Alexander’s Blog

The Strider HoneyMonkey Exploit Detection System, as the research project is code-named, was created to help detect attacks that use Web servers to exploit unpatched browser vulnerabilities and install malware on the PCs of unsuspecting users. Such attacks have become one of the most vexing issues confronting Internet security experts.

A traditional method of inspecting attacks against computers has been to provide a “honeypot” server on the Internet. Such servers are intended to provide information about attackers by presenting themselves as targets.

Manual analyses of exploit sites often provide useful, detailed information about which vulnerabilities are exploited and which malware programs are installed. But such analyses do not provide a big-picture view of the problem.

The Strider HoneyMonkey project takes the static concept of a honeypot in a new direction. A “honeymonkey” is a computer or a virtual PC that actively mimics the actions of a user surfing the Web. A series of “monkey programs”, which drive a browser in a manner similar to that of a human user, run on virtual machines in order to detect exploit sites. The browsers can be configured to run with fully updated software, or without specific updates in order to look for exploit sites that target specific vulnerabilities. In this manner, the attacks more likely to impact customers can be analyzed and detected.

At each Web site identified by Strider HoneyMonkey, however, follow-up work is required to identify what kind of exploit exists and how it operates. And much more work is needed to verify and understand the exploit vector. Click here for more information.

Recently, I was installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Beta 2 on Windows Server 2003 running on my Virtual PC. I installed .NET Framework 2.0, Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 2 and then added the ASP.NET 2.0 service extension in IIS 6.0. When I ran the setup.exe I received the following error “This product requires ASP.Net web service extensions to be enabled in Internet Information Services (IIS). Enable this setting and re-run setup.”

I verified that the ASP.NET 2.0 extension was enabled but still received the same error. The .NET Framework 2.0 didn’t give me the option to repair in Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel (similar to the one that’s available for Workflow Foundation shown below).

I knew that the ASP.NET was not properly registered because the General tab showed that the extension was not used by the ASP.NET v2.0.50727 as expected, instead it showed “unknown”, as shown in the following screen shot.

Rather than reinstalling the .NET Framework, I decided to register ASP.NET by using the following command at the command prompt. I made sure that I was in the folder where aspnet_regiis was located.

aspnet_regiis -i

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regiis -i
Start installing ASP.NET (2.0.50727).
……………………………..
Finished installing ASP.NET (2.0.50727).

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>

When I ran the SharePoint Server setup it failed again. I ran “aspnet_regiis -i” one more time, restarted the IIS Admin service and noticed that the ASP.NET was now being used by v2.0.50727. I ran the SharePoint Server setup again and it finally worked. If you’ve run into a similar situation, hopefully this will help solve your problem.

China’s population of Internet users, already the world’s second-biggest after the U.S., has jumped by nearly 20 percent over the past year to 123 million, with broadband access soaring, the government said Wednesday.

The United States has some 204 million Internet users. The number of Web sites in China rose by more than 110,000 to a total of 788,400, the official China Internet Network Information Center said in an annual survey. China encourages Internet use for business and education and has invested heavily in broadband service, though the communist government tries to bar access to material considered pornographic or subversive.

The number of Internet users in China with broadband service jumped by 45 percent over the past year to 77 million, or about two-thirds of the total online population, the Internet agency said. The average Chinese Internet user now spends 16.5 hours per week online, a new record high, the agency said. More info…

Microsoft Office Live Basics features all the basics you need to create your first Web site, including free hosting, Web site statistics, personalized domain name, and e-mail addresses. Microsoft Office Live Basics is currently a beta product but it is FREE during and after the beta. Here are the highlights of the product.

Easy-to-use Web site design tool
Get started fast with our easy-to-use Site Designer tool. Don’t worry —- it was designed with the small-business owner in mind, so you can quickly create your own Web site.

Free domain name and hosting
Select your own domain name (for example, www.northwindtraders.com) and let Microsoft keep your Web site up and running.

5 personalized e-mail accounts
Access your company e-mail using your personalized domain name (for example, jsmith@northwindtraders.com).

Storage and data transfer
More than enough space to promote every aspect of your business and plenty of bandwidth to allow lots of customers to visit your site.

Web site traffic analysis and reporting tools
View the success of your Web site with reporting that lets you see how often people visit your site, what pages they visit the most, and their system and browser information.

Support
Our online support pages are here to answer questions and help you get started by providing quick responses to your most frequent questions. One-on-one e-mail support is also available to address other questions.

Besides Live Basics, Microsoft also offers Live Collaboration and Live Essentials. Click here to compare the cost and features of all three products.

Whether you are using a dial-up connection or connected to the Internet with a DSL or cable modem, you can configure your Internet Connection Firewall (ICS) in Windows XP to synchronize your computer with an Internet time server by using the following method.

1. Click Start, Connect to, Show all connections.
2. Right-click the network connection and select Properties.
3. Click Settings on the Advanced tab.
4. Click Add and type Internet Time Service in the description box.
5. Type 127.0.0.1 for IP address and type 123 for both external and internal port numbers. Make sure the TCP radio button is selected.
6. Click OK three times to close all dialog boxes.
7. If you are already connected to the Internet you’ll need to disconnect and reconnect for the settings to take place.
8. Now you can double-click the clock on the taskbar, click on the Internet Time tab, and select Update Now to synchronize your clock.

NOTE: If you aren’t using the firewall then you can simply use step 8 to synchronize your computer clock.