enterprise data storage and web applications research

This is a good article about the latest and baddest scam from The Red Tape Chronicles on the latest internet scam, ransomware. Many PC users are falling for this one, as the fake antivirus software that is demanding money from you looks so real. What happens is that sometimes you will get a pop-up on your computer that says that your computer is at risk, and many uninformed PC users click on it, and then: BAM – the software installs itself on your PC. Suddenly you cannot surf the Web or use certain applications, as these are being blocked by the fake security software unless you pay them $70 for their so-called registered version.

Read the article here. This is another extortion scam from those organized crime scumbags in Europe.

Since we are upgrading our EMC CLARiiON CX3 to a CX4 this month, EMC has suggested that I get some LUN’s off of the vault (I didn’t put them there) and migrate them to another series of LUN’s. The vault is an array of disks used for storing the system cache – I never liked having other LUN’s on it. So, I am migrating LUN’s off of it, and this is taking some time due to the amount of data. To migrate a LUN is simple:

First, it is required to have some spare LUN’s on a RAID group(s) that are the same size or greater as the source LUN. Right-click on the LUN to migrate (source) and select migrate. A selection of prospective targets LUNs will be displayed. Select the target and the migrate. Very simple. The target will assume the identity (LUN number) of the source LUN when the migration is completed, and this is entirely transparent to the host that is using the LUN and there will be no interruption in LUN access on the host. The migration could take some time depending on the amount of data of course.

*Advisory*

Cybercriminals have launched a search engine campaign to exploit the earthquake in Haiti.  Searches for “Haiti earthquake donate” or “Haiti earthquake donation” yield malicious links leading to rogue anti-virus products that will take control of a user’s computer.  E-mails are also being circulated claiming to help victims of the earthquake by having the user click a malicious link to donate money. 

If you are considering donating, please do so thru a reputable charity and go directly to their website(s).  Do not respond to unsolicited e-mails.

** Thanks Mari !

From http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytipstalk/archive/2009/12/17/plagued-by-the-privacy-center-learn-how-to-remove-it.aspx :

There is a new fakeware out on the ‘Net that looks like a anti-malware application, and it installs on your PC automatically without your permission. As with most fake software, it is actually spyware disguised as a ligitamate anti-virus or anti-spyware/malware program. A popular one currently is Privacy Center -this is not a Microsoft application. Click here to learn how to identify it and rmove it.

Here is the announcement from Microsoft:
“Privacy Center is not Microsoft software. It’s a new form of fake antimalware software (also known as rogue security software) that pretends to help protect your computer, but is really a new form of spyware. It can slow down your computer and damage your files.

To remove the Privacy Center, download and use Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft Windows Defender, the Windows Live safety scanner, or another up-to-date scanning and removal tool.

For more technical information, see the Microsoft Malware Protection Center: Win32/Privacy Center.”

Computer Associates has a good article on this also at: http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2008/10/14/two-good-looking-windows-security-centers-one-fake-one-real.aspx

The Microsoft Office name is being leveraged by cybercriminals in two new campaigns meant to infect users’ machines. Email security firm Red Condor on Thursday warned of a spear phishing run in which messages appear to be invitations for recipients to update their Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access settings. Following the link, however, leads to the pernicious, data-stealing Zeus trojan. In another scam, searches for “office.microsoft.com” is leading to malicious websites hawking rogue anti-virus programs, internet security vendor Websense said Friday in a blog post.

Here are a few pics of my equipment. Right is the Ubuntu Server cloud that is being developed. It consists of a central cloud controller and a node controller.

The picture on the left is a shot of an a telnet BBS (Bulletin Board System) that has been running since the early 1990’s. The BBS was one of the origional means of public internet access. The top server is a soon-to-be scrapped web server, the middle is OhioFreeNet.org, and the bottom two are the future OhioFreeNet.org cluster. OhioFreeNet.org is the BBS. Go to http://ohiofreenet.org or you can open a command prompt or a dailer application and telnet to tek1systems.com. Have fun with some computing nostalgia and see what the internet looked like before the invention of the world wide web in 1993. BTW, the HP LC2000 server on the right of the BBS is a spare web server.