Free Download Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (Volume 10)

The Security Intelligence Report (SIR) is an investigation of the current threat landscape.
It analyzes exploits, vulnerabilities, and malware based on data from over 600 million systems worldwide, as well as internet services, and three Microsoft Security Centers. Data is collected by a number of different Microsoft teams partly compromised of those who work on MS Security Essentials products, Internet Explorer’s Smartscreen filter and the Malicious Software Removal Tool. This year the 10th edition of this semi-annual SIR report expands on information gathered on an international level including data specific to 117 countries. This type of reports is published by Microsoft twice a year, and data collection time for the latest report is from July 2010 to December 2010.

A fresh security report pointed out that with the way online fraud is becoming more diverse, social networks have become a breeding ground breeding ground for cyber criminals. Safety reported that in 2010 social network “phishing” attacks grew by 1200%. Phishing attacks typically posing as legitimate messages to attract Internet users to click on malicious links, buy rogue software, or disclose personal information.

According to Microsoft statistics, the use of social networking phishing attacks accounted for in December 2010 84.5% of the total number of phishing attacks compared in terms of early 2010 this figure was only 8.3%.

The Report outlines the emergence of two distinct types of cybercriminal. The first is a highly sophisticated, well-informed individual who pursues high-value opportunities with large payoffs. The second is an individual skilled at exploiting social relationships to con a small amount of money from a large amount of people.

At present the most prevalent methods include the use of rogue security software, phishing using social networking as the lure and adware (software that automatically plays, displays or downloads advertisements). The majority (six out of ten) of these methods use malware – corrupt software disguised as a marketing campaign or product promotion that appears legitimate. Criminals use this malware to make money through tricking users with pay-per-click schemes, false advertisements or fake security software for sale.

Additionally, rogue security software, or scareware, has quickly become one of the most common ways for cybercriminals across the globe to acquire money and private information from unassuming computer users. This software, such as Win32/FakeSpypro, appears similar to legitimate security software giving a false sense of protection, and, if trusted and clicked by the user, downloads itself and compromises systems. In 2010, Microsoft protected nearly 19 million systems from rogue security software. The top five types of rogue security software were responsible for 70 percent, or approximately 13 million, of those detections.

“While criminals work to evolve their attack methods, Microsoft and the industry will continue to collaborate with partners and customers to improve security and privacy and increase awareness. A combined effort helps to protect the broader online community from these threats and develop more secure software solutions to prevent criminals from reaping the benefits,” says Graham Titterington, Principal Analyst for Ovum.

Security have suggested that computer users should update the software, the use of reliable security software, do not click or open the link not sure whether or document security.

The complete SIR v10 can be downloaded from the following link: http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/0/5/605BE103-9429-4493-898B-E3D50AB68236/Microsoft_Security_Intelligence_Report_volume_10_July-Dec2010_English.pdf

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.zimbio.com/Spyware/articles/KebwPe5bUCn/Microsoft+Security+Intelligence+Report+2010

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=9234

Free Virtual Desktop GoPC for Travelers

You love your computer, and you carefully select your applications for your personal and business life. But, there are occasions, when you are not at home, and your laptop is not available. With free virtual computer, offered by GoPC, you are still able to operate your virtual desktop from anywhere and feel as you never left your desk.

GOPC gives you the full functionality of a standard desktop PC but with the power and flexibility of online applications. This means that you can login to your GOPC from any Internet-connected computer and work from anywhere in the world.

The new GOPC personal computer runs off a standard USB stick drive, iPod or simply over the Internet. Simply plug in your USB drive into any computer and you're quickly connected to your online PC. You can access all your work whether you're at home, work, campus, or traveling anywhere in the world and you never have to carry a computer with you.

What is GoPC?

GoPC can become your personal floating desktop. It is "cloud computing" and it does everything your physical PC does without you being tied to it.

• Create, edit and store Word, Excel or Powerpoint files without software.
• Access email attachments instantly without downloading them.
• Edit your photos.
• Collaborate with colleagues.

With complete privacy, your personal desktop runs from any physical PC or Mac with broadband Internet. Run GoPC at work, on campus, from home or anywhere.

How does it work?

Your personal desktop, applications and data all run in a supercomputing data center and are delivered from the Internet, referred to as a network cloud. The screen image is encrypted and transmitted via the Internet to the PC you've logged in from, which is effectively just working like a dumb TV screen.

Everything is centralized and private so you can access it from anywhere, anytime, from anything. It runs the same on an old PC or the latest Apple Mac as long as you've got a clear Internet link. And with no data on the PC and using the same encryption level as your bank your privacy is assured.

GO.PC is the next generation of "cloud computing" technology. For individuals it means not having to rely on a single physical PC. For a school, small business or the enterprise, it hosts the complexity of the network and collaboration requirements within the "cloud" and can be configured automatically.

Data Sharing

GOPC also allows you to share files or directories with other GOPC users, exactly the same as if you were all together in a local area network. You can set up shared drives and folders so your friends and family can access your photos.

How can it be free?

There are almost no software license costs. The applications are Open Source Software (OSS) and so FREE. Developers add value by selecting the best applications, pre-packaging and hosting them so they're ready for anybody to use within a few minutes without having to install anything onto the local PC.

GOPC gives you a host of open source programs that are functionally equivalent to and compatible with programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PhotoShop and many other programs that you're familiar with. All the files you create with these Open-Source applications are in the same standard file formats so are fully editable in these Microsoft and Adobe programs and visa versa.

Try it yourself

This demo is a limited facsimile of the live system. You can launch applications from the Start menu, click and move the desktop icons or double click and launch them. Drag around the application windows as you launch them and then close them down. Click the Start button and check through the menu. It's designed to give you a sense of what GoPC is. But there's nothing compares to a full test drive with all the applications running. It takes 2 minutes to create your own personal GoPC ID then login to the live system and experience the freedom and privacy of cloud computing with your own data.

Free Account Limitations

As you understand, there should be somewhere a catch. Why developers can offer you so rich functionality on complementary basis? That is right. Because, they offer several levels of the functionality features that are naturally billable. So, what are the limitations of the free account?

• Disk Quota: 250 MB.
• Mail: not available.
• Group Collaboration: not available.
• Spam Protection: not available.
• Printing: not available.
• Shared storage: not available.
• Some programs: not available.

Summary

In spite of the significant limitations on the free account functionality, the service is still interesting and useful for those, who need virtual computer assistance during vacation, business visits, or else.

Website Access: http://www.gopc.net/

Screenshot:

Hidden Danger of Sharing MS Office Documents

Introduction

There are not many readers of this blog who do not use Microsoft Office for business and private needs. Essentially, Microsoft Word is the most used editor of choice for many people. But do you know that sharing the Word documents can give readers more information about you than you might think. You feel that sharing Microsoft Word document is just sharing the information and format of what you see on the page. But that is the biggest mistake! I stopped sending Excel and Word format service quote long ago before I read this article. Converting to PDF makes the document look more professional, it does not allow recipients to modify or forge document, or dig in the document creation history. The facts revealed in the article give more reasons to be careful, while sharing the Microsoft Word documents with different sources.

Which information can be revealed to the reader?

Besides the plain text, you intend to show your readers, you also give a key to the following information, which you did not plan to share at all:

* Text from other documents, open at the same time.
* Previously deleted text.
* E-mail headers and server information.
* Printer names.
* Data about the machine where the document was written.
* Where the document was saved.
* Word version number and document format.
* Names and usernames of document authors.

Hidden and dangerous

Analysis of hidden information in the so-called Iraq "dodgy dossier" showed, among other things, the names of the four civil servants who worked on it. Downing Street press office head Alastair Campbell had to explain who these people were to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee investigating the genesis of the plagiarized document.

"The time when most information tends to leak is when you are using a document that has a number of revisions or a number of people working on it," says Nick Spenceley, founder director of computer forensics firm Inforenz.

The UK government has now largely abandoned Microsoft Word for documents that become public and has turned to documents created using Adobe Acrobat which uses the Portable Data Format (PDF).

"I’m not sure many people check Word documents before they go out or are published," says Mr Spenceley. He says he knows of a case in which someone found previous versions of an employment contract buried in the Word copy he was sent. Reading the hidden extras gave the person applying for the job a big advantage during negotiations.

Sometimes the mistakes are even more public.

During the hunt for the Washington sniper the police allowed the Washington Post to publish a letter sent to the police that included names and telephone numbers. The newspaper tried to hide these details using black boxes which were easily removed and the sensitive details exposed for all to see.

But it is not just governments, businesses and newspapers that can be embarrassed in this way.

You could be too

There is a function in many versions of Microsoft Office programs, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, that means that fragments of data (which Microsoft refers to as metadata) from other files you deleted or were working on at the same time could be hidden in any document you save.

This could be embarrassing for any home workers whose colleagues find out that they have been applying for jobs while working at home or being less than complimentary about their co-workers.

Look and learn

With the right tools this hidden data can easily be extracted. Unix and Linux users can turn to tools such as Antiword and Catdoc to turn the document, including its formatting information, into a simple text file.

Computer researcher Simon Byers has conducted a survey of Word documents available on the net and found that many of them contain sensitive information. He gathered about 100,000 Word documents from sites on the web and every single one of them had hidden information. In a research paper about the work Mr Byers wrote that about half the documents gathered had up to 50 hidden words, a third up to 500 words hidden and 10% had more than 500 words concealed within them.

The hidden text revealed the names of document authors, their relationship to each other and earlier versions of documents. Occasionally it revealed very personal information such as social security numbers that are beloved of criminals who specialize in identity theft.

Also available was useful information about the internal network the document travelled through, which could be useful to anyone looking for a route into a network. Mr Byers wrote that the problem of leaky Word documents is pervasive and wrote that anyone worried about losing personal information might want to consider using a different word processing program.

Alternatively he recommends using utility programs that scrub information from Word documents or following Microsoft’s advice about how to make documents safer.

"Microsoft is aware of the functionality of metadata being stored within Word documents and would advise users to follow the instructions laid out in," says a spokesperson. To remove hidden data from Office 2003 and Office XP, you should follow explicit Microsoft recommendations. And next generation, Office 2007 provides a built-in tool to find and remove this information.

Sources and Additional Information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/834427
http://www.clarion.edu/36449/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/119674/free_tool_identifies_hidden_data_in_microsoft_office_docs.html
http://blogs.technet.com/tarpara/archive/2007/10/24/how-to-removing-hidden-data-from-office-documents.aspx