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===================================================================== WINDOWS SECURITY DIGEST 1999 SERIES Watching the Watchers October 18, 1999 ===================================================================== SPONSORED BY VERISIGN - THE INTERNET TRUST COMPANY -- C O N T E N T S -- << WEB SITE NEWS >> * Got Attrition? * Packetstorm Security! * Spotlight: New Security Product Database * Spotlight: HotFix Hotlist << NT SECURITY RISKS >> * Excel Symbolic Links * JavaScript Redirect << IN THE NEWS >> * Wired for Warfair * Why Hacking Contests Are a Bad Idea * Melissa Varient Virus Discovered * NTFS for Windows 98 << FEATURE ARTICLES >> * Anatomy of an Intrusion * Getting the Drop on Network Intruders * State of Security 2000 * Fear, Uncertainty, and Doom * So You Want to Be a Cryptographer? << HOW TO >> * Motives and Methods: A Virus Tutorial Part 2 * C2 Compliance Check << NOTABLE HACK ATTACKS >> * George W. Bush Jr. Presidential Campaign Site Hello - You may have noticed that since the beginning of August, we have started making significant changes to our Web site, located at http://www.ntsecurity.net. Of course, the changes are designed to serve each of you better, and as such we're interested in learning what you think so far. Please feel free to drop me a line with any comments you have regarding the new Web site as well as its features and content. Thanks, Mark, mark@ntsecurity.net ==== SPONSORED BY VERISIGN - THE INTERNET TRUST COMPANY ==== Start preparing for holiday customers NOW - protect your site with 128-bit SSL encryption! Get VeriSign's FREE guide, "Securing Your Web Site for Business." You will learn everything you need to know about using SSL to encrypt your e-commerce transactions for serious online security. http://www.verisign.com/cgi-bin/go.cgi?a=n032602130009000 ============================================================ _____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________ WEB SITE NEWS ___________________________ *** GOT ATTRITION? NT Security News is now providing a mirror from ATTTRITION.ORG that contains a list of the most recent Web site defacements, as reported to the fine folks at ATTRITION. You'll find a link on the home page currently listed under the "So What's New?" section. Be sure to take a look at this data from time to time. It provides a decent perspective on the number of sites that are defaced daily around the globe. http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loadit.asp?iD=/scripts/attrition.asp *** PACKETSTORM SECURITY As you may know, Packetstorm Security is now back online. For those not already familiar with Packetstorm, the site offers a wealth of security information in the form of bug reports, security-related programs and code, whitepapers, technical documents, and more. We now provide an up-to-the-minute mirror of all the latest additions to Packetstorm easily accessible from our home page. Be sure to check the list from time to time. As you'll learn by watching our Packetstorm page, many of the items added each day to do not pertain to Microsoft-based network and application security. Nonetheless, it is without question worth the effort to look for items that do pertain to your networks. Be sure to check this page each day. http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loadit.asp?iD=/scripts/packetstorm.asp *** SPOTLIGHT: NEW SECURITY PRODUCT DATABASE We've recently added a brand new security product database to the site. Using the new Web pages, any security-related product vendor may add their product listings to our site where tens of thousands of users will see them every single month. And, once your products are listed online you may return at any time to modify your entries as you see fit. For example, when you release a new version of a listed product, the details of your new version appear on our site as fast as you can modify the listing. If your company sells products that are related to security, you should definitely swing by our site and list them with us. Think of it as free advertising. To list your products at NTSecurity.NET, click the link below: http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loadit.asp?id=/products/start.asp To see what the vendor product listings look like, follow this link: http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loadit.asp?id=/products/listproducts.asp *** SPOTLIGHT: HOTFIX HOTLIST! The Hotfix Hotlist is a feature that many of you asked us for time and time again - so we finally created exactly what you asked for. The Hotfix Hotlist is a singular resource for all service packs and fixes related to just about any major Microsoft product. So now, instead of tediously surfing Microsoft's Web site and FTP site looking for new security patches, you can simply visit our Hotfix Hotlist, select a product, and everything you need regarding services packs and security-related hotfixes appears on the screen, complete with hotlinks to Support Online articles, downloable fix files, one-click top-level FTP directory access, and more. Plus, you can click one link to see all new fixes for almost any Microsoft released in the last 45 days. Come check it out! http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loadit.asp?id=/fixes.asp _____________________________________________________________________ __________________________ NT SECURITY RISKS ________________________ *** EXCEL SYMBOLIC LINK VULNERABILITY Software Effected: Excel 97 and Excel 2000 David Young reported a problem with Excel 97 and Excel 2000 symbolic link files that can contain macros, which execute without permission. Microsoft has released a patch for the problem. The Excel 97 patch also corrects a problem with macros imported from Lotus 1-2-3 or Quattro Pro, where those macros also run without permission. For complete details, including links to Microsoft's FAQ, the Support Online articles, and the patches, please visit our Web site: http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/load.asp?iD=/security/excel-slk.htm PUT A REMINDER on your calendar to load this fix! JUST CLICK THE LINK BELOW: http://www.ntsecurity.net/to-do/excel-slk.vcs *** JAVASCRIPT REDIRECT Software Effected: Internet Explorer 4.01 and 5.0 Georgio Guninski reported a problem with IE regarding JavaScript and redirects which could allow a Web site to read files on a remote user's system without that user's knowledge. According to Georgi's message, "Internet Explorer 5.0 under Windows 95 and WinNT 4.0 (suppose Win98 is vulnerable) allows reading local files and text/HTML files from any domain. Window spoofing is possible. It is also possible in some cases to read files behind fiewall." "The problem is a HTTP redirect to "javascript:" URLs. If you open a local file and the change its location to an URL that redirects to "javascript:JavaScript code" then the JavaScript code is executed in the security context of the original local file and has access to its DOM. The local file may be sent to an arbitrary server. In a similar way one may do window spoofing. This vulnerability may be exploited using HTML email message or a newsgroup posting." http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/loader.asp?iD=/security/javascript.htm _____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________ IN THE NEWS ____________________________ *** WIRED FOR WARFARE Time Magazine offers an interesting view of how at least one group of Mexican guerillas are using the Internet to wage cyberwar against their enemies. [Time Magazine] http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/news.asp?IDF=164&TB=news *** WHY HACKING CONTESTS ARE A BAD IDEA Ira Winkler, author of Corporate Espionage, offers up his opinion of the latest PC Week challenge that offers everyone the chance to hack into a Linux or Windows NT system. [ZDNet] http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/news.asp?IDF=163&TB=news *** MELISSA VARIENT DISCOVERED IN THE WILD According to a recent Network Associates report, a varient of the dangerous Melissa virus has been discovered in the wild. http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/news.asp?IDF=162&TB=news *** NTFS FOR WINDOWS 98 Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell of SysInternals have released a beta version of their new NTFS file system utility for Windows 9x systems. http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/news.asp?IDF=161&TB=news ===================================================================== Want to sponsor the newsletter or Web site? Send email to ads@ntsecurity.net ===================================================================== _____________________________________________________________________ ______________________________ FEATURES _____________________________ *** ANATOMY OF AN INTRUSION Greg Shipley offers a great feature detailing many of the means by which an intruder may approach your particular systems in an attempt to break in. [Network Computing] http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/features.asp?IDF=130&TB=f *** GETTING THE DROP ON NETWORK INTRUDERS In her feature for Network World, Ellen Messmer discusses various intrusion detection systems (IDS,) as well as the nature of the industry regarding ongoing development. [Network World] http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/features.asp?IDF=129&TB=f *** STATE OF SECURITY 2000 Network Computing offers a bird's eye view of the challenges we'll all face in the coming years. In this article, which discusses VPNs, PKI, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, various various security tools, and antivirus concerns, experts offer the skinny on what to expect and to keep things in a proper perspective. [Network Computing] http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/features.asp?IDF=128&TB=f _____________________________________________________________________ _______________________________ HOW TO ______________________________ *** MOTIVES AND METHODS: A VIRUS TUTORIAL PART 2 In part two of her ongoing series, Diane Levine discusses additional virus-like risks that may also jeopardize a network. Items include, Trojans, worms, logic bombs, time bombs, backdoors, and rabbits. http://www.ntsecurity.net/go/2c.asp?f=/howto.asp?IDF=110&TB=h _____________________________________________________________________ _______________________ NOTEABLE HACK ATTACKS _______________________ *** GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SITE Crackers defaced the presidential campaign site of Republican candidate George W. Bush early Tuesday, October 18th. The picture of Bush normally seen on the site was replaced with a photo of the Texas governor pictured with a red hammer and sickle along with a call for "a new October revolution." In a stroke of irony, Bush's Web site just happens to be hosted by the Austin-based ISP "Illuminati Online." No archive of the cracked site has been made available, and not-so-coincidentally, no one has claimed responsibility for the defacement. _____________________________________________________________________ ______________________________ CONTACTS _____________________________ -- EDITOR: Mark Edwards, mark@ntsecurity.net -- ADVERTISING: Jeffrey Scott Strayer, ads@ntsecurity.net -- WEB SITE: General Delivery, webmaster@ntsecurity.net Have something to contribute to this newsletter? Send it to us! Email: press@ntsecurity.net _____________________________________________________________________ Copyright (c) 1999 - NTSecurity.Net - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This newsletter maybe be forwarded or copied so long as the entire content, including this notice, remain intact.