WINS Email Lists - We seem to be having two reoccurring difficulties on the lists that can cause a little consternation.  The first was reported in the August newsletter, but it bears repeating.  Those members that use multiple email addresses sometimes confuse which one they enrolled on what list.  Remember, if you send a post to a WINS list using an email address other than the one you enrolled on that list, it will bounce (to me).  Please keep track of what email address you use for enrollment.

The second is a lag time between when a list member sends a post to the list and when it arrives back in their mailbox.  This send-to-receive time can typically be around 20 minutes, although some members have reported delays up to 2 hours.  Unfortunately, the reasons for the delays can be numerous, anywhere from server blacklisting to server email filtering, power difficulties to peak Internet busy times.  Lately my posts seem to be going through the system in about 12-15 minutes, and while the DOMO tech is monitoring the system for any anomalies, none have been found.

If you have any questions concerning the new DOMO lists, let me know, and I'll do my best to find the answer.

IT Update - September was a very busy month for the bad guys.  Here's some of the activities:

September 4, 2006 - Companies do not often admit to falling victim to IT attacks, but on this occasion, AT&T (major US telephone company) has acknowledged that hackers have stolen the credit card details and other personal details of around 19,000 customers.

September 5, 2006 - SPAM messages have been detected that use subliminal advertising techniques.  At first glance, it is an advertisement that gives the user the opportunity to but certain stocks online. However, the user not only sees a static image, but also a sequence of images that are displayed extremely rapidly. To be more specific, there are four images, three of which show the word Buy in different positions.

September 7, 2006 - Microsoft published a security advisory informing that it is investigating public reports of "zero-day" attacks using a new vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2000.

September 12, 2006 - Large-scale phishing attack targeting Barclays Bank's online services detected and involving at least 61 variants of a spoof email.  The scale of this attack has seen the number of fraudulent emails detected increase by 30% in just a few hours.  In fact, of all "phishing" messages currently analyzed, some 64 percent target Barclays' clients. Given the number of variants detected, estimates put the number of these emails in circulation in the millions.

September 13, 2006 - Microsoft released three updates to its products. The bulletins, from MS06-052 to MS06-54, resolve problems considered "moderate", "critical" and "important".

September 13, 2006 - Email postcards that redirect the recipients to a "Phishing" web site are identified.

September 13, 2006 - New variations of ebay "phishing" email surface.

September 14, 2006 - Adobe published a security bulletin reporting several critical vulnerabilities in Flash Player 8.0.24.0 and earlier versions, which could allow an attacker to take control of vulnerable systems.

September 15, 2006 - Mozilla Foundation has released version 1.5.0.7 of the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird mail client. The improvements in this new version include the correction of several security vulnerabilities.

September 25, 2006 - An update has been released for the browser Opera to prevent a recently discovered vulnerability, which can be exploited by attackers to bypass security restrictions. This vulnerability affects Opera 9.01 and earlier versions. To avoid this problem, version 9.02 has been released, which can be downloaded HERE. More information is available HERE.

September 25, 2006 - A new worm made it's apppearance - W32/Spamta.CY.worm. This worm spreads via email using its own SMTP engine and it's main characteristics are:

Message subject using one of the following titles:
- Mail Server Report
- Error
- Mail Delivery System
- Mail Transaction Failed
- Server Report
- Status
- Good day
- picture
File size: 117,884 bytes
Programmed in: Visual C++.

September 29, 2006 - El US-CERT has confirmed that the WebViewFolderIcon ActiveX control in Microsoft Windows contains an integer overflow vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.

And lastly, here is the top ten malware list for September:

Auction Update - Auction 38 is just around the corner, scheduled for October 7-14. Members may submit up to 10 items each for this auction to the auction coordinator until 7:00 PM MST 24 hours prior to the start of the auction.   However, starting with this auction any items where the funds received will be donated to the WINS Treasury will be placed in a separate section and those items will not be counted against the ten items a member may submit.  Please use the format illustrated in the Auction Rules to submit your items and to place your bids.

Thanks for readin'.  "See ya' at the auction".