BT Home Hub Wireless Networks

Posted by on 19 April, 2008 No comments

Wireless networks can be made safe but it’s so common to find networks that haven’t been secured properly. It’s even worse to see ISPs giving their customers routers that have been configured with weak security.

BT Broadband in the UK has been supplying wireless routers to their customers, called BT Home Hub, setup to use a very weak security system called WEP.

old rusty padlockIn fact it’s so weak that anyone sitting within wireless range (which can include a few of your neighbours) can just guess the wireless password in 80 attempts. And you wouldn’t even know someone’s trying to guess your password.

WEP is an old security system made for wireless routers, it’s been cracked before and it’s really no safer than an old rusty padlock with the key hidden in a pot plant. As the old saying goes, it keeps out honest people. WEP is practically useless. And BT Home Hub leaves it setup this way for their customers.

What everyone with a wireless network should do is change WEP to WPA. WPA is considered safe at the moment. And it’s best used with a long password (20 characters long).

To learn more about securing a wireless network read here. And to understand why it’s important to secure a wireless network read our article here.

Just remember, WEP = useless, WPA = secure.

FireFox and Safari Updates

Posted by on 19 April, 2008 No comments

The FireFox and Safari browsers have been updated. If you use either of these then you should upgrade today. The new version numbers are:

  • FireFox: 2.0.0.14
  • Safari: 3.1.1

This applies to Windows, Mac and Linux users. The updates fix vulnerabilities and hence are important security updates.

MasterCard 16% Scam

Posted by on 19 April, 2008 No comments

A fake promotional email, claiming to be from MasterCard SecureCode, offers a 16% discount on all purchases. This could be enough to tempt readers to sign up on the fake web site.

discount The email has a link to a web site that has been made to look the same as MasterCard’s web site with a form to sign up. The personal details entered here end up going to a scammer. Personal details including your credit card’s number, expiry date, 3 digit security code, and your date of birth.

If you receive an unsolicited email offering 16% discounts just delete it. And don’t click on links in these emails, instead go to a web browser and type in the address you need.

Microsoft Certificate Enrolment Code

Posted by on 18 April, 2008 1 comment

There’s a new phishing trick that involved the user downloading a security certificate. It’s been spotted on a fake Bank of America web site. When this fake page is accessed the user is asked to create a digital certificate.

US money The control is downloaded to the PC using Microsoft Certificate Enrolment Code. This ads a false sense of security for users.

The next step on the web site asks users to download a file called sophialite.exe This is a malicious program.

So if you end up at a web site that looks like the Bank of America pay close attention to the address shown in your web browser, make sure it’s exactly right.

QuickTime Patch

Posted by on 16 April, 2008 No comments

Apple has released a new version of QuickTime for Windows and Mac. It fixes 11 vulnerabilities so if you have QuickTime installed on your machine it makes good sense to update it now.

music The new version is 7.4.5

Note that QuickTime is usually installed with iTunes, so if you use iTunes you probably also have QuickTime installed.

See Apple’s website for more details.

XP Antivirus

Posted by on 14 April, 2008 2 comments

ads XP Antivirus is a fake antivirus program. It looks like an anti virus program and when run it tells you it found a number of threats. It then prompts you to spend money in order to remove the alleged threats. The threats it tells you about aren’t real, it’s a scam to get money from you.

The road to XP Antivirus is:

  1. A malicious ad appears on legitimate web sites. The operators of the web sites hosting this ad aren’t aware of what it is.
  2. A message appears offering a product called XP Antivirus. The message reads:
    • Attention! If your computer is infected, you could suffer data loss, erratic PC behaviour. PC freezes and creahes.

      Detect and remove viruses before they damage your computer!
      XP antivirus will perform a quick and 100% FREE scan of your computer for Viruses, Spyware and Adware.

      Do you want to install XP antivirus to scan your computer for malware now? (Recommended)

      (Note: I bolded the typo that appears in the original ad)

  3. If you say ok then a fake anti virus program is installed.
  4. The program then informs you about a large number of (untrue) malware on your computer
  5. You’re then asked to pay to remove them

A few days ago I mentioned a similar scam for Macs called iMunizator. These things will never let up so take care who you trust. Don’t just run or install unknown programs on your computer.

ActiveX Flaw in Symantec Products

Posted by on 14 April, 2008 No comments

Symantec is well known for making security products (they also use the Norton brand for home products). A serious flaw has been found in some of their products including Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security, Norton SystemWorks and Norton 360.

The flaw is in an ActiveX control that gets installed on the PC (the control is called SymAData.dll). This control is normally used for their AutoFix tool, however it was discovered that it can be exploited by adding some malicious code to a website. The exploit allows someone to take over the computer (generally a bad thing).

Two ways to fix this problem are:

Earlier we wrote about problems with ActiveX and suggested you disable it.

2Wire Modems

Posted by on 13 April, 2008 No comments

2Wire is a DSL modem manufacturer. Earlier we reported that a Mexican ISP offers 2Wire modems to their customers and that there was a vulnerability in them affecting their customers. The vulnerability is called DNS poisoning.

Many other ISPs also offer this modem to their customers including AT&T. AT&T has taken some positive action to fix the issue, so if you’re an AT&T customer using a 2Wire modem then have a talk to them and see if your modem needs patching.

An AT&T spokesman, Seth Bloom, responded to a Slashdot article and had the following to say:

“The majority of our customers did not have gateways affected by this vulnerability. For those that did, as soon as we became aware of the issue, we expeditiously implemented a permanent solution to close the vulnerability. In fact, we’ve already updated the majority of affected 2Wire gateways, and we’re nearing completion of the process. We’ve received no reports of any significant threats targeting our customers.”

Flash Vulnerability

Posted by on 13 April, 2008 No comments

People that have Adobe’s Flash player version 9.0.115.0 or earlier, or 8.0.39.0 or earlier, need to update it now. A new exploit for these versions has been discovered and can allow someone to take control of your computer just from visiting a website that has malicious code.

The new version that you need is 9.0.124.0 and it fixed this new vulnerability.

AIR1.0 is also affected because it includes a Flash player built in. If you use AIR upgrade to version 1.0.1.

Adobe’s security bulletin says that this affects all platforms, so that would include all versions of Windows, Macs, and Linux.