InfoSec News, March 11, 2009

Browser Security
(SC Magazine US) Firefox 3.07 update addresses multiple security issues
(H-online) Firefox: most vulnerabilities, but quickly patched
(Security Focus) Mozilla, Opera plug security holes

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Malware
(SC Magazine US) Conficker worm variant kills security processes
(H-online) Conficker modified for more mayhem

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Cyberwarfare
(ZDNet.com) Russia kinda-sorta owns up to Estonia cyberwar
(The Register) Russian politician: ‘My assistant started Estonian cyberwar’

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Patches
(The Register) Critical kernel fix stars in Patch Tuesday updates
(Computerworld) Microsoft patches ‘evil’ Windows kernel bug
(Computerworld) Microsoft patches Windows DNS, kernel flaws
(The Register) The long road to Adobe Reader and Flash security Nirvana
(Computerworld) Adobe patches zero-day PDF bug, mum on details
(Computerworld) Bad Symantec update leads to trouble
(H-online) Norton causes alarm and despondency

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Social Networking
(H-online) Twitter closes SMS spoofing hole – Updated
(H-online) Spam from compromised Twitter accounts

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Other InfoSec News
(SC Magazine US) Gartner: Data breaches hit 7.5 percent of all U.S. adults
(H-online) Version 3 of Microsoft’s Threat Modeling Tool released
(Computerworld) Gmail down; outage could last 36 hours for some
(H-online) Windows Defender: False alarm triggered by hosts file
(The Register) Court rules airline secret security list is stupid
(Techworld) Security needs to be ‘baked in’ say experts
(GCN) Securing cyberspace requires a new attitude
(Stuff.co.nz) Student wiped data worth thousands
(The Register) Feds file new felonies against alleged Palin hacker

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Tips
(Computerworld) Biometrics: three tips for success

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Webcasts
(LogLogic) Unleashing your log power to do more with less
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Time: 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST

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Whitepapers
(HID) Username and Password: A Dying Security Model
(Computerworld) Social Elements of Security Policy and Messaging

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Advertisement

Now its Firefox’s and Opera’s turn (Updated)

Firefox and Opera both patched their software this week after new critical vulnerabilities were found in both.

Firefox
Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2008-60
Security Focus BID

Opera Security Advisories
http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/921/
http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/924/
http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/920/
http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/923/

IE Bug Update
(Computerworld) Hackers exploit IE bug with ‘insidious’ Word docs – ActiveX control in Word file downloads malware to unpatched PCs, says McAfee

MS08-078 and the SDL – The MSDN blog has released an analysis of the recent zero day bug of IE. In the end, the author states, “I think this bug is a great example of ‘you will never get the code 100% right, so multiple defenses are critical.'”

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⌘+⇧+L and other useful OS X hidden features – Not Security related but I thought that some Mac heads might find this useful.

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(Security Park) 44 per cent of EU SMBs have been attacked by cyber criminals
Adobe Flash Player for Linux Security Bulletin and Update
(Heise Security) Keyloggers under the microscope – A team assembled by honeynet specialist Thorsten Holz from the University of Mannheim has published a case study of banking trojans, keyloggers and their dropzones. “Learning More About the Underground Economy: A Case-Study of Keyloggers and Dropzones” is available for download here.
(Security Park) Mobile Phone Security Tips

Mostly Browser News, Dec 16, 2008

A couple of news items regarding browser security have been cropping up these days, mostly about Internet Explorer vulnerabilities.

(Heise) Zero day exploit for Internet Explorer is spreading
(Heise) Internet Explorer 6 and 8 also affected by zero-day vulnerability
(SC Mag US) Internet Explorer zero-day infection rates grow
(SC Mag US) New zero-day Internet Explorer exploit uncovered

One of the ways this risk can be mitigated (aside from not using IE) is removing Admin rights. Beyondtrust gives a webinar on how to eliminate Admin rights using their Privilege Manger here. For typical SOHO users, just make a limited user account and as much as possible, try not to use your Admin account.

For people that aren’t paranoid enough surfing the web and having the appropriate controls while doing so, this article on Heise Security online talks about the Fiesta exploit pack (yes the name is correct) which costs $850 and contains 25 different exploits designed to infect users when they VISIT a webpage.

A different article on the same website talks about Chrome being at the bottom in terms of password management. I personally do not recommend allowing your browser to remember passwords. Google Chrome fans might want to check out the Iron Browser which is a more secure version of Chrome. Speaking of Chrome being the most insecure browser for password management… Google has released a browser security handbook which talks about the security features of browsers and issues that could lead to weaknesses. The current version of the handbook covers IE 6, IE 7, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Safari 3.2, Opera 9.62, Google Chrome 1.0.154.36 and the Android embedded browser.

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Other InfoSec News:
(Times Online UK Blog) This woman sent Nigerian scam artists $400,000 – a fool or a victim?
(Computerworld) Apple patches 21 Mac OS X Vulnerabilities
(BBC) Inmate escapes German jail in box
(Wall Street Journal March 10, 2008 article) NSA’s Domestic Spying
(SC Mag US) Forecast: Security threats for 2009
(SC Mag US) The five myths of two-factor authentication

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