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Security UPDATE--Hacking IIS 6.0--April 13, 2005

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1. In Focus: Hacking IIS 6.0

2. Security News and Features

- Recent Security Vulnerabilities

- Eight Security Patches from Microsoft

- Help with HIPAA, SOX, and GLBA Compliance

- Auditing Permission Changes on a Folder

3. Security Toolkit

- Security Matters Blog

- FAQ

- Security Forum Featured Thread

4. New and Improved

- Keep Track of Your Registry

==========

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==== 1. In Focus: Hacking IIS 6.0 ====

by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

Have you heard about Windows IT Pro's "Hack IIS 6.0 Challenge"? Roger Grimes will secure a Microsoft IIS 6.0 system and make it available on the Internet April 17 through June 8 so that people can try to break into it. In the July issue, Roger will write about how he secured the system and what happened during the contest. For more information about the contest, go to

http://www.hackiis6.com

I've already read messages on one security mailing list from people complaining about the challenge or poking fun at it. One person wrote that it's a ploy to gather zero-day (previously unpublished) exploits. I don't know whether anybody will collect packets during the contest or whether such packets will be examined to learn more about how people approach hacking an IIS 6.0 box. But such forensic analysis might occur. Would that be a bad thing?

There were also comments that the contest is an attempt to identify hackers and arrest them. That notion is laughable (and probably based in paranoia) given the fact that people have been invited to hack the box.

Some people also felt that such challenges don't work because of eventual Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. One person mentioned that the hackiis6.com site is located on the same subnet as the magazine's Web farm. So if somebody decides to launch a Distributed DoS (DDoS) attack against the site, it could overwhelm the gateway and thereby render all sites behind the gateway unavailable. That's true. But the hackiis6.com site is only an information site. It's not the actual system that will be made available for hacking. Sometime in the next week, further information will become available at the hackiis6.com site, so check back to learn more details, including the address of the system to hack.

People also pointed out that the challenge can't really prove that the site is secure. If no one manages to break into the site, it might just be because somebody who might know how to break in doesn't take part in the challenge. That's rational; we should probably assume that somebody somewhere knows how to break any particular piece of software. It's a widely held opinion that no system is completely secure.

We could enjoy the challenge for exactly what it is--a challenge--without trying to read all sorts of motives into it. Many people attend various hacker conferences at which such challenges are relatively common. The main difference here is that this challenge is open to the public. It's a way to test your skills and have some fun trying to find a way to breach security. That's it.

Speaking of contests, the Windows IT Pro annual Readers' Choice contest is underway. Vote for your favorite IT products and reward companies that provide excellent products and services. The September 2005 issue of Windows IT Pro will feature the winners. To vote, go to http://www.windowsitpro.com/readerschoice

And, finally, if you use the Windows IT Pro Web site, you might be happy to have a chance to tell us how to improve it. Give us your opinion in the usability survey at

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2249KTSEX5A

==========

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==========

==== 2. Security News and Features ====

Recent Security Vulnerabilities

If you subscribe to this newsletter, you also receive Security Alerts, which inform you about recently discovered security vulnerabilities. You can also find information about these discoveries at

http://www.windowsitpro.com/departments/departmentid/752/752.html

Eight Security Patches from Microsoft

Yesterday, April 12, was Patch Tuesday for Windows users, and Microsoft released eight security patches. The company also announced that beginning this month, it will change its Security Bulletin Advance Notification information provisioning to include other useful information.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45993

Help with HIPAA, SOX, and GLBA Compliance

Vigilar announced a new service aimed at helping companies comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). A compelling feature of Vigilar's new AuditPass program is that it guarantees that your company will pass compliance and audit checks.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45970

Auditing Permission Changes on a Folder

Randy Franklin Smith points out that you'll need to enable auditing for successful object-access events on the servers on which the folders reside and you'll need to enable auditing on the folders you want to monitor. You'll also need to look for specific events in the Security log. Learn the details in this article on our Web site.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45633

==========

==== Resources and Events ====

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Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in a City Near You

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http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqlserverusa/index.cfm?code=0411emailanncs

Attend the Black Hat Briefings

Attend the Black Hat Briefings & Training USA, July 23-28, 2005 in Las Vegas. World renowned security experts reveal tomorrow's threats today. Free of vendor pitches, the briefings are designed to be pragmatic regardless of your security environment. Featuring 25 hands-on training courses and 10 conference tracks. Lots of Windows stuff profiled.

http://www.blackhat.com

Ensure SQL Server High Availability

In this free Web seminar, discover how to maintain business continuity of your IT systems during routine maintenance and unplanned disasters. Learn critical factors for establishing a secure and highly available environment for SQL Server including overcoming the technology barriers that affect SQL Server high availability. Find out about Microsoft's out-of-the-box high-availability technologies, including clustering, log shipping, and replication. Register Now!

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Protect the Rest of Your Exchange Infrastructure

There is more to data protection for Exchange than protecting mail and mail servers. In this free Web seminar, you'll learn some methods for anticipating, avoiding, and overcoming technical problems that can affect your Exchange environment, including corruption or errors in Active Directory, DNS problems, configuration errors, service pack installation problems, and more. Register now!

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==========

==== 3. Security Toolkit ====

Security Matters Blog

by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://www.windowsitpro.com/securitymatters

Need a Security Scorecard?

Looking for a simple way to assess desktop security? PivX Solutions just released a new tool, PreView, that can tell you whether your firewall offers enough protection, whether you're missing necessary patches, and more.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45967

FAQ

by John Savill, http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowsnt20002003faq

Q: Do I need to take any special steps when restoring a backup of my Relative Identifier (RID) master?

Find the answer at

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45956

Security Forum Featured Thread: AD Permissions

A forum participant is having trouble restricting permissions in Windows Server 2003. He's running Active Directory (AD) in Mixed Mode and has a few global groups that need access to resources on a member server. However, anyone--not just the intended groups--can access the folders and subfolders that he's trying to secure. Join the discussion at

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Forums/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=131237

==========

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==========

==== 4. New and Improved ====

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Keep Track of Your Registry

ElcomSoft has released Advanced Registry Tracer 2.0, a utility that lets you analyze changes made to your registry (whether by Trojan horse programs, viruses, or software installations or removals) and store snapshots of the registry in a database so that you can easily restore the registry when you encounter problems. New features in version 2.0 include the ability to define scanning and comparison filters, an object-tweaking feature that lets you safely experiment with registry values, a new database format that reduces the size of the database, the ability to compare keys in command-line mode, faster registry file exports, and an improved interface. Advanced Registry Tracer 2.0 runs under Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000/XP and costs $40 for a single-user license. For more information, go to

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[email protected].

Editor's note: Share Your Security Discoveries and Get $100

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