Dropbox phishing email sends chills down my spine

I am a Dropbox user like many people.  I use Dropbox to share files from one computer to another.  I don’t use it for anything sensitive like personal financial information or business data.  The reason why I don’t use it for anything sensitive is that I am afraid of what could happen if someone got into my Dropbox account.  I think I have good reason to be afraid and it’s not just the known Dropbox security issues.

A user forwarded me an email that was clearly a Dropbox phishing message.  The login page for Dropbox looked exactly like a Dropbox login page.  Thankfully this user doesn’t use Dropbox.  But the prospects of this sort of message should be terrifying to a systems administrator.

What makes Dropbox useful is also what makes it deadly.  The Dropbox client allows a user to quickly share files with anyone else that has rights to one or more Dropbox folders.  The rights holders may be anywhere inside or outside of the firewall.  So if one persons Dropbox account is compromised, the infiltrator potentially has access to many peoples machines.  Besides the data theft, or undetectable monitoring the bad guy could do, he could also drop infected files onto the machine.

To me it seems that allowing Dropbox on a corporate machine means accepting many dangerous risks.  I don’t think those risks are worth it.  Let the users use the web based version of Dropbox if they’d like, but keep that client off of the machines.

I went head to head with a version of the “Internet Security 2010” virus. (SMSS32.exe)

My machine got infected with a version of the “Internet Security 2010” virus.  It was a nasty little critter.  I’ve seen it a bunch of times over the years.  It keeps getting smarter and smarter.  It used be possible to remove it by killing the process it started and deleting the files.  Now, there’s a lot more steps.  

The virus came from clicking on a link on a mainstream website.  McAfee popped up right away and said it caught two files (warning.html and IS2010.exe).  Unfortunately that didn’t matter.  The virus installed itself and McAfee proved once again that it’s a useless piece of crap.  Here’s what I did to get rid of it.

I first tried getting “Task Manager” to pop up.  That wouldn’t work.  I checked the folder that the virus created in program files (c:\Program Files\Internet Security 2010).  It was empty.  That’s probably because the IS2010 file was deleted by McAfee.  I shut the machine down and restarted.  The “Task Manager” item was grayed out.  I tried launching it by typing in taskmgr.exe.  Windows popped up a message stating that Task Manager was disabled.  I knew that it was something I could fix in the local group policy editor.  I ran gpedit.msc and enabled it.  Instructions are here.

Method 4:  Using Group Policy Editor – for Windows XP Professional

• Click Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.
• Navigate to this branch:

User Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options / Remove Task Manager

• Double-click the Remove Task Manager option.
• Set the policy to Not Configured.

It says that you can set it to “Not Configured.”  In my case it was already set that way.  I set it to “Disabled.”  I had to reboot the machine a couple times before the virus was cleaned up.  Task Manager was disabled every time.  Switching between “Not Configured” and “Disabled” seems to be good enough.

I then tried to run Task Manager.  The virus itself would pop up an error saying that’s not allowed.  I found instructions saying that if I hit cntl-shift-esc over and over Task Manager will pop up.  That worked!!!

Follow these instructions to continue:

1. Open Task Manager by continually pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. Navigate to the Processes tab.
3. Locate for the processes called IS2010.exe, winlogon86.exe, winupdate86.exe and 41.exe. End their processes one at a time by click the End Process button at the bottom left hand corner of Task Manager and click Yes.
4. Continue with the instructions listed below to remove Internet Security 2010 completely.

I didn’t have any of those files running in Task Manager, Processes, so I looked for those files in c:\Windows\System32.  I found some of the files there and deleted them.  I also saw a file called “winlogon32.exe.”  It didn’t look right, so I checked it out.  I found out that file was a virus, so I deleted it.  Big Mistake….Sorta.  I decided to install MalwareBytes and then reboot in Safe Mode to run it.  I rebooted into safe mode.  I logged into the machine.  It accepted the password and tried to load my profile, but it would just log itself right out.  I suspected that it had something to do with the file I deleted.  I tried to login in normal mode and had the same problem.  I found this site saying that the problem was either with the userinit.exe file or the registry entry that points to it. 

1. C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe , this file is corrupt or invalid or infected.
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\userinit, This registry key is tempered by virus/spyware.

At this point I’m stuck with a machine that’s infected and I can’t log into it.  I tried to use an XP disk to repair it, but my drive is encrypted, so the repair disk couldn’t see the hard drive.  The other suggestion the site gave was accessing the registry from a remote machine.  That WORKED!!!  I went to another machine and ran regedit.  I then clicked on “File, Connect Network Registry” and inserted the name of my machine.  I was able to connect.  If the name doesn’t work for you, try the IP address.  I found that the registry key and it was incorrect. 

I found: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon | Userinit = “C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon32.exe”

I changed it to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon | Userinit = “C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe”

I rebooted and it worked.

So I got logged back into the machine.  At this point I had pinpointed most of the files that were causing the problem.  I knew not to mess with the winlogon file just yet.  I also know I needed to get MalwareBytes running ASAP.  I decided to run Task Manager again to see if I could find and kill “winlogon32.exe.”  Something better happened.  I hit cntl-shift-esc a few times to get Task Manager up.  The virus pops up an error saying something about the administrator disabling Task Manager.  Do not close the error!  I noticed that the error message was loaded as an “Application” in Task Manager.  I had a feeling that the application would lead me back to the “process” and it did.  I right clicked on the application and selected “Go to process.”  That took me to a file I previously hadn’t noticed called SMSS32.exe.  And that’s the key to this whole ridiculous incident.  I searched Google for SMSS32.exe and found this post from McAfee.  I killed the process and the virus finally stopped.  I then ran MalwareBytes.  It found a bunch of infected files and registry entries.  Here are the results:

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware 1.44
Database version: 3680
Windows 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11

2/2/2010
mbam-log-2010-02-02 (16-16-43).txt

Scan type: Full Scan (C:\|)
Objects scanned: 268870
Time elapsed: 59 minute(s), 48 second(s)

Memory Processes Infected: 0
Memory Modules Infected: 1
Registry Keys Infected: 0
Registry Values Infected: 2
Registry Data Items Infected: 12
Folders Infected: 1
Files Infected: 12

Memory Processes Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Infected:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\helper32.dll (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Delete on reboot.

Registry Keys Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\smss32.exe (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General\wallpaper (Hijack.Wallpaper) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Registry Data Items Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Data: c:\windows\system32\winlogon32.exe -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Data: system32\winlogon32.exe -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit (Hijack.UserInit) -> Bad: (C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon32.exe) Good: (userinit.exe) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\AntiVirusDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\FirewallDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\UpdatesDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop\NoChangingWallpaper (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoSetActiveDesktop (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\activedesktop\NoChangingWallpaper (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoActiveDesktopChanges (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoSetActiveDesktop (Hijack.DisplayProperties) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Folders Infected:
C:\Program Files\InternetSecurity2010 (Rogue.InternetSecurity2010) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Files Infected:
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\C2XSPTAA\SetupIS2010[1].exe (Rogue.Installer) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{BAD358BA-17F3-4527-AB8D-40D9BEF7514D}\RP533\A0065516.exe (Rogue.Installer) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{BAD358BA-17F3-4527-AB8D-40D9BEF7514D}\RP533\A0066516.exe (Rogue.Installer) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{BAD358BA-17F3-4527-AB8D-40D9BEF7514D}\RP533\A0071545.exe (Rogue.Installer) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\IS15.exe (Rogue.Installer) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\smss32.exe (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\helper32.dll (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Delete on reboot.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Winlogon32.exe (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Internet Security 2010.lnk (Rogue.InternetSecurity2010) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Internet Security 2010.lnk (Rogue.InternetSecurity2010) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Start Menu\Internet Security 2010.lnk (Rogue.InternetSecurity2010) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\41.exe (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Here’s what I learned.  I’m posting this before the removal instructions because there are so many versions of this virus that your version of the virus might be different than mine.

• This version didn’t hijack my browser or search results.  That allowed me to easily download MalwareBytes.  I’ve seen other versions hijack the browser or search results.
• This version didn’t mess with the MalwareBytes installer.  Some versions of the virus will not run the installer.  You can run it if you rename it to something else.  (From mbam-setup.exe to somethingelse.exe).
• This version disabled Task Manager instead of just hijacking it.
• The core to this virus is still a process that can be killed in task manager.
• I’ve seen versions mess with Safe Mode.  One time I had to use “Last Known Good” to allow me to log into the machine.
• I’ve seen it prevent regedit from running.

Here are my instructions on dealing with this.  Their usefulness will vary depending on what you’re dealing with.

1. Don’t panic
2. Don’t reboot if you can avoid it because of the winlogon32.exe issue.
3. Right click the task bar and try to run task manager.  If that doesn’t work, hit control-shift-escape a few times until Task Manager comes up.  If Task Manager is disabled, type in gpedit.msc.  Navigatio to User Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options / Remove Task Manager.  Double-click the Remove Task Manager option. Set the policy to Not Configured or Disabled.
4. Run Task Manager using the control-shift-escape method.  Don’t close any errors that pop up.
5. Go to Applications and look for any applications that look like they are the virus.  The application comes from the warning message, so it’s important to leave the warning message up.  In my case it was called “Warning.”
6. Right click on it and select “go to process.”
7. This will take you to the process that’s running the virus.  In my case it was SMSS32.exe.  Kill the process.
8. Download MalwareBytes and run it.
9. MalwareBytes should clean this thing up and you should be able to go on with your life.  If it doesn’t, then you either have a different version of the virus, or you missed a step, or something else is going on.

I hope this post helps people that are dealing with this virus.  Please post any questions and I’ll try to help.  I just cannot understand how the anti-virus companies can’t prevent people from getting infected.  I know of people using supposedly updated versions of McAfee and Kaspersky get infected.  I’m not surprised about McAfee.  It’s always been bloated garbage.  Good luck!

http://bytes.com/topic/windows/answers/752011-xp-logs-off-immediately-after-log/2#post3384974

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial44.html

http://community.mcafee.com/thread/20943

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756

I got a virus from Technorati!

I was looking at Technorati a couple of days ago.  I clicked on the “Help” link.  McAfee popped up that it caught a virus and deleted it.  I then clicked help again and my machine got infected with a version of the “Internet Security 2010” virus.  What is that all about?  Was it another bogus ad pushed through to mainstream sites?  I don’t know, but it took me 3 hours to clean it up.  I’ll post about the cleanup in a little bit.  Has anyone else experienced this with Technorati?

I was running Windows XP with IE7.

Duplicate Machine SID’s are not an issue except when they are an issue.

I came across an article on InfoWorld about a blog post from a Microsoft tech regarding Windows Machine SID’s and the myths that surround them.  The InfoWorld article is mostly fluff, but the blog post is well worth the read.  Basically, machines that are imaged without being sysprepped usually have the same machine SID’s.  It’s long been believed that this is a security issue.  It turns out that’s not the case.  Machines can be on the same network with the same SID”s if the machine is not already connected to a domain, not going to be promoted to a Domain Controller, and if there isn’t an application that reacts badly to it.  (The example given is applications that use the Machine SID as their own ID’s.)  The bottom line is that machines SHOULD BE SYSPREPED to prevent any known and unknown issues.  Also, Microsoft will not support machines that don’t have unique SID’s.  Sysprep is easy to run.  Don’t slack off just because it might not cause a problem.

The reason that I began considering NewSID for retirement is that, although people generally reported success with it on Windows Vista, I hadn’t fully tested it myself and I got occasional reports that some Windows component would fail after NewSID was used. When I set out to look into the reports I took a step back to understand how duplicate SIDs could cause problems, a belief that I had taken on faith like everyone else. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that machine SID duplication – having multiple computers with the same machine SID – doesn’t pose any problem, security or otherwise. I took my conclusion to the Windows security and deployment teams and no one could come up with a scenario where two systems with the same machine SID, whether in a Workgroup or a Domain, would cause an issue. At that point the decision to retire NewSID became obvious.

I realize that the news that it’s okay to have duplicate machine SIDs comes as a surprise to many, especially since changing SIDs on imaged systems has been a fundamental principle of image deployment since Windows NT’s inception. This blog post debunks the myth with facts by first describing the machine SID, explaining how Windows uses SIDs, and then showing that – with one exception – Windows never exposes a machine SID outside its computer, proving that it’s okay to have systems with the same machine SID. Note that Sysprep resets other machine-specific state that, if duplicated, can cause problems for certain applications like Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), so MIcrosoft’s support policy will still require cloned systems to be made unique with Sysprep.

You can read the full article here.

You should also read this follow-up post by Microsoft tech Aaron Margosis that explains the difference between Machine SID’s and Domain SID’s.  The key statement in his post: “So while it’s OK to clone a system before it joins a domain, doing so after it joins a domain (and is assigned a domain computer account and a corresponding domain SID) will cause problems.”

Trend Micro sends an alarmist email that looks more like a hoax than a warning

Check this email out.  It came from our Trend Micro support rep.  They are acting like the reported Electronic Jihad virus might be catastrophic, even though they don’t know if it will work.  Their last sentence is the most bizarre because of its alarmist overtone and misspelling.  Let paranoia reign!

Dear PSP Customer,

Real-world terrorists are once again threatening to take their jihad (Holy War) to cyberspace. The notorious Al-Qaeda has threatened to launch a Web attack on Western anti-Muslim Web sites on the 11th of November, according to DEBKAfile, an online military intelligence magazine. An attack like this could be unleashed via the Electronic Jihad Version 2.0 software, which is not actually new and has been around for about three years now. The said software is capable of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. It is also configurable and flexible, which makes it easy for cyber-terrorists to be more effective in the said attacks. Detailed Malware description: http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/grayware/ve_graywareDetails.asp?GNAME=HKTL%5FDAHIJ%2EA&VSect=Td
Researchers across the industry have raised quizzical eyebrows as similar threats have turned out to be a dud, like the cyber attack that never happ ened against U.S. banks and financial institutions in December 2006. However, such software was recently discovered by Trend Micro researchers. The hacking tool, which is detected as HKTL_DAHIJ.A, arrives as an installer package and may be downloaded from a remote site. This hacking tool connects to a URL for verification purposes. After successfully establishing a connection, it downloads a list from several URLs. The said list, which contains another set of URLs, is used by the affected system to launch Denial-of-Service (DOS) attacks for the so-called e-jihad.

Law enforcers and other experts say that threats such as these should not cause much of a fuss as Web threats happen on a regular basis. Eli Alshech, Director of the Jihad and Terrorism Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute, considers these e-jihadists as more of a nuisance than a threat. But with these terrorists, we will never know what they will do next. Is 11/11 going to be another date to remember?

The next big Web attack may unfold on the 11th of Novemb

Thank you,
Trend Micro Premium Support

TROJ_DLOADER.SPI is showing up on a few machines a day.

We’ve been getting sporadic, but steady reports of the TROJ_DLOADER.SPI virus being detected on machines.  Trend Micro claims it’s not “in the wild.”  That’s not true.  I haven’t seen this many virus reports for XP in a long time.  Trend Micro’s fix is to update DAT’s and scan the machine.  I’ve tried to figure out what other anti-virus program providors are calling this virus to see if they recommend a different fix.  The virus appears to come from webpages.  Here’s a sample error:

Threat Alert from Anti-Virus ServerOfficeScan detected TROJ_DLOADER.SPI on PCname in my domains.

File: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\XFE1E8MF\_YzFvdDRpbmc_NzI4X2FvXzM5NThfMF8xMDIyOF9hb18_a2V5aW4_[1].exe

Detection date: 11/13/2007 14:33:05

Action: Virus successfully detected, cannot perform the Quarantine action

 I’ll keep an eye on this.  Let me know if you see anything.

 UPDATE: I got some more info on this.  Some of our SA’s have been tracking it.  The virus alerts come up when people visit a certain media industry website.  The site either pops up another site, or somehow redirects to “malware-scan.com”.  Don’t go to that site unless you want to get infected.  You should consider blocking that site using Websense or other tools.  I hope this additional info helps.

Trend Micro: Possible Internet Attack Imminent

An alert just came in from Trend Micro that says they are concerned about a potential Internet attack.  This is vague and I know it sounds like it’s coming from the US Department of “Homeland Security.”  Here it is:

High Probe Traffic Seen on ServerProtect Port 5168

PSP Announcement – 8/23/2007 6:53:13 AM – Proactive Notification: High Probe Traffic Seen on ServerProtect Port 5168 – Dear All:ICS [1] has reported a spike in the probe traffic on port 5168 which is used by ServerProtect. This might be an indication that hackers are preparing to launch an attack against this port. At this point however, we have not received any reports or samples which demonstrate the exploit.Please ensure that your Server Protect Systems have applied security patch 4 to ensure that known vulnerabilities are patched.

Please download the latest Server Protect Patch from the Trend Micro URL:

http://www.trendmicro.com/download/product.asp?productid=17

spnt_security_risk_notification_aug232007.pdf