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Cyber Security Tip ST06-009
Coordinating Virus and Spyware Defense
Using anti-virus and anti-spyware software is an important part of
cyber security. But in an attempt to protect yourself, you may
unintentionally cause problems.
Isn't it better to have more protection?
Spyware and viruses can interfere with your computer's ability to
process information or can modify or destroy data. You may feel that
the more anti-virus and anti-spyware programs you install on your
computer, the safer you will be. It is true that not all programs are
equally effective, and they will not all detect the same malicious
code. However, by installing multiple programs in an attempt to catch
everything, you may introduce problems.
How can anti-virus or anti-spyware software cause problems?
It is important to use anti-virus and anti-spyware software (see
Understanding Anti-Virus Software and Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware
for more information). But too much or the wrong kind can affect the
performance of your computer and the effectiveness of the software
itself.
Scanning your computer for viruses and spyware uses some of the
available memory on your computer. If you have multiple programs
trying to scan at the same time, you may limit the amount of resources
left to perform your tasks. Essentially, you have created a denial of
service against yourself (see Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks
for more information). It is also possible that in the process of
scanning for viruses and spyware, anti-virus or anti-spyware software
may misinterpret the virus definitions of other programs. Instead of
recognizing them as definitions, the software may interpret the
definitions as actual malicious code. Not only could this result in
false positives for the presence of viruses or spyware, but the
anti-virus or anti-spyware software may actually quarantine or delete
the other software.
How can you avoid these problems?
* Investigate your options in advance - Research available
anti-virus and anti-spyware software to determine the best choice
for you. Consider the amount of malicious code the software
recognizes, and try to find out how frequently the virus
definitions are updated. Also check for known compatibility issues
with other software you may be running on your computer.
* Limit the number of programs you install - Many vendors are now
releasing packages that incorporate both anti-virus and
anti-spyware capabilities together. However, if you decide to
choose separate programs, you really only need one anti-virus
program and one anti-spyware program. If you install more, you
increase your risk for problems.
* Install the software in phases - Install the anti-virus software
first and test it for a few days before installing anti-spyware
software. If problems develop, you have a better chance at
isolating the source and then determining if it is an issue with
the software itself or with compatibility.
* Watch for problems - If your computer starts processing requests
more slowly, you are seeing error messages when updating your
virus definitions, your software does not seem to be recognizing
malicious code, or other issues develop that cannot be easily
explained, check your anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
_________________________________________________________________
Authors: Mindi McDowell, Matt Lytle
_________________________________________________________________
Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization.
Terms of use
<http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html>
This document can also be found at
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-009.html>
For instructions on subscribing to or unsubscribing from this
mailing list, visit <http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/signup.html>.
Why the workplace matters to God...
Of Jesus’ 132 public appearances in the New Testament, 122 were in the marketplace
Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context
Of 40 divine interventions recorded in the book of Acts, 39 occurred in the marketplace
Jesus spent his adult life as a carpenter until age 30 when he began his public ministry
Jesus called 12 workers, not religious figures, to build the church around
The Hebrew word "Avodah" is the root from which we get the words work and worship
Work, in its various forms, is mentioned in the Bible more than 800 times...more than worship, music, praise, and singing combined
Interested in moving up to Vista (when it actually ships)? Chuck this out! ;-)
-- Chuck
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September 11, 2006—
In the five years since 9/11, much looking-back has been done. The problem is we haven't looked back far enough. To understand the nature of the enemy in the Middle East and to evaluate the prospects for democracy and peace, we need to extend our gaze not five years into the past, but five hundred and even five thousand.I've spent the last four years writing two books about Alexander the Great's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, 331-327 B.C. What has struck me in the research is the dead-ringer parallels between that ancient East-West clash and the modern ones the U.S. is fighting today — despite the fact that Alexander was pre-Christian and his enemies were pre-Islamic.
What history seems to be telling us is that the quality that most defines our Eastern adversaries, then and now, is neither religion nor extremism nor "Islamo-fascism," but something much older and more fundamental.
Extremist Islam is merely an overlay (and a recent one at that) atop the primal, unchanging mind-set of the East, which is tribalism, and its constituent individual, the tribesman.
Tribalism and the tribal mind-set are what the West is up against in Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgency, the Sunni and Shiite militias, and the Taliban.
What exactly is the tribal mind-set? It derives from that most ancient of social organizations, whose virtues are obedience, fidelity, warrior pride, respect for ancestors, hostility to outsiders and willingness to lay down one's life for the cause/faith/group. The tribe's ideal leader is closer to Tony Soprano than to FDR and its social mores are more like those of Geronimo's Apaches than the city council of Scarsdale or Shepherd's Bush.
Can the tribal mind embrace democracy? Consider the contrast between the tribesman and the citizen:
A citizen is an autonomous individual. A citizen is free. A citizen possesses the capacity to evaluate the facts and prospects of his world and to make decisions guided by his own conscience, uncoerced by authority. A congress of citizens acting in free elections determines the political course of a democratic community.
A citizen prizes his freedom; therefore he grants it to others. He is willing to respect the rights of minorities within the community, so that his own rights will be shielded when he finds himself in the minority.
The tribesman doesn't see it that way. Within the fixed hierarchy of the tribe, disagreement is not dissent (and thus to be tolerated) but treachery, even heresy, which must be ruthlessly expunged. The tribe exists for itself alone. It is perpetually at war with all other tribes, even of its own race and religion.
The tribesman deals in absolutes. One is either "of blood" or not. The enemy spy can infiltrate the tribal network no more than a prison guard can worm his way into the Aryan Brotherhood. The tribe recognizes its own. It expels (or beheads) the alien. The tribe cannot be negotiated with. "Good faith" applies only within the pale, never beyond.
The tribesman does not operate by a body of civil law but by a code of honor. If he receives a wrong, he does not seek redress. He wants revenge. The taking of revenge is a virtue in tribal eyes, called badal in the Pathan code of nangwali. A man who does not take revenge is not a man. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the sectarian militias of Iraq are not in the war business, they are in the revenge business. The revenge-seeker cannot be negotiated with because his intent is bound up with honor. It is an absolute.
Perhaps the most telling difference between the citizen and the tribesman lies in their views of the Other. The citizen embraces multiplicity; to him, the melting pot produces richness and cultural diversity. To the tribesman, the alien is not even given the dignity of being a human being; he is a gentile, an infidel, a demon.
The tribesman grants justice within the tribe. In his internal councils, empathy, humor and compassion may prevail. Outside the tribe? Forget it. Can Shiites really sit down with Sunnis? Will the pledges of Hezbollah or Hamas to Israel prove true?
The democratic virtues of the Enlightenment, the Rights of Man and the American Constitution are not virtues to the tribesman. They are effeminate. They lack warrior honor. "Freedom" to the tribesman means the extinction of all he and his ancestors hold dear; "democracy" and Western values are a mortal threat to the ancient and proud way of life that the tribal mind has embraced (whether Scythian nomads, Amazon warriors, or American Indians) for tens of thousands of years.
The tribesman isn't "wrong" or "evil." He just doesn't want what we're selling. We will not convert him with free elections or with SAW machine guns. To him, 9/11 is only the most recent act of badal in a clash that has been raging for more than two thousand years. We will not find the way to contest him, let alone defeat him, until we see the struggle against him within the greater context of this millenia-old, unaltering, East-West war.
Historian Steven Pressfield is the author of the just-release novel The Afghan Campaign. He has written four other historical novels including "Gates of Fire," "The War of Art," and "The Legend of Bagger Vance."
National Cyber Alert System
Cyber Security Alert SA06-256A
Apple QuickTime Vulnerabilities
Original release date: September 13, 2006
Last revised: --
Source: US-CERT
Systems Affected
Apple QuickTime for
* Apple Mac OS X
* Microsoft Windows
Overview
Apple has released Apple QuickTime 7.1.3 to correct several
vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to
gain access to your computer.
Solution
Install an Update
OS X users should use the Mac OS X Software Update feature to
download and install Apple QuickTime 7.1.3. Consider scheduling
Software Update to check for updates automatically (this option
is enabled by default).
Microsoft Windows users should upgrade to Apple QuickTime 7.1.3.
Description
QuickTime prior to version 7.1.3 has multiple image and media
file handling vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to run
malicious programs on your computer. This could happen by
visiting a malicious web site. Upgrading to Apple QuickTime
version 7.1.3 will correct these vulnerabilities.
Note that QuickTime is included with Apple iTunes.
For more technical information, see US-CERT Technical Alert
TA06-256A and the Apple QuickTime Security Update.
References
* US-CERT Technical Alert TA06-256A -
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-256A.html>
* Vulnerability Notes for QuickTime 7.1.3 -
<http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/byid?searchview&query=QuickTime_713>
* About the security content of the QuickTime 7.1.3 Update -
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304357>
* Apple QuickTime 7.1.3 -
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime713.html>
* Standalone Apple QuickTime Player -
<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html>
* Mac OS X: Updating your software -
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704>
* Securing Your Web Browser -
<http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/securing_browser/>
* Mac OS X: Updating your software -
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704>
____________________________________________________________________
The most recent version of this document can be found at:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/alerts/SA06-256A.html>
____________________________________________________________________
Feedback can be directed to US-CERT. Please send email to
<cert@cert.org> with "SA06-256A Feedback VU#540348" in the subject.
____________________________________________________________________
Mailing list information:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/>
____________________________________________________________________
Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization.
Terms of use:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html>
____________________________________________________________________
Revision History
September 13, 2006: Initial release
The mass campaign here to depose President Chen Shui-bian veered hard into weird territory this week. Campaign leader Shih Ming-teh has stepped aside, and the new face of the anti-Chen campaign is a wheelchair-bound advertising executive with ideas that no screenwriter could make up.
He is Jerry Fan Ke-chin, who used to work for Mr Chen when he was mayor of Taipei. Mr Fan claims authority to lead the anti-Chen movement solely because of his self-proclaimed "creativity". And there's no denying that he has given the demonstrations a new flair. Taiwan's opposition movement from the 1970s through to the early 1990s was dominated by a deep sense of seriousness. Recently, political demonstrations have become celebrations of Taiwanese identity - especially those organised by Mr Chen and others in the pro-independence camp.
But the anti-Chen protests of recent weeks have often had an angrily resentful nature, attracting the political lunatic fringe and nationalistic elements of the underworld.
Now Mr Fan wants to change all that by giving the movement a pick-me-up. He began late last week, telling all participants at a planned protest on Saturday to wear red. Next, he built a giant wall of speakers to blast classical music at the Presidential Office. On Monday, it became clear that Mr Fan's creative juices were really starting to flow. He announced a new logo for the campaign - a headless, red stick figure inspired by the mysterious Nazca lines drawn in a Peruvian desert by an ancient culture. Mr Fan expects hundreds of thousands of red-shirted marchers to form "Taiwanese Nazca lines" on Saturday in the broad boulevards facing the Presidential Office.
According to Mr Fan, the headless, stick figure is a kind of compass - to remind the scandal-embroiled Mr Chen that he is encompassed by the law. At the same time, he says, it represents a Taiwanese aboriginal warrior shaking his spear in anger at Mr Chen.
Mr Fan wants Saturday's demonstrators to march clockwise, around one of Taipei's old city gates - to evoke the "dharma power" of Buddhist monks parading around a stupa. He compares this to the siege of Jericho by the ancient Israelites. Like the biblical prophet Joshua, Mr Fan wants to march his warriors around the Presidential Office until it collapses miraculously.
There has been much grumbling in the anti-Chen ranks that Mr Fan's creativity is robbing the movement of its solemn moral authority and wide support. But his real problem is that his music, logo and symbolic references have no meaningful connection to the Taiwanese identity.
Further, they represent one man's rather fanciful creative imagination being imposed on the movement's supporters - rather than a grass-roots expression of the movement's political imagination.
Sun, September 3, 2006
Forced embrace of Islam familiar refrain
By Ted Byfield
It was awfully decent of the media not to ask that kidnapped Fox News
correspondent and his cameraman, forced by terrorists to embrace Islam as
the price of being freed, whether or not they had been Christians.
Two weeks ago, Steve Centanni, 60, an American reporter, and New Zealander
Olaf Wiig, 36, a photographer, were abducted by something calling itself the
Holy Jihad Brigade.
They were released in Gaza City last week after converting to Islam on
videotape and at gunpoint.
They said they had been tied hand and foot in an abandoned garage, and
forced to lie face down on the floor.
They went through this "conversion" process on threat of execution.
Precisely what this consisted of was not reported. Presumably, they were
required only to repeat the single-sentence creed of Islam: "There is one
God, Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet."
Now if these men were typical of their profession (and mine), there was
little to be concerned about in this "conversion."
That is, they would not have been Christian, but secularist.
They would regard all religious "belief" as a matter of personal sentiment,
subject to change when one's sentiments changed, and utterly speculative --
meaning, whether there's a God or there isn't is anybody's guess.
Fact and truth have nothing to do with it.
They would have reasoned: "If these wing-nuts want us to say something about
Allah, or anybody else, then why the hell not? Say it, if it gets us out of
here. Say anything they want us to say."
Given their outlook on life, can you blame them?
But if they were Christians, that's very different.
To proclaim Muhammad as "the Prophet of God" implicitly elevates Muhammad
above Jesus Christ, and therefore constitutes a denial of Christ.
The New Testament is not at all reassuring about this. "If you deny me, I
will deny you," says Jesus, referring to the final judgment -- something, he
says, all of us will face.
So it was, as I say, exceedingly kind of the media, not to ask these two
about their own religion.
Their not doing so, however, might not have been out of kindness. More
probably, it never occurred to them to ask.
Which also tells us something about the religion of the reporters who
covered the story of their release.
Am I suggesting, therefore, that these two men, if they had been Christian,
have consigned themselves to hell by submitting to the terrorist demand?
No, because who does and does not go to hell is not for us to decide, said
Jesus.
We're not to "judge" people. All we can do is quote the relevant Biblical
evidence.
The name Centanni, of course, is almost certainly Italian, which is
interesting because the last Italian that Muslim terrorists confronted with
such an ultimatum responded in a somewhat different way.
Hooded, videotaped, and threatened with beheading, he tore the hood from his
head, thrust back his shoulders, and declared: "Let me show you how an
Italian dies."
Furious, the terrorists shot him dead on the spot, rather than behead him.
Why were they so angry?
Because he was showing them he had greater courage than they had, and they
didn't like having their faces rubbed in that fact.
Most Christians are aware that in the first 300 years of their history, tens
of thousands of us were presented with such ultimatums.
They were ordered to burn a pinch of incense to the "god" Caesar.
If they did it, they were instantly released.
If not, they were sent as slaves to the mines, effectively a death sentence.
Women and boys were consigned to the brothels. Both men and women were often
put to death by public torture.
So many refused and suffered so courageously, they eventually converted the
whole empire to Christianity.
But many yielded and denied their faith.
In the end, the Church agreed to re-admit them as penitents.
But some Christians refused to re-admit them.
These became known as the Donatist heretics, and the Donatist church endured
for more than 200 years.
So what would you do, Byfield, in such a circumstance?
How could I know?
But I'd be in no doubt whatever about what I should do.
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| ________________________________________ |
More deep thinking follows...
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on "THIS" side of the road before it goes after the problem on the "OTHER SIDE" of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his "CURRENT" problems before adding "NEW" problems.
OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
DONALD RUMSFELD:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
ANDERSON COOPER/CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am for it now, and will remain against it.
JUDGE JUDY:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks
PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.
JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's why they call it the "other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that!
GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together - in peace.
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road
BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2005, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet explorer is an integral part of eChicken. The Platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^( C \..... reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/435 - Release Date: 8/31/2006
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/435 - Release Date: 8/31/2006
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/435 - Release Date: 08/31/2006
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/435 - Release Date: 08/31/2006
Thanks to Ari Rocklin for this. Probably old (not ARI, the joke!), but
pretty good!
-- Chuck
Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement and when
his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.
As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.
"You know" he said, "I am 87 years old and I have never driven a limousine.
Would you mind if I drove it for a while?"
The driver said, "No problem. Have at it."
Billy gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A
short distance away sat a rookie State Trooper operating his first speed
trap. The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. The trooper
pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to
begin the procedure.
The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was
rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving.
He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his
supervisor.
He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law... but I
also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know
what I should do because I have stopped a very important person."
The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?"
The young trooper said, "No, he's more important than that."
The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president."
The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that."
The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?"
The young trooper said, "I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham
for a chauffeur!"
