`Hacker War' about to break out on INTERNET

Sounds like sci fi!

Does anyone know more about this?

I believe you are safe if you have windows 98 and XP.

The Financial Times experienced promblems with their computer,hence problems with getting copies out.

Hmmm ... what next?

I have XP. I hope you're right!

SO DO I!

First shots fired yesterday. Many large-scale businesses as well as media news reporting stations were affected in the US. It's all Bill Gates' fault. He let it slip that there's a chink in the Windows 2000 firewall. It was bound to be exploited immediately.

Silly Bill Gates! Thanks a lot!

It is not a problem for those that ran last week's updates for Windows 2000. XP is OK

SOME PEOPLE, ITS SEEMS HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN CREAT VIRUSES THAT TACKER UP OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS!

"Tacker"?

def.... one who tacks
:wink:

Smartarse?










Definition: Arse that's gonna smart when I get finished with it.

Not exactly. First, there is no Windows 2000 Firewall. The current round of worms exploits a vulnerabilty found only win Win2K's "PlugandPlay " service, a "feature" which expedites discovery, installation, and configuration of compliant peripherals.

Next, the "flaw" had been discovered in late July, by independent security solutions firms (as generally is the case), and details were provided to Microsoft, which then developed a counter to the flaw, announcing, on August 9, the reason for and availability of the relevant update, categorizing it as "Critical". The first worm variants configured to exploit the flaw in unpatched machines began circulating late night, early morning Aug 12/13. As frequently happens in such instances, a sort of race broke out among would-be evil doers; by Aug 15, there were many variants of the worm, perhaps as many as 2 dozen, several of which "competed" with their compatriots, disabling the rival version if found and installing themselves.

A major infection vector was laptop users who took unpatched machines home, away from their otherwise relatively secure, protected corporate network, using the machines overnight on what amount to comparatively unsecure personal web connections, then the next day connecting infected machines to the corporate network, thus "backdooring" the infection into the corporate network, which otherwise would have remained unaffected.

Despite the publicity this latest caper gained, by virtue of its having impacted the unpatched systems of several major media outlets, the spread of the worm variants actually was relatively minor, inhibited chiefly by the twin facts that it targeted Win2K, primarily a commercial operating system, not intended for general home use, and that IT departments are paying more attention to proper update and security proceedures. The exploit affected only unpatched machines, and did not come into wide distribution for nearly a week following announcement of the availability of the "Critical Update".

The fault is not Microsoft's; there are legions of miscreants out there, ranging from sophisticated, ingenious, resourceful, outright malicious hackers to clueless script kiddies, constantly looking for ways to inconvenience computer users. Newsgroups and IRC channels devoted to the pastime abound. Independent security and privacy firms, and Microsoft, constantly monitor these venues, trying to stay abrteast of the "state of the art" from the hacker's point of view. Security and privacy forums and newsgroups had been discussing the potential exploit at least as early as Aug 5th, which is when and how I learned of it (the immediate workaround, pending availability of a patch, was simply to disable the Plug and Play service on Win2K machines).

Rarely do the hackers and script kiddies come up with an attack method for which there is not already available apreventive patch or update. Security Bulletins and Update Notices are put out for a reason. Folks ignore them, or put off implementing them, at theirt own peril.

Of course, for some folks, its easier to blame Microsoft than to observe and practice proper computer and networking measures. Personally, I have no compunction against taking money from such folks in return for rescuing them from their own carelessness.

Great info. Thanks, Timber.

I wondered why the 2K version and why businesses wouldn't have updated to XP Pro. Didn't realize that 2K was the commercial version.

Thanks tko

Win XP Pro supercedes Win2K - offering greater stability and flexibility, wider peripheral and software compatibility, improved customization, and enhanced security and privacy features compared to previous Windows operating systems.

Many commercial users have stayed with Win2k - updating the operating system on hundreds of machines across a corporate network not only is an enormous undertaking, it is expensive. Smaller users often balk at the expense and hassle as well, and some are merely too lazy or careless to take the actions which would render themselves immune to many of the problems they incur and gripe about as a result of their own inaction. In fact, many commercial users still deploy Win NT4, or the even less-business-suitable Win 98, both of which long since reached the effective end of their service and support life. From time to time, I even come across users still deploying Win95 - generally, I thank those sorts for their interest, suggest a total upgrade, then quietly wander off as they begin ranting about expense and hassle and demanding an immediate quick-cheap-and-easy solution to their current self-inflicted problem.

The upcoming Windows operating system, formerly codenamed Longhorn, now in end-stage beta testing and officially named Vista, is due for general release in late 2006. It is intended to provide even greater stability and more robust security and privacy functionality than WinXP, which itself is a world ahead of previous Windows operating systems in such regard.

Still hard to imagine the giant corporations not upgrading. Might as well pay it up front rather than waiting to spend it in a crisis.

Will Vista be business or personal?

Vista will be the next Microsoft operating system, replacing Win XP and its variants. Eventually, Vista is planned to have Home, Pro, Server, and Media Center variants. The Home version, at least, and possibly the Pro variant, should start showing up pre-installed on new computers somewhere around the autum of next year, with retail release not far behind, though thats still a bit iffy; it all depends on how end-stage beta testing goes (though it seems to be going about as well as might be expected). Scheduling for other variants is less firm.

The word is that Microsoft will release a higher-priced, Enterprise version of Windows Vista sometime after its initial release in 2006. This version of the OS will include as yet undecided features, but it will be a step above the current Professional versions of Windows.

There's still a whole bunch undecided about Vista - which isn't a bit unusual at this stage of the game. Thats what beta testing is for. Some things are gone at with high hopes, but just never make it through the wring-out process. Of course, the wring-out process never catches all the stuff that shouldn't have made it through; why do you think its common to hear a technogeek say, "That's not a bug, its a feature - you just hafta know how to use it"