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Vol. 12, #35 - Sep 10, 2007 - Issue #641
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Should Governments Be Allowed To Install Spyware?
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- Editor's Corner
- Should Governments Be Allowed To Install Spyware?
- Third Quarter Blowout Specials
- Upcoming Sunbelt/Double-Take Seminars
- Quotes Of The Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
- Tech Briefing
- Memory Leak Causes XP To Lock Up
- The 8 Most Dangerous Consumer Technologies
- Upgrading To SQL Server 2005: A Dozen Must-Have Tips
- CA Alert Service Vulnerable To Buffer Overflow
- Invalid Security Certificate Error With Outlook 07 And E2K7
- Windows Server News
- Redmond Releases New Virtual Machine Manager
- Making The Decision To Move To Windows Server 2008, Part 2
- Patch Tuesday Looks Light
- iPhone Or Blackberry?
- Whassup with WSUS?
- ISO Rejects Redmond's Open XML But Fat Lady Has Not Sung
- WServer Third Party News
- Will These Holes Ever Stop?
- Need To Discuss Active Directory With Your Peers?
- WServerNews Fave Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Reclaim up to 80% of your Exchange Store with ExchangeCompress
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Reclaim up to 80% of your Exchange Store with ExchangeCompress
Attachments can be consuming up to 90% of your Exchange Server mailbox
space. In addition many of the attachments are duplicated again and
again wasting gigabytes of space. You can try to impose quotas, but
you are subjected to endless phone calls when user's run out of space.
Now there is a better way! ExchangeCompress 2.0 allows you to control
the space used by attachments and reduce the size of your Exchange
mailboxes by up to 80%! ExchangeCompress 2.0 can separate attachments
as they come in with no impact to the user. Download a free trial at:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-ExchangeCompress
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Editor's Corner |
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Should Governments Be Allowed To Install Spyware?
The German government is floating a proposal to deploy spyware to
infect the computers of suspected terrorists and/or criminals. The
security community is still up in arms about the recent "anti-hacking"
law that essentially undermined legitimate security research in Germany.
Now the German Interior Ministry has been seeking support for a new
security law that would allow the German feds to cyberspy on cases
they think might work on terrorist attacks. And since this week's
terrorist attack that got foiled was executed by homegrown Islamist
radicals, (first names Fritz and Daniel) you can see why they would
want this.
On the other hand, putting a government sponsored Trojan on the PC
of a suspect goes straight into the teeth of privacy and is an
invasion by Big Brother. More over, what would be the situation when
outfits like us would find the trojan and be asked not to put it in
our threat database? Interesting situation don't you think? I'd like
your input on that and will report back next week on this.
Email me at: feedback@wservernews.com
PS: Make sure you read the item about Redmond's release of Virtual
Machine Manager!
Third Quarter Blowout Specials
Sunbelt sales are doing excellent. We're playing a game to get the
Q3 sales better than ever. So, here are the 'end-of-Q3-specials':
- Free Sunbelt Network Security Inspector (SNSI) for any order of
Ninja which is over $1,500. SNSI is an award-winning vulnerability
scanner that normally is $1,795 per admin, so this is a killer deal.
- If you buy CounterSpy Enterprise (and you -should-, it's a really
strong malware fighter with an exciting upgrade path) you get a free
client license for all your employees at home... PLUS a free copy of
Ninja Disclaimers with every order.
- And as a special bonus, anyone buying Double-Take also gets a free
copy of Ninja Disclaimers.
Upcoming Sunbelt/Double-Take Seminars
You are invited to the following seminars we are hosting:
Seminar: "Recovery Made Easy for Exchange, SQL, and other Critical
Applications" - Join Sunbelt and Double-Take Software as we discuss
strategies for implementing high availability, remote availability
and offsite disaster recovery solutions for SQL, Exchange and other
mission critical applications using Double-Take. You will also hear
about Double-Take's NEW solutions that power your keys to recoverability.
Hosted at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk in Jacksonville, FL on
Wednesday, September 12th. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Jacksonville-Seminar
Hosted at Microsoft in Dallas, TX on Wednesday, October 10th.
Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Dallas-Seminar
Quotes Of The Week
"The difference between salad and garbage is timing."
-- Dan Kennedy
"At Microsoft, quality is job SP1."
-- Book author John Hedtke
And thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber.
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Tech Briefing |
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Memory Leak Causes XP To Lock Up
If you have a program using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
running on your XP computer, you might get lock ups (unresponsiveness)
because of a memory leak that occurs when the RPC cache gets too big.
There is a hotfix for the problem, but you'll need to submit a request
to Microsoft Online Customer Services to get it. To find out more, see
KB article 890196 at
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-XP-Memory-Leak
The 8 Most Dangerous Consumer Technologies
Companies can't depend wholly on policy to maintain the level of security
they need ComputerWorld has a good story. High-tech consumer products and
services of all kinds are making their way into the workplace. They include
everything from smart phones, voice-over-IP systems and flash memory sticks
to virtual online worlds. And as people grow more accustomed to having their
own personal technology at their beck and call -- and in fact can't imagine
functioning without it -- the line between what they use for work and what
they use for recreation is blurring. In a recent survey of corporate users
by Yankee Group Research Inc., 86% of the respondents said they had used at
least one consumer technology in the workplace, for purposes related to both
innovation and productivity. Unfortunately, this trend poses problems for
IT organizations. For one thing, the use of these technologies increases
the risk of security breaches. Here are the 8 culprits:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Dangerous-Consumer-Technologies
Upgrading To SQL Server 2005: A Dozen Must-Have Tips
Upgrading to SQL Server 2005? In these tips, get information on backward
compatibility issues, the coexistence of SQL Server 2005 and 2000 on the
same machine, migrating with the Copy Database Wizard and more.
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-SQL-Server-2005-Upgrade
CA Alert Service Vulnerable To Buffer Overflow
Russ Cooper reported in Security Watch that numerous CA products include
the company's Alert Service, which has been discovered to be vulnerable
to several attacks via the SMB protocol. Such attacks would typically occur
via TCP 445 or TCP 139. An attack could yield the criminal access to the
victim system in the security context of SYSTEM.
On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems, an attacker would have to
have authenticated to the victim system's RPC environment. Windows 2000
can be attacked by an unauthenticated criminal. In any event, the RPC
interfaces should not be available outside of the security perimeter, so
attacks will likely come from internal systems only. This vulnerability is
similar to previous vulnerabilities in Symantec's anti-virus products
which ultimately led to attacks. The most likely scenario is that a
roving user becomes infected while outside the security perimeter, and
then brings the infected system back into your organization where it
proceeds to attack other systems. Be prepared to segment your network
and identify attacking systems should an attack in the wild occur.
Patches are available at:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-CA-Alert-Vulnerability
Russ Cooper is a senior information security analyst with Verizon Business.
He's also founder and editor of NTBugtraq http://www.ntbugtraq.com, one
of the industry's most influential mailing lists dedicated to MS security.
Invalid Security Certificate Error With Outlook 07 And E2K7
When Microsoft Outlook 2007 users connect to an Exchange 2007 server,
they may experience the error: The name of the security certificate is
invalid or does not match the name of the site. Find out the cause of
this problem and how to fix it in this tip.
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Certificate-Error
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Windows Server News |
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Redmond Releases New Virtual Machine Manager
Redmond is 'only number two' in the virtualization space, so it needs 'to
work harder'. Well, here is something very cool. This week they RTMed a
new tool called System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007. It allows
you a single and simultaneous view of both your physical and virtual
machines. And as most of you already know, deploying virtual machines
without the proper management tools can quickly turn into major confusion.
Redmond has been working on System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007
(SCVMM or VMM for short) for about 18 months and it has been RTMed now.
You can get your hands on it in October, and it is part of Redmond's
System Server Management Center.
VMM was built using the same architecture as DPM, Ops Manager and Config
Manager. You can use VMM to control virtual machines if you run Microsoft
Virtual Server 2005 R2. Microsoft tweaked its licensing model for its
for its System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise. It's now $860
per host server, and that includes any number of instances of virtual
software, and two years of Software Assurance.
Now, here is the answer to the question that was sitting there itching
in the back of you head. Yes, Microsoft also plans a next version of
VMM so that it not only supports Windows virtualization but also VMware
and XenSource Inc. w00t! A beta of that version is expected in Q1, '08.
I also hear about a rumor that VMM allows you to convert machines running
VMWare to Microsoft format, but have not been able to confirm that at
deadline. More at the Microsoft site about VMM:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-VMM
Making The Decision To Move To Windows Server 2008, Part 2
PowerShell and virtualization are two of the reasons that make good business
sense when thinking about migrating to Windows Server 2008. Some features in
Microsoft's newest OS can boost productivity and save money. This expert tip
reviews File System Improvement, PowerShell, Windows Hardware Error
Architecture and virtualization.
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Windows-Server-2008
Patch Tuesday Looks Light
Redmond's Patch Tuesday looks to be on the light side this September.
There are just five patches. One of these is labeled "Critical" and
four are rated "Important". The single critical issue, similar to
earlier ones, has a potential remote code execution (RCE) risk. You
can fix the problem though with a reboot and sweep the system with
Baseline Security Analyzer to see if that box even needs an update.
Microsoft will also release a new version of Windows Malicious Software
Removal tool, and is rolling out one high-priority, non-security
update on Microsoft Update and nothing for Windows Update.
iPhone Or Blackberry?
I asked our IT dept how they hooked up the iPhone to Exchange. The answer
I got back was surprising. Here goes: "It's really easy. The reason why
we could not hook up our Controller resulted from me being stupid. I had
all the settings on her phone correct but it just wouldn't work right.
Then I finally remembered that she wasn't previously set up as a VPN user
so she didn't have all of the necessary permissions needed to access our
Exchange server (everyone else I had helped set up were already in the
VPN Users group). Once I got the perms set up right, it worked like a champ.
"Now, if you're thinking about getting one, the major caveat is it's not
"push" email like a blackberry. It checks every 15 minutes when the
phone is turned on. If you're remote (i.e. not directly connected to our
network via Wi-Fi), you need to connect over the VPN to be able to check
email. A lot of times when the phone goes to sleep, it might still tell
you that it's connected to the VPN, but it really loses that VPN
connection and you have to re-connect in order to be able to retrieve
email - kind of like how a laptop works when it goes to sleep.
To me, it's not a huge hassle to use it that way but if you're used
to using a blackberry, it is different."
InfoWorld has picked seven serious business phones, and has a good
comparison here, including the BlackBerry 8800 and the Nokia E61i:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Business-Phones
Whassup with WSUS?
Considering a WSUS upgrade? You should. Greg Shields wrote a really
good article about this, with a lot of good ammo and reasons why.
It starts out like this:
"After what seemed like an eternity in beta, the long-awaited WSUS 3.0
upgrade finally made it to market in early May. The good news is this
full-point upgrade to Microsoft's patch-management system adds a host
of new and desirable features that were missing from previous versions.
Adding stability and scalability to an already fully functional, no-cost
tool further solidifies its place as an enterprise patch-management
solution.
"So what should you expect in this upgrade? First, Microsoft has
completely eliminated the much-maligned Web interface for configuring
WSUS and replaced it with a new interface based on Microsoft Management
Console (MMC) 3.0. This means that if you haven't upgraded your MMC,
you'll soon be upgrading it on your management workstation. You'll
also need to download and install Microsoft Report Viewer 2005,
because WSUS uses this tool for report generation.
More of this article at RedmondMag:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-WSUS
ISO Rejects Redmond's Open XML But Fat Lady Has Not Sung
Redmond lost round one this week one in their battle to gain ISO approval
of the Office Open XML file format (OOXML). But before you start wringing
your hands, or cackle with glee, remember it's still early in the game.
What the ISO members actually did it just said "NO" to the so called
'fast track' status for OOXML. Basically Redmond got told to wait in line
for its turn to be voted on via normal channels. Quite a few members
were positive about the concept of OOXML though. It's interesting to
see the marketing spin that all parties put on this. Everybody 'won'.
More about this in a blog over at InfoWorld:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-OOXML
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WServer Third Party News |
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Will These Holes Ever Stop?
SNSI uses the latest Mitre Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list
of computer incidents. It also contains the latest SANS/FBI top 20
vulnerability list. SNSI also uses the latest CERT, CIAC Microsoft and
FedCIRC (Department of Homeland Security) advisories.
New vulnerability updates for this release include:
W3165 Visual Studio 6 VDT70.dll ActiveX Vulnerability
W3081 Trend Micro ServerProtect Vulnerabilities
W2411 MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger Webcam Stream Vulnerability
W1835 Oracle Database Server Vulnerabilities (March 2003)
W1706 BIND 8 Cache Poisoning / End of Life
W0199 Oracle E-Business Suite 11 Diagnostics Vulnerability
N0068 Cisco IOS AAA Radius authentication bypass
L45 Po4a predictable /tmp name attack - FC
L53 Libvorbis header size and stream errors - FC
L55 Id3lib tempfile creation mkstemp error - FC
L56 Pam_SSH allow blank password bypass - FC
L58 Ipsec-Tools src/racoon/isakmp error - FC
L59 RPM showQueryPackage error - FC
L60 Sylpheed inc_put_error() function vulnerability - FC
L61 Star dot dot directory traversal error - FC
L62 Bugzilla multiple vulnerabilities - FC
L63 GDM NULL handling in g_strsplit ? MDV
S0489 ATA Disk Driver ioctl flaw - Solaris 8-10_x86
S0299 Oracle E-Business 11/11i / Sun Management Center - Solaris
M0006 BIND 8 Cache Poisoning / End of Life
Sunbelt Network Security Inspector version 1.6.76.0 was released September
5, 2007). Sunbelt Software recommends you download the new SNSI version
1.6.76.0 and scan and patch your machines today. To get the latest SNSI
version, visit:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-SNSI
Need To Discuss Active Directory With Your Peers?
Sunbelt Software hosts the Active Directory list to invite the free and
open discussion of Microsoft Active Directory Administration Issues:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-Communities
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WServerNews Fave Links |
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This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
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WServerNews - Product of the Week |
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Reclaim up to 80% of your Exchange Store with ExchangeCompress
Attachments can be consuming up to 90% of your Exchange Server mailbox
space. In addition many of the attachments are duplicated again and
again wasting gigabytes of space. You can try to impose quotas, but
you are subjected to endless phone calls when user's run out of space.
Now there is a better way! ExchangeCompress 2.0 allows you to control
the space used by attachments and reduce the size of your Exchange
mailboxes by up to 80%! ExchangeCompress 2.0 can separate attachments
as they come in with no impact to the user. Download a free trial at:
http://www.wservernews.com/070910-ExchangeCompress
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Email me: 