OIT Information Security Office

The Official Web Log of the OIT Information Security Office. www.uta.edu/security

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Super Tuesday Summary – February 2011

March 9th, 2011 · Awareness, Patches

The second Tuesday of the month has come and gone and with that we have a several patches with which to follow-up. Keep in mind “Super Tuesday” though initiated by Microsoft has also become a popular day for other companies to release their scheduled patches as well. So regardless of your OS of choice please check with your update service for any new items.

Microsoft Users

Microsoft released three (3) patches this month.

One (1) of the patches is listed as critical and should be applied immediately.

MS11-015 – Critical (high) – Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2510030)
MS11-016 – Important (medium) – Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2508062)
MS11-017 – Important (medium) – Vulnerability in Microsoft Groove Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2494047)

Microsoft also released the usual updates and signatures for the
- Anti-Malware definitions for FCS and SE
- Malicious Software Removal Tool
- Outlook / Mail email junk filters

For more information on MS patches see,

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS11-jan.mspx
https://blogs.technet.com/msrc/
https://blogs.technet.com/swi/

Macintosh and Apple Software users

Apple released
Java for Mac OS X v10.5 Update 9 – ISO Recommended Critical
Java for Mac OS X v10.6 Update 4 – ISO Recommended Critical
iTunes 10.2 – ISO Recommended Critical

For more information on Apple updates see,

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
https://www.apple.com/support/security/guides/

Linux users

The popular distributions all released updates for their respective package repositories
Redhat, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Suse, etc.

As always, run your distro / package manager of choice on a regular basis.

Current Distro Releases

RedHat Enterprise Linux 6
Fedora 14
Ubuntu 10.10

Browser Security

More and more of the exploits are targeting web browsers. Regardless of what operating system you are running the web browser is the biggest open door into your system.
All the major browsers released updated and patched versions this month. Take a moment to verify that your browser is up to date.

Current browser versions:

IE – IE8 (8.0.6001.18702)
Firefox – 3.6.15 **new version
Safari – 5.0.4 (7533.20.27) **new version
Opera -11.01 (build 1190) **new version
Google Chrome – 10.0.648.127 **new version

Other Applications

Adobe released

APSB11-01 Adobe Shockwave – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-02 Adobe Flash – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-03 Adobe Reader and Acrobat – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-04 Adobe Coldfusion – ISO Recommended Critical

- – -

Happy patching and we’ll see you next month.

**All UT Arlington Windows based assets should be registered with the UTA domain and should receive critical MS patches automatically via SCCM. If your device is not registered or not receiving patches please contact the OIT HelpDesk at 2-2208.

–Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.5.2

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Tax Forms and Personal Data

January 13th, 2011 · Awareness, Tips

Today it was announced in the MavWire that you can claim your W-2.

However they left off one important point.

DO NOT EMAIL YOUR W-2 AFTER CLAIMING IT!

Your W-2 contains personal data that can be used to steal your identity, or even being used to complete a tax return in your name before you file, leaving you with nothing.

Email is not a secure communication and can be intercepted and read by anybody.

Once you have claimed and downloaded your W2, please remember not to email it to yourself/someone else. Email is not a secure protocol and your personal information (including your social security number) is easily read off of W2’s sent in email. Instead, consider using MavSpace (https://mavspace.uta.edu) to store your W2, as it is secured and available from anywhere with internet access. You can also save your W2 to a CD or flash drive if MavSpace is not a viable alternative for you.

Quote from the MavWire for 13 Jan 2011.

“W-2 forms available online

The 2010 W-2 forms are now available on UTDirect. Access and print your W-2 from the Web.

If you have not upgraded your UT EID security level, go to one of the following departments and show your driver’s license or passport:

  • DEFINE Education, Accounting/Business Services, 219 W. Main, 2-2138
  • Employment and Staff Development, Continuing Education Workforce Building, 140 W. Mitchell, Room B200, 2-3461
  • Human Resources, Wetsel Building, 1225 W. Mitchell, Room 213, 2-5554
  • Payroll Services, Wetsel Building, 1225 W. Mitchell, Room 207, 2-5426

If you do not claim your 2010 W-2 form on UTDirect by Jan. 27, Payroll Services will print and mail a copy to your home address. Contact Payroll Services at payroll@uta.edu for more information.”

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Super Tuesday Summary – January 2011

January 12th, 2011 · Patches

The second Tuesday of the month has come and gone and with that we have a several patches with which to follow-up. Keep in mind “Super Tuesday” though initiated by Microsoft has also become a popular day for other companies to release their scheduled patches as well. So regardless of your OS of choice please check with your update service for any new items.

Microsoft Users

Microsoft released two (2) patches this month.

One (1) of the patches is listed as critical and should be applied immediately.

MS11-001 – Important (medium) – Vulnerability in Windows Backup Manager Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2478935)
MS11-002 – Critical (high) – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Data Access Components Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2451910)

Microsoft also released the usual updates and signatures for the
- Anti-Malware definitions for FCS and SE
- Malicious Software Removal Tool
- Outlook / Mail email junk filters

For more information on MS patches see,

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS11-jan.mspx
https://blogs.technet.com/msrc/
https://blogs.technet.com/swi/

Macintosh and Apple Software users

Apple released
Mac OS X v10.6.6 – ISO Recommended Critical
Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.5.2 – ISO Recommended Critical
QuickTime 7.6.9 – ISO Recommended Critical

For more information on Apple updates see,

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
https://www.apple.com/support/security/guides/

Linux users

The popular distributions all released updates for their respective package repositories
Redhat, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Suse, etc.

As always, run your distro / package manager of choice on a regular basis.

Current Distro Releases

RedHat Enterprise Linux 6
Fedora 14
Ubuntu 10.10

Browser Security

More and more of the exploits are targeting web browsers. Regardless of what operating system you are running the web browser is the biggest open door into your system.
All the major browsers released updated and patched versions this month. Take a moment to verify that your browser is up to date.

Current browser versions:

IE – IE8 (8.0.6001.18702)
Firefox – 3.6.13 **new version
Safari – 5.0.2 (7533.19.4) **new version
Opera -11.00 (build 1156) **new version
Google Chrome – 8.0.552.224 **new version

Other Applications

Adobe released

APSB10-28 Adobe Reader and Acrobat – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-29 Adobe Illustrator CS5 – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-30 Adobe PhotoShop CS5 – ISO Recommended Critical

- – -

Happy patching and we’ll see you next month.

**All UT Arlington Windows based assets should be registered with the UTA domain and should receive critical MS patches automatically via SCCM. If your device is not registered or not receiving patches please contact the OIT HelpDesk at 2-2208.

–Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.5.2

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Super Tuesday Summary – November 2010

November 11th, 2010 · Patches

The second Tuesday of the month has come and gone and with that we have a several patches with which to follow-up. Keep in mind “Super Tuesday” though initiated by Microsoft has also become a popular day for other companies to release their scheduled patches as well. So regardless of your OS of choice please check with your update service for any new items.

Microsoft Users

Microsoft released three (3) patches this month.

One (1) of the patches is listed as critical and should be applied immediately.

MS10-087 – Critical (high) – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2423930)
MS10-088 – Important (medium) – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2293386)
MS10-089 – Important (medium) – Vulnerabilities in Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2316074)

Microsoft also released the usual updates and signatures for the
- Anti-Malware definitions for FCS and SE
- Malicious Software Removal Tool
- Outlook / Mail email junk filters

For more information on MS patches see,

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS10-jul.mspx
https://blogs.technet.com/msrc/
https://blogs.technet.com/swi/

Macintosh and Apple Software users

Apple released
Security Update 2010-007 (OSX 10.6.5) – ISO Recommended Critical
Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 8 – ISO Recommended Critical
Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3 – ISO Recommended Critical

For more information on Apple updates see, https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
https://www.apple.com/support/security/guides/

Linux users

The popular distributions all released updates for their respective package repositories
Redhat, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Suse, etc.

As always, run your distro / package manager of choice on a regular basis.

New Distro Releases

RedHat Enterprise Linux 6
Fedora 14
Ubuntu 10.10

Browser Security

More and more of the exploits are targeting web browsers. Regardless of what operating system you are running the web browser is the biggest open door into your system.
All the major browsers released updated and patched versions this month. Take a moment to verify that your browser is up to date.

Current browser versions:

IE – IE8 (8.0.6001.18702)
Firefox – 3.6.12 **new version
Safari – 5.0.2 (7533.18.5)
Opera -10.63 (build 3516) **new version
Google Chrome – 7.0.517.44 **new version

Other Applications

Adobe released

APSB10-27 Adobe Flash Media Server – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-26 Adobe Flash Player – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-25 Adobe Shockwave Player – ISO Recommended Critical
APSA10-05 Adobe Reader and Acrobat – ISO Recommended Critical
APSA10-05 Adobe Shockwave Player – ISO Recommended Critical

- – -

Happy patching and we’ll see you next month.

**All UT Arlington Windows based assets should be registered with the UTA domain and should receive critical MS patches automatically via SCCM. If your device is not registered or not receiving patches please contact the OIT HelpDesk at 2-2208.

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Super Tuesday Summary – October 2010

October 19th, 2010 · Patches

The second Tuesday of the month has come and gone and with that we have a several patches with which to follow-up. Keep in mind “Super Tuesday” though initiated by Microsoft has also become a popular day for other companies to release their scheduled patches as well. So regardless of your OS of choice please check with your update service for any new items.

Microsoft Users

Microsoft released sixteen (16) patches this month.

Four (4) of the patches are listed as critical and should be applied immediately.

MS10-071 – Critical (high) -Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (2360131)
MS10-072 – Important (medium) -Vulnerabilities in SafeHTML Could Allow Information Disclosure (2412048)
MS10-073 – Important (medium) -Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (981957)
MS10-074 – Moderate (low) – Vulnerability in Microsoft Foundation Classes Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2387149)
MS10-075 – Critical (high) – Vulnerability in Media Player Network Sharing Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2281679)
MS10-076 – Critical (high) – Vulnerability in the Embedded OpenType Font Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution (982132)
MS10-077 – Critical (high) – Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2160841)
MS10-078 – Important (medium) -Vulnerabilities in the OpenType Font (OTF) Format Driver Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2279986)
MS10-079 – Important (medium) -Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2293194)
MS10-080 – Important (medium) -Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2293211)
MS10-081 – Important (medium) -Vulnerability in Windows Common Control Library Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2296011)
MS10-082 – Important (medium) -Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2378111)
MS10-083 – Important (medium) -Vulnerability in COM Validation in Windows Shell and WordPad Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2405882)
MS10-084 – Important (medium) -Vulnerability in Windows Local Procedure Call Could Cause Elevation of Privilege (2360937)
MS10-085 – Important (medium) -Vulnerability in SChannel Could Allow Denial of Service (2207566)
MS10-086 – Moderate (low) – Vulnerability in Windows Shared Cluster Disks Could Allow Tampering (2294255)

Microsoft also released the usual updates and signatures for the
- Anti-Malware definitions for FCS and SE
- Malicious Software Removal Tool
- Outlook / Mail email junk filters

For more information on MS patches see,

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS10-jul.mspx
https://blogs.technet.com/msrc/
https://blogs.technet.com/swi/

Macintosh and Apple Software users

Apple released
Security Update 2010-006 (OSX 10.6.4) – ISO Recommended Critical
QuickTime 7.6.8 – ISO Recommended Critical

For more information on Apple updates see, https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
https://www.apple.com/support/security/guides/

Linux users

The popular distributions all released updates for their respective package repositories
Redhat, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Suse, etc.

As always, run your distro / package manager of choice on a regular basis.

Browser Security

More and more of the exploits are targeting web browsers. Regardless of what operating system you are running the web browser is the biggest open door into your system.
All the major browsers released updated and patched versions this month. Take a moment to verify that your browser is up to date.

Current browser versions:

IE – IE8 (8.0.6001.18702)

Firefox – 3.6.10 **new version

Safari – 5.0.2 (7533.18.5) **new version

Opera -10.63 (build 3445) **new version

Google Chrome – 6.0.472.63 **new version

Other Applications

Oracle released 85 critical patches.

Adobe released
APSB10-21 Security update for Adobe Reader and Acrobat – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-22 Security update for Adobe Flash Player – ISO Recommended Critical
APSB10-23 Security update for RoboHelp
APSB10-24 Security update for InDesign

- – -

Happy patching and we’ll see you next month.

**All UT Arlington Windows based assets should be registered with the UTA domain and should receive critical MS patches automatically via SCCM. If your device is not registered or not receiving patches please contact the OIT HelpDesk at 2-2208.

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Back to school and back in debt?

September 9th, 2010 · General

Are you the kind of person who enjoys breaking things? (Other people’s things?)

As a youngster did you find yourself surrounded with broken toys because you just had to know how they work?

Do the words 2600, DMCA, side-jacking or  full disclosure mean anything to you?

If so, we may have the job for you – the ISO has two student worker positions open.  We’re looking for motivated students who are interested in computer security.  This is a rare opportunity to gain real experience as part of a small team in a large and diverse environment.

Primary job duties include:

Corresponding with clients and administrators via email and phone to remediate security work orders.

Creating, tracking and coordinating resolution of information security related work orders.

Other job duties may include:

Patch installation, malware removal and system recovery.

Creating informational documents and technical instructions.

Prospective individuals must:

Have reliable transportation.  Office is located in Fort Worth, 10 miles from main campus.

Pass a criminal background check.  This is a security sensitive position.

If you are interested, apply through SNAP Jobs at https://www.myinterfase.com/utahr/student/ before September 14, 2010.  The job number & title is 4907/Assistant Security Technician (Fort Worth).  Any questions about this job can be sent to security@uta.edu.

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