4 Your Computer Repairs

Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Did you know someone can change the setting on your router so all your internet traffic goes through their servers and from this they can get your bank details as well as other personal information?

Routers come with a standard password and I usually use this to access clients routers without even asking if they know the password.  This is because the router is usually the last place someone thinks of needing a password or they simply have not known it.  Now, well for some time, criminals have taken advantage of it, they have developed malicious code to change your setting on the router.

This looks like the computer is affected by a virus but even after a computer has been cleared of everything it still has the same error and all computers will show the same symptoms.  You may net even get any symptoms which makes it worse.

When you go to a website your computer does not know where that website is hosted so it looks for a DNS server.  On nearly all home routers this will be set to get the address of these servers from your ISP automatically.  So when you type in a website address it goes to these servers and they look up where the website is, return this information to your computer and you get the website displayed on your computer.  This virus changes the settings so it does not get the DNS server of your ISP but theirs so they can see what you are doing and intercept any data they can.

For the full report see Forbes

How do you change this password?  If you are confident then search for your routers model number and for the instructions.  This should tell you what to do, if you are not sure then get a technician in to do it for you.  It does not take long and you will know that this virus can not affect you.

This exploit affects all versions of windows .

Sophos has released a Windows Shortcut Exploit Protection Tool that claims to block any attacks trying to exploit the critical unpatched vulnerability in Windows shortcut files.

Currently, this tool protects only LNK files, other file types like PIF might be supported later

While Microsoft has suggested a  fix or workaround to address the security issue, this tool blocks this exploit from running on your computer.  The Windows Shortcut Exploit Protection tool runs whenever Windows tries to display an icon corresponding to a Windows shortcut. The tool intercepts this request and validates the shortcut. If the shortcut does not contain an exploit, the icon is displayed.
The Sophos Windows Shortcut Exploit Protection Tool works on Windows 7, Vista & XP only; and does not work on Windows 2000.

Download this tool

This bug has it’s vulnerability in the help and support system.  This bug was first found by a Google engineer on the 10th of June but by the 15th criminals had exploited this with websites that have code to install Trojans, spam tools and viruses to the users computer without them knowing.

As Microsoft have not yet found a fix to this bug the advise is to switch the vulnerable part off, for which it has produced an automated tool which can be found on their website.  Please download and run the files, also make sure your anti virus software is up to date.

While this affect Windows XP it also affect all of the following

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, when used with:
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, when used with:
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, when used with:
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional

If you want to know more then see their technet blog

Some models of Sony Vaio laptops need a BIOS update to stop them from overheating.  Sony said they had a potential issue affecting VAIO VPCF11- and VPCCW2 models.

If you need to know more go to the Sony website and follow their instructions.

Today I received an email from my ISP saying it had quarantined an email from someone at UPS.  I found this strange as I was not expecting anything from UPS and that my ISP thought it was a virus.

As I always check these things out I phoned UPS and even before I got to multiple choice menu it had a message saying they have had a number of calls about this email.  The email says that a delivery was attempted but no one answered and asks the user to open an attachment to arrange another delivery.  Well you might have guessed it is a virus and opening this attachment infects your computer.

If you get any unexpected emails from a large company especially Ebay and Paypal go to their websites directly and not though a link on the email and check it out either by logging in or in my case phoning the company.  I know Ebay and Paypal have an email address you can forward your email and they will tell you if it came from them or not.

Ebay’s fake email page

Paypal’s fake email page

As you know thieves try to get you to divulge your bank or credit cards, for internet users this is usually through email or fake websites but now they have another tactic. They are calling your home saying that your computer has errors or viruses. From a Microsoft website

We do not send unsolicited email or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix your computer.
If you receive an unsolicited email message or phone call that purports to be from Microsoft and requests that you send personal information or click links, delete the email or hang up the phone.

There are other and you should see this Microsoft website for more details.

If you receive one of these call hang up, unless you give someone access or install monitoring software then they cannot tell if you have errors on your computer.  If you have a virus that sends out spam email on your computer, then your internet provider will send you an email advising this.

If you are unsure about your computer then get it checked out by an experienced technician or engineer.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim

Boasting the same piece as the current elite system the new slim version has a 250GB hard drive to store even games, music or films. It also has built in WIFI which all of it’s competitors have had for a long time, making it easier to connect to your home network. As well as this they have also launched there motion control system that has facial recognition making games more physical and fun.

Sony PS3 3D

Sony is taking gaming to the next level with 3D gaming. The good news is that all PS3 will be 3D ready with just a software update, excellent news as this saves money but you still need to buy a 3d TV. They have also announced some games that will be in 3D including Killzone 3, Grand Turismo 5, Crysis 2 and Ghost Recon. Some Classic games will be getting a 3D make over including wipeout 3D Sony have also announced details of it’s own motion sensor, which will be released on the 15th of September, it seems everyone is copying Nintendo now and with up to 56 games available by Christmas there will be plenty of choice

Nintendo 3DS

Sony may have plans for the next Gen consol in 3D Nintendo have them for handheld gaming. The 3DS can display 3d images without the need of special glasses and will be in our shops before Christmas. This required a graphics overhaul but only the top screen will be 3D with the bottom (touch) screen will be the usual 2D. As usual a number of 3D games will be available at launch or shortly after.

A court has ruled that a home owner is responsible for securing his wireless network with a password.  The owner had been away on holiday when someone used his internet connection to download copywrited material from the internet.  While the owner proved he did not download any of the material he could still be fines up to €100 (£86)

The courts said

Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation, while it did not find the owner guilty of actual copyright violation the ruling was that the person must take a degree of responsibility for their connection being used to break the law.

Davis Harris, a British intellectual property barrister said that the verdict was "eccentric"

I don’t think there is any prospect that a UK court would follow that guideline," he told BBC News.

"There is no criminal provision in English law that requires you to secure a wi-fi connection, and currently no liability for the acts of another party if they misuse your connection.

There would be "substantial hurdles" to implementing this judgement in the UK

This just goes to show what having an unsecured wireless network can do and while this might not be enforceable in the UK what would happen if you were not away and the police had to take your computer equipment just to prove you had not committed any crime.

It is always worth while securing your network not only to stop people accessing it but also to stop them being able to view what you are doing as well

I have tweeted about this before but now Google has started to warn about it.  Scareware is where a malicious piece of software disguises itself as a normal program but then demands money from you otherwise your something will happen.

I have always seen the fake anti virus ones that pop up and can not be closed down, they say your computer is infected and unless you pay a set fee to buy this program then they will not remove anything.  The truth is that program is the malicious code and often adds other malicious programs which, even if you did pay, it would not remove them.  The name of this program changes every so often, one was called anti virus 2009.

Anyway back to Google, they scanned 240 million web pages over 13 months, January 2009 to February 2010,  and found that fake anti virus programs accounted for 15% of all malicious software.  Over 11,000 web domains were involved in the distribution of the fake anti virus software.  This attack is mainly aimed at Windows machines and is usually delivered through ADVERTS.  The reason I highlighted adverts is I often get asked if it was because someone in the household had been on ‘adult’ sites, while some will be on adult sites most are now using normal looking website so they can get a greater infection.

Trusteer, a security company, reports that Zeus is the number 1 botnet with over 3.6 million pc’s infected and that is only in America.  Now that is a scary figure.

What is a botnet and what does Zeus do?

Botnet is a term for a collection of softyware agents or robots that run autonomously and automatically.  A bot typically runs hidden and uses a covert channel to communicate with its C&C server. Generally, the perpetrator of the botnet has compromised a series of systems using various tools. Newer bots can automatically scan their environment and propagate themselves using vulnerabilities and weak passwords. Generally, the more vulnerabilities a bot can scan and propagate through, the more valuable it becomes to a botnet controller community

See the Wikipedia definition

Zeus steals you information like back details and other usernames and passwords and reports them back to someone who can then sell this information onto criminals.  The BIG problems with zeus is even if you have a good anti virus program and keep it up to date it only reduces your chances of being infected by 23%.  It spreads by email and by downloading or activating activ-x controls on infected websites.

Another security company called Prevx said in their blog that only a few computers are infected by each variant of this virus to help prevent it from being detected and by the time it is detected it usually has done it’s job.

If you want to search for it Prevx also says what to look out for, although these name may have changed

The ZEUS trojan will commonly use names like NTOS.EXE, LD08.EXE, LD12.EXE,PP06.EXE, PP08.EXE, LDnn.EXE and PPnn.EXE etc, so search your PCs for files with names like this. The ZEUS Trojan will typically be between 40KBytes and 150Kbytes in size.

Also look for a folder with the name WSNPOEM, this is also a common sign of infection for the ZEUS Trojan.

Finally, check the Registry lloking for RUN keys referencing any of these names.

According to the BBC news the latest version 1.6 can only infect people using Internet Explorer or Firefox but I would be careful no matter which browser you are using

The guardian has also reported that two people were held over this virus but is continues to be a major problem today so please watch out and search for the above.