CHEERS!!!
Wishing you all a safe, happy and prosperous New Year…
It’s time for that cheesy classic… 
Do People Still Fall For This?
I still regularly get communication like the one below from wives of presidents, sons of billionaires, daughters of a wealthy sheik, etc. and saying that with my help I can be an instant millionaire. The words in the message slightly vary, but the message is pretty much the same. This scam, commonly known as the “Nigerian Sam”, has been going on even before e-mail became widely widespread, but after all these years and after all the media exposure it has received, one would think folks would no longer fall for it and perhaps the scammers will change their tactics.
Well as illustrated in the e-mail below, and from the tons of similar e-mails I have received, it doesn’t look like the tactic have changed at all. I wonder if people still fall for them, since nothing changed on the bad guys side.
Semi-hiatus
The past 2 weeks has been interestingly hectic. So hectic I barely have time to sit and put in an entry. In any case, I’m hoping to still be able to put in an entry here and there and hopefully I should be fully back in the fold by Jan. 2 next year.
Whatever the case maybe, I hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday Season and I wish you all the best for 2010.
CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Key Concepts and Other Definitions
Rainbow Series
The Rainbow Series (sometimes known as the Rainbow Books) is a series of computer security standards published by the United States government in the 1980s and 1990s. They were originally published by the U.S. Department of Defense Computer Security Center, and then by the National Computer Security Center.
These standards describe a process of evaluation for trusted systems. In some cases, U.S. government entities (as well as private firms) would require formal validation of computer technology using this process as part of their procurement criteria. Many of these standards have influenced, and have been superseded by, the Common Criteria. Read more
Yeah Boy! Yah Suck! – David Pogue | Microsoft
This week’s, Yeah Boy!!!
I don’t know if you’ve heard of David Pogue, New Technology Columnist for NyTimes.Com. His website is aptly named: DavidPogue.com. I first got turned on to him (no he did not turn me on 
) when he did the keynote for a marketing conference I attended in Las Vegas about 2 years ago. The man has proven that he had the gift for writing, the gift of gab, he delivers his stuff in a very down-to-earth and funny fashion (both in text and in speech) and as he demonstrated in that keynote speech, he got musical skills, too. He explained that Music was actually his major in college and becoming one of the most recognized and respected tech reviewer in the web today is quite a feat indeed. Read more
CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Session Hijacking
In computer science, session hijacking refers to the exploitation of a valid computer session—sometimes also called a session key—to gain unauthorized access to information or services in a computer system. In particular, it is used to refer to the theft of a magic cookie used to authenticate a user to a remote server. It has particular relevance to web developers, as the HTTP cookies used to maintain a session on many web sites can be easily stolen by an attacker using an intermediary computer or with access to the saved cookies on the victim’s computer (see HTTP cookie theft).
TCP session hijacking is when a hacker takes over a TCP session between two machines. Since most authentication only occurs at the start of a TCP session, this allows the hacker to gain access to a machine. Read more
Does Microsoft Even Care? Technet willing host of Spammers…
I was out of commission for the past two days, not because I was sick, but is simply loaded with other commitments and barely had any chance to pee… …
Anyway, an unavoidable facet of blogging or the Web 2.0 framework in general, wherein the web publisher allows their visitors to submit entries such as comments, is the fact that you will be dealing with a lot of spammers who will use every trick in the book to exploit your system. This blog is no exception. I do, however, care and try to monitor and try my best not to let spammers inundate this blog with useless crap.
It is a standard practice for all Web 2.0 systems developers to provide some form of spam protection in their system and it is wise for the users of these systems to utilize these protections in order for them to avoid getting their site inundated with junk and their mailbox with even more junk. Read more
CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Denial of Service Attack
A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person or people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely. Perpetrators of DoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks, credit card payment gateways, and even root nameservers.
One common method of attack involves saturating the target (victim) machine with external communications requests, such that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable. In general terms, DoS attacks are implemented by either forcing the targeted computer(s) to reset, or consuming its resources so that it can no longer provide its intended service or obstructing the communication media between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately. Read more
Monday DeMondaynizer – An Interesting Quote
You say this is a computer for ordinary people? Why would an ordinary person want a computer? – Hewlett Packard executive to Steve Wozniak regarding Apple prototype
——
Cheers to Your Monday… 
CISSP Exam Note (Domain 2: Telecommunications and Networking Security) – Classes of Network Abuse
Class A
- Unauthorized access through circumvention of security access controls
- Masquerading, logon abuse (primarily internal attacks)
Class B – non-business use of systems
Class C
- Eavesdropping
- Active: Tampering with a transmission to create a covert signaling channel or probing the network
- Passive – Covertly monitoring or listening to transmissions that is unauthorized
- Covert Channel – using a hidden unauthorized communication
- Tapping – refers to the physical interception of transmission medium (like splicing of cable) Read more
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Business Tech Press Releases- Advocacy Groups Embrace "Extreme Data Mining" to Prove Clout on Capitol Hill February 6, 2012
- AJRR Announces Launch of National Joint Replacement Registry Using Remedy Informatics' Next-Generation Registry Software February 6, 2012
- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Announces Investigation of JDA Software Group, Inc. February 6, 2012
- ZTE Honors Xilinx With '2011 Best Comprehensive' Performance Award For Outstanding Technical Support, Quality & Delivery February 6, 2012
- Express Scripts, Inc. Announces Pricing of $3.5 Billion Senior Notes Offering February 6, 2012
- From the National Vulnerability Database
- CVE-2011-4872 (desire_hd, desire_s, droid_incredible, evo_3d, evo_4g, glacier, sensation_4g, sen...) February 4, 2012Multiple HTC Android devices including Desire HD FRG83D and GRI40, Glacier FRG83, Droid Incredible FRF91, Thunderbolt 4G FRG83D, Sensation Z710e GRI40, Sensation 4G GRI40, Desire S GRI40, EVO 3D GRI40, and EVO 4G GRI40 allow remote attackers to obtain 802.1X Wi-Fi credentials and SSID via a crafted application that uses the android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STA […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4512 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012CRLF injection vulnerability in the HMI web server in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before SP3; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal) before SP2 Update 1; the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HT […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4879 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012miniweb.exe in the HMI web server in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before SP3; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal) before SP2 Update 1; the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime does not properly handle URIs beginning with a 0xfa character, which allows remote attac […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4514 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012The TELNET daemon in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal); the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime does not perform authentication, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access via a TCP session. […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4510 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the HMI web server in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before SP3; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal) before SP2 Update 1; the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or H […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4878 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012Directory traversal vulnerability in miniweb.exe in the HMI web server in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before SP3; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal) before SP2 Update 1; the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4877 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012HmiLoad in the runtime loader in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal); the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime, when Transfer Mode is enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) by sending crafted […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4513 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal); the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime allow user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted project file, related to the HMI web server and runtime loader. […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4876 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012Directory traversal vulnerability in HmiLoad in the runtime loader in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal); the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime, when Transfer Mode is enabled, allows remote attackers to execute, read, create, modi […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4511 (wincc_flexible, simatic_hmi_panels, wincc_runtime_advanced, wincc_flexible_runtime) February 2, 2012Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the HMI web server in Siemens WinCC flexible 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before SP3; WinCC V11 (aka TIA portal) before SP2 Update 1; the TP, OP, MP, Comfort Panels, and Mobile Panels SIMATIC HMI panels; WinCC V11 Runtime Advanced; and WinCC flexible Runtime allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or H […]nvd@nist.gov
- CVE-2011-4872 (desire_hd, desire_s, droid_incredible, evo_3d, evo_4g, glacier, sensation_4g, sen...) February 4, 2012