The worm that ate the Internet?
Three computer-science researchers recently published a paper entitled "How to Own the Internet in Your Spare Time," that describes new types of worms that have the ability to infect Web servers, browsers and other software so quickly that the Internet could be taken down in a matter of minutes. The authors say they tested the paper's thesis in a lab simulation designed to subvert 10 million Internet hosts over low-speed and high-speed lines. Supplied with its own hit list of IP addresses and vulnerabilities gained through previous scanning, the theoretical worm could infect more than 9 million servers in about 15 minutes. A similar theoretical worm they coined the Flash worm, blasted out from a 622M bit/sec link, would take even less time to "own" the Internet. Source: Network World Fusion

Understanding and Troubleshooting DNS in Windows 2000
Microsoft has released a free training course titled "Understanding and Troubleshooting DNS in Windows 2000" that is available for download as a compressed file that contains a CD ISO image and instructions about how to create a CD from the image. This course provides in-depth discussion of Domain Name Service (DNS) as implemented in Windows 2000, with emphasis on best practices for installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting the DNS Client service and DNS Server service in Windows 2000 networking and Active Directory directory service environments.  Source: Microsoft.com

SANS: 'The Golden Age of Hacking rolls on'
Over the last eight months major new hacker tools have been released, ending a lull in activity among hackers that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the enactment of legislation that enhanced law enforcement's ability to prosecute people who break code and wreak havoc on networks by exploiting software vulnerabilities. Source: IDG.net

Managing USB 2.0 Devices
David Chernicoff discovers an answer to a problem that readers are having with Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) upgrade and USB 2.0 port identification--Device Manager gives them weird information about their USB 2.0 ports. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine

Tough Migration Moves: 
Migrating from Novell Directory Services to Active Directory is hard work. This article explains how to assess your current situation, formulate an action plan and specify features for third-party help. Source: MCPMag

The Ever-Morphing Mrxsmb
Microsoft has released 12 redirector bug fixes for mrxsmb.sys since April. Find out what they are and how to patch them. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine

Group Policy XPerience: 
You can do more with Group Policy in Windows XP than in Windows 2000 Professional. Here©s a guide to the changes. Source: MCPMag.com

Polymorphic Macro Viruses, Part One
Polymorphic viruses change their code in fundamental ways, such as changing the encryption routine or the sequence of instructions, in order to avoid detection by anti-virus scanners. This article is the first of a two-part series that will offer a brief overview of the use of polymorphic strategies in macro viruses. Source: SecurityFocus

Proactive job review defense
Many readers will face some type of job review in the next few months. Two years ago, review time was spent discussing your big raise to keep you at the company. Reviews today are much less fun, and often spent discussing how to keep your job during the next layoff. Source: ITWorld

Bogus Checklist
Leave it to the [market research firm] Gartner to come up with vague and contradictory predictions for the years ahead. The latest laundry list of technology predictions leaves a lot to be desired. When will this nonsense end? Source: PCMagazine

Get a Free Windows 2000 Security Resource Kit
The Security Resource Kit contains the Security Operations Guide for Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, security-related white papers, and more. Source: Microsoft.com

Using SMS 2.0 to Deploy Microsoft Office XP
This white paper supplements the Office XP documentation and the SMS 2.0 software distribution documentation by providing information specifically targeted at deploying Office XP to SMS 2.0 clients in your organization. Source: Microsoft

Is Linux Really More Secure Than Windows?
Ramen, Slapper, Scalper and Mighty may sound like Santa's new team of reindeer, but they are creatures far lower down the evolutionary ladder -- and much less welcome. These are worms that have infiltrated Linux servers in recent months, commandeering the servers for use in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Linux enthusiasts who once believed they were less vulnerable to attack than Microsoft users have begun to wonder whether they were overly optimistic. But it is a mistake to think that one operating environment is inherently more risky than another. Source: OS Opinion

Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Performance
This technical article introduces the tools, concepts, and recommendations you need in order to troubleshoot Microsoft© Exchange 2000 Server performance. It also provides information on how to monitor the health of your Exchange 2000 servers and how to establish a baseline of normal server performance to measure against when troubleshooting performance. Source: Microsoft.com

Windows XP Home Edition - A bad choice gets worse
XP Home Edition is clearly not designed for corporate or even serious small business/academic use, but it's still finding inroads into these environments because it's cheaper than XP Professional. Being aware of XP Home Edition's many shortcomings can help consultants and administrators steer management away from purchasing decisions that are penny wise and pound foolish. Source: PCMagazine

Securing End Users from Attack
From malicious code to social engineers, corporate end users face a gamut of threats that endanger the network. Secure your users to secure your enterprise. Source: CommWeb

Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 Deployment Checklist
These  checklists can be used as an aid for deploying Microsoft© Operations Manager 2000 (MOM) in a specific operational scenario. This scenario is derived from current MOM installations in the user community. Their purpose is to give you a logical, and in some cases, required, sequence of steps for successfully installing and configuring MOM elements in a single pass. Source: Microsoft

6 Myths About Security Policies
In the course of working on the new policies, Al Berg learned the truth about his assumptions, which he now calls the "Six Myths of Infosecurity Policies." In this article, Al outlines these myths and provides practical advice on how to write policies that work in the real world. Source: InfoSecurityMag

Government releases top 20 vulnerability 'hit list'
The U.S. General Services Administration, unveiled a target list of the top 20 Internet security vulnerabilities, along with products and programs designed to help companies destroy those flaws. Source: ComputerWorld 

One Patch to Rule Them All
A recent XP security hole begs the question, do we really want Microsoft to release individual fixes for every bug? Source: SecurityFocus.com

The Latest Batch of SP3 Fixes
Paula Sharick provides a summary of five new Win2K SP3 bug fixes, including a fix for a DHCP reservation problem, a workaround you can use to force a domain controller (DC) to immediately replicate an account you disable, an update that corrects a blue screen that occurs when you close a file on a network share, a solution for a Win2K Server Terminal Services client printing problem, and a code fix that eliminates Perflib error messages in the Application Event Log. Source: Windows & .NET Magazine

Systems Management Server 2003 Reviewer's Guide
Designed especially for technology reviewers, this guide offers a number of evaluation materials for the beta version of Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003. The content describes the goals of the Systems Management Server 2003 product and the new features and architecture that meet those goals. The document concludes with detailed step-by-step instructions for evaluating the key features of Systems Management Server 2003.

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