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New Worm Installs Sniffer
fmorgan writes "Netcraft just posted a note saying that a new worm installs a network sniffer in the infected computers." When I read these things it kind of makes me wonder why it took this long. Update: 09/13 22:47 GMT by T :
More innovation: Ant writes "The Register has a story about a piece of malware that 'talks' to victims. The Amus email worm uses Windows Speech Engine (which is built-in to Windows XP) to deliver a curious message to infected users.
The message reads: "How are you. I am back. My name is mister hamsi. I am seeing you. Haaaaaaaa. You must come to turkiye. I am cleaning your computer. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. Gule. Gule." ("Gule. Gule" is Turkish for "Bye. Bye". "Hamsi" is a small fish, like an anchovy, found in the Black Sea).
F-Secure has a copy of the sound file generated by the message."
Network Propagation and Exploits
This worm takes advantage of the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) vulnerability present on Windows XP systems, which allows an attacker to gain full access and execute any code on a target machine, leaving it compromised. Read more on this vulnerability from the following link:
It also takes advantage of the Buffer Overflow in SQL Server 2000 vulnerability. Read more on this vulnerability from the following link:
This worm also exploits the IIS5/WEBDAV buffer overrun vulnerability affecting Windows NT platforms, which enables arbitrary codes to execute on the server. The following link offers more information from Microsoft about this vulnerability:
It also exploits the Windows LSASS vulnerability. This is a buffer overrun vulnerability that allows remote code execution. Once successfully exploited, a remote attacker is able to gain full control of the affected system. For more information about this vulnerability, refer to the following Microsoft Web site:
This worm spreads via network shares, using NetBEUI functions to get available lists of user names and passwords. It then searches for and lists down the following shared folders, where it drops a copy of itself using the gathered information:- Admin$\system32
- C$\windows\system32
- C$\winnt\system32
- Ipc$
Trend Micro reports that the worm runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. But notice that they report that the worm as not in the wild. So... where is it? Did they get a prerelease?As demonstrated at DEFCON with "The Wall of Sheep" (stupid name, cool idea) it seems that a lot of people who should know better still don't encrypt their password transmissions.
If you haven't already, it's time to get serious about encryption.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
If you have a proper switch, then sniffing should not be a problem, as the traffic on the network will not reach the infected computer (unless it is also a server). Sadly, I fear that alot of the consumer "switches" on the market do not do proper routing, and have insufficient mac routing tables.
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
If you delete everything on the machine, then the virus can't propagate. What would have to happen is the virus would have to have a delay, and then there is a risk that it will be discovered before the payload (deletion) takes place. Futher, I think most of the virus writers think of it more as a game, and don't really want to destroy data so much as see what they can accomplish. Would you rather destroy Rome or own it?
Seems like the uIP embedded TCP/IP stack would be ideal for this, as it is very small and portable. Also, it apparently already has been ported to and run on laptop keyboard microcontrollers. How about that kind of sniffer virus!
Yea, actually, a lot of the time the virus writers DO email them to the different antivirus companies. Having your virus added to the weekly virus definition files is part of their bragging rights.
Do you really think there are 55,000 viruses in the wild?
Yea yea, I worked for symantec for a couple of years.
This reminds me, I'm in the process of building a new pc and want to get the opinion of the shack collective on what is the best antivirus software.
Take your pick: *BSD, SuSE, Red Hat...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Why your switched network isn't secure.
Um ... I THINK that was an attempt at humour ... HACKED BY CHINESE was the tagline appearing on web servers infected with Code Red ... IIRC, that is.
You can beat keystroke loggers by entering your password a few letters at a time in random order, using the mouse to place the cursor at the correct location in the half-finished password. I don't think there's a keystroke logger that is able to work out where you clicked in the password entry box.
Cumbersome, but it's something I do on untrusted computers like the ones in web cafés.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
If you're using Linux, just run and look for the string "PROMISC".
If, however, you're using Windows, you need to get a utility called PromicDetect. Run it from a command prompt. If it indicates the Directed, Multicast and Broadcast filters are active, then you're probably OK.
Source: Computerworld
This sig is umop apisdn.