 
SecureScan - which is an automated Internet security assessment service. 
Link: http://www.crn.com/sections/Upstart/Upstart.asp?RSID=CRN&ArticleID=20749 


FINAL VOTE ON SECRET SEARCHES BILL EXPECTED 
Urgent alert from DefendYourPrivacy.com's mailing list - "Two weeks ago we 
warned you about S. 2516, the Fugitive Apprehension Act of 2000, which would 
empower federal bureaucrats to subpoena your electronic records without a 
warrant. This bill has now been attached to another piece of legislation -- The 
Presidential Threat Protection Act (HR 3048) - and is expected to come up for 
a final vote on Wednesday or Thursday (October 24 or 25.)" 
Link: http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/20/2341243&mode=nested 


PROTECTING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 
The human rights body of the Organization of American States has approved a 
declaration that says the "consolidation and development of democracy depends 
on the very existence of freedom of expression." The OAS's Inter-American 
Commission on Human Rights calls the declaration, a "fundamental document 
for the defense of freedom within the inter-American system." 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://cipherwar.com/news/00/freedom_of_expression.htm 


'RUMOR' - SHARING AV UPDATES 
Next week, a Network Associates subsidiary, MyCIO.com, will formally roll out 
Rumor, a Napster-like file-sharing technology for managing antivirus updates. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/42/ns-18647.html 


MICROSOFT NETWORK TROJANED INTO 
Guardian Unlimited and some othr media outlets reportted that Hackers have 
broken into Microsoft's computer network and may have stolen blueprints to 
the latest versions of the company's Windows and Office software. And if you 
read the whole article you will come to the fact that attackers broken into the 
network by using simple trojan horse program with a bit of social engineering, 
so they were no hackers in this story. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,388816,00.html 


CYBERCRIME DRAFT 
European Committee On Crime Problems and Committee Of Experts On Crime 
In Cyber-Space in april released a paper for "Draft Convention On Cyber-Crime" 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/projets/cybercrime.htm 


MICROSOFT HACKED... NOT 
The Register - "MS hacked again - 'illuminati terrorists,' this time", 
IT-Analysis.com - "Microsoft domain falls foul to hacker terrorists" (I presume 
the first article on this story, as I bookmarked it yesterday, and today lot of 
online news sites have information on this "issue". So is Microsoft hacked? Not 
of course... Some reader sent a mail to IT-Analysis.com staff saying that he 
checked DNS record for Microsoft.com and that they were corrupted. By 
searching microsoft.com in whois lookup, you come to: 
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERRORISTS.NET 
MICROSOFT.COM 
So as you could see there was no hacking activity in this case, but just some 
tactics of creating subdomains similiar to the Microsoft's domain, so it could 
come out as part of search results. Do whois on Microsoft.com (just whois not 
a search like these 'journalists' did), and you will see that everything is fine 
with DNS records. 


ISLAMIC ATTACKERS CRASH ISRAELI WEB SITES 
Several Israeli Web sites containing the government's perspective on the 
Mideast conflict crashed after Islamic groups abroad jammed them with fake 
traffic. The cyberattack was the most intense since Israel's government 
launched its Internet sites several years ago, and opens a new front in Israel's 
confrontation with the Arab world. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2000/10/26/cyberwar/index.html 


BLACKHAT '00 SINGAPORE - GREG HOGLUND 
Conference video from Blackhat '00 Singapore - Advanced Buffer Overflow 
Techniques. This is a technical talk aimed at people who have already been 
exposed to buffer overflows and want to learn more. The talk assumes the 
audience has at least some knowledge of CPU's and Processes. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.securityfocus.com/media/71 


LINUX FIREWALL SURVEY PART 3 
In the final entry of a three-part series of firewall product reviews, Pawel 
Leszek looks at dedicated appliance firewalls based on Linux. "Fire and forget" 
is the main idea behind hardware firewall appliances like WatchGuard's Firebox 
II, the Raptor Firewall from Cobalt and Axent, the Phoenix Adaptive Firewall 
from Progressive Systems, and the T.Rex firewall appliance from Freemont 
Avenue Software. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-10/lw-10-fwproducts3.html 


0BLIVION 
Issue 8 of 0blivion, a monthly eZine dedicated to security, technology and 
internet issues, is out. 0blivion is released every month and is read by thousands 
around the world. So grab a copy today and get reading. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.0blivion.org 


GLOBAL HACKER AGREEMENT COULD AFFECT BUG HUNTERS 
The Council of Europe's Draft Convention on Cybercrime aims to foster a 
common international criminal policy that addresses offenses directed against 
computer systems, data or networks. The treaty is intended to encourage 
legislation around the world. More than 40 countries, including the United States, 
are participating in the treaty, which is set to be signed by December and 
adopted by the council's Committee of Ministers in early autumn 2001. The treaty 
could go too far by prohibiting tools commonly used by legitimate computer 
researchers to discover and fix software vulnerabilities, computer security 
experts say. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3314003.html 


YANKEES WEB SITE ATTACKED 
The team's official site, www.yankees.com, was temporarily closed early Friday. 
"There was a hacking incident. The Web site was temporarily shut down because 
of it," Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone said. "We have turned it over to the FBI 
and intend to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law." 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2000/10/27/hacker/index.html 


WAY BACK - WAZZU 
Surfing trough PSS, I found an article in Cheyenne security newsline from October 
1996 which pointed out that the September edition of Microsoft's Solution Provider 
CD contained a document infected with the WM.Wazzu virus. Old news, but it is 
interesting how Microsoft employees like viruses/trojans ;) 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi?url=http://packetstorm.securify.com/advisories/cheyenne/cheyenne.003 


DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR DATA IS SAFE? 
Brian Robison explains what companies need to do above and beyond the firewall 
level to ensure the protection and integrity of their information assets. This is an 
excellent non-technical article for the CTO or CIO trying to determine what kinds 
of safeguards need to be in place at their organization. 
Link: http://www.securityfocus.com/frames/?content=/templates/forum_message.html%3fforum=2%26head=3649%26id=3649 

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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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PHP INFO WWW SEARCH AND SERVER INFO GATHERING 
The phpinfo() function available from PHP versions gives out a _LOT_ of server 
information, directories things are installed in, versions etc. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972433288,21401,.shtml 


POSSIBLE SECURITY ISSUE IN NAV2001 ON WIN2K 
If you place a virus or other known malware in the c:\_RESTORE folder Norton 
Antivirus will not scan that folder in a "full-system" scan. This seems to be 
Symantec´s poor choice not to scan such files? However if you manually scan 
C:\_RESTORE NAV will find the infected file but won´t be able to delete, repair 
nor quarantine the file? This could lead a malicious user to drop files into the 
restore folder - there´re a few obvious ways to exploit this. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972433331,66345,.shtml 


ALLAIRE'S JRUN PROBLEMS WITH WEB-INF DIRECTORY 
A severe security flaw exists with Allaire's JRun 3.0 allowing an attacker to 
access WEB-INF directories on the JRun 3.0 server. The WEB-INF directory 
tree contains web application classes, pre-compiled JSP files, server side 
libraries, session information and files such as web.xml and webapp.properties. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972433386,31966,.shtml 


ALLAIRE JRUN 2.3 ARBITRARY FILE RETRIEVAL 
Multiple show code vulnerabilities exist in Allaire's JRUN Server 2.3 allowing an 
attacker to view the source code of any file within the web document root of 
the web server. Using the same vulnerability, it is also possible to retrieve 
arbitrary files that lie outside the web document root on the host operating 
system's file system. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972433407,34255,.shtml 


ALLAIRE JRUN 2.3 REMOTE COMMAND EXECUTION 
It is possible to compile and execute any arbitrary file within the web document 
root directory of the JRUN's web server as if it were a JSP file, even if the file 
type is not .jsp. If applications running on the JRUN 2.3 server write to files 
within the web document root directory, it is possible to insert executable code 
in the form of JSP tags and have the code compiled and executed using JRUN's 
handlers. This can potentially cause an attacker to gain administrative control 
of the underlying operating systems. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972433423,22015,.shtml 


MS - "SESSION ID COOKIE MARKING" BUG PATCHED 
Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in 
Microsoft Internet Information Server. The vulnerability could allow a malicious 
user to "hijack" another user's secure web session, under a very restricted set 
of circumstances. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972435493,54113,.shtml 


IIS UNICODE - '>' REDIRECT 
"I was having problems executing a command that contains a redirect (>) using 
any of the IIS Unicode exploits. In order to get some interesting tools on the 
victim, you would probably want to have the victim to FTP to the attacker. 
Problem without redirect is that you cannot build the FTP command file, and you 
are a bit stuck." 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972524142,79006,.shtml 


"VM FILE READING" VULNERABILITY PATCHED 
Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in the 
Microsoft virtual machine, that originally was discussed in Microsoft Security 
Bulletin MS00-011. Like the original vulnerability, the new variant could enable 
a malicious web site operator to read files from the computer of a person who 
visited his site or read web content from inside an intranet if the malicious site 
was visited by a computer from within that intranet. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972524163,7,.shtml 


SUN SECURITY BULLETIN - BROWSER CERTIFICATES 
Sun advises of a potential compromise of 2 specific security certificates which 
had limited distribution. Sun recommends that you follow the directions found at http://sunsolve5.sun.com/secbull/certificate_howto.html to determine if your 
web browser has accepted any of the potentially compromised certificates. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972524178,81366,.shtml 


HOTJAVA BROWSER 3.0 JAVASCRIPT BUG 
There is a security vulnerability in HotJava Browser 3.0 which allows accessing 
the DOM of arbitrary URLs after viewing a web page. This allows stealing of 
cookies. The problem is opening an javascript: URL in a named window, which 
allows accessing the DOM of the document in the named window. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972524196,6460,.shtml 


WINDOWS (ME) PRINTER SHARING VULNERABILITY 
"One of the new "features" of Windows ME that immediately caught my eye 
was that as soon as I got networking up and running it had gone ahead and 
created shortcuts to all visible network shares and installed all networked 
printers without even hassling me with one "are you sure" dialog. At first 
glance it appeared to be nothing more then an annoyance. Later I came to 
thinking that naturally host machines must keep a list of files needed to install 
their printer. What if we were to replace one of these files with a trojan? Or 
perhaps add a trojan onto this list of files?" 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972650098,62744,.shtml 


RED HAT - UPDATED SECURE WEB SERVER PACKAGES 
Security bugs in versions of Apache prior to 1.3.14 also affect Secure Web 
Server. A new release which incorporates 1.3.14 is now available. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694410,70614,.shtml 


SUSE LINUX - LOCAL ROOT COMPROMISE 
The ncurses library is used by many text/console based applications such as 
mail user agents, ftp clients and other command line utilities. A vulnerability has 
been found by Jouko Pynnönen in the screen handling functions: Insufficient 
boundary checking leads to a buffer overflow if a user supplies a specially 
drafted terminfo database file. If an ncurses-linked binary is installed setuid 
root, it is possible for a local attacker to exploit this hole and gain elevated 
privileges. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694424,49042,.shtml 


NETBSD - REMOTE EXECUTION OF SHELL COMMANDS 
When using the CGI interface of the Global v3.55 package, it's possible to 
execute random commands. The exploit of this is possible due to insufficient 
handling of quoted or escaped characters in this version, and command line 
arguments that are then handed off to shell commands. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694452,89982,.shtml 


NETBSD - POSSIBLE REMOTE ROOT COMPROMISE 
The cfd daemon in GNU CFEngine contains several format string vulnerabilities 
in syslog() calls. This could permit remote hosts to inject the network daemon 
with a message causing a segmentation fault. As cfd is almost always run as 
root due to its nature (centralized configuration management), this could lead 
to a root compromise. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694471,61555,.shtml 


PROBLEMS WITH CISCO VCO/4000 SNMP 
If an attacker knows the read-only community string of a VCO/4K, then they 
can obtain a list of users and their obfuscated passwords. The obfuscation 
can be easily reversed, allowing an attacker to obtain additional privileges 
on the VCO/4K. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694517,63881,.shtml 


REMOTE AND LOCAL VULNERABILITIES IN PAM_MYSQL 
pam_mysql is a pluggable authentication module to allow user authentication 
against mysql databases. The module constructs SQL statements using user 
input (username and password) without escaping it. This leads to trivial 
attacks that can result in the exposure of plaintext passwords/hashes to 
remote unauthorized login. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694530,83265,.shtml 


CISCO CATALYST REMOTE COMMAND EXECUTION 
Cisco Catalyst 3500 XL series switches have a webserver configuration interface. 
This interface lets any anonymous web user execute any command without 
supplying any authentication credentials by simply requesting the /exec 
location from the webserver. 
Link: http://www.net-security.org/text/bugs/972694543,5289,.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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BETRUSTED CHOSEN BY NCIPHER TO GUARD ITS EMAIL - [25.10.2000] 

beTRUSTed(sm), the PricewaterhouseCoopers unit that offers trust services 
for Internet transactions, has been chosen by leading Internet security 
company nCipher to help provide its employees with secure email and 
authenticated network access. nCipher will use beTRUSTed digital certificates 
to ensure the security of its electronic transactions - nCipher is itself a leading 
developer of high performance hardware security products for e-commerce and 
public key infrastructure (PKI) applications. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972432017,44785,.shtml > 

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SECOND G-8 CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY - [26.10.2000] 

Symantec Corp., a world leader in Internet security technology, 
today announced it has again been invited to join the U.S. delegation at the G-8 
Government/Industry Workshop on Safety and Confidence in Cyberspace, to be 
held Oct. 24 through 26 in Berlin. Ron Moritz, senior vice president and chief 
technical officer at Symantec, will serve as one of only seven U.S. industry 
delegates to the conference. The G-8 conference offers a unique opportunity 
for international government and private sector representatives to meet to 
discuss ways to combat computer crime. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972432224,44203,.shtml > 

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POINT-AND-CLICK PKI-BASED SIGITAL SIGNATURES - [26.10.2000] 

E-business security leader Cylink Corporation today announced plans to 
bundle E-Lock Technologies' digital signature solution with Cylink's public 
key infrastructure (PKI) to provide a seamless point-and-click solution for 
securing electronic documents. Together, the solutions will enable healthcare 
providers, financial institutions and other organizations that handle sensitive 
electronic documents such as patient records and loan applications to 
maintain the highest levels of data confidentiality and dramatically streamline 
document processing 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972515023,50852,.shtml > 

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SMART WATCH TOP RATED IN SC MAGAZINE - [26.10.2000] 

WetStone Technologies is pleased to announce that SMART Watch, the 
company's premier product offering, earned a perfect 5 star rating from SC 
Magazine's product review team this October. SMART Watch is a Preemptive 
Hacker Defense Tool and host based intrusion detection system that detects 
when key “Watched” Files or Directories have been maliciously or accidentally 
altered. 

Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972523152,24040,.shtml > 

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NORTON ANTIVIRUS FOR MACINTOSH RELEASED - [26.10.2000] 

Symantec Corporation, today announced the latest versions of Norton 
Utilities for Macintosh and Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh. Norton Utilities 
for Macintosh 6.0 helps customers optimize performance and easily solve 
problems, such as disk errors, lost or accidentally erased data, or fragmented 
files. Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 7.0 detects and repairs infected files to 
keep personal data safe and secure. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972523671,14261,.shtml > 

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PRIVACY CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED BY ZKS - [27.10.2000] 

Zero-Knowledge Systems, the leading developer of privacy solutions for 
consumers and companies, today announced the first annual "Privacy by 
Design: The Future of Privacy Compliance and Business" conference, sponsored 
by Royal Bank Financial Group, IBM, Merrill Lynch, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. 
Bringing world-class privacy experts together with companies implementing privacy 
practices and solutions, the conference will be held at Le Chateau Montebello, 
Quebec from November 19 to 21, 2000. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972648319,95401,.shtml > 

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VPN SECURITY FOR FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT - [27.10.2000] 

V-ONE Corporation (Nasdaq:VONE), a leading provider of Virtual Private 
Networks (VPN), today announced it has been selected by Louisiana State 
University (LSU) and their subcontractor, Science Applications International 
Corporation (SAIC) to provide security for Law Enforcement Online (LEO), the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) project which established the nation's 
first-ever communications mechanism to link all levels of law enforcement across 
the country 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972648475,5255,.shtml > 

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SPHINX FIREWALL SOLUTION FROM BIODATA - [31.10.2000] 

Biodata Information Technology, global leader in network and communications 
security, is recommending that home PC users as well as large corporations take 
further steps to protect their internal network or personal PC's connected to the 
Internet through `always on' cable, T1 or DSL connections. The announcement 
comes as attackers based in St. Petersburg, Russia, successfully employed an 
attack on Microsoft's network - stealing source code to the company's Windows 
operating system and Office software suite. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972960020,30864,.shtml > 

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PANEL DISCUSSION ON CYBERCRIME - [31.10.2000] 

Symantec Corp., a world leader in Internet security, today announced Ron 
Moritz, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Symantec, has 
been invited to participate as a panel speaker at the Software Development 
Conference & Expo (SD 2000), to be held Oct. 29 - Nov. 2, at the Washington 
Convention Center in Washington D.C 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972960112,41653,.shtml > 

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E-SECURITY EXECUTIVE BREAKFAST SERIES - [31.10.2000] 

AXENT Technologies, Inc., one of the world's leading Internet security 
solutions providers for e-business, which recently entered into a definitive 
merger agreement with Symantec Corporation, today announced their sponsorship 
of AXENT's Executive Breakfast Series for CXOs, senior level VPs, and senior 
management of Fortune 1000 companies. The series will feature Scott Charney, 
former Department of Justice chief of computer crime division, who will engage 
attendees by discussing his cyber-crime experiences and will offer a vision for 
executives on how to effectively minimize their e-business security risks. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972960272,57108,.shtml > 

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TRIPWIRE LINUX EDITION NOW AVAILABLE - [31.10.2000] 

Tripwire, Inc., the leading provider of data and network integrity solutions, today 
announced the availability of its Open Source product for the Linux operating 
system. Delivering on the commitment made earlier this year, Tripwire Open Source, 
Linux Edition is hosted on VA Linux Systems' SourceForge, the world's largest Open 
Source development center. The software is also included on the recently 
announced Red Hat Linux 7 Open Source Operating System. Tripwire Open Source, 
Linux Edition will continue to be integrated into other Linux solutions. 


Press release: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/press/972960761,34362,.shtml > 

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Featured articles 
----------------- 

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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BEWARE THE PIF! - A DANGEROUS MONSTER CAN HIDE BENEATH HARMLESS FILES 

Kaspersky Lab, an international anti-virus software development company, 
considers it necessary to draw users' attention to a threat that programs 
with PIF extension can pose to the normal operating of personal computers 
and corporate networks. Because of the lack of awareness of this problem 
Kaspersky Lab has began to receive numerous reports of virus infections 
caused by this type of malicious program. 

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

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VIRUSES: THEN AND NOW by Randy M. Nash 

Computer viruses and the people who engineer them have grown smarter and 
more devious as technology has grown. Early computer viruses would attach 
themselves to executable files (either .COM or .EXE), or would infect diskettes 
and hard drives. They were silent, irritating, and sometimes devastating. They 
were commonly passed via floppy diskette when sharing files between one 
computer and another. They had such names as Stoned and Anti.Exe. That 
was then. 

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

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THE HISTORY OF ZERO KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS by Jordan Socran 

Austin & Hamnett Hill - the brothers behind Zero-Knowledge Systems, were 
involved with the Internet at a very young age. At 21 Austin founded the ISP 
Infobahn Online Services with money from his father and a small group of 
investors. They soon called upon Hamnett, a 23 year-old reformed Deadhead 
studying accounting in Montana, to be CFO... 

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

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PASSWORDS - THE WEAK LINK by Randy M. Nash 

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the security world, that weak 
link is the human element, and it manifests in the poor management of user 
passwords. As our society becomes increasingly wired we need to remember 
an increasingly large number of accounts, PINs, and passwords. 

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

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ONLINE SECURITY: WHAT'S YOUR APPROACH? by Randy M. Nash 

In the rush to get online, many companies consider security as an afterthought. 
The hurry to develop an online presence causes them to overlook the obvious... 
they could be compromised. Many companies are willing to accept this. They 
consider themselves too "low profile" to be at risk. The reality is, you don't have 
to be an e-Bay, Yahoo, or e-Trade to get attacked. Systems are compromised 
for several reasons. 

Read more: 
< http://www.net-security.org/text/articles/approach.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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LINUX KERNEL INTERNALS 

This book is written for anybody who wants to learn more about Linux. It 
explains the inner mechanisms of Linux from process scheduling to memory 
management and file systems, and will tell you all you need to know about 
the structure of the kernel, the heart of the Linux operating system. 
CD-ROM included. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201331438/netsecurity > 

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EXAM CRAM CCNP ROUTING (EXAM CRAM) 

The book sports some of the snappiest writing ever to grace an Exam Cram book 
which is good, because routing concepts are tricky little devils that you just can't 
memorize. You need to internalize how each of the various protocols works, and 
not just snarf down some list of functions. The explanations for the reason that 
each protocol (RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP) was developed and how it's implemented 
are well written and concise. The occasional spot illustration helps flesh out your 
knowledge of how routers share information under each protocol. If you've been 
a trifle unclear on what the precise differences are between the various routing 
approaches, this is where all will be revealed. Later sections of the book deal 
with traffic management and routing updates, and do it well, mixing a bit of 
real-world experience with lectures to give a well-rounded approach. Sadly, 
information on actual router configuration is fairly spotty, so probably you'll 
want to write down some additional cheat sheets for the actual configuration 
commands. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576106330/netsecurity > 

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MICROSOFT WINDOWS ME SECRETS 

For nearly a decade, Brian Livingston and Davis Straub have been tracking down 
the shortcuts, fixes, and workarounds that let you get more done - and have 
more fun - with Microsoft Windows. From streamlining Internet access to 
tweaking the Registry, their latest guide delivers hundreds of Windows Me 
secrets that will take your productivity to a new level. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764534939/netsecurity > 

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THE NEW HACKER'S DICTIONARY 

This third edition of the tremendously popular Hacker's Dictionary adds 100 new 
entries and updates 200 entries. In case you aren't familiar with it, this is no 
snoozer dictionary of technical terms, although you'll certainly find accurate 
definitions for most techie jargon. It's the slang and secret language among 
computer jocks that offers the most fun. Don't know what the Infinite-Monkey 
Theorem is? Or the meaning of "rat dance?" It's all here. Most people don't sit 
down to read dictionaries for entertainment, but this is surely an exception. 

Book: 
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262680920/netsecurity > 

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

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

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FWLOGWATCH 0.0.22 

fwlogwatch 0.0.22 is a RUS-CERT (Universitat Stuttgart Computer Emergency 
Response Team) project to build an ipchains packet filter log analyzer with 
text and html summary output, interactive incident report generator, and 
realtime anomaly response capability 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/972384323,89827,.shtml > 

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ETHEREAL 0.8.13 

Ethereal is a free network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It allows 
you to examine data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. You 
can interactively browse the capture data, viewing summary and detail information 
for each packet. Ethereal has several powerful features, including a rich display 
filter language and the ability to view the reconstructed stream of a TCP session 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/972687117,59532,.shtml > 

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MIMEDEFANG V.0.5 

With the proliferation of e-mail trojans and viruses, e-mail is becoming a preferred 
mechanism for attacking PC's. The best way to avoid these trojans and viruses is 
not to use any insecure client software on your PC (especially software from 
Microsoft, which is notorious for security problems.) Use Linux as your operating 
system and one of many excellent e-mail packages as your mail client 

Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/972729772,36460,.shtml > 

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TRIPWIRE 2.3.47 

Tripwire is a very popular file integrity checker which saves checksums of 
selected files in a database. Any changes to these files are flagged and logged, 
including those that were added or deleted, with optional email / pager reporting. 
Databases and reports are cryptographically signed. 


Link: 
< http://net-security.org/various/software/972961108,21294,.shtml > 

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

[23.10.2000] - North Eastern Wisconsin Linux Users Group 
Original: http://www.newlug.org/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/23/www.newlug.org/ 

[24.10.2000] - Easy (YU) 
Original: http://www.easy.co.yu/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/24/www.easy.co.yu/ 

[24.10.2000] - Philippine Air Force 
Original: http://paf.mil.ph/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/24/paf.mil.ph/ 

[25.10.2000] - FSCIT Mil (SE) 
Original: http://www.fscit.mil.se/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/25/www.fscit.mil.se/ 

[25.10.2000] - FHS Mil (SE) 
Original: http://www.fhs.mil.se/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/25/www.fhs.mil.se/ 

[25.10.2000] - Honda Motor Company Singapore 
Original: http://www.honda.com.sg/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/25/www.honda.com.sg/ 

[25.10.2000] - Letterkenny Institute of Technology 
Original: http://dns2.lyit.ie/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/25/dns2.lyit.ie/ 

[26.10.2000] - Mercedes Benz 
Original: http://www.mercedes-benz.ca/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/26/www.mercedes-benz.ca/ 

[26.10.2000] - World Brokers 
Original: http://www.world-brokers.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/26/www.world-brokers.com/ 

[26.10.2000] - Leonardo DiCaprio 
Original: http://www.leonardodicaprio.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/26/www.leonardodicaprio.com/ 

[27.10.2000] - Atlas Security 
Original: http://www.atlassecurity.co.za/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/27/www.atlassecurity.co.za/ 

[27.10.2000] - Ford Motors, Brasil 
Original: http://www.ford.com.br/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/27/www.ford.com.br/ 

[27.10.2000] - Windows Guru 
Original: http://www.windowguru.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/27/www.windowguru.com/ 

[28.10.2000] - Governo Do Estado De Sao Paulo 
Original: http://www.araraquara.sp.gov.br/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/28/www.araraquara.sp.gov.br/ 

[28.10.2000] - AntiOnline 
Original: http://www.antionline.com/ 
Defaced: http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/10/28/www.antionline.com/ 

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