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Security Best Practices: Archive: August 2004 

Security Vendors Defend Themselves Against Blink

Which intrusion prevention system truly is the best? Executive Tech columnist Brian Livingston lets competing IPS vendors have their say.

Distribute This Denial of Service Checklist

No one wants to deal with a DDoS attack, but that's no excuse to slack off when it comes to preparing for one. Here are four things you should consider when it comes time to harden your network against attack.

DoJ Nabs 103 in Online Crime Sweep

Ashcroft says summer-long campaign known as Operation Web Snare reveals increasing internationalization of online crime.

Beware That WinAmp Skin

Zero-day exploit targets Nullsoft's WinAmp media player via the popular skinning feature.

How Not to Get 'Phished'

The FTC releases a helpful guide to avoid the lure of phishers.

FBI Sting Targets P2P Operation

DOJ launches first peer-to-peer criminal probe by targeting a network of Direct Connect users.

Feds Hit Alleged Spammers in Sting

The DOJ is set to announce several arrests and indictments against alleged spammers.

U.S. By Far Top Spam-Producing Country

After nine months of the Can-Spam Act, the United States is far and away the largest producer of spam, sending out nearly three times as much as the second-place country, South Korea.

Worm Uses Webcams to Spy on Users

A new variant of the Rbot worm has the ability to take over users' webcams and use them to spy on people in their offices and homes.

Symantec Nabs 64-bit Windows Virus

New 'proof-of-concept' virus targets 64-bit Windows workstations.

LogicLibrary Adds Security to J2EE/.NET Tools

Key new security specification support is added, along with some other goodies in the latest refresh of Logidex.

MS Releases XP SP2 App Testing Guide

Redmond offers more help to developers looking to test applications against the security-focused service pack.

A Day in the Life of a Spammer

Bulk e-mail providers are getting lumped into the same category as scammers and porn peddlers, says one marketer in this look at a scourge of the Internet.

Security Outsourcing to Soar

Enterprises will contract out 90 percent of security operations by 2010, Yankee Group predicts.

Spam, DoS Headed VoIP's Way

Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) and DoS attacks could make IP telephony as vulnerable as e-mail.

Wi-Foo Author on Unsecured Wireless Networks

One of the authors of the new book Wi-Foo: The Secrets of Wireless Hacking talks exclusively to eSecurityPlanet about just how unsecure most networks are and what needs to be done about it.

Phishers Are Getting Together

Free 'phishing kits' on the Web are making this scam easier than ever.

New Download.Ject Attack Hits IM Networks

Beware that unknown link in AIM and ICQ messages.

IE Drag-and-Drop Flaw Warning

Researchers warn that fully patched Internet Explorer users remain at risk of PC takeover attacks.

Is IT Winning Battle Against Spam?

About two in five companies report that they're winning their battle against spam. And one analyst says it's a battle that companies will be increasingly winning.

OpenVMS Gets a Case of the DT's

Legacy OS carves a niche in disaster recovery.

Researcher Finds Flaws in XP SP2

German security firm finds weaknesses in the service pack's warning mechanism.

XP SP2 Warning List Released

Users should check MS list twice to avoid possible disruptions of third-party FTP programs, P2P applications and multimedia streaming software.

CA Strengthens Security Investment

The software company adds a service component to its hardware product and acquires spyware vendor.

XP SP2 Delivery Schedule Adjusted

Enterprise customers ask for more time to prepare for SP2 via Automatic Update.

The Big Blackout, a Year Later

A year ago, the power went out over much of the Northeast. Are enterprises now true believers in disaster recovery and business continuity planning, or are they still in the dark?

Sue a Spoofer Today

ISIPP uses trademark laws to fight domain name spoofing.

Symantec Says Don't Leave Security Patches to Chance

As viruses, worms and other threats continue to abound, it seems there's a new patch released in the time it takes to say 'vulnerability.' To automate the patch management process, Symantec today announced a new version of ON iPatch.

More Trouble for Flawed CVS

Vulnerabilities in popular open source code management tool deeper than first publicly revealed.

Postini Beefs Up Perimeter Defenses

The managed e-mail security firm shores up its spam-fighting service and adds 'blatant spam' blocking.

McAfee Deepens Security Reach

The company buys into risk-management arena with Foundstone acquisition.

Mosquito Trojan Bites Developer Back

In an attempt to copy protect its game Mosquito, Ojum embedded a Trojan Horse, uncovered this week by a number of anti-virus vendors. The Trojan dialer, however, not only affected illegitimate users of the game, but rightful players as well.

Phishing Scams Taking a Bite out of E-Commerce

A new survey shows that the fear of phishing scams and online fraud is undermining people's trust in the Internet and it's taking a big bite out of e-commerce.

Trojan Horse Attacking SmartPhones

Unlike last week's malware, which targeted Pocket PCs, this week's malicious code hit Symbian smartphones running an illegal version of the game Mosquitoes.

Microsoft XP SP2 Blog Watch

Reading between the bloglines gives a clearer picture of Microsoft's vision and plans for XP SP2.

Trolling For Anti-Phishing Laws

Which anti-phishing law is best?

Online Hazards Deterring Users

A Consumer Reports study evaluated Internet users' chief online security complaints and vigorously tested possible solutions.

Distribute This Denial of Service Checklist

No one wants to deal with a DDoS attack, but that's no excuse to slack off when it comes to preparing for one. Here are four things you should consider when it comes time to harden your network against attack.

Critical Bug Found in AOL's AIM

A specially crafted AIM away message could put users at risk of PC takeover.

Microsoft's XP SP2 Arrives

UPDATED: The security centric update is released to manufacturing. Now, the really hard part begins.

Trojan Horse Charges PDAs

UPDATED: First known backdoor attack on handhelds probably written by Russian virus coder.

Indictments Returned on $10M Hacking Scheme

Romanian hacker could get up to 90 years in jail for spearheading a crime ring that conspired to bilk Ingram Micro out of millions.

Spyware: Who Is Really Paying the Price?

What you need to know about spyware and why it's in your best interest to keep it off the network.

Mozilla: Dollars for Security Bugs

The open source browser project puts up a bounty for the discovery of 'critical' security flaws.

Defending IT in an Evolving Battlefield

The author of the new book, Defend IT talks to eSecurityPlanet about the on-going battle between hackers and security administrators. As the battle increases in intensity, what are IT's biggest hurdles, biggest fears and how is the battlefield changing?

America Online Acquires Mailblocks

UPDATED: Challenge/response technology gains more momentum, which may create headaches for marketers.

Three-in-One Virus Zapper Released

Microsoft's latest virus removal tool helps disinfect systems impacted by the recent Mydoom, Zindos and Doomjuice worm attacks.