ALERT: Website Compromised

We have seen a rash of websites attacked and essentially destroyed recently. The attack is poorly executed and fills the website with enough garbage to cause it to be unable to run. The sheer number of files that are placed in the folders and the code changes make it impossible to clean. The website has to be reuploaded from the original files.

Therein lies the rub. We suspect that many of our clients do not have a backup copy of their website. It seems that generally web developers do not provide a copy. If your website was created recently (perhaps the last couple of years) then the developer can probably provide a copy to you. If not, then we should download a copy from your live site now and place it in your office for safe keeping.

Websites are pretty easy to attack because they often sit in their original state for many years without updates and the servers that they sit on are often not updated either.

-Amy

APC Surge Strip Recall

Gosh it’s been an interesting week.  

We received notification that APC has recalled some very old surge strips. These were manufactured prior to 2003. If you have one of them around they are a fire risk. Below is a picture of what they look like.

If you have one of these you will need to check the bar code to see if yours is effected by the recall. APC is offering a full replacement.

Please visit the following website and check the barcode against the list provided here.

http://recall.apc.com/en

If you need any help with this, just give us a call.

-Amy

Cryptolocker and Adobe Compromise

Cryptolocker: Regarding yesterday’s post about Cryptolocker. We are working on developing a block for the installer of this virus. Currently we are testing it on our own computers. This block uses software restriction policies to prevent the executable files from running. We are testing (dogfooding) on ourselves to make sure that this block doesn’t interfere with other applications. If it goes well, then we will plan to implement this solution to all of your computers. If you would like to opt out of this security measure please let us know. We will start with those that we can reach via group policy from your server. Any computer that is not part of a domain will not have the policy applied and will need to be individually seen. If you do not have a server then your PC’s will have to be configured individually. If you have a computer that needs falls into this category please contact your technician to have them apply the security setting. We can do this work remotely.

Adobe:  As you may have heard Adobe’s accounts database was compromised. If you have ever purchased anything from Adobe then your account information including probably your credit card for reoccurring subscriptions is in the hands of the bad guys. While we don’t know what they will do with this information or whether you will be picked from the list of nearly 3 million that they have, we do know that you need to change your password on your Adobe account. Please make a point of doing that today.

-Amy

ALERT: Cryptolocker Virus

This is the worst virus I’ve ever come across. Cryptolocker encrypts not only the files on your computer but ALL of the files that you have access to on the network.

There is no good cure. The only real solution is to reload every infected machine completely. The only other solution is to pay the ransom. Yes the makers of cryptolocker hold the decryption key and await your payment.

How To Avoid Infection

According to my best sources you get infected by doing one of these things:

• This infection was originally spread via email sent to company email addresses that pretend to be customer support related issues from Fedex, UPS, DHS, etc. These emails would contain an attachment that when opened would infect the computer.
• Via exploit kits located on hacked web sites that exploit vulnerabilities on your computer to install the infection.
• Through Trojans that pretend to be programs required to view online videos. These are typically encountered through Porn sites.

If you get this virus, all of your files will have to be restored from backup. This is not only time consuming but expensive. Please, please, please do not open any attachments. Only visit company work related websites and don’t click on anything that you don’t have too. Any questions at all about whether you should open or click please contact us and ask.

-Amy