Top 5 Security Tips To Protect Your Computer From USB Viruses

With increasing anti-virus security in place against email-aware viruses and malware, hackers are turning their attention to less well-defended routes such as USB drives. This is the latest method that’s used by hackers to torment innocent users. However, there are ways you can protect your computer from USB and Pen drive viruses.

1.Block USB Viruses

Invest in an excellent anti-virus program that has built in USB virus scan and remover. These anti-USB virus scan programs not only protect your computer from USB Autorun viruses but can also clean worms, Trojans and viruses in your USB memory sticks.You can try anti-virus programs for USB virus such as USB Virus Scan, USB Drive Antivirus and so on.

2.Disable Your Computer’s Autorun Feature

When you plug in a USB drive stick into your system, the Autorun feature initiates automatically. If your USB contains any virus programs, it’ll use the Autorun feature to infect your computer. To protect your computer, disable the Autorun feature.You can disable the Autorun feature via the Control Panel.
Alternatively, you can use antivirus software to disable and enable the Autorun feature whenever you want. Additionally, these USB blocking softwares allowsystem administrators to specify which removable storage drives users can access.

3.Update Your Device Driver

Keeping your USB device driver updated is a good way to ensure greater stability for your USB drives. While this won’t help eradicate USB viruses, USB device drivers are constantly updated to block viruses and deliver timely warnings. You can update your USB device drive from your Windows Computer Management feature in the Control Panel.

4.Use USB Firewall Software

USB firewalls prevent Windows OS from processing malicious programs when a virus infected portable USB device is opened. USB firewalls monitor only your USB devices, and not your CD and DVD drives. By using USB firewalls, you’ll be enabling a basic level of protection from the autorun.inf viruses that spread from portable USB devices.

5.Always Safely Remove USB Devices

Viruses are sometimes created via damaged documents. If you are transferring a set of files to your USB drive, make sure the transfer is complete before you eject the device. Always use the Safely Remove Hardware feature of Windows OS. This is because partially transferred or damaged files can in turn corrupt other files on your USB drive.

About The Author

Montey likes to write for coupon websites where he shares some useful coupons. He blogs at many coupon blogs where he shares norton coupon codes and godaddy codes.

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Stuxnet Worm Installation, Injection, Mitigation And Prevention [Video]

Stuxnet is one of the most popular windows worm, It was discovered back in July 2010 and it has attracted lots of media attention. It was also claimed that Stuxnet worm was originally devloped to target Iranian nuclear plants. Some security experts claim that Stuxnet worm is the most dangerous malware ever created.
While searching on internet related to stuxnet I came across two videos on infosecinstitute.com by Joel langill which probably explains every part of stuxnet, From it's introduction, Installation, and Injection to it's mitigation and prevention.

Part 1: Introduction, Installation, and Injection

Part 2: Mitigation & Prevention

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How To Protect Your Webserver From Getting Hacked?

It has been a while since I haven't posted on RHA, that's because I was extremely busy with my university stuff and had absolutely no time for blogging, However today I finally managed to get some time for posting on RHA, In my previous article related to webserver security section I told you some ways which hackers can use to compromise your webserver, However in this article I will tell you how to protect your webserver from getting hacked or being compromised.

Well there are variety of methods you can implement to protect your webserver, but  I will not be covering all of those method because it will take alot of time explaining the concepts.

WebApplication Security

Most of the webservers get compromised due to the vulnerability in their webapplication, some of the most common existing webapplication vulnerabilities are SQL Injection, Cross site scripting, Local file inclusion etc, These vulnerabilities usually due to improper or poor coding of web applications.

How do I find if these types of vulnerabilities really exist in my webapplications?

Well unless you are a penetration tester or have proper information related to these types of vulnerabilities, it is really difficult for you to find these types of vulnerabilities, A better option is to use a vulnerability scanner like Nessus or Acunetix.

Read More About finding a vulnerability in your website - How To Find A Vulnerable Website?

SSL(Secure Socket Layer)

SSL is not really necessary until you are running an ecommerce website or a website where you want the communication to be secure, If you are wondering what is SSL(Secure Socket Layer), Kindly read my article on What is SSL(Secure Socket Layer)

Password Cracking Attacks

As I told you in my previous article that some of the popular password cracking methods include:

1. Brute Force Attacks

2. Dictionary Attacks

3. Rainbow Tables

Here is a simple tip on how you can avoid these types of attacks - Keep Strong passwords, Now what do I mean by a strong password, read my post on How to create a strong password

Use Of Firewalls

Firewalls are usually designed from stopping attackers from evading a website, A firewall is basically a gateway used to allow or deny access, but are firewalls enough to protect your webserver?
The answer is "no", The administrator need to open ports like 80, 21, 25 etc to allow the firewall to give the users access to services like website, email, ftp etc, which leaves these services vulnerable to attackers.

What if some one sends a virus attached with an email through a mail server behind a firewall, The firewall will not be able to block these types of attacks, Hopefully I will explain this stuff related to firewall security in my upcoming articles.


Update Your Webserver Regularly

Vulnerabilities are created and pathed every day, so you need to make sure that you update your webserver and install latest patches and fixes.

Intrusion Detection System

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is used to monitor the entire network, it detects intruders; that is, unexpected, unwanted or unauthorized people or programs on network, If you want to know more about Intrusion detection system kindly read the following post, It will give you a better understanding of IDS

• An Overview Of Intrusion Detection System

Certainly these methods aren't enough too for a total security, however I will continue the series of articles related to webserver security, Moreover I have also finished writing my newset book "An Introduction To Keyloggers, RATS And Malware" which I will be releasing very soon and the best part is that it will be free for all.

What methods do you use to secure your webserver?

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Codegate 2011 Quals - Binary 300

The question is:

Find a malicious ID!!

The binary is a Browser Helper Object (BHO) DLL with a static XOR key "securecodegate", which is used to decrypt few arrays with statically assigned characters to each index. The "sub_1000233E" function is called with the array and a XOR key as input to perform the decryption. This occurs three times within a handler function "sub_1000270A".

The first two calls are irrelevant as they result in decryption of "google_ads_frame" (key "secure") and "client" (key "code"). However, the third call produces the answer string using the "gate" key.

This was identified by looking for various interesting strings in the binary and locating their use references. The XOR decryption routine is fairly simple and can be performed via a IDC script.

We used a lazy/simple option. Register the DLL ("regsvr32 b300.dll"). Launch Internet Explorer, attach a debugger, locate the handler function ("sub_1000270A"). Modify EIP to jump to the buffer initialization sequence, which is right before the decryption function call (e.g. @ 0x10002C96 for the "gate" key).

The answer is:

ca-pub-0123456789012345

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