Friday, May 09, 2008
THE ATTACK OF THE SUMMER VIRUSES
(September E-News from 2SS.Com)
[[Contact:26]]
[[Company:25]]
Dear [[Salutation:40]],
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‘ E – N E W S from ‘
‘ 2SS.Com ‘
‘ Compiled and Edited by ‘
‘ Mailed on: 09/01/20019:50 PM Number 34 ‘
‘ Int’l Standard Serial No. - ISSN: 1523-3537‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ Apologies if you missed our August 2001 issue ‘
‘ It was pre-empted by some interesting ‘
‘ distractions including a couple of days off! ‘
‘ Find E-News promoted at Excite, MSN, ‘
‘ Yahoo, E-Bay, Ziff-Davis University and more. ‘
‘ Please share E-News with others who might be ‘
‘ interested. It’s your FREE first-of-the-month, fast ‘
‘ read, update on technology that aims to make a ‘
‘ difference for your organization. ‘
‘ In this issue (5 Items): ‘
‘ ================ ‘
‘ 1--THE ATTACK OF THE SUMMER VIRUSES‘
‘ 2--QUESTIONS? ‘
‘ 3--PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ 4--STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ 5--WHY SUBSCRIBE? 2SS.Com & ‘
YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. ‘
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‘ --------------------------Item One---------------------- ‘
‘ THE ATTACK OF THE SUMMER VIRUSES
‘ ================================== ‘
‘ At 2SS.Com we have seen unprecedented ‘
‘ virus activity at both our offices and our ‘
‘ clients’. During August alone, we received ‘
‘ EIGHT (8) messages with viruses including ‘
‘ SirCam.Worm, Hybris.Worm and VBS.PassOn ‘
‘ with attachments ranging form meaningless ‘
‘ (e.g. ‘~$s ¦æ¬°¹Lµ{¬ö¿ý³ø§i.doc.com’) to more ‘
‘ meaningful (e.g. ‘flash_player_5.zip.bat’). And ‘
‘ all set to cause trouble if not first caught by ‘
’ Norton Antivirus. ‘
‘ As one of our clients recently learned ‘
‘ first-hand, SirCam is especially nasty. It ‘
‘ spreads itself via both E-Mail using your
‘ Windows Address Book folder, as well as ‘
‘ via unprotected network shares. Once present ‘
‘ on a PC, it continues to: ‘
‘ * Search through documents and send out ‘
‘ potentially sensitive files via E-Mail ‘
‘ * Fill your Hard Disk by consuming free space ‘
‘ on it to ultimately make it impossible to save ‘
‘ any file. ‘
‘ * Attempt to delete files from the Windows drive: ‘
‘ typically ‘C:’ ‘
‘ You can see all the details at ‘
‘ http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-22.html ‘
‘ SirCam is one among thousands (Our PC has ‘
‘ 52,918 virus signatures as of 9-1-01). So the ‘
‘ Summer of 2001 clearly points to the need for ‘
‘ good virus protection. No one is exempt. ‘
‘ Viruses like the ones noted above are attacking ‘
‘ stand-alone PCs. Networks and network servers ‘
‘ are open to attach from EVERY E-MAIL ‘
‘ attachment received by ANY PC on the network ‘
‘ (e.g. ‘Code Red’). ‘
‘ There is NO universal or absolute protection ‘
‘ from viruses unless your computer:
‘ * Is NOT on the Internet or a Local Area Network ‘
‘ * Is NOT used to receive E-Mail, and ‘
‘ * Is NOT used with diskettes received from others. ‘
‘ If, like most of us, you must do one or more of ‘
‘ these things, you need to have a software or ‘
‘ hardware “firewall” between your PC and the ‘
‘ Internet and R-E-G-U-L-A-R-L-Y ‘
‘ U-P-D-A-T-E-D virus-checking software on every ‘
‘ exposed PC. ‘
‘ At 2SS.Com, we’re hopeful that some day a ‘
‘ technology breakthrough might eliminate, or at ‘
‘ least slow down, the virus threat. We hate to see ‘
‘ virus attacks, or even virus prevention, as a source ‘
‘ of employment, even for ourselves. But during ‘
‘ the summer of 2001, it’s very clear to us, and at ‘
‘ least two of our clients, that the time to invest in ‘
‘ protection has already come! ‘
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‘ --------------------------Item Two----------------------- ‘
‘ QUESTIONS? ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ DO I REALLY NEED TO BE CONCERNED ‘
‘ ABOUT COMPUTER VIRUS PROTECTION? ‘
‘ Absolutely, Yes!
‘ CANADIANS TRUST THE INTERNET MORE? ‘
‘ Yes a recent online survey of 1000 Canadians ‘
‘ and 746 Americans indicates that for banking ‘
‘ (69% to 29%) Canadians have more trust ‘
‘ while in making purchases Americans edge ‘
‘ ahead (77% to 69%). ‘
‘ IS E-MAIL STILL CATCHING ON? ‘
‘ Market research firm Accenture estimates that ‘
‘ the current volume of daily E-Mail (about ‘
‘ 10MM messages) will explode to over ‘
‘ 35,000,000 by 2006. E-Mail security issues are ‘
‘ likely to grow at a similar pace! ‘
‘ WHAT ABOUT CASTING LIFE BEYOND EARTH? ‘
‘ It must have worked.
‘ If one objective for E-News from 2SS.Com is to ‘
‘ get your attention, then our July issue must have ‘
‘ worked! It opened with one of those ‘
‘ ‘giant questions’ about the future of life, and that ‘
‘ was apparently enough to inspire three folks to ‘
‘ unsubscribe. Our intention is, of course, to keep ‘
‘ subscribers, and we welcome feedback that will ‘
‘ help us keep you. ‘
‘ Nevertheless, if we have to lose folks, it’s good ‘
‘ that it’s happening because they’re reading. ‘
‘ We’ll keep trying to shake things up, but just ‘
‘ enough to earn your interest while keeping ‘
‘ your subscriber-ship!
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‘ ---------------------Item Three------------------------- ‘
‘ PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ HIGH-TOUCH & LOW-TECH…PERFECT! ‘
‘ The small form-factor single-function approach of ‘
‘ The Alpha Smart word processor is perfect for ‘
‘ some applications. ‘
‘ Introduced in January 2000, the AlphaSmart
‘ 3000. includes a SmartApplet™ design that ‘
‘ allows the use of their new SmartApplets Mini ‘
‘ software applications that can be used to create ‘
‘ and use templates, email and more. The Alpha ‘
‘ Smart folks also added more battery life, ‘
‘ memory, a cut/copy/paste capability and, USB ‘
‘ and serial ports. You can learn more about ‘
‘ these unique devices at http://www.alphasmart.com ‘
‘ WWW.TRAININGDEPARTMENT.COM is a ‘
‘ new Internet-based service that allows you to ‘
‘ use their Systems to author and present either ‘
‘ there standard courses or ones you author for ‘
‘ your company. For $10.00 per user per month, it ‘
‘ could be a great way to train folks in multiple ‘
‘ locations in what they need to know! ‘
‘ NORTON ANTIVIRUS FOR GATEWAYS ‘
‘ The new Norton AntiVirus for Gateways 2.5 ‘
‘ (min. 10 users at $12 per user annually--price ‘
‘ decreases as number of users increases)
‘ deals with Code Red worm, Melissa, I love you ‘
‘ and other viruses being passed around via ‘
‘ e-mail. NAV for Gateways works by placing a ‘
‘ sentry at the gate of your P's. It works as a ‘
‘ standalone e-mail gateway server that identifies ‘
‘ viruses before they get to your e-mail server. The ‘
‘ software also scans outgoing e-mail for viruses.
’ Like other virus detection products it will clean, ‘
‘ quarantine, or delete infected E-Mail ‘
‘ attachments. (See also www.symantec.com)
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ ----------------------Item Four-------------------------- ‘
‘ STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ 1. http://www.2wire.com/services/bwm.html is ‘
‘ a site that will let you test the speed of ‘
‘ your high speed Internet connection. At the ‘
‘ time of this article, our DSL connection ‘
‘ reported Bandwidth = 753 Kbps.
‘ You might want to compare what you get with ‘
‘ what you’re paying for?
‘ 2. http://www.dogpile.com is a site that brings ‘
‘ together the results of many other sites in a ‘
‘ single search. If you’d like to cover in-one-try: ‘
‘ GoTo LookSmart FindWhat ‘
‘ Sprinks by About Direct Hit Kanoodle ‘
‘ Ah-ha.Com Epilot AltaVista ‘
‘ RealNames WebCatalog ValleyAlley ‘
‘ Open Directory Yahoo SearchHippo ‘
‘ Visit Dogpile.com next time you need lots of ‘
‘ well-ordered results fast! ‘
‘ 3. Have you ever dragged a file into an ‘
‘ Outlook98 folder? Here’s why you may want to ‘
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q180/0/58.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=calendar&rnk=19&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=OUT98. Most of these ‘
‘ tricks will work with Outlook 2000, too! Just ‘
‘ open a window like My Documents, find your ‘
‘ file and begin to ‘drag-and-drop’.
‘ 4. For Forms try Office Depot at ‘
‘ https://www.officedepot.com/businesstools/forms/‘
‘ You’ll find just about every form you ‘
‘ can imagine. For example, how about a ‘
‘ ‘Sexual Harassment Policy’, a ‘Trial Balance ‘
‘ Worksheet’. or maybe a ‘Checklist for ‘
‘ evaluating Used Cars’. It’s all there and ‘
‘ hundreds more. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ -------------------------Item Five----------------------- ‘
‘ WHY SUBSCRIBE? ‘
‘ 2SS.Com & YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
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‘ Contact: [[Contact:26]] ‘
‘ Company: [[Company:25]] ‘
‘ Title: [[Title:46]] ‘
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