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Computer Security Weekly, April 5, 1999

© Robert Slade

Scams abound on the net, of course, and this one is noteworthy only in that it seems to try to take advantage of the real "FreePC" operation started up recently, and in the target. Patrick Townson, moderator of the esteemed Telecom Digest mailing list, recently ran into someone using the name "National Research, Inc." (there is a legitimate company known as National Research Corporation in his state), asking you to fill out a questionaire on his Web page run by wwwnexus.net (which apparently has no connection to the Nexus Corporation in Connecticut), plus one a year from now, and get a free PC.

Oh, just one little catch, there is this teensy registration fee, and they want your credit card number ...

Probably best to stay away from http://www.getonefreepc.com.

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Well, you've heard a lot about Melissa in the past week, and you're probably going to hear more. Internet marketers are already discussing the possibility of using the capabilties that Melissa has demonstrated for a kind of automated spam that spreads itself. Also, the search for the author of the virus may turn up some problems. The Global User ID number that Microsoft recently admitted had been included with Windows 98 and Office 97 is rather problematic as evidence.

If you want to get the Melissa news as it breaks, someone has set up a site linking to stories from the various media serivces. (Do not, in other words, expect a lot of technical accuracy.)

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Microsoft has released a patch that will allow users to remove the GUID from their files. However, it also updates the file creation/modification date for each file when it does so. Not something that everyone needs to worry about, but something to note if you do use the file creation date for sorting or other purposes.

ZDNet Story #1, #2 and #3

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Microsoft Personal Web Server, for 95 or 98, has a hole that can allow someone to request a specific file from your machine. Microsoft has issued a bulletin and Knowledge Base articles.

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-010
  Patch Available for File Access Vulnerability in Personal Web Server (the Web-posted version of this bulletin)
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q216453
  FP98: Security Patch for FrontPage Personal Web Server
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q217765
  FP97: Security Patch for FrontPage Personal Web Server
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q217763
  File Access Vulnerability in Personal Web Server

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