[ISN] Death of the Frog

Thu May 25 03:41:15 EDT 2006

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1. In Focus: Death of the Frog

2. Security News and Features
   - Recent Security Vulnerabilities
   - Microsoft Swallows Whale Communications
   - SSL VPN Use Increasing
   - Reaping the Benefits of WPA and PEAP

3. Security Toolkit
   - Security Matters Blog
   - FAQ
   - Security Forum Featured Thread
   - Share Your Security Tips

4. New and Improved
   - Secure PDAs and Smart Phones 

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==== 1. In Focus: Death of the Frog ====
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Blue Security's Blue Frog service, an 
incredibly effective method for fighting spam. For each spam message a 
Blue Frog user receives, Blue Frog sends one opt-out request to the 
sender of that spam. The end result is that the spammer receives 
millions of email messages, which probably overloads their network, but 
that should be an expected cost of doing spam business--people should 
have a right to opt out anytime they want to. 

Blue Security said that since the inception of Blue Frog, six of the 
top ten spammers had stopped sending spam to Blue Frog users. However, 
one spammer took serious offense and launched a Denial of Service (DoS) 
attack against the company that also affected other networks. All the 
affected networks recovered.

That's the good news--now here's the bad news: Last week, Blue Security 
announced that it closed down its Blue Frog service. In a message 
posted to its Web site, the company said that the reason it ceased 
operation is that "After recovering from the attack, we determined that 
once we reactivated the Blue Community, spammers would resume their 
attacks. We cannot take the responsibility for an ever-escalating cyber 
war through our continued operations.... We have concluded we should 
not take Blue Security to the full deployment stage we originally 
planned to achieve, but we are proud of what we have accomplished thus 
far as a young startup company."

It's true that Blue Frog might have caused spammers to launch continued 
attacks that might have serious effects on other networks, and Blue 
Security did seem to be considering others when making its decision to 
close down the service. But I don't see this decision as being in the 
best interest of the Internet community, including Blue Security, 
because the news gets worse.

After Blue Security decided to discontinue Blue Frog, the spammers 
attacked again! The second DoS attack rendered Blue Security's site 
inaccessible even though Blue Security made considerable technological 
efforts to thwart such attacks.

This second attack was probably meant to send another message.The 
message I take from it is crystal clear but probably isn't what the 
attackers intended: Kowtowing to spammers isn't the solution. 

While closing up shop might seem like a reasonable choice, it's 
essentially the equivalent of handing your network over to a bunch of 
black hat intruders who continually break in. It gives the intruders 
control they don't deserve to have.

I hope Blue Security changes its mind and brings back Blue Frog. If it 
doesn't, I hope that somebody else takes up where Blue Security left 
off, and quickly! Fighting back as a group has proved to be incredibly 
effective, and I'd hate to see momentum lost.

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==== 2. Security News and Features ====

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
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Microsoft Swallows Whale Communications
   In a move designed to expand its security offerings, Microsoft 
announced a deal to acquire Israel-based Whale Communications. 
Microsoft thinks Whale's Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN and application 
firewall technologies will complement its Windows Server and Internet 
Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server offerings. 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDB7:4FB69

SSL VPN Use Increasing
   A new study indicates that Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)-based VPNs are 
growing in popularity and could potentially overtake IPsec VPNs as the 
secure connectivity solution of choice. 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDB6:4FB69

Reaping the Benefits of WPA and PEAP
   If you still use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) technology to secure 
your wireless networks, be aware that it has serious flaws. The Wi-Fi 
Protected Access (WPA) standard and subsequent WPA2 standard overcome 
these flaws by adding stronger authentication and encryption and should 
be used whenever possible in preference to WEP. Learn how to use WPA 
and Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) in this article 
by John Howie.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDB9:4FB69

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==== Resources and Events ====

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Industry expert Mike Otey explains how to design high availability 
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Learn to gather evidence of compliance across multiple systems and link 
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Learn all you need to know about code signing technology, including the 
goals and benefits of code signing, how code signing works, and the 
underlying cryptographic and security concepts and building blocks.
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==== 3. Security Toolkit ==== 

Security Matters Blog: Google Affects Information Security
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDBB:4FB69

Certainly you've heard of "Google hacking," which is a way of using 
Google searches to locate potential vulnerabilities. But how else might 
Google affect information security? Find out more in this blog article.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDB5:4FB69

FAQ
   by John Savill, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDBA:4FB69 

Q: How do I enable a quota using the Windows Server 2003 R2 File Server 
Resource Manager (FSRM)?

Find the answer at http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=2BDB8:4FB69

Security Forum Featured Thread: Securing a Server
   A forum participant wants to know how to secure his Windows server 
by using the built-in TCP/IP filtering and Windows Firewall. He also 
wants to know what other steps he can take. Join the discussion at 
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==== 4. New and Improved ====
   by Renee Munshi, products at windowsitpro.com

Secure PDAs and Smart Phones
   Utimaco Safeware has extended its encryption and authentication 
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