1. Third Microsoft Excel
attack posted
2. New Trojan Attacks
Governmental And Political Networks
1. Third Microsoft Excel
attack posted
On Tuesday June 20 2006, a
hacker published code that takes advantage of an unpatched flaw in the
Microsoft Corp. spreadsheet software, the third such exploit to be disclosed in
the past week.
This attack could be used to
run unauthorized software on a PC, but it requires that the victim first be
tricked into opening an Excel document, according to an alert published on the
Securitytracker.com Web site.
The attack takes advantage
of Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash technology, which can be used to provide graphics
and animation to Excel documents. "When the target user opens the Excel
file, the [malicious] Flash code will execute automatically without user
interaction," the alert states.
This latest attack is
worrisome because the code can be executed with little user interaction.
RI Division of IT is not
aware of any vulnerable systems on the State networks. If you know of any
exploits/suspicious activity in relation to MS Excel files, please notify DOIT
Service Desk at soon as you can (401-222-5709).
Source:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&arti
cleId=9001349
2. New Trojan Attacks
Governmental And Political Networks
Several groups in the
country have begun an assault of governmental and other political groups'
computer systems and networks.
A USB port known as the
"
The idea is that an employee
of the target agency will pick up the Thumb Drive and insert it into a machine
inside the building, while trying to identify who the device belongs to and to
to obtain sensitive information to disrupt the lives of the organization's
employees and/or shut down their day-to-day business.
This is known to be one of
the forms of social engineering.
RI Division of IT strongly
advises that anyone who finds a
Source: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9404442/detail.html