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    <title><![CDATA[[SecurityRatty] tag: file]]></title>
    <link>http://securityratty.com/tag/file</link>
    <description></description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:18:19 +0000</pubDate>
    <generator>iRatty Engine</generator>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Storm Botnet Celebrates The Independence Day With New Wave Of Malware Spam]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/21d109b062a0ef9971503608914e93d8</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/21d109b062a0ef9971503608914e93d8</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[The group behind the Storm Botnet has always been conscious of timing and this time a new malware spam wave had started, dedicated to Independence day of course. This spam wave directs the user to...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[The group behind the Storm Botnet has always been conscious of timing and this time a new malware spam wave had started, dedicated to Independence day of course. This spam wave directs the user to click on a link that encourages the intended victim to download an infected fireworks.exe file.
The Storm botnet launched the latest [...]]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:39:45 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/storm botnet">storm botnet</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/independence day">independence day</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malware spam wave">malware spam wave</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/spam wave directs">spam wave directs</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/exe file">exe file</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/encourages">encourages</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/link">link</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/time">time</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/conscious">conscious</category>
      <source url="http://cyberinsecure.com/storm-botnet-celebrates-the-independence-day-with-new-wave-of-malware-spam/">Storm Botnet Celebrates The Independence Day With New Wave Of Malware Spam</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Virtualisation - Welcome Back to the 90s.]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/91a97db541c7009ccb12c514e3cee018</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/91a97db541c7009ccb12c514e3cee018</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[I've been thinking about this for a while but this blog post by Pascal Meunier pretty much sums up my feelings about Virtualisation

Back in the 90s when the Internet was new-ish and just becoming...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[I've been thinking about this for a while but <a href="http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/site/blog/post/virtualization-is-successful-because-operating-systems-are-weak/">this blog post by Pascal Meunier</a> pretty much sums up my feelings about Virtualisation.<br /><br />Back in the 90s when the Internet was new-ish and just becoming important all the machines running it were Unix boxes. (Maybe not all, but most). And a 386 would typically run DNS, sendmail, telnet (shell accounts), ftp and apache. All on the same box.<br /><br />Security wasn't so tight in those days but it was usually good enough and the box could happily do what it needed to do.<br /><br />Along came Microsoft and produced the idea of "one box - one service". You can't seriously consider running your domain controller as a file server. What are you thinking? And to put mail on the same box? No way. In fact, your SQL server is running under significant load, chain a few together.<br /><br />And companies would buy into this concept. Microsoft were happy - more licenses. All the PC guys were happy too - more money. More complexity - more jobs.<br /><br />Essentially what has happened now is that Moores Law has kicked in and has caught up with the complexity of Microsoft's software to the point where one server box can run multiple applications on it. Imagine that.  But Microsoft has planted the one-service-one-box concept so well that it is now part of IT law. File server and mail server on one box? But wait...whats this button over here....? Vir-vir-virtualisation.<br /><br />And now we have the tools to allow us to once again run multiple applications on one server without having to admit that one-application-one-server never made sense.<br /><br />To be fair - Virtualisation does have other advantages - running multiple Operating Systems for example, being able to easily move a virtual machine from one box to another (without configuration issues), being able to make a snapshot backup of a system.<br /><br />But running multiple applications on one box is not a huge win.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SecurityThoughts/~4/325572539" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/server">server</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/file server">file server</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/server box">server box</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/box">box</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/mail server">mail server</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/mail">mail</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/multiple applications">multiple applications</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/multiple">multiple</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/sql server">sql server</category>
      <source url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SecurityThoughts/~3/325572539/virtualisation-welcome-back-to-90s.html">Virtualisation - Welcome Back to the 90s.</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Great re-visit on a little known tip about blocking Malware]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/919a6207560411988d92cd082ddcc8fe</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/919a6207560411988d92cd082ddcc8fe</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Ran across this site and found this great article on a little known tip for blocking Malware by editing your hosts file. I like this site


clipped from pctechbytestoday.com

Modify Your Hosts File to...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div > Ran across this site and found this great article on a little known tip for blocking Malware by editing your hosts file.<br/>I like this site! </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;">
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<td valign="top"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/1421184C-C0F9-4399-AA78-7F457A3F369B/" title="go to this clipmark"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_icon/0dac9f25-ba27-4ccb-9a39-e4deec10ec24/1421184C-C0F9-4399-AA78-7F457A3F369B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://pctechbytestoday.com/2008/07/modify-your-hosts-file-to-block-malware/" href="http://pctechbytestoday.com/2008/07/modify-your-hosts-file-to-block-malware/" style="font-size: 11px;">pctechbytestoday.com</a></td>
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<td valign="top"><!-- CLIPPED FROM: http://pctechbytestoday.com/2008/07/modify-your-hosts-file-to-block-malware/ --><H2 class="post-title"><br />
			<A title="Modify Your Hosts File to Block Malware" href="http://pctechbytestoday.com/2008/07/modify-your-hosts-file-to-block-malware/">Modify Your Hosts File to Block Malware</A><br />
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<td valign="top"><!-- CLIPPED FROM: http://pctechbytestoday.com/2008/07/modify-your-hosts-file-to-block-malware/ --><P>By now, most of us know what spyware is and what it can do to your computer. If your PC is connected to the Internet, chances are you have some form of spyware. It attaches to your PC as you casually roam websites or download files. But you can be proactive and block some of the known malware websites by altering your hosts file in Windows.</P></td>
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<td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td>
<td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/1421184C-C0F9-4399-AA78-7F457A3F369B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:53:53 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malware">malware</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/hosts file">hosts file</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/block malware">block malware</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/block">block</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malware websites">malware websites</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/spyware">spyware</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/tip">tip</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/roam websites">roam websites</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/site">site</category>
      <source url="http://spywarebiz.com/spywarebizblog/?p=490">Great re-visit on a little known tip about blocking Malware</source>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Chinese Bloggers Bypassing Censorship by Blogging Backward]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/26f7575451fc6f8d60130b629311d3de</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/26f7575451fc6f8d60130b629311d3de</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[With China trying to silence over 30,000 rioters during the weekend, by deleting forum postings and deactivating accounts mentioning the riot, Chinese bloggers have started using a widget they...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<div class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear: both;"></div>
<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGvwdNhcZHI/AAAAAAAAB3c/28Sgw6ZBdPA/s1600-h/blogging_backward_vertical_horizontal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="border: 0pt none ; background-color: transparent; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGvwdNhcZHI/AAAAAAAAB3c/X2cmTkxM3Qk/s200-R/blogging_backward_vertical_horizontal.jpg" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a>With China trying to silence over 30,000 rioters during the weekend, by deleting forum postings and deactivating accounts mentioning the riot, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121493163092919829.html">Chinese bloggers have started using a widget</a> they originally came up in order to <a href="http://www.cshbl.com/gushu.html">bypass the "Great Firewall of China"</a> by blogging backward, vertically and horizontally :<br />
<br />
"<i>So bloggers on forums such as Tianya.cn have taken to posting in formats that China's Internet censors, often employees of commercial Internet service providers, have a hard time automatically detecting. One recent strategy involves online software that flips sentences to read right to left instead of left to right, and vertically instead of horizontally. China's sophisticated censorship regime -- known as the Great Firewall -- can automatically track objectionable phrases. But "the country also has the most experienced and talented group of netizens who always know ways around it," said an editor at Tianya, owned by Hainan Tianya Online Networking Technology Co., who has been responsible for deleting posts about the riot</i>"<br />
<br />
An old-school content obfuscation service that they could take advantage of, offers the opportunity to turn a short message into spam or a fake PGP encrypted file, where both parties can easily decode them to the original.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.spammimic.com/">Spammmic</a> is what I have in mind.<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=N3ZGgJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=N3ZGgJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=EyhezJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=EyhezJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=3ZLBij"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=3ZLBij" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=MdRLkj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=MdRLkj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=t2I70J"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=t2I70J" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=kGzvRJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=kGzvRJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=0gh8tj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=0gh8tj" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~4/325218818" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/bloggers">bloggers</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/chinese bloggers">chinese bloggers</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/tianya">tianya</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/hainan tianya online">hainan tianya online</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/china">china</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/track objectionable phrases">track objectionable phrases</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/fake pgp">fake pgp</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/censorship regime">censorship regime</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/short message">short message</category>
      <source url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~3/325218818/chinese-bloggers-bypassing-censorship.html">Chinese Bloggers Bypassing Censorship by Blogging Backward</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Protect everything? Is that a better DLP?]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/dc202191d120080d3985ccaf78a0e390</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/dc202191d120080d3985ccaf78a0e390</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[I was reading an interesting post about DLP at Securosis . Rich has deep expertise and an excellent way of explaining what the area is all about

However, the post got me thinking - how do we reliably...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[I was reading an interesting post about <a href="http://securosis.com/2008/06/30/best-practices-for-endpoint-dlp-part-1/">DLP at Securosis</a>. Rich has deep expertise and an excellent way of explaining what the area is all about...<br /><br />However, the post got me thinking - how do we reliably understand content in order to differentiate and protect what's important? Do we have easy to manage policies yet? Can the policies adapt easily based on chaning business? Is the technology ready?<br /><br />I do see traditional DLP solutions being very complementary to data encryption products - one identifies it, finds it and the other can protect it. Nice and easy.<br /><br />However, I am thinking that maybe an interim step might also be needed before we can get to nirvana of understanding content, proactive policies etc. What if we are able to protect all data (or even data that are on these file shares, laptops etc ) regardless of what is in them - and keep them persistently protected at rest and in motion? Think of it as the blunt approach - similar to using FDE to protect all the contents within a hard drive regardless of the sensitivity of an individual file within.<br /><br />From a customer perspective, they don't want anyone without the right authorization to see any data - that's all. This can be achieved by persistent, data-centric or information-centric protection without any differentiation based on understanding the content.<br /><br />Could/should DLP be redefined, thus?<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?a=ayyO6J"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?i=ayyO6J" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?a=5VCxFj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?i=5VCxFj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?a=uRkeOJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/BitArmor1?i=uRkeOJ" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BitArmor1/~4/324893510" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:19:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/dlp">dlp</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/protect">protect</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/data-centric">data-centric</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/data">data</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/data encryption products">data encryption products</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/traditional dlp solutions">traditional dlp solutions</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/content">content</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/couldshould dlp">couldshould dlp</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/blunt approach">blunt approach</category>
      <source url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BitArmor1/~3/324893510/protect-everything-is-that-better-dlp.html">Protect everything? Is that a better DLP?</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Decrypting and Restoring GPcode Encrypted Files]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/e39ad499bbe55c20aca17c7ba23989b4</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/e39ad499bbe55c20aca17c7ba23989b4</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[The futile attempt to directly attack the encryption algorithm used by the GPcode ransomware, is prompting Kaspersky Labs to invest in a more pragmatic solutions to the problem , with a new version of...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<div class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear: both;"></div>
<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGotTuyTE5I/AAAAAAAAB3U/gWdSWKjyPK0/s1600-h/gpcode_initiative.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="border: 0pt none ; background-color: transparent; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGotTuyTE5I/AAAAAAAAB3U/zT9QFXjWmFE/s200-R/gpcode_initiative.jpg" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a>The futile attempt to directly attack the encryption algorithm used by the GPcode ransomware, is prompting Kaspersky Labs to invest in a more <a href="http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?weblogid=208187538">pragmatic solutions to the problem</a>, with <a href="http://www.viruslist.com/en/viruses/encyclopedia?virusid=313444#doc2">a new version of the StopGpcode tool</a> released last week. More info :<br />
<br />
"<i>It turns out that if a user has files that are encrypted by Gpcode and versions of those same files that are unencrypted, then the pairs of files (the encrypted and corresponding unencrypted file) can be used to restore other files on the victim machine. This is the method that the StopGpcode2 tool uses.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Where can these unencrypted files be found? They may be the result of using PhotoRec. Moreover, these files may be found in a backup storage or on removable media (e.g., the original files of photographs copied to the hard disk of a computer that has been attacked by Gpcode may still be on a camera’s memory card). Unencrypted files may also have been saved somewhere on a network resource (e.g., films or video clips on a public server) that the Gpcode virus has not reached.</i>"<br />
<br />
As <a href="http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11523/2">the customer support desk behind GPcode pointed out in an interview</a>, the malware is prone to evolve, and the simplistic file deletion process will be replaced by secure file deletion in order to render all data recovery tols useless, unless of course backups of the affected data are available. They often aren't, and depending on the importance of the files encrypted, the successful ransom is all a matter of the momentum. <br />
<br />
<span class="body">"<i>A person, presumably the author of Gpcode, contacted at <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/whos-behind-gpcode-ransomware.html" target="_blank">one of the e-mail addresses</a> left behind by the program stated that future development efforts will likely increase the key size to 4,096 bits, "if AV companies or other (people) crack the current key, but (that's) impossible. </i></span><i><span class="body">The self-proclaimed author, who used the name "Daniel Robertson," also said that other standard techniques to defeat antivirus will be added, including polymorphic encryption, anti-heuristic features and the ability to self propagate, turning the program into a computer virus.</span><span class="body"> </span>It well pays back itself," he said</i>"<br />
<br />
There are even more pragmatic approaches to dealing with this problem, next to backups undermining their business model. <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1259">Try following the virtual money for instance</a>.<br />
<span class="body"> </span><span class="body"></span><div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=4JuTFJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=4JuTFJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=CtTuIJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=CtTuIJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=UH6vhj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=UH6vhj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=rZfGRj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=rZfGRj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=602SKJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=602SKJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=XhBjBJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=XhBjBJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?a=9PpNFj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia?i=9PpNFj" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~4/324045050" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:26:39 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/files">files</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/gpcode">gpcode</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/original files">original files</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/gpcode virus">gpcode virus</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/gpcode ransomware">gpcode ransomware</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/file">file</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/secure file deletion">secure file deletion</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/computer virus">computer virus</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/key">key</category>
      <source url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~3/324045050/decrypting-and-restoring-gpcode.html">Decrypting and Restoring GPcode Encrypted Files</source>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Summarizing June's Threatscape]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/520325188c71fdacd3f86834feb1cdc5</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/520325188c71fdacd3f86834feb1cdc5</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[June's threatscape that I'll summarize in this post based on all the research conducted during the month, was a very vibrant one. With the return of GPcode, a remotely exploitable flaw in the Zeus...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGoHvxfg0WI/AAAAAAAAB3M/6CMFS1Q1zGQ/s1600-h/ddanchev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; border-right: 0pt; border-top: 0pt; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; border-left: 0pt; margin-right: 1em; border-bottom: 0pt; background-color: transparent;"><img src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_wICHhTiQmrA/SGoHvxfg0WI/AAAAAAAAB3M/WskmE9LDFvE/s200-R/ddanchev.jpg" style="border-right: 0pt; border-top: 0pt; border-left: 0pt; border-bottom: 0pt;" /></a>June's threatscape that I'll summarize in this post based on all the research conducted during the month, was a very vibrant one. With the return of GPcode, a remotely exploitable flaw in the Zeus crimeware kit allowing both, researchers and malicious parties to assess the severity of a particular banker malware campaign, the increasing use of malicious doorways next to ICANN and IANA's DNS hijacking, all speak for themselves and how diverse the threats and, of course, the abilities to maintain a decent situatiational awareness about what's going on have become.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>01.</b>&nbsp; <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/uks-crime-reduction-portal-hosting.html">U.K's Crime Reduction Portal Hosting Phishing Pages</a> - nothing new here since vulnerable sites are to be "remotely file included" and SQL injected to locally host anything on behalf of a malicious party. Risk and responsibility forwarding is one thing, but having a crime reduction portal hosting phishing pages is entirely another. The phishing pages was shut down in less than 12 hours upon notification</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>02.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/price-discrimination-in-market-for.html">Price Discrimination in the Market for Stolen Credit Cards</a> - Tracking down "yet another stolen credit cards for sale" service in the wild, the price discremination that they applied greatly reflects the current lack of transpararency for a potential buyer of stolen credit cards, and how higher profit margins are driving the entire business model. With script kiddies running their own botnets and undermining the sophisticated botnet master's high profit margin business model by undercutting their prices, stolen credit cards are not what they used to be - an exclussive good. Nowadays, they are a commodity good and often a bargain</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>03.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/blackhat-seo-redirects-to-malware-and.html">Blackhat SEO Redirects to Malware and Rogue Software</a> - Sampling an active blackhat SEO campaign out of the hundreds of thousands currently active online, releaved a large portfolio of domains serving Zlob variants by pitching them as fake codecs that the end user should download if they are to view the non existent adult content at the sites. Where's the OSINT mean? It's in the fact that the codecs and the fake security software phone back to UkrTeleGroup Ltd's network</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>04.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/using-market-forces-to-disrupt-botnets.html">Using Market Forces to Disrupt Botnets</a> - With the current oversupply of malware infected hosts, and botnet masters embracing the services model for anything malicious, in this post I discussed the radical security approach of puchasing already infected malware hosts on a per country basis, disinfecting them and forcing them to update all the software on the infected PCs. Of course, on an opt-in basis. The possibility to directly provide incentives for botnet hunters to shut down whatever they come across to on a daily basis, and that's a lot of botnets, is also there</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>05.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/whos-behind-gpcode-ransomware.html">Who's Behind the GPcode Ransomware?</a> - The title speaks for itself, the research with enough actionable intelligence gathered in the shortest timeframe possible is already proving accurate and highly valuable. How come? Stay tuned for more developments</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>06.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/imageshack-typosquatted-to-serve.html">ImageShack Typosquatted to Serve Malware</a> - In a rare instance of a creative attack combining typosquatting in order to impersonate ImageShack and serve malware by redirecting users to an image file that is actually forwarding to the binary, I was recently tipped by the folks at TrendMicro who are also following this that the site is up and running again. Not for long</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>07.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/fake-youtube-site-serving-flash.html">Fake YouTube Site Serving Flash Exploits</a> - Next to using the usual set of exploits courtesy of a commodity web malware exploitation kit, this campaign was also using flash exploits. Even more interesting is the fact that the password stealer obtained was attempting to phone back to a misconfigured malware command and control interface, basically allowing you to assess the campaign from the eyes of the "campaigner"</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>08.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/monetizing-web-site-defacements.html">Monetizing Web Site Defacements</a> - Web site defacements are getting monetized just like SQL injections are in order to locally host a blackhat search engine optimization campaign on a vulnerable site with a high page rank. In this post I've assessed such monetization courtesy of a web site defacer at The Africa Middle Market Fund</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>09.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/malicious-doorways-redirecting-to.html">Malicious Doorways Redirecting to Malware</a> - Yet another large domains portfolio exposed though a malicious doorway redirecting to fake porn and video sites serving Zlob variants, tracking down the initial spamming of the malicious doorways across multiple vulnerable forums and guestbooks </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>10.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/zeus-crimeware-kit-vulnerable-to.html">The Zeus Crimeware Kit Vulnerable to Remotely Exploitable Flaw</a> - When cyber criminals get advised to patch their vulnerable versons of the Zeus Crimeware Kit, you know there's a monoculture in the crimeware market. This flaw released publicly in May, 2008, not just allows others to hijack someone's ebanking botnet, but also, vendors and researchers to better assess a vulnerable Zeus command and control location</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>11.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/fake-celebrity-video-sites-serving.html">Fake Celebrity Video Sites Serving Malware</a> - When templates for fake video and adult sites are just as available as they are now, anyone can take advantage of this cheap social engineering track that seems to work just fine. Compared to relying on blackhat search optimization to acquire traffic, some of the campaigns were SQL injected at vulnerable sites in order to drive traffic to them, next to several other tactics which when combined can result in a lot of people unknowingly visiting the sites </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>12.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/phishing-campaign-spreading-across.html">Phishing Campaign Spreading Across Facebook</a> - An internal phishing campaign was circulating across Facebook, which got taken care of thanks to coordinated efforts with Facebook's security folks. There's also an indicating tha they are currently typosquatting other social networking sites like Hi5 for instance</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>13.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/underground-multitasking-in-action.html">Underground Multitasking in Action</a> - As a firm believed in taking a random sample for a particular threat segment, this was once of these cases confirming the confidence I've built into anticipating upcoming tactics and strategies to be used </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><b>14.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/update-to-photobuckets-dns-hijacking.html">An Update to Photobucket's DNS Hijacking</a> - Despite that Photobucket didn't oficially acknowledge the DNS hijacking, the hosting provider the NetDevilz hacking team used issued a statement. Ironically, the Turkish hacking group used the same provider weeks later to redirect ICANN and IANA's domains to Atspace.com</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><b>15.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/fake-porn-sites-serving-malware.html">Fake Porn Sites Serving Malware</a> - Among the largest domains portfolio of malware serving porn sites I've exposed in a while, all of them naturally remain active since they are hosted on a partition of RBN's diverse network. Visualizing a malicious doorway or the entire ecosystem provides a better understanding at how structured the ecosystems are</div>
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<b>16.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/backdoording-cyber-jihadist-ebooks-for.html">Backdoording Cyber Jihadist Ebooks for Surveillance Purposes</a> - Despite that in this case we have a cyber jihadist backdoording his own released books, the international intelligence community next to law enforcement are known to have expressed interest in backdooring suspect's PCs, so why not SQL inject the cyber jihadist forums themselves?<br />
<b>17.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/right-wing-israeli-hackers-deface.html">Right Wing Israeli Hackers Deface Hamas's Site</a> - When you read that Hamas's site is hacked, you ask yourself the following, do they even have a web site that's up the running? The answer to which would be the fact that even Hezbollah has been maintaining an Internet infrastructure since 1998 <br />
<b>18.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/icann-and-ianas-domain-names-hijacked.html">ICANN and IANA's Domain Names Hijacked by the NetDevilz Hacking Group</a> - A fact is a fact, no comment here, go through all the technical details of the hijacking, including some actionable intelligence on who's behind the hijacking<br />
<b>19.</b> <a href="http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/06/malicious-isps-you-rarely-see-in-any.html">The Malicious ISPs You Rarely See in Any Report</a> - Who's tolerating malicious activities on their network, and how is the RBN related to all this? Well, when combined, the tiny parts of these ISPs represent a tiny part of the Russian Business Network itself<div class="feedflare">
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~4/323996877" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:05:01 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/site">site</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/fake youtube site">fake youtube site</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/web site defacements">web site defacements</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malware">malware</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malware hosts">malware hosts</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/web site defacer">web site defacer</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/sites">sites</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/vulnerable sites">vulnerable sites</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/malicious">malicious</category>
      <source url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanchoDanchevOnSecurityAndNewMedia/~3/323996877/summarizing-junes-threatscape.html">Summarizing June's Threatscape</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[25 Mac OS X Security Vulnerabilities Fixed in Apples 2008-004 Security Update]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/b6bc58b331da9a6b435e9261ee806d37</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/b6bc58b331da9a6b435e9261ee806d37</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Apple has shipped a new Mac OS X update that addresses 25 documented vulnerabilities that could lead to arbitrary code execution attacks. Apple fixes in this 2008-004 Security Update code execution...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[Apple has shipped a new Mac OS X update that addresses 25 documented vulnerabilities that could lead to arbitrary code execution attacks. Apple fixes in this 2008-004 Security Update code execution flaws in Launch Services, SMB File Server, System Configuration, VPN and WebKit.
Fixes for six highly critical Ruby, a popular open-source scripting language, vulnerabilities are [...]]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:09:44 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/apple fixes">apple fixes</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/fixes">fixes</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/vulnerabilities">vulnerabilities</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/code execution flaws">code execution flaws</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/highly critical ruby">highly critical ruby</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/smb file server">smb file server</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/apple">apple</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/launch services">launch services</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/mac">mac</category>
      <source url="http://cyberinsecure.com/25-mac-os-x-security-vulnerabilities-fixed-in-apples-2008-004-security-update/">25 Mac OS X Security Vulnerabilities Fixed in Apples 2008-004 Security Update</source>
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      <title><![CDATA[Unstructured data at risk in most firms, survey finds]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/11e3caf4a00a54be763b10c72313ed5b</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/11e3caf4a00a54be763b10c72313ed5b</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Corporate information stored on file servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices is in danger of compromise because IT governance policies and access rules in many companies are incapable of...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[Corporate information stored on file servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices is in danger of compromise because IT governance policies and access rules in many companies are incapable of dealing with a massive growth of unstructured data, according to a Ponemon Institute report issued Tuesday.]]></content:encoded>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/ponemon institute report">ponemon institute report</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/file servers">file servers</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/data">data</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/access rules">access rules</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/governance policies">governance policies</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/massive growth">massive growth</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/nas">nas</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/information">information</category>
      <category domain="http://securityratty.com/tag/companies">companies</category>
      <source url="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/070108-unstructured-data-at-risk-in.html?fsrc=rss-security">Unstructured data at risk in most firms, survey finds</source>
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      <title><![CDATA[Service Canada employee loses flash drive]]></title>
      <link>http://securityratty.com/article/0b1145db0ad92794aa6d34d54d9a00ca</link>
      <guid>http://securityratty.com/article/0b1145db0ad92794aa6d34d54d9a00ca</guid>
      <description><![CDATA[Technorati Tag: Security Breach

Date Reported
6/27/08

Organization
Government of Canada

Contractor/Consultant/Branch
Service Canada

Victims
Canadian Residents

Number Affected
More than 1,500
...]]></description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[Technorati Tag: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/security+breach" rel="tag">Security Breach</a><br><br>
<img src="http://breachblog.com/images/95781-88451/servicecanada.jpg" width="103" align="right" height="54"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Date Reported: </span><br>6/27/08<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Organization: </span><br><a href="http://canada.gc.ca/home.html">Government of Canada</a> <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Contractor/Consultant/Branch:</span><br><a href="http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/">Service Canada</a> <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Victims:</span><br>Canadian Residents<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Number Affected:</span><br>More than 1,500<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Types of Data:</span><br>Name and <a href="http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/sc/sin/">Social Insurance Number</a><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Breach Description:</span><br>"Service Canada recently sent a letter to 1500 individuals that where affected by a recent incident. It seems that a USB key, containing the names and social security number of 1500 canadians was lost."<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reference URL:</span><br><a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/service-canada-loses-canadians-data">NowPublic</a> <br><a href="http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/National/2008/06/23/003-service-canada-donn%C3%A9es.shtml">Radio-Canada (French)</a> <br><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.radio-canada.ca%2Fnouvelles%2FNational%2F2008%2F06%2F23%2F003-service-canada-donn%C3%A9es.shtml&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;sl=fr&amp;tl=en">Radio-Canada (Google English translation)</a> <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Report Credit:</span><br>Radio-Canada, via an email from an informed Breach Blog reader<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Response:</span><br>From the online sources cited above:<br><br>An Employee Service Canada has lost in March, a USB stick containing personal information on more than 1,500 Canadians.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] This statement was translated from french.&nbsp; An employee of Service Canada lost a flash drive with confidential personal information belonging to more than 1,500 Canadians stored on it.&nbsp; Service Canada is responsible for the security of some very sensitive personal information belonging to thousands (maybe millions) of Canadians.&nbsp; As such, the people that are permitted to access (assuming that role-based access control is enforced at Service Canada) confidential information must be properly trained and made constantly aware of the risks involved with creating, accessing, storing, destroying, and transferring this information.&nbsp; Was this employee aware of the risk of using a flash drive to store this information?&nbsp; If so, then there should be consequences for his/her actions.&nbsp; If not, then Service Canada really needs some help.&nbsp; Training and awareness is only a part of an effective information security program, but it is a very important one.&nbsp; Are flash drives permitted for use at Service Canada?&nbsp; They probably shouldn't be.</span><br><br>The agency sent a letter to the persons concerned to advise them of the situation and asking them to check their bank accounts, their credit file and expenditure on their card.<br><br>Among the information contained in the key, were found including the names of persons and their number of social insurance.<br><br>One of the victims wanted to know why Canada Service data contained on the key, a minidisk drive, were not protected.&nbsp; "They said they did not want to invest to secure customer data," said Queen Fraser.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] Obviously, this is an unacceptable response and probably one that wasn't authorized.</span><br><br>There are a few problems with this statement of course... First and foremost, Service Canada employees need training in Security incident management and, in particular, in the important aspect of security incident communications.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] Among many other things, I'm sure.</span><br><br>Second, this means that they are either not aware of Governement of Canada <a href="http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/gospubs/tbm_12a/gsp-psg_e.asp">security policies</a> or <a href="http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/gospubs/tbm_128/chap1_1-1_e.asp">Privacy policies</a> as published by Treasury Bord [sic] Secretariat, or they do not care.<br><br>The government agency has opened an investigation and added that no identity theft had been reported.<br><br>It did not specify whether measures have been taken to avoid another incident.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] We can only imagine what the current state of information security is at Service Canada.&nbsp; It may be worse than some of us think, and it may be better than others of us think.&nbsp; In my opinion, Service Canada owes a thorough explanation to the victims of this breach and owes detailed assurances to Canadian citizens.</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br>As anyone with some knowledge of IT security practices can tell you, USB keys should not be used to carry delicate, protected or private information.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] In general, I agree.</span><br><br>If it must be done then, at a minimum, a threat and risk assessment must be done and proper encryption of the data must be used.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] I absolutely agree.&nbsp; Risk management is critical.</span><br><br>However, mosts organisations that deal with data that is sensitive, protected under privacy laws, such as PIPEDA, commercial trade secrets or of national interest (such as National Defence secrets) AND are serious about IT security would disable floppy disk drives and USB ports on most computers. <br><span style="font-style: italic;">[Evan] Most "organisations" should, but unfortunately most do not.</span><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Commentary:</span><br>I would like to think that this is an isolated incident at Service Canada, but I don't think that it actually is.&nbsp; I would like to see the <a href="http://www.privcom.gc.ca/index_e.asp">Privacy Commissioner of Canada</a> investigate and audit the security program and practices at Service Canada.&nbsp; We'll see if this happens.&nbsp; I don't expect things to change until the people responsible are <span style="font-style: italic;">held</span> responsible.<br><br>How does the Canadian government expect the private sector to provide adequate security measures for the protection of personal information if it does not follow best practices and the law itself? <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Past Breaches:</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Government of Canada:</span><br>November, 2007 - <a href="http://breachblog.com/2007/11/26/servicecanada.aspx">Service Canada stolen laptop affects more than 1,600</a>&nbsp; <br>December, 2007 - <a href="http://breachblog.com/2007/12/05/passport.aspx">Passport Canada web site suffers serious breach</a>&nbsp; <br>June, 2008 - <a href="http://breachblog.com/2008/06/08/ccga.aspx">Canadian farmer personal information on stolen CCGA laptop</a>&nbsp; <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Service Canada:</span><br>November, 2007 - <a href="http://breachblog.com/2007/11/26/servicecanada.aspx">Service Canada stolen laptop affects more than 1,600</a> </font><br><br>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:18:19 +0000</pubDate>
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      <source url="http://breachblog.com/2008/06/28/servicecanada.aspx">Service Canada employee loses flash drive</source>
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