Virus Vaccination and Computer Security

Help! Malware has taken over my groups website...

wmdawson — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:41:33 GMT

Hi,

A malware warning started showing up and now i'm being redirected to another website that keep crashing my browser. I followed some of the directions I found on other sites and have downloaded Mozzilla along with NoScript and AdBlock add on and can now see the pages on the site. The content is still there, thank goodness, but the are several lines of pharmaceutical links. I've reached out to the web builder but I'm not sure if they can do anything. I'm a volunteer and would appreciate any guidance in dealing with this.

Thank you!

Dawson

Secure e-mail capabilities and/or encryption capabilities

cstohr — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:11:32 GMT

I just found out we will need to document that we can send emails securely using encryption. Once again I'm looking for a cost effective and user friendly solution.

RE: Purchase wrong antivirus product for our non-profit

KARLNATT — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:14:40 GMT

hi, i am currently having a problem with "antivirus" spyware that keep popping up in spite of my popup blocker being turned on. i was told that antivirus software would kick it out so i purchased the symantec antivirus corporate edition 10.2(5 user) to install on my desktop as well as 2 others in our organization. my thinking was that the corp edition was probably top of the line with some extra features. my techsoup order confirmation was #408052 on 11-4-09. the symantec sent order via certificate #59257784. when i downloaded it occurred to me that something was different from other software downloads that i've purchased an it wasn't going to work. so i called your cust service # and my fear was confirmed. now, i do realize that my purchase was non-refundable, but i wonder if symantec would be willing to exchange my purchase for say 8 norton antivirus 2010 licenses? any assistance would be appreciated.

Interesting series on Online Privacy--check it out

MeganKeane — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:16:38 GMT

NPR just did the final installment of their series, "The End of Privacy". I highly recommend checking it out. It's a little scary, but also gave me things to think about for how to use social media either personally or for an organization, with an eye to the legal and social ramifications of information online. It's an area I think doesn't get emphasized enough, especially for youth and young adults who are often prolific users of technology tools.

What do you think of the issues raised here?

Best,

Megan

Do you know how to remove Alpha Anti Virus

jnewman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:41:27 GMT

how do you remove Alpha Anti-virus

Symantec Endpoit vs. Corp. Anitvirus Software?

Jodyharvey — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:32:29 GMT

We are looking for protection of our computers from outside threats (internet, email, etc.) but also inside threats (i.e. our students or teachers or staff bring in a thumb drive with a virus). We are not sure which product would be better to secure us from these two major issues. We have been looking at Symantec Endpoint and also the Corp. Anitvirus software, is one better for our purposes?

return of the gumblars

bryanforst — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:58:02 GMT

A few weeks ago one of our client's sites was hacked. The hacker ran a script on another, presumably unsuspecting site, that installed the nastiness on our computers. You can read about this new type of gumblar attack here: http://blog.unmaskparasites.com/2009/10/23/revenge-of-gumblar-zombies/

This method went right past our MalAware-AVG-Adaware-Firewalled systems. The article above explains a bit why that is possible. Now we are using a FireFox plug-in called NoScript that I highly recommend. It gives you the option of running scripts found on a website - if you notice scripts being run on other sites that have nothing to do with your current page you can stop them.

However, what was most interesting to me was the recovery.

One of our machines is a MS XP install, purchased from good ol' Tech Soup. Recovery was straightforward as described in this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

The other computer, my working laptop, was another story. It is a Dell with an OEM installed XP. The above article did not help, just as they promised in their preface. In fact the only way to get my machine back was a full reinstall from the OEM disk. Painful since I had all sorts of software installed for work that had to be reconfigured. No data was lost.

I had no idea that OEM operating systems were so mangled as to cause this type of problem. Something to watch out for. I think that when I buy a system with an OEM installed OS i will just overwrite from the beginning with a clean MS version, purchased from TechSoup of course....

bryan forst

Symantec Endpoint 11

DavidW — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:44:44 GMT

I'm looking for some current feedback from anyone currently using Symantec Endpoint that was purchased via Techsoup. Just curious about installation, performance, or any other possible issues you have experienced. We are currently using CA Etrust and need to move on. Cost is very important which is why we are considering the Symantec product. Any information concerning the product would be appreciated.

Vista SAV clients not showing in Symantec System Center console

mgtsol — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:50:03 GMT

Hey everyone,

We have Symantec Anti-Virus 10.2. There's a dedicated SAV server and the Symantec System Center Console is installed on my XP machine. From the SSC console I've pushed out the installations of the clients. All the XP clients installed flawlessly and the Vista ones installed after I told the package on which CD-Rom it could find the Vista-specific client installation files. So far so good.

The trouble is I cannot see the Vista clients from the SSC console. All the clients listed under my server group (actually just one server) are the XP ones. I've tried all the options under Tools > Find Computer and I've tried doing everything under Tools > Discovery Service. I've tried dropping the Vista machines' firewalls but no joy... still cannot manage the Vista AV clients from the SSC console.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Anyone had similar problems or can point me in the right direction?

Many thanks,

Mark

Now Available: Microsoft Security Essentials (FREE anti-virus + anti-spyware software)

Yann — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:43:44 GMT

Yesterday Microsoft released its Microsoft Security Essentials software. Back in June when I first mentioned it in this thread, it was still in beta testing. Now you can download and use the software for free.

Personally I use the free version of Avira on my laptop (not free for commercial use). But I just downloaded MSE and ran a "quick scan" on my laptop. Looks pretty good, and the scanning speed is noticeably fast.

If you're using Microsoft Security Essentials, let us know what you think.

Websense, Symantec, or others...?

r.a.mitchell — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:13:03 GMT

I admin a small office of 50 employees. We have a new HR Director and she wants to enforce internet security. In the past we had used Websense to establish policies, rules, and track employee internet activity and behavior. Being a non-profit, we, like everyone, were hit hard by the economy and even though they were very good, the software was also very expensive - comparatively.

Should we pony up the money for another license to Websense, or are there alternatives? I do not want to put up or install Linux anything. It has to be MS Server2003 complaint software.

What are recommendations?

Also what are "stay-away-from's"?

help for online backup service!

Jeff_Armstrong — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:48:36 GMT

I am looking for a online backup service which will give me services like easy to use Drag & Drop backup, mobile Access, Quick restore. My main concern is security. Also can I get a mobile backup facility along with that? I have a windows mobile phone with 5.0 version.

Best online backup service for small nonprofit?

seedlink — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:22:42 GMT

Does anyone have a recommendation regarding the best online backup service to use for a small nonprofit (best price, ease of use, and reliability)? I recently used Carbonite at home and like it so far, but what I read said it was $55 per year per computer, so that would add up with several computers to back up. With our old service, we could pay for one computer, but also include the shared documents on other computers by going through the network. What do other nonprofits use?

The hidden costs of windows security for non profits

wallydallas — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:01:53 GMT

I will soon be helping to setup a large non profit windows network, and I wanted to get an idea of the troubles and costs I can expect.    If people want to argue the usual things like "macs also can be infected in theory" and "windows domination in business balances out security costs" then please start your own topic.

I'd like to start with some raw brainstorms:

- Nonprofits can't pay end user staff as well as for profit businesses. Therefore the users are often less trained on network security and how to avoid virus tricks, etc

- Windows versions are often the dog and the extra security software is the tail that wags them. If your virus software becomes updated, often your older computers, smaller memory, or older version of Windows is often left behind.

- More and more people are not doing calendars, email or other tasks on a laptops or desktops. iPhones and other mobile devices are demoting the PC/Laptop to a word processor or Web Application Terminal, things a less connected Linux computer can do.

- Security software is often two or more 3rd party applications.   One might need to install Norton Anti-virus, a network firewall appliance, and client software to avoid and remove spyware etc.   These applications are updated frequently and have stringent requirements for other aspects of your computer.

- Nonprofits can't pay IT staff very well and this means the change of staff must well document their actions and the new staff must be given time to make the transition.

- It seems there are new viruses each day that can attack a windows computer even when the pc has 3rd party protection, and the user has limited access and is moderately trained on common virus tricks.   The most recent is when a USB stick with a virus can fool windows into thinking it is simply a folder with files to browse.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7842013.stm

- Non profits are often given very cheap or free software for security protection but later the costs go up as the free or reduced contract ends.

Please add your own items that increase the cost of maintaining a windows network in regards to security.   Thanks,    Joe

Viagra Link

jakos — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:22:58 GMT

Good Morning everyone i need help with an issue i'm having somehow my email is sending out a link to everyone in my address books to viagra sites. So far i changed my passwords and also running Malware Bytes Scanner and Spyhunter. What else should I be doing?

Norton Internet Security 2010 beta

EvilNetworkOverlord — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:09:46 GMT

About an hour ago, Symantec launched a free public beta version of Norton Internet Security 2010. (Maybe they're feeling pressure from the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials.)

I haven't tested it and I generally don't care much for Norton products. But if anyone is interested, it's at

www.symantec.com/norton/beta/overview.jsp

As with any beta software, it probably shouldn't be used in a production environment.

-ENO

Vipre Enterprise

glamontagne — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:25:35 GMT

In the past couple of days, I have received quite a few different IT magazines in the mail. I have seen a few advertisements for Vipre Enterprise. It brags to be an "all-in-one anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit solution without hogging resources." If this solution works as advertised, it could change the landscape of AV. Has anyone tried this?

Malware/Virus

jakos — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:13:00 GMT

Hello Techsoup i have a dilemma i have a laptop that's riddled with Trojans and Malware. I have tried installing a few tools that i normally use for example Spybot , Adaware. I get as far as installing any apps i want but i can't install i get a RUNDLL error ending in .nls. I wanted to know if anyone knows any free online scanners and or spyware scanners that would detect and remove the detections.

Plain old NTBackup vs Symantec Backup Exec 12.5...

mgtsol — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:58:36 GMT

Hi,

I'm looking at whether it's worth getting Symantec Backup Exec from Techsoup for our little org. At the moment we have just the one server running 2003 and the previous admin seemed to have been happy with using NTBackup. We don't have an Exchange server - all email is pop3 from an external server. We're currently backing up to an external HD which is taken offsite periodically.

I'm currently researching the pros and cons of each of the backup products and I'm finding it difficult to justify getting Backup Exec, even at the cheap TechSoup price. We only have one server, so we won't need to do remote backups (a failing with NTBackup apparently), and all machines are switched off at night when backups take place so backing up open files isn't an issue (a stated advantage with Backup Exec).

Can anyone offer any advice? Is there anything else I'm maybe not taking into account when deciding what to go for?

Many thanks

A hackers perspective - Windows much more secure than Mac

donc — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:03:01 GMT

A very interesting ZDNet article explaining why Browser security is really determined by the underlying OS...

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2941

Excerpt:

"It’s really simple. Safari on the Mac is easier to exploit. The things that Windows do to make it harder (for an exploit to work), Macs don’t do. Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows.

It’s more about the operating system than the (target) program. Firefox on Mac is pretty easy too. The underlying OS doesn’t have anti-exploit stuff built into it."

What are your top tips for securing a small to mid-sized nonprofit?

BeckyW — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:32:19 GMT

Does your small to mid-sized nonprofit have good security policies and practices? Even if you work for a large nonprofit with a dedicated IT team managing security threats and hopefully preventing disaster, coming by a solid system for securing your technology, infrastructure, documents, devices, and equipment can be a challenge.

Share your top tips in this thread. What's worked for your organization? Did your staff go along with new policies you implemented? If not, did you have strategies to help encourage staff to adopt more secure web-browsing, internet surfing, email-attachment-opening, and other unintentional security breaches? What about policies to secure against one staff person having too much access to databases or servers? Do you set strict roles for who has access to what information?

Tell us your experiences so we can learn from them. We'll be publishing a white paper about how to address security threats at small to mid-sized nonprofits with few resources later this week. I'll post the link in this thread once it's live.

Which anti-virus to use?

kraleigh — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:29:09 GMT

I work for a two-person nonprofit and somehow I have the most techy knowledge, which is VERY limited. The anti-virus program that came with my dell laptop has expired and I am wondering what to get to protect my computer. I don't do anything complicated on the web- we just have an internet connection- no network or anything- and I mostly use google on the web. Here are my questions- do I need to have an anti-virus program? (I am guessing yes) -What program should I get? (preferably something available here or open source).

Thanks!

Postini Anti-Spam

dcomber — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:39:00 GMT

Not in any way trying to endorse a product, but after dealing with spam at my agency for some time, I started to research an anti-spam product that would assist. We use MS Exchange 2003 (recipient filtering/IMF) and Symantec Mail Security for MS Exchange. IMF and Symantec Mail Security worked okay at best, but still a lot of spam got through. Utilized the Junk Mail feature in Outlook, but the spam got to the server.

I was ready to make the jump to a Barracuda Spam filter (pretty expensive) but thought I would give Postini a try. We have about 20 employees and the product has worked fantastic. We have not had one spam email come through and no legitimate email is being blocked. The nice thing (to me) is that any incoming emails are sent to Postini first and then on to your mail server. Thus, Postini handles the spam filtering and only legitimate emails are sent to the mail server. A lot of robust features (web-based admin) and advanced security which is updated on their end constantly. We pay only $2.50 a user a month which is pretty much cheaper than splurging on the Barracuda appliance and over 3 years. It also helped with bandwidth issues as you are only allowing SMTP traffic from one IP range vs the entire Internet.

I'm sure there are some who hesitate on using a third-party service, but based on our experience and the cost, its pretty affordable and does a great job.

Trojan.Win32.tdss.aalc removal

jakos — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:30:17 GMT

I got attacked with the IE security bug last week. I installed a ton of Spyware removal tools and got most of it CounterSpy keeps finding the same instance of Trojan.Win32.tdss.aalc comes back. And when i search i get redirected to different sites.

Where to start?

PaBurgher — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:54:09 GMT

Thanks for reading this. We are a MAR in Latrobe PA. We have placed computers into the community rooms of the local govt subsidized apartment complexes so that everyone has access to the internet. We provide the computers and the local govt provides the internet access.

I have tried to keep the system simple but our machines are going down evey two months. I run Spybot and Glary. I am now trying AVG. I thought that when I switched the machines out and put in some better machines with XP the system restore would solve all the worlds problems and a few quick mouse strokes would restore everything. That assumes that the computer even starts.

I am no computer security expert. I am finally working to password protect the Administrators rights and I thought that if I made eveyone sign in as a Guest it would be difficult for someone to change settings or highjack the machine. But from what I can see the Guest priviliges are too vague to help me.

Can someone recommend a combination of Windows user settings and other software that can stop people from making changes in the operating system? We'd like to let people surf the internet but still have the system the way I built it when they are done.

I'd like to thank you in advance for any help on this subject

Paul in LAtrobe