Tech Alert Briefing for 3/21/2003

Time to Step Up IT Security?

The Washington Post recently published an article indicating that the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) issued a warning earlier this week that Chinese hacker groups are planning attacks on U.S.- and U.K.-based Web sites to protest the war in Iraq.

According to the Post report, the warning was initially posted on the NIPC website and later removed because the information was considered sensitive. To date over 10,000 Web sites worldwide have been defaced since the beginning of the Iraq conflict, most were either either governmentor politically connected sites.

This latest warning by the NIPC office of Homeland Security should not be taken likely. Financial institutions are potential targets for cyber-attacks. Last week, Bankers Online submitted a report to NIPC, reporting an attack launched on our mail server from a group in the Netherlands. Although no information was compromised, the attack resulted in hours of lost productivity and a temporary disruption in our ability to communicate information.

Financial institutions should redouble their efforts to ensure that updated software patches are installed and monitor log files on an ongoing basis to ensure that potential attempts to compromise your cybersecurity have been averted.In addition, now may be a good time to evaluate intrusion detection systems to ensure your cyber-perimeter is hardened.(See related article, Harden Your Cyber-Perimeter).

Second Sendmail Vulnerability Brought to Light

The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (CERT) issued its second advisory regarding a newly discovered vulnerability in sendmail.

The vulnerability stems from a failure of sendmail to adequately check the length of e-mail addresses.The flaw can enable hackers to carefully craft an email address that can trigger a stack overflow and potentially allow the attacker to take control of the system.

Users are urged to upgrade to version 8.12.9. According to CERT/CC,most medium to large organizations are likely to have at least one vulnerable sendmail server.

Previous Tech Alerts:
04/02/03Time to Step Up IT Security? and Sendmail Vulnerability
03/18/03Windows 2000 WebDAV Buffer Overflow Exploit Against IIS 5.0 - CRITICAL
03/03/03Critical Vulnerability Discovered in Sendmail
02/06/03Microsoft Releases Cummulative Patch for Internet Explorer Flaws It Lists as Critical
01/26/03The Importance of Applying Patches
01/23/03Microsoft and SUN release slew of Patches
01/14/03New Worms Spreading through Email
12/09/02Microsoft Issues Updated Cumulative Patch for IE
11/13/02New e-greeting tactics pose serious threat
11/01/02Critical patch released for Windows 2000, Windows XP
10/21/02Microsoft Fixes Vulnerabilities: Releases Patches for SQL, Word and Excel
10/03/02Bugbear Worm Gains Strength
10/02/02Top 20 List of Internet Security Vulnerabilities Released
09/02/02Microsoft Warns SysAdmins To Immediately Patch Identity Spoofing Flaw
08/21/02Microsoft releases patch to fix "critical" vulnerability inWindows 2000 systems that allow unprivileged users to logonto them interactively
08/09/02 Is Confidential Bank Information Walking Out Your Door?
07/30/02 Microsoft Continues to Patch Flawed Software
07/23/02 CERT advisory on PHP
07/15/02 Outlook Users Employing PGP Encryption Program Vulnerable to Hacking
07/11/02 Researchers Report Serious Flaw in IE
06/27/02 Microsoft Releases Critical Patch for Windows Media Player
06/18/02 CERT Warns of Critical Vulnerabilty in Apache Web Server
06/12/02 Sports Fans Beware: World Cup Virus Bounces Around the Net
06/07/02 Dead Man Tell No Passwords
05/31/02 Microsoft Issues Critical Warning Regarding Exchange Server
05/22/02 Microsoft SQL Spida Worm Slows Network Traffic
05/15/02 Virus Hoax 'JDBGMGR.EXE' Spreading Rapidly Thoughout Net
04/25/02 Klez Worm Reels in Banks with its Bait
04/11/02 Ten New Vulnerabilities Discovered in Microsoft IIS Server
04/09/02 New Virus Hoax Circulating Around Net
03/22/02 MyLife.B Virus Makes Its Way Around the Net
03/21/02 Microsoft Updates Its Warning on Critical Windows Vulnerability
03/14/02 New Virus (W32/Fbound-C) Spreading Rapidly in the Wild
03/08/02 Unauthorized E-Mail Scam Attempts to Steer Unwitting Customers to Fraudulent Bank Web Site
03/06/02 Klez-E Worm and W32.Gibe Virus Warnings
03/01/02 CERT Issues Warning on PHP Scripting Language Flaw
02/27/02 CERT Issues Warning on Internet Explorer and Outlook Flaw
02/22/02 SNMP Patches and Detection Tools Available
02/20/02 Email Address Belonging to Legitimate Security Site Hijacked to Deliver Dangerous Yarner Worm
02/15/02 Mass Mailing Email Worm Compromises Word 2000 Security Settings
02/13/02 SNMP VULNERABILITY
02/07/02 Bloodhound Mass Mailing Worm and Managing Risks in Wireless Networks
02/04/02 Microsoft Issues Collection of Security Fixes for Windows 2000
01/31/02 Copycat Virus Unleashed
01/30/02 Netscape Browser Vulnerable to Cookie Theft
01/28/02 "My Party" Mass Mailing Worm
01/18/02 IT Contingency Planning Guide, Information Security Checklist and Solaris Vulnerability
01/15/02 Trojan.StartPage Alters Web Browsers
01/12/02 New Internet Worm Gigger Masquerades as Microsoft Outlook Upgrade
01/08/02 Microsoft Universal Plug and Play Vulnerability
12/20/01 Holiday Themed Computer Virus Unleashed