FW: NIPC Daily Report, 27 June 2001

From: George Heuston (georgeh@private)
Date: Wed Jun 27 2001 - 09:57:00 PDT

  • Next message: George Heuston: "FW: NIPC Daily Report, 28 June 2001"

    -----Original Message-----
    From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipc.watch@private] 
    Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 9:23 AM
    To: daily
    Subject: NIPC Daily Report, 27 June 2001
    
    Significant Changes and Assessment  - No Significant Changes.
    
    Private Sector - America Online (AOL) confirmed on 26 June that one of
    the Web servers operated by the company's ICQ instant-messaging unit was
    defaced. AOL assured users of its popular Internet messaging service
    that their personal data was not compromised. The defaced server,
    located at groups.icq.com, provides information about ICQ interest
    groups and was running Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS)
    software, according to AOL officials.  A group calling itself 'Men In
    Hack' on 25 June replaced the default home page with one of its own
    design. The defaced page included the ICQ logo, a green flower, with the
    words "hacked" flashing in red capital letters across it.  Following the
    defacement, the online service installed a patch recently released by
    Microsoft to plug a security hole in IIS, an AOL spokesperson said.
    (Source: Newsbytes, 26 June)
    
    An ad hoc association of security and general-purpose software vendors,
    headed by the moderator of the NTBugtraq mailing list and surgeon
    general at TruSecure Corp., is working to establish an industry group
    with established protocols.  The panel would formalize the way
    researchers handle the reporting of new vulnerabilities and would
    dispense vulnerability and exploit information, first to its members and
    then to the general public, once patches are available.  Currently, as
    no such standardized method exists, vulnerabilities and their exploit
    code are sometimes released to the general public before vendors are
    notified, greatly enhancing a hacker's ability to exploit security
    holes.  Other groups have attempted this feat with varying degrees of
    success, most notably the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon
    University, in Pittsburgh. An industry-led group could significantly
    reduce the number of attacks against computer networks.  (Source: ZDNET,
    25 June)
    
    A researcher plans to announce at a technical conference on 28 June that
    the common encryption standards that allow users to digitally sign their
    e-mail have a well known flaw that could allow a message to be
    surreptitiously forwarded to another person.  The problem could allow
    the recipient of a signed and encrypted e-mail to forward the message to
    a third party, while making it seem as if the original sender mailed the
    message directly. (Source: ZDNET, 26 June)
    
    According to a media report, the following security vulnerabilities are
    present in Windows 2000 Encrypting File System (EFS) and disk wipe
    software support: 1. Files that are moved into an encrypted folder have
    a plain text copy made.  In addition plain text fragments of the
    original will also persist. When EFS is used in the recommended manner,
    that is files are only created inside folders with EFS enabled, the
    problem of plain-text copies and fragments does not occur.  2. Third
    party disk wipe products do not effectively "zero" unused disk space
    under Windows 2000.  This effectively means that users are unable to
    clear plain text copies of files they thought were encrypted, as well
    other material they thought they had deleted, by using disk wipe
    products. (Source: InfoSec News, 26 June)
    
    International - On 26 June, a hacker named 'ThePike' managed to deface
    the European defacement mirror Alldas.de. Visitors to the site saw a
    modified news banner on the left side saying "ALLDAS GOT CRACKED! READ
    IT HERE."  The front page was modified to include a small rant/message
    from the defacer regarding current defacement activity.  His message
    warned other defacers that "security is not something funny" and
    cautioned would-be defacers about using their scripts to deface
    companies that rely on data security.  (Source: SecurityWatch, 26 June)
    
    In May, 18 separate Web defacements were recorded on 39 top Irish
    company Web sites after hackers succeeded in breaching company e-codes.
    Patrick Hynes, boss of Ernst and Young, a global company which
    specializes in e-security, warned that several major companies are now
    at serious risk of having their confidential files intercepted by
    international hackers.  He said that already some top Irish firms are
    being hacked  from places as far away as Korea, Japan, and the U.S.
    (Source: Sunday Mirror, 24 June)
    
    Government - NTR
    Military - NTR
    
    Defacements - According to the Web defacement mirror site Alldas.de, the
    following U.S. government and military sites were defaced on 27 June by
    the hacker indicated:
    
    * U.S. Navy Civilian Welfare and Recreation North Island Web site
    (www.cwrni.navy.mil), defaced by PoizonB0x
    * Heeler National Wetlands Research Center (heeler.nwrc.gov), defaced by
    Warlord
    * Shepherd National Wetlands Research Center (shepherd.nwrc.gov),
    defaced by Warlord
    * Hound National Wetland Research Center (hound.nwrc.gov), defaced by
    Warlord1101
    * Husky National Wetland Research Center (husky.nwrc.gov), defaced by
    Warlord 1101
    
    U.S. SECTOR INFORMATION:
    
    Banking and Finance - NTR
    Emergency Services - NTR
    Government Services - NTR
    Water Supply - NTR
    Gas and Oil Storage Distribution - NTR
    Electrical Power - NTR
    Transportation - NTR
    Telecommunications - NTR
    
    NOTE:  Please understand that this is for informational purposes only
    and does not constitute any verification of the information contained in
    the report nor does this constitute endorsement by the NIPC or the FBI.
    



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