“Here You Have” Worm Alert – The Incompetents Take The Bait

In Chapter One of, Internet Security 101, the following is the first point made – “Don’t run files that you receive via email without making sure of their origin.”

OK, I’m stretching the truth a little, since I don’t actually know of a book with the title “Internet Security 101”. But, the truism “Don’t run files that you receive via email without making sure of their origin”, remains valid.

Despite constant warnings NOT to run this type of file, many users continue to disregard this critical advice. The success of the email delivered “Here you have” worm that clogged email systems on Thursday, despite the usual misspelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors in the email, leaves little doubt.

According to Symantec’s Message Labs Intelligence, the worm is delivered in a  standard email that directs the recipient to click on a link pointing to a malicious file that’s disguised as a PDF. Clicking on the link installs the worm on the victim’s machine.

Graphic courtesy of Symantec.

Regardless of the fact that the delivery method and the worm itself are not particularly sophisticated, this attack affected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, and then went on to spread through the following – instant messenger, mapped drives, and email, by taking contacts from the victim’s address book.

While doing the background work on this attack, I came across the following forum comment – “This hit one of our affiliated corporate networks today around 12 pm eastern. It was a mess.”

As one pundit put it – the attack was designed to “prey on the incompetent”. I find it hard to argue with that observation.

For additional information on this scam checkout Malware Operations Engineer Tony Millington’s Blog post over at the Symantec Hosted Services Blog.

About Message Labs Intelligence:

Symantec’s Message Labs Intelligence is a respected source of data and analysis for messaging security issues, trends and statistics. MessageLabs Intelligence provides a range of information on global security threats based on live data feeds from our control towers around the world scanning billions of messages each week.

About Symantec:

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world.  Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available here.

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The Winners in the SYNCING.NET Free License Giveaway Are…..

I’m happy to announce the 6 winners of a pair of free license for SYNCING.NET – Business Edition, a superior file synchronization application, that is easy to setup, customize and run, for both less experienced, and expert users alike.

Congratulations to the winners: Corker, David,  Grr, Rod, Luiz, and Rick.

Each winner has been notified directly. If you weren’t one of the lucky winners, you can test drive this great application for 30 days by visiting SYNCING.NET.

Thank you, to all those who participated.

SYNCING.NET – Business Edition Review:

In today’s rugged business environment, having a “competitive advantage”, over the competition, is not just a buzz phrase, it’s critical to success.

Controlling information in such a way, that all parties with access to that information access the same information, all of the time, can be a significant competitive advantage.

Roadblocks that inhibit the exchange of, or access to, the same data, will, unquestionably negatively impact a company’s profitability, and long term viability.

By synchronization data files on multiple computing devices – maintaining the same version of the relevant files, employees can manage their time more efficiently and productively. Enhanced productivity and efficiencies are an obvious competitive advantage, with direct impact on the bottom line.

SYNCING.NET – Business Edition is a premium enterprise grade application, designed for small and medium sized businesses with a difference. SYNCING.NET – Business Edition, has been created with one overriding consideration – simplicity and convenience.

With SYNCING.NET installed, an enterprise now has the ability to synchronize Outlook e-mails, contacts, calendars and tasks in real time, as well as Windows files of any size and type.

If you are in the market for a simple, safe, and complete solution to meet your company’s data synchronization needs then SYNCING.NET, with its  user-friendly interface, and low maintenance, should meet or exceed your expectations.

Fast facts:

From the developer –

SYNCING.NET Business Edition allows administrators to define user rights. Administrators can allow read-access only, as well as other levels of access for particular users to add or change own content without restrictions.

As the administrator you can manage all of your PCs from any Outlook Group or Sync Folder. In your absence, you can also add up to three additional users as administrators. Even if you have to be away from the office you know your team will still be synchronized.

SYNCING.NET provides a Guest Role option within the Business Edition that allows read-access only, keeping crucial files and data safe from accidental changes.

When creating an Outlook Group or a Sync Folder, you can specify who you want to invite to join these groups. This allows for complete control over who has access to the shared data. Invite/removal privileges are for the Group originator and administrator only.

SYNCING.NET synchronization is automatic and silent. Complete background functionality means you are freed up to focus on the task at hand and nothing else.

If you’ve got an internet connection, then you’ve got real-time updates. SYNCING.NET is completely location independent, so you can easily work on files and Outlook from the road and synchronize that data with every PC in your Group – no server needed. Even working offline is no problem. The second you are back online the data changes you’ve made are automatically synchronized.

SYNCING.NET software only synchronizes the changes in the data – not the entire file. This results in extremely fast, real time synchronization.

When creating an Outlook Group or Sync Folder, you are given a prompt that allows you to individually choose which folders are to be synchronized between the computers in your Group or Folder.

Our simple, intuitive user interface helps you easily sync your Outlook and files. The software is powerful, yet easy to utilize – for any level of PC user.

SYNCING.NET uses military grade, highly secure 256-bit AES encryption for end-to-end transmission. This encryption complies with the 1024-bit RSA authentication to the highest safety standard (military grade).

The key products of the company include three major editions to meet every user’s need: Business Edition, Home Edition, for the home user, and the Professional Edition, for the professional user.

System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

Additional requirements: Microsoft .NET Framework

Download a free 30 day trial at: SYNCING.NET

Purchase price: $225 USD.

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License Giveaway – SYNCING.NET Business Edition, 12 Free Licenses

Continuing with Tech Thoughts occasional focus on business applications, we have arranged with SYNCING.NET to give away 12 licenses (retail value $225 U.S. each), for their flagship application SYNCING.NET – Business Edition, a file synchronization application designed to maintain the same version of files on multiple computing devices.

To enter the contest to win one of the licenses, simply add a comment at the end of this article. On June 7, 2010, all comments will be added to the online List Randomizer, and the first 6 names that appear, will win a free registration code. This week is already off the rails time wise, so I won’t necessarily acknowledge your comment. Once you see your comment in the comment column, you can be sure your entry has been noted.

Please note: Winners will need a separate key for each computer he/she is planning to sync, so we will draw 6 winners (2 licenses each).

Read the following review and I’m sure you’ll agree this is a contest worth entering.

In today’s rugged business environment, having a “competitive advantage”, over the competition, is not just a buzz phrase, it’s critical to success.

Controlling information in such a way, that all parties with access to that information access the same information, all of the time, can be a significant competitive advantage.

Roadblocks that inhibit the exchange of, or access to, the same data, will, unquestionably negatively impact a company’s profitability, and long term viability.

By synchronization data files on multiple computing devices – maintaining the same version of the relevant files, employees can manage their time more efficiently and productively. Enhanced productivity and efficiencies are an obvious competitive advantage, with direct impact on the bottom line.

SYNCING.NET – Business Edition is a premium enterprise grade application, designed for small and medium sized businesses with a difference. SYNCING.NET – Business Edition, has been created with one overriding consideration – simplicity and convenience.

With SYNCING.NET installed, an enterprise now has the ability to synchronize Outlook e-mails, contacts, calendars and tasks in real time, as well as Windows files of any size and type.

If you are in the market for a simple, safe, and complete solution to meet your company’s data synchronization needs then SYNCING.NET, with its  user-friendly interface, and low maintenance, should meet or exceed your expectations.

Fast facts:

From the developer –

SYNCING.NET Business Edition allows administrators to define user rights. Administrators can allow read-access only, as well as other levels of access for particular users to add or change own content without restrictions.

As the administrator you can manage all of your PCs from any Outlook Group or Sync Folder. In your absence, you can also add up to three additional users as administrators. Even if you have to be away from the office you know your team will still be synchronized.

SYNCING.NET provides a Guest Role option within the Business Edition that allows read-access only, keeping crucial files and data safe from accidental changes.

When creating an Outlook Group or a Sync Folder, you can specify who you want to invite to join these groups. This allows for complete control over who has access to the shared data. Invite/removal privileges are for the Group originator and administrator only.

SYNCING.NET synchronization is automatic and silent. Complete background functionality means you are freed up to focus on the task at hand and nothing else.

If you’ve got an internet connection, then you’ve got real-time updates. SYNCING.NET is completely location independent, so you can easily work on files and Outlook from the road and synchronize that data with every PC in your Group – no server needed. Even working offline is no problem. The second you are back online the data changes you’ve made are automatically synchronized.

SYNCING.NET software only synchronizes the changes in the data – not the entire file. This results in extremely fast, real time synchronization.

When creating an Outlook Group or Sync Folder, you are given a prompt that allows you to individually choose which folders are to be synchronized between the computers in your Group or Folder.

Our simple, intuitive user interface helps you easily sync your Outlook and files. The software is powerful, yet easy to utilize – for any level of PC user.

SYNCING.NET uses military grade, highly secure 256-bit AES encryption for end-to-end transmission. This encryption complies with the 1024-bit RSA authentication to the highest safety standard (military grade).

The key products of the company include three major editions to meet every user’s need: Business Edition, Home Edition, for the home user, and the Professional Edition, for the professional user.

System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

Additional requirements: Microsoft .NET Framework

Download a free 30 day trial at: SYNCING.NET

Purchase price: $225 USD.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.