[ISN] Symantec's New Internet Security Threat Report

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Thu Mar 29 2007 - 01:20:39 PST


Forwarded with permission from: Security UPDATE <Security_UPDATE (at) list.windowsitpro.com>

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=== CONTENTS ===================================================

IN FOCUS: Symantec's New Internet Security Threat Report 

NEWS AND FEATURES
   - New Firefox Versions Released to Fix FTP Vulnerability
   - War Driving Goes Commercial
   - Microsoft Admits to Xbox Support Slip-Ups
   - Recent Security Vulnerabilities

GIVE AND TAKE
   - Security Matters Blog: David LeBlanc Starts Blogging
   - FAQ: Accessing Drives After Renaming Servers
   - From the Forum: Vista's Security Features
   - From the Forum: Vote for Your Favorite Host IPS
   - Tell Us About the Products You Love!
   - Share Your Security Tips

PRODUCTS
   - Detect System Object and Registry Changes

RESOURCES AND EVENTS

FEATURED WHITE PAPER

ANNOUNCEMENTS


=== SPONSOR: Symantec ==========================================

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=== IN FOCUS: Symantec's New Internet Security Threat Report ===
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

Security vendors often release reports based on their perspective of 
current and future Internet-related security threats. The reports are 
useful in learning what the vendor sees, which in turn can lead you to 
your own widened perspective on potential problems. 

Symantec recently released "Internet Security Threat Report, Trends for 
July-December 2006." While the report is based on historical data, it 
does lend some insight into the future. 

According to the report, the latest trend for intruders is to use 
medium-risk vulnerabilities as launch points to conduct future attacks. 
Symantec said that intruders are more frequently using combined 
vulnerabilities and that financial gain is often the motive. 

The company said it bases its findings on a network of more than 40,000 
sensors in more than 180 countries, more than 2 million decoy email 
accounts, and information collected from its BugTraq mailing list. 

Some interesting highlights from the report include the discovery that 
of all the attacks that affected Web browsers, approximately 77 percent 
were aimed at Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). Ninety-three percent of 
all attacks were aimed at home users.

Another interesting data point is that Symantec tracked over 5,200 
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks per day. That's a lot! Interestingly 
enough, the company said that figure dropped from last year when it 
tracked more than 6,100 DoS attacks per day. 

The company also documented more than 2,500 vulnerabilities; 66 percent 
of them were related to Web applications, and 79 percent were "easily 
exploitable."

Another interesting set of points are patch turnaround times for OSs. 
Symantec measured five vendors: Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Apple, HP, 
and Red Hat. Of those five companies, Symantec found that Microsoft had 
the fastest average turnaround time overall, Red Hat was second, HP was 
third, Apple was fourth, and Sun was fifth. 

The number of vulnerabilities measured for each vendor varied as did 
the response time, when comparing the second half of 2006 with the 
first half. For example, HP's average response time in the first half 
of 2006 was 53 days for the seven vulnerabilities the company 
disclosed. In the second half of 2006, HP's number of disclosed 
vulnerabilities increased to 98 and the company's average response time 
increased to 101 days.

Even though we'll most likely see fewer vulnerabilities in Vista than 
we do in previous Windows platforms, I expect Microsoft's average 
vulnerability response time will remain steady since it uses a monthly 
patch release schedule. 

Vista will no doubt affect the future reports of most any Windows-based 
security vendor--Symantec certainly included. The report predicts that 
third-party software developers could become the source of a 
significant percentage of attacks against the OS. 

That's just the tip of the iceberg of the information in Symantec's 
104-page report. Other information includes trends regarding specific 
types of attacks, what future trends might be, and a lot of detail 
about some of the topics I covered briefly here. If you're interested 
in reading the entire report, you can get a copy in PDF format at the 
URL below: 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC12:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

===

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=== SECURITY NEWS AND FEATURES =================================

New Firefox Versions Released to Fix FTP Vulnerability
   Mozilla Foundation released Firefox 2.0.0.3 and 1.5.0.11 to fix a 
vulnerability in the FTP protocol that could allow an intruder to 
perform a basic port scan of a user's internal network.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC20:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

War Driving Goes Commercial
   Skyhook Wireless operates trucks that locate wireless APs in more 
than 2,500 cities. The company can then locate people through their 
connections to an AP and provide them various location-related 
services.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC21:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

Microsoft Admits to Xbox Support Slip-Ups
   While Microsoft was originally quick to dismiss recent rumors of a 
security problem with its Xbox Live online service, the company now 
says that though the service is technically sound, it appears that 
staffers at Xbox support have been giving up users' personal 
information to callers without properly verifying their identities. 
Thus, some malicious users have indeed been able to subvert Xbox Live 
accounts by using old-fashioned social engineering schemes.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC25:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

Recent Security Vulnerabilities
   If you subscribe to this newsletter, you also receive Security 
Alerts, which inform you about recently discovered security 
vulnerabilities. You can also find information about these 
discoveries at
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC1B:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69


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=== GIVE AND TAKE ==============================================

SECURITY MATTERS BLOG: David LeBlanc Starts Blogging
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC2A:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

David LeBlanc--one of the first programmers at Internet Security 
Systems (ISS) and now a security expert at Microsoft--is now blogging 
on MSDN.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC23:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

FAQ: Accessing Drives After Renaming Servers
   by John Savill, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC27:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69 

Q: I've renamed servers using a special script but am now having 
problems accessing disks via the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 
Disk Management snap-in. What's the problem?

Find the answer at
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=4FC22:57B62BBB09A6927948DF73B48E1F7B69

FROM THE FORUM: Vista's Security Features
   It seems like companies aren't in a rush to migrate to Windows 
Vista. But what about all the new security features Vista offers? 
Aren't they a draw to the new OS version? Which new security features 
make you want to move right away, and which aren't so compelling?
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discussion at
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=== PRODUCTS ===================================================
   by Renee Munshi, products@private

Detect System Object and Registry Changes
   Imperva announced the ADC Change Management Module for its 
SecureSphere appliances. The module performs an initial assessment and 
subsequently detects objects that are added to, changed on, or removed 
from the system. It also detects changes in the registry and monitors 
for files necessary for system operation. The ADC Change Management 
Module complements SecureSphere's existing abilities, which are to 
automate the complex processes required to produce compliance reports, 
perform change control audits, and maintain secure database 
configurations. The ADC Change Management Module is available 
immediately for free for SecureSphere customers that subscribe to the 
ADC security update service. For more information, go to
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=== RESOURCES AND EVENTS =======================================
   For more security-related resources, visit
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=== FEATURED WHITE PAPER =======================================

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and managing disk drives? Download this free white paper now and find 
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=== ANNOUNCEMENTS ==============================================

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