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Creating a Comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment Program for a Large Company Using QualysGuard

2010-09-17/0 Comments/in Vulnerability Assessment/by admin

An interesting paper by Tim Proffitt titled, “Creating a Comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment Program for a Large Company Using QualysGuard”

Vulnerability Assessment, according to wikipedia.org, is the process of

identifying and quantifying vulnerabilities in a system. Vulnerability assessment

can be used against many different types of systems such as a home security

alarm, the protection of a nuclear power plant or a military outpost. Note that

vulnerability assessment is different from risk assessments even though they share

some of the same commonalities. Vulnerability Assessment concerns itself with

the identification of vulnerabilities, the possibilities of reducing those

vulnerabilities and improving the capacity to manage future incidents. This paper

will focus primarily on vulnerability assessment as it pertains to information

technology infrastructure and how utilizing QualysGuard can ease the burden on

your technology staff.

With today’s global marketplace, companies cannot afford to tarnish their

reputation with a public security incident. Corporations can suffer major financial

losses if a security incident is encountered in the business. The fear of revenue

loss should motivate companies to begin taking proactive measures against

vulnerabilities in their infrastructure. The concept of vulnerability assessment is a

critical process that should be followed in any organizations as a way to identify,

assess and respond to new vulnerabilities before those vulnerabilities become a

threat.

To obtain a copy of this paper, you can find it here at SANS Reading Room

‘Here You Have’ Worm Runs Wild Hitting U.S. Organizations Hard

2010-09-16/0 Comments/in Hack, Video/by admin

Last week a hacker named, “Iraq resistance” who has been trying to unite other like-minded hackers in a cyber jihad effort towards the U.S. initiated a malicious computer worm know as the “Here you have” worm. A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program that uses computer networks to send copies of itself to other computers on a network without any user intervention.

The “Here you have” worm spread through many computer networks, bringing down e-mail servers at some of the biggest U.S. organizations, such as, Disney, Proctor and Gamble, Wells Fargo, and NASA. It is known as the “Here you have” worm because of the subject line associated with the worm when it is sent out. Below is a description of the message:

Subject: Here you have

Hello:

This is The Document I told you about,you can find it Here.

(WEB)://malicious-link-omitted/library/PDF_Document21.025542010.pdf

Please check it and reply as soon as possible.

Cheers,

It seems the attack was partly motivated by the actions of Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who called for people around the world to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11.

Please make sure your security controls and applications are working and up to date on your systems.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for September 2010 – Issued: September 14, 2010

2010-09-14/0 Comments/in General Security, Vulnerability, Windows Security/by SecurityOrb_Staff

********************************************************************
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for September 2010
Issued: September 14, 2010
********************************************************************

This bulletin summary lists security bulletins released for
September 2010.

The full version of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for
September 2010 can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-sep.mspx.

With the release of the bulletins for September 2010, this bulletin
summary replaces the bulletin advance notification originally issued
on September 9, 2010. For more information about the bulletin
advance notification service, see
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/advance.mspx.

To receive automatic notifications whenever Microsoft Security
Bulletins are issued, subscribe to Microsoft Technical Security
Notifications on
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/notify.mspx.

Microsoft is hosting a webcast to address customer questions on
these bulletins on September 15, 2010, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time
(US & Canada). Register for the Security Bulletin Webcast at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/summary.mspx.

Microsoft also provides information to help customers prioritize
monthly security updates with any non-security, high-priority
updates that are being released on the same day as the monthly
security updates. Please see the section, Other Information.

Critical Security Bulletins
===========================

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-061

– Affected Software:
– Windows XP Service Pack 3
– Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2
– Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2
– Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2
– Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems
– Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and
Windows Vista Service Pack 2
– Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1 and
Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2
– Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems and
Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
(Windows Server 2008 Server Core installation affected)
– Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems and
Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
(Windows Server 2008 Server Core installation affected)
– Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems and
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems Service Pack 2
– Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems
– Windows 7 for x64-based Systems
– Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems
(Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core installation affected)
– Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems