[PPRAANet] FW: D-14 PPARES: Just in case you haven' t already protected your computers

[Dave Sloan]

FYI

TNX & 73,
Dave N0EOP
31033

-----Original Message-----
From: ppares-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ppares-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of MIKE PROCTOR
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 2:37 PM
To: ALERT at X.COM
Subject: D-14 PPARES: Just in case you haven' t already protected
yourcomputers

DHS Releases Conficker/Downadup Computer Worm Detection Tool
 
Release Date: March 30, 2009

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today the release
of a DHS-developed detection tool that can be used by the federal
government, commercial vendors, state and local governments, and critical
infrastructure owners and operators to scan their networks for the
Conficker/Downadup computer worm.

The department's United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)
developed the tool that assists mission-critical partners in detecting if
their networks are infected. The tool has been made available to federal and
state partners via the Government Forum of Incident Response and Security
Teams (GFIRST) Portal, and to private sector partners through the IT and
Communications sector Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs).
Additional outreach to partners will continue in the coming days.

Department cyber experts briefed federal Chief Information Officers and
Chief Information Security Officers today, as well as their equivalents in
the private sector and state/local government via the ISACs and the National
Infrastructure Protection Plan framework. 

"While tools have existed for individual users, this is the only free tool -
and the most comprehensive one - available for enterprises like federal and
state government and private sector networks to determine the extent to
which their systems are infected by this worm," said US-CERT Director
Mischel Kwon. "Our experts at US-CERT are working around the clock to
increase our capabilities to address the cyber risk to our nation's critical
networks and systems, both from this threat and all others."

In addition to the development of this tool, DHS is working closely with
private sector and government partners to minimize any impact from the
Conficker/Downadup computer worm. This worm can infect Microsoft Windows
systems from thumb drives, network share drives, or directly across a
corporate network if network servers are not protected by Microsoft's
MS08-067 patch.

US-CERT recommends that Windows Operating Systems users apply Microsoft
security patch MS08-067
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx) as
quickly as possible to help protect themselves from the worm. This security
patch, released in October 2008, is designed to protect against a
vulnerability that, if exploited, could enable an attacker to remotely take
control of an infected system and install additional malicious software.

Home users can apply a simple test for the presence of a Conficker/Downadup
infection on their home computers.  The presence of an infection may be
detected if users are unable to connect to their security solution Web site
or if they are unable to download free detection/removal tools.

If an infection is suspected, the system or computer should be removed from
the network.  In the case of home users, the computer should be unplugged
from the Internet. 

Instructions, support and more information on how to manually remove a
Conficker/Downadup infection from a system have been published by major
security vendors. Each of these vendors offers free tools that can verify
the presence of a Conficker/Downadup infection and remove the worm:

Symantec:
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-01
1316-0247-99

Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

Home users may also call Microsoft PC Safety hotline at 1-866-PCSAFETY, for
assistance. 

McAfee:
http://www.mcafee.com/us/threat_center/default.asp

US-CERT encourages users to prevent a Conficker/Downadup infection by
ensuring all systems have the MS08-067 patch, disabling AutoRun
functionality (see http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-020A.html),
and maintaining up-to-date anti-virus software.


In addition, US-CERT recommends that computer users and administrators
implement the following preparedness measures to protect themselves against
this vulnerability, and also from future vulnerabilities:

Keep up-to-date on security patches and fixes for your operating system. The
easiest way to do this is to set your system to receive automatic updates,
which will ensure you automatically receive security updates issued by
Microsoft. If your system does not allow automatic updates, we recommend
that you manually install the Microsoft security patch today through
Microsoft Update at http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate 
Install anti-virus and anti-spyware software and keep them up-to-date 
Enable a firewall which will help block attacks before they can get into
your computer 

____________________________________________________________
Is your bra causing you pain?  Click here to find a bra that fits right.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTKXiubiePONoa3eg4bHWWoZ7Kx
wEJh7nbaKetbwK8NQVOoQRuwTOQ/
______________________________________________________________
PPARES mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ppares
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:PPARES at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html