Sunday, August 13, 2006

Weekend Reads

Hiding sensitive data in Windows metadata repository

It’s a week past DefCon, but there’s still one presentation that I wanted to post about. It was one of the late ones, where one feels tired and exhausted, but the content was worth sticking for. Irby Thompson and Mathew Monroe from Lockheed Martin came with exploit and data hiding techniques, that would allow a Windows user to instantly increase available storage. For free.

Read the article HERE.

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cDc Release Automated Malware Analyzer

CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc), a prominent technology activist group, proudly announces a new application designed to collect, analyze, and ultimately help defeat malicious software (malware). Accessible via OffensiveComputing.net, the application gives programmers and end-users free access to a library of over 31,000 hostile software files, including viruses, rootkits, spybots, worms, etc. Users can upload an unknown or suspicious file into the library, request a match, and instantly obtain information on the malicious file, including an analysis of how it operates.

Read the original article HERE.

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Blocking peer-to-peer applications
Peer-to-peer applications, also known as file-sharing applications, are a huge threat to security both in corporations and in the home. There are dozens of different types of file-sharing applications available, but most of them have some things in common. The basic premise is that they allow users to share a portion of their hard disk, and at the same time, they give users access to the shared hard drives of others who are running the software.


Although millions of people use peer-to-peer applications, don't for a moment think these apps are above suspicion. They pose some very serious threats to your organization's security. Here are some of those threats:

Read the entire article HERE.

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Windows defense handcuffs good guys
A protective feature in Windows is locking out the good guys, but letting in a lot of bad guys, according to security software makers.


Microsoft designed PatchGuard to safeguard core parts of Windows, including Vista, against malicious code attacks. But some security companies say that the feature makes it harder for them to protect Windows PCs, as it locks them out of the kernel, the core of the operating system.

Read the entire article HERE.

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Defcon 14 Wrapup

Security Fix is just now getting around to blogging about some of the other highlights from the Defcon hacker conference I attended this week in Las Vegas. I realized I never mentioned a Defcon talk from Friday given by Thomas X. Grasso, who's part of the FBI's National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance.

Perhaps the funniest and most engaging speaker I've heard from the likes of the FBI, Grasso gave a fantastic talk about what law enforcement really means when it says most cyber criminals running spam, spyware and virus attacks on the Internet today are really just organized crime groups whose turf is the Internet.

Read the article HERE.

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