Weekly Reflection: Week 4

I have an mp4 player that can be connected to a computer via a USB cable. A friend of mine wanted a couple of songs from there and so I decided to give him my mp4. He warned me saying: “I think I have a virus on my computer and I’ve tried to remove it many times, but it just does not go”. I told him I would take the risk and that if something went wrong with my laptop, it would be his fault. He copied the songs off my mp4. I had my free version of AVG antivirus ready- I plugged it into my computer, AVG detected and removed it. The virus was called ‘autorun.exe’. From what my friend told me, the virus did nothing except stop USB’s from auto running. I used google to find more information about the virus and there have been cases where the virus creates a large number of new files and folders with the names of real directories you have. I kept scanning my computer and mp4 player every 3 days for a couple of weeks just to make sure and was relieved to know that the virus had not been able to get onto my computer or my mp4 player.

Then I copied my free version of AVG and gave it to him so that he could remove the virus from his computer as well. Thinking about it now, I am sure it was a stupid thing for me to ‘take the risk’ and plug the USB in anyway, however now that I know of some of the consequences of having a virus on one’s computer, I will be more cautious before plugging anything into my laptop. I have also made it a point to update my antivirus definitions as well as scan my whole computer on a weekly basis.

Article Location: http://www.securecomputing.net.au/News/145860,office-of-us-marshals-infected-by-neeris-virus.aspx

This article is about how the US Marshall Office was infected by the Neeris Virus. The Virus is “a new malware variant that has been customised to exploit the same vulnerability as the notorious Conficker worm”. “Neeris and Conficker look for missing patches. If the PCs and servers are patched, the malware doesn't work”. The issue with the US Marshall Office was that they had an out-of-date antivirus program leaving the whole organization vulnerable and open to threat. Once employees started noticing suspicious changes on their computers, the IT staff were notified. As a result of the infection, the IT staff disconnected the marshals' computers from the Justice Department's network to prevent further spread and that the internet connection was shut off all day. In addition, the computers and servers were patched and an updated version of the antivirus was placed on all agency computers. According to the spokeswoman for the US Marshall Office, no data was compromised or at risk as a result of the virus infection.

At UB, to deal with threats from viruses, Trojan horses, Back Doors and worms, a list of measures have been put in place. These are as follows:
· state of the art firewalls (software and hardware)
· virus & spyware protection
· anti-spam software
· multi tiered password protection
· secure login via Access@UB
· secure data storage
· security alerts
· educating UB students and staff
· access to free anti-virus software (Sophos)

Taken from: http://www.ballarat.edu.au/aasp/is/ict/security/

They also have important links on the UB website that provide information to users. Here is a list of links and a brief explanation of how it helps.
Warnings & alerts :- Alerts and Warnings about things happening on the net.
Security awareness campaigns:- Educating staff anf students about ICT Security.
Feature articles:- Things of interest and the odd surprise.

Monthly Statistics:- Some interesting facts and figures.
Free Anti-virus Software (Sophos):- Download Sophos anti-virus for FREE
Email & virus tips:- Some hints and tips about email and dealing with viruses.

Taken from: http://www.ballarat.edu.au/aasp/is/ict/security/