MS Windows Does Not Disable AutoRun Properly

As an addition to the previous post .

Run Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Right-click on IniFileMapping
Select New then Key
Set name of the key to Autorun.inf
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf
(in the right-hand pane) Double-click Default then enter @SYS:DoesNotExist to the Value Data text box

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Microsoft fixes critical Windows kernel, WINS flaws

Microsoft today shipped three security bulletins with fixes for at least 8 documented vulnerabilities affecting millions of Windows OS users.

The most serious of this month’s patch batch is rated “critical” and could allow full remote execution attacks if a Windows user is simply lured into viewing a booby-trapped image file.

read more of this post here .

Basic PERL: Ckecking open ports/running services

Checking open ports or enable service, this could be done by using this simple Perl script. A very simple tool that uses IO module particularly socket and not to load other unnecessary modules.I have this script the checks to see if ssh service is up and running or blocked and possibly offline before doing any file transfer via scp.
This can also be used to scan your server for open ports and any running service that you may not be aware off. Customizing this script to actually scan a wide range of host name as well as specific port range by just adding nested loops against array of host names and ports. This would not in any way verify if the service is actually doing it's job or if it's having some problem except if it has inaccessible port.


#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use IO::Socket::INET;

sub main {

chkRemoteHost("my.server.name","22");

}


sub chkRemoteHost{
my $RemoteHost = $_[0];
my $RemotePort = $_[1];
my $socket = new IO::Socket::INET (
PeerAddr => $RemoteHost,
PeerPort => $RemotePort,
Proto => 'tcp',
timeout => "5"
);
if ($socket)
{
print ("Service ($RemoteHost:$RemotePort) is up and running n ");
close($socket);

}
else
{
printf ("Service ($RemoteHost:$RemotePort) is offline n ");

}
}
&main();

Recent IE vulnerabilities

Microsoft today shipped four bulletins with patches for at least 8 documented security vulnerabilities affecting Windows users and warned that “consistent exploit code could be easily crafted” to launch attacks via the Internet Explorer browser.


see more here.

Ubuntu Guide and Reference

Ever wanted to have a Linux desktop. Try UBUNTU, it's been consistently rated among the most popular of the many Linux distributions

read more here.

Using OpenPGP on UNIX/Linux systems with GnuPG

PGP is the name of an encryption program created in 1991 by Philip Zimmerman. Since then, PGP has become the dominant model for personal privacy encryption software.

In July 1998, PGP Inc. proposed an OpenPGP standard to the IETF. This standard would provide guidance for creating personal privacy encryption software, and the term OpenPGP could then be applied to any software that complied with the standard. The IETF accepted the proposal and formed the OpenPGP Working Group to develop the standard.

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Firmware Recommendations for Seagate Drives

A number of Seagate hard drives from the following families may become inaccessible when the host system is powered on:

Barracuda 7200.11
DiamondMax 22
Barracuda ES.2 SATA
SV35

read more of this post here.