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LovSan Clone Let Loose
JMullins writes "According to Kaspersky Labs the LovSan virus has been re-released in a new form that has changed the appearance of the worm. It looks like the outbreak continues to get worse and worse, with no real end in sight until people can patch their systems. Net slowdowns are expected over the weekend when both versions of the virus start their attack."
Don't let the legislature get wind of this story.. They'll try to use it as justification to ban cloning.
I'm starting to feel left out.. Maybe I'll install Windows on a box and join the fun.
When the source is open, the possibilities are endless.
"Linux has its own problems. But you mod them -1 under the rug until the fsf site gets hax0red. troll but true. "
That was true like a year or two ago, but since this has come up I've been amazed at how things have changed here. It's not that it's turning pro-Microsoft, but the "Everything Linux does is perfect" attitude has settled back down to realistic levels.
I agree with you, though, Linux is a root password away from being ssh'd to hell.
"Derp de derp."
Actually, I'm wondered why the heck RPC service is allowed to be exposed to the internet interface in the first place. There is absolutely no good reason for Microsoft to design it this way. Sure, I could understand it being useful for corporate networks, but to leave it on and not allow you to turn it off is ridiculous.
This isn't so much about security as it is poor design on the part of microsoft leaving so many useless services exposed to the internet.
Those in the US north east and south east Canada.....
OK you'd have to be a cyber terrorism nut to believe the power blackouts were caused by the virus but some friends at Con-Ed have told me the virus isn't totally innocent, apparently the trouble ticketing / work management system some of the affected power companies are using is running on a load of windows servers and not all of them managed to get patched in time. So the recovery operation is being hampered a bit by the worm.
And I thought those guys were just exagerrating things.
SCO declares that it holds the copyrights to LoveSan and demands that all clones pay a $1500 licensing fee.
Microsoft have released a tool to scan your local network (or the whole net if u really wanted to).
Download
Network admins have fun.
Point taken, but badly stated. The FSF cracking incident was due to an application that runs on Linux, and does not ship with most Linux distributions--it has to be intentionally downloaded and installed.
So are we going to start adding all securities in third-party apps that run on Windows to the "Windows vulnerability" list? That's crazy.
Linux is a kernel, yes. But the fact that it's available in that form if that's all you want is an advantage, not a technicality. Try getting Windows without a GUI, or SMB.
This is getting extremely annoying - I'm still getting hits daily from Code Red & Nimda. I'd like to personally line up each person who hasn't patched thier system and slap them.
Along with the idiots at microsoft who don't make updates for IIS available though windowsupdate. (in my experience, ymmv.) C'mon, it's shipped with the OS, you've got automatic updates on by default, so make them patch the goddamn webserver.
> i saw the news about the second (and third) versions and i just wondered if these (all three) we just a distraction. i wonder how many people looked for an awfully obvious process and if they did't see it, well, that was the end of the story? somethings smells here.
I've always wondered whether someone planning a criminal break-in somewhere might not release a virus as a cover, so that the victim would shrug off any anomalies on their system as side effects of the virus, and think the virus fix was end-of-story.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Most common "problem" I have seen is that people do the following:
1)Get a computer, with OS and some software installed
2)Use the computer
3)If buy commercial software, install it, hitting OK every time it appears
4)If download arbitrary software from the net, install it, hitting OK every time it appears
5) If computer seems sluggish or something seems wrong, do one or more of the following:
- Go to the Program Files directory (of course it's Windows) and delete one or more directories containing programs you recall having installed recently
- Hunt around the hard disk and delete things that don't look right
- Buy software that supposedly fixes your system, and run it several times consecutively, choosing different options each time
- Reboot
- Re-install the operating system
6) Go to 2)This algorithm is run continuously for several years.
I always wondered if the anti-virus companies have some programmers in their payroll who work on developing viruses -- either to predict things before they hit, or to keep product updates coming and profitable.
The desktop world is ruled (by numbers, anyway) by Microsoft. Any potential malware s'kiddie can knock together some malware in a few hours, dump it into some unsuspecting newsgroup somewhere or email it to his Outlook-using mates and start an epidemic relatively easily. The sheer number of vulnerable machines makes that easy.
The installed base of Windows boxes also means that, despite MS not opening up their code to anyone (except governments and universities willing to sign away their first-born as insurance against breaking the NDA), large numbers of people spend vast tracts of time throwing McValue Meal-sized URLs at web-servers and mutant packets at RPC interfaces.
Lots of people x Lots of time x Lots of machines = lots of vulnerabilities found...
Now consider *nix. It has a number of advantages straight off the block:
- It's open source. Code that finds its way into the kernel goes through the best peer-review system available; public scrutiny.
- Generally, the people who run *nix are more tech-savvy than an average Joe Blow.
- Any vulnerabilities that are found get acknowledged and fixed very quickly.
But what would happen if *nix had the sort of desktop penetration that Windows does? How quickly would the kind of person that thinks a computer case is called a 'hard drive' apply a *nix security patch? If *nix was that popular, how many more people would devote vast tracts of time to finding obscure security holes and vulnerabilities?Just a thought. Now flame away ;)
Windows Tweaks
Well, to be honest, if it didn't sell, the media wouldn't report it that way. People LOVE catastrophe and doomsday predictions, for some odd reason.
On a similar not, I am witnessing tv hype disaster now. All the power is out in NY, and people have been calmly walking down the street to leave town. Others are "volunteering" to direct traffic, and people are obeying. People are out together in the street with candles, checking on neighbors, almost everyone is calm, even tho with the power out, getting news in was slow and difficult (like 9-11, but much milder). Sure, some will take advantage of the situation, but burglaries happen every night. On the whole, I am pleasantly surprised at how well organized it is, and how well its going so far. Its a success story on dealing, again.
Yet the news channels are TRYING to make it out to be worse than it is. They are saying how people are mad and want to know why this happened, but they can't SHOW someone saying that, they just report that its true. fox/cnn all the same.
The real irony is how calm everyone is, how they are seem to have a "oh well, can't help it, no reason to freak out" attitude even while the news reporters are almost trying to get them to.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!