Leave The Light On For The Nyxem.E Worm

Here's an interesting use of technology to show the pain points from Nyxem.E:

Better brace for impact!

Thanks go to Nick Pieters for the link.

Webcast – SMB Security w/ Harry Brelsford & others

SMB Case Study: What You Should Know About Security, Storage and Desktop Management in an SMB IT Environment
January 19, 2006 @ 12:30 p.m. Eastern/9:30 a.m. Pacific
Duration: 45 minutes

Register & Attend Online
http://ct.eletters.eseminarslive.com/rd/cts?d=187-1307-1-1654-525575-22159-0-0-0-1
If you are unable to attend the live event you may still register and will receive an e-mail when the on-demand version becomes available.

Event Overview:
Juggling multiple security, storage and desktop management technologies can cause you to lose focus and distract your employees from their ultimate goal — attracting and maintaining new business opportunities. Find out how Bonnie Lee Goldstein, owner of a law firm in Dallas, Texas, and her IT consultant Andy Bensinger deployed a new, multi-layered protection solution that prevented a catastrophic loss of her critical business data and reduced her IT management costs.

Join SMB Nation CEO Harry Brelsford, Andy Bensinger, CEO of Halogen, Inc. and Bonnie Lee Goldstein for this live, interactive eSeminar sponsored by Computer Associates. You'll learn what SMBs like yours are doing to address today's unique security, storage and desktop management challenges.

You'll hear firsthand accounts from real, in-the-trenches SMB IT professionals that manage these challenges on a daily basis. During this peer-to-peer discussion, you will learn:

* What organizations like yours are doing to manage risks
* What data protection strategies are working, and which ones aren't
* What challenges are unique to an SMB environment
* What questions should you ask before deploying a new solution
* What you can do today to improve your security, storage and data
management practices

Featured Speakers:
Harry Brelsford, CEO – SMB Nation
Bonnie Lee Goldstein, Attorney & Owner – Bonnie Lee Goldstein, P.C.
Andrew Bensinger, President – Halogen
Frank Derfler, VP, Market Experts Group – Ziff Davis Media

Sponsored by Computer Associates

Security Expert Steve Gibson Says Microsoft Intentionally Put a Backdoor in Windows 2000 and XP

I've respected Steve Gibson of www.grc.com for quite a few years, since back in the day when I was just a network newbie. And his creations SpinRite and ShieldsUp have saved my bacon more than once. I mean, the guy is super-sharp!Needless to say, his accusation that the Windows MetaFile vulnerability is actually an intentional backdoor installed into later versions of Windows is pretty shocking! When I first saw the headline, I thought it was a hoax or a typo.

To hear Steve's actual comments for yourself, download his MP3 podcast with Leo Laporte and read the printed transcript of Security Now! Episode 22 here:
http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-022.htm

I went ahead and downloaded his KnockKnock.exe app, and tested the SetAbortProc on an unpatched Windows XP Pro SP2 system. On an unpatched system, the dialog box states:

The Backdoor IS Present

This system has a secret backdoor designed to allow the stealthful
remote execution of arbitrary code on your computer. After its
chance discovery by hackers, Microsoft quickly removed
support for the WMF backdoor with an urgent security update
which is not currently installed (or at least active) in this computer.

I don't know about you, but I'm waiting for Episode #23 with bated breath!!