Joe Hackman

Joe Hackman

Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, Tesla, maker, and more...

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IE7 and Adobe Security Alert

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We have received a notice from US-CERT about a security flaw involving Internet Explorer 7 and Adobe Acrobat. The flaw only affects windows based machines that have Internet Explorer 7 and Adobe Acrobat products. If you have both of these products installed your system could be compromised if you opened a pdf file that was crafted to exploit this flaw. This flaw has been labelled critical, and we are prioritizing addressing this flaw with our customers.

Who should be concerned?

  1. Anyone with both Internet Explorer version 7 and Adobe Acrobat installed.
  2. Anyone using Adobe Acrobat products version 8.1 or earlier in conjunction with Internet Explorer 7.

If I meet the criteria that makes me vulnerable, what should I do?

  1. You should avoid opening PDF files from untrusted sources.
  2. You should apply an update for your Adobe Acrobat as soon as possible.
  3. If unable to install an update, you should disable the mailto: URI handler on your Adobe Product (See Adobe Security Bulletin APSB07-18 for details on how to do this).

Where can I get more information about this problem?

Phisher Shutdown

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Phisher ShutdownThis morning I happened to get a Phishing message from the contact form on this website. It was carefully crafted and was devised to obtain routing and bank information to most certainly relieve us of any and all funds in the account. When I went to investigate the site, I quickly learned that it had already been removed from the dns records of the hosting provider – precisely what I had intended to inform them of. Someone had already reacted to this would be phisher and stopped them in their tracks. This is always nice to see because often times when we do something as a responsible netizen administrators of websites and hosting companies lack the resources to respond and address the threats.

Speakeasy VOIP Partner

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We are pleased to anounce that we have passed all requirements to be a Speakeasy Certified VOIP (Voice Over IP) partner. This means our customers and prospects can confidently consult with Managed Solutions for their VOIP communications needs. VOIP offers growing and established businesses optimal flexibility, cost and features for all their communications needs. VOIP allows you to merge your data and voice communications into one package in most cases providing an upgrade of features or qualities to one or the other. Speakeasy is a proven provider in the VOIP market and an ideal partner for Managed Solutions.

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419 Death Threat Spam

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A particularly despicable scam is circulating this week. It involves a Spam email that contains a “death threat” the sender claims to be a hit man hired to kill you. In typical fashion the grammar and spelling are poor. This could indicate the authors are not skilled in the English language though it could also be an attempt to protect the guilty and obscure the trail of the actual perpetrator(s). If you happen to receive this Spam don’t worry, just delete the message. They are using this method to validate targets for future scams and Spam. If you do respond you will become a validated target. You can also contact the IC3 in the United States at www.ic3.gov to file a formal complaint. The entire text of the Spam is as follows (compliments of Swa Frantzen @ ISC):

“Hello, I wish to let you know that i have been paid by a client to assasinate you at convenience,and i have signed a contract of $650,000 yesterday for this.I have never met you before,but they gave me the full description of your identity and contact,together with your photograph which my boys have used to trace you.

The reason why they want you Dead is not disclosed to me as i was not allowed to know,but you are now not better that the dead ok.

My BOYS are now contantly watching you,they are following you-home,office,everywhere…..,you go and they are waiting for my instruction to terminate you.And they will strike at convenience.

THIS IS MY MESSAGE-

LISTEN VERY WELL !!!!,the Police cannot do much to help you out in this right now because you are being watched,any such attempt is very risky cause you will push us to terminate your life without option. Your calls are not safe also.In fact you are traced. I have no business with you but at least i have cleared the way as a pro-,but you may have one chance to live again if you can contact me not latter that 24 hours after this mssage.

GOODLUCK!!!”

Very Simple Solaris Root Exploit

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There is an incredibly simple root exploit for computers running the Solaris operating system with telnet enabled. While in general terms it is a bad idea to have telnet enabled and particularly so on a forward facing or internet connected machine, this exploit is so simple and Solaris boxes are popular for forward facing roles such as web servers, etc. In general we would not be concerned with Solaris exploits at Managed Solutions. However this particular exploit has ramifications for all of us. Anything that has the potential for a very successful internet worm has the potential to affect the general availability of services we rely on. It could also lead to a compromise of our personal information should one of the hosts that we might have made a credit card purchase through become compromised. We will continue to monitor activity of this worm and update this article of any significant details.

As of 2/28/2007 there is a worm circulating for this previously reported simple exploit. We are actually surprised it took this long for something to hit the wild. Hopefully most organizations patched the vulnerability. Unfortunately it seems like things like this are far too often dealt with in a reactive fashion.