- Email: [email protected]
Microsoft tackles Win 95 pirates
Abstracts of Recent Articles and Literature
them. There are files of them available on the Internet instantly. Hackers are often better informed about the specific security holes that exist in a given system than are company people.” In Hong Kong, some large companies were reluctant to join the Internet because they feared hackers entering their systems. South China Morning Post, September 2, 1995. Pssst, what’s password again? Confusion is becoming a fact of life as people accumulate passwords and access codes like a janitor collects keys. There are now passwords for office equipment, passwords for cellular phones and, of course, passwords for computer networks. Some people even have passwords to electronic organizers where they keep track of all their passwords. More people than ever are using computers and online networks that demand security precautions. Hackers can use computer programs that can test millions of number of word permutations to unlock accounts. On most computer systems about three-quarters of all people have passwords that can be easily guessed by others. Therefore, people feel compelled to come up with nonsense jumbles of symbols. But, the problem is that people generally aren’t cut out to remember the random strings of numbers. At Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Emergency Response Team, the number of cases reported went from 132 in 1989 to 2341 last year. Each case could involve hundreds of computers. Companies are trying to devise better forms of security. Some are working to create a single ‘password card’ that would be used like an ATM card for identification on all systems. Others believe the only sure form of identification is something biological, such as a finger print or voice print. Democrat G Chronicle, September 4, 1995. Microsoft tackles Win 95 pirates, Sarah Aryanpur. Microsoft is setting up an emergency information hotline in a bid to stem the flood of pirated copies of Windows 95. Approximately 50 000 pirated copies of release 2 of the beta code are estimated to have been circulated on the continent for the last couple ofmonths. Microsoft is asking customers, dealers and distributors to call the hotline number of they are approached with unauthorized copies of Windows 95. The copies found to date are not very professional, but dealers should be warned that more skilful copies of the full version may exist. Unauthorized copies should be easy to spot, according to a spokesperson for Microsoft: “We have included certificates ofauthorization, holograms and ID numbers. If copies appear they will be from a highly
412
organized source and probably originate from the Far East.” Carmel Brown of the Federation Against Software Theft said, “Windows 95 will be a target for those who copy illegally and put compilations of illegal software onto CD-ROMs.” Computing, August 24, 1995. Are suppliers infected with an apathy virus? Bill Boyle. Two new viruses, previously unknown in the wild have been reported. These are Winword.concept and Rainbow. Many users and anti-virus experts are openly grumbling about the complacency of both IBM and Microsoft in the face of the threat from new viruses. Microsoft’s Irish CD pressing plant engineers were in London to look at the latest anti-virus software but had not yet reached a decision to buy. Microsoft and IBM’s own anti-virus products are not held in particularly high regard by specialists. The Virus Bulletin tested Microsoft’s DOS Anti-Virus and it detected only 52.5% of all viruses and just 7% of polymorphic viruses. Although the detection rate of IBM’s Antivirus was 99.4% overall and 86.2% for polymorphic viruses, it was one of the slowest products tested. To be really effective anti-virus software should be updated as often as every month. The anti-virus industry is looking at two methods of detecting Winword.concept. The first is called point scanning and involves looking for small pieces ofmischievous code, such as the instruction ‘format disk’. The second is called grunt scanning and involves scanning all data files. Computer Weekly, September 2 1, 1995, p. 18 Word is out on virus that attacks macros, Pad Robinson. A new computer virus, which infects Microsoft’s Word 6, has been reported in the wild in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Finland. The virus is strikingly different from conventional viruses in that it infects data files. The virus takes advantage of the macro programming language, Word Basic, and uses one of the automatic macros built into the language in order to spread. As soon as an infected document is opened, the virus infects the standard document template, NORMAL.DOT which is attached by default to all new documents. Microsoft has called the virus a “prank macro” and published an application note and a ‘workaround’ which it claims cleans up the problem. The virus will work on Word running the Mac and on PCs running Word for Windows 6, Word for Windows NT, Word for Windows 95 and Word for OS/2. S&S
them. There are files of them available on the Internet instantly. Hackers are often better informed about the specific security holes that exist in a given system than are company people.” In Hong Kong, some large companies were reluctant to join the Internet because they feared hackers entering their systems. South China Morning Post, September 2, 1995. Pssst, what’s password again? Confusion is becoming a fact of life as people accumulate passwords and access codes like a janitor collects keys. There are now passwords for office equipment, passwords for cellular phones and, of course, passwords for computer networks. Some people even have passwords to electronic organizers where they keep track of all their passwords. More people than ever are using computers and online networks that demand security precautions. Hackers can use computer programs that can test millions of number of word permutations to unlock accounts. On most computer systems about three-quarters of all people have passwords that can be easily guessed by others. Therefore, people feel compelled to come up with nonsense jumbles of symbols. But, the problem is that people generally aren’t cut out to remember the random strings of numbers. At Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Emergency Response Team, the number of cases reported went from 132 in 1989 to 2341 last year. Each case could involve hundreds of computers. Companies are trying to devise better forms of security. Some are working to create a single ‘password card’ that would be used like an ATM card for identification on all systems. Others believe the only sure form of identification is something biological, such as a finger print or voice print. Democrat G Chronicle, September 4, 1995. Microsoft tackles Win 95 pirates, Sarah Aryanpur. Microsoft is setting up an emergency information hotline in a bid to stem the flood of pirated copies of Windows 95. Approximately 50 000 pirated copies of release 2 of the beta code are estimated to have been circulated on the continent for the last couple ofmonths. Microsoft is asking customers, dealers and distributors to call the hotline number of they are approached with unauthorized copies of Windows 95. The copies found to date are not very professional, but dealers should be warned that more skilful copies of the full version may exist. Unauthorized copies should be easy to spot, according to a spokesperson for Microsoft: “We have included certificates ofauthorization, holograms and ID numbers. If copies appear they will be from a highly
412
organized source and probably originate from the Far East.” Carmel Brown of the Federation Against Software Theft said, “Windows 95 will be a target for those who copy illegally and put compilations of illegal software onto CD-ROMs.” Computing, August 24, 1995. Are suppliers infected with an apathy virus? Bill Boyle. Two new viruses, previously unknown in the wild have been reported. These are Winword.concept and Rainbow. Many users and anti-virus experts are openly grumbling about the complacency of both IBM and Microsoft in the face of the threat from new viruses. Microsoft’s Irish CD pressing plant engineers were in London to look at the latest anti-virus software but had not yet reached a decision to buy. Microsoft and IBM’s own anti-virus products are not held in particularly high regard by specialists. The Virus Bulletin tested Microsoft’s DOS Anti-Virus and it detected only 52.5% of all viruses and just 7% of polymorphic viruses. Although the detection rate of IBM’s Antivirus was 99.4% overall and 86.2% for polymorphic viruses, it was one of the slowest products tested. To be really effective anti-virus software should be updated as often as every month. The anti-virus industry is looking at two methods of detecting Winword.concept. The first is called point scanning and involves looking for small pieces ofmischievous code, such as the instruction ‘format disk’. The second is called grunt scanning and involves scanning all data files. Computer Weekly, September 2 1, 1995, p. 18 Word is out on virus that attacks macros, Pad Robinson. A new computer virus, which infects Microsoft’s Word 6, has been reported in the wild in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Finland. The virus is strikingly different from conventional viruses in that it infects data files. The virus takes advantage of the macro programming language, Word Basic, and uses one of the automatic macros built into the language in order to spread. As soon as an infected document is opened, the virus infects the standard document template, NORMAL.DOT which is attached by default to all new documents. Microsoft has called the virus a “prank macro” and published an application note and a ‘workaround’ which it claims cleans up the problem. The virus will work on Word running the Mac and on PCs running Word for Windows 6, Word for Windows NT, Word for Windows 95 and Word for OS/2. S&S