Nothing Lasts Forever

Recently I blogged about the dramatic reduction in spam across the Internet, literally overnight. It seems that nothing lasts forever. The huge crime cartel responsible for the majority of spam sent across the Internet managed to resurrect itself after being shut down back in November. The post is copied below for your review. All the more reason to have a GOOD Antispam solution in place for your company. The money you spend for employees to sift through this junk would amaze you, and the cost of a decent antispam solution will immediately pay for itself, many times over in a very short period of time. 

To Your Success, 

 Tim

A big spam-spewing botnet shut down two weeks ago has been resurrected, security researchers said today, and is again under the control of criminals.
The "Srizbi" botnet returned from the dead late Tuesday, said Fengmin Gong, chief security content officer at FireEye Inc., when the infected PCs were able to successfully reconnect with new command-and-control servers, which are now based in Estonia.
Srizbi was knocked out more than two weeks ago when McColo Corp., a hosting company that had been accused of harboring a wide range of criminal activities, was yanked off the Internet by its upstream service providers. With McColo down, PCs infected with Srizbi and other bot Trojan horses were unable to communicate with their command servers, which had been hosted by McColo. As a result, spam levels dropped precipitously.
But as other researchers noted last week, Srizbi had a fallback strategy. In the end, that strategy paid off for the criminals who control the botnet.
According to Gong, when Srizbi bots were unable to connect with the command-and-control servers hosted by McColo, they tried to connect with new servers via domains that were generated on the fly by an internal algorithm. FireEye reverse-engineered Srizbi, rooted out that algorithm and used it to predict, then preemptively register, several hundred of the possible routing domains.
The domain names, said Gong, were generated on a three-day cycle, and for a while, FireEye was able to keep up -- and effectively block Srizbi's handlers from regaining control.
"We have registered a couple hundred domains," Gong said, "but we made the decision that we cannot afford to spend so much money to keep registering so many [domain] names."
Once FireEye stopped preempting Srizbi's makers, the latter swooped in and registered the five domains in the next cycle. Those domains, in turn, pointed Srizbi bots to the new command-and-control servers, which then immediately updated the infected machines to a new version of the malware.
"Once each bot was updated, the next command was to send spam," said Gong, who noted that the first campaign used a template targeting Russian speakers.
The updated Srizbi includes hard-coded references to the Estonian command-and-control servers, but Gong was unaware of any current attempt to convince the firm now hosting those servers to yank them off the Web.
In the meantime, FireEye is working with several other companies -- including VeriSign Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Network Solutions Inc., a domain registrar -- on ways to reach the more than 100,000 users whose PCs FireEye has identified as infected with Srizbi.
Discussions about how to best handle any future McColo-Srizbi situation are also ongoing, Gong said. "We're trying to find a solution, and talking about ideas of how they can help fund efforts for some period of time to [preemptively] register domains," he said.

Workstations Taking Up Too Much Space?

A Year of Popular Mechanics for 5 Bucks?

In the spirit of saving your company money, I ran across a blog indicating Hearst Publications is selling some of their magazine subscriptions at greatly reduced rates. Popular Mechanics is available for a one year subscription for 5 dollars. There are others there as well, including O magazine, Smart Money, and many more. To take advantage for yourself, or to give as a gift, follow this link: https://subscribe.hearstmags.com/subscribe/veranda/20180 

To Your Success, 

 Tim

Keeping Business Travel Costs Down

I ran across an article on telephonation.com a forum for us techy types that dabble in computer phone systems. It had some interesting points to make about saving money during business travel, or any travel for that matter. 

Plan ahead, search for deals, and maximize your gas mileage. Some tips: 

Hotel chains offer "frequent-flyer" programs similar to airlines. The idea is every time you stay, you acquire points. When you get enough points, you get a free night. Ask the hotel employee when you check in next time about their program. 

Heres a thought: how about planning ahead when you drive around in a new city? Get a car with a built-in GPS system or bring your own (I have one built into my phone). Avoid traffic jams, construction and other bothers using traffic.com They offer free realtime info on your intended route. If you don't have time to check it before you leave, once you get there, call them at (866) MY-TRAFC (866-698-7232). 

Speaking of GPS devices, if you do use one, make sure you have the latest maps available for your particular system. That way you have the latest info on detours, gas locations, etc. It's aggravating to plan your route ahead of time, only to find out the road is closed because your map was too old! 

If you are driving with your own vehicle, make sure tire pressures are at the recommended pressure (that doesn't mean the maximum pressure on the tire). Before you go on a long trip, pull your air filter out and blow out the dust, or replace it. Use your air conditioner sparingly, if possible, but roll up the windows for better aerodynamics. And believe it or not, keeping the inside clean can make a difference. Accumulated litter actually adds to the weight of the car, which increases your fuel consumption. 

Hey, every little bit helps nowadays. If you travel a lot, utilizing all these tips could save you some money! 

To Your Success, 

 Tim