In a nutshell says:

“Policies are the backbone of comprehensive security, and consistency is critical, since misconfigured devices not only lead to expensive and time-consuming help desk calls, they can also open security holes on mobile devices…

1. A WLAN policy is vital because wireless access is supported by many smartphones.
2. Mobile device policies provide details on how mobile devices should be supported
3. Data classification policies group information into sensitivity categories to identify how it should be handled.
4. (Other Relevant)Security policies define the security posture for the organization and typically link to supporting documents.”

CyberDefender Corporation, the developer with the Internet’s most advanced early detection and Internet security tools, has identified the Scvhost.exe~u virus as a category 9.9 in their Virus Alert-Internet Security Center. 9.9 rating is considered to be an extremely high risk computer virus.

Typically this extremely high level rating indicates the virus can log user activity and present a high risk of potential system damage or distribution. These types of threats are difficult to contain and often use unauthorized, invisible installation. In addition to logging keyboard activity and taking system snapshots, these high risk viruses may profile users, send confidential user data to remote servers, and have the ability to disable some anti-virus or firewall programs.

Svchost.exe is a valid generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time.

On the other hand, Scvhost.exe is virus or in some Antivirus programs categorized as Adware or Spyware.

The good guy is svchost.exe the scvhost.exe is a bad guy as stated at this link http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/scvhost/

Run one of these free online scans:

Cyberdefender

Panda

These take a little while to run but will be worth it. Be sure to set them to auto clean if asked and any files that cannot be cleaned or deleted write them down (full path for example C:\WINDOWS\System32\svhost.exe)

Malicious messages and phishing

source Darya Gudkova: http://www.viruslist.com/en/analysis?pubid=204792038

Malicious files were attached to 1.09% of all email messages, 0.39% more than August’s figure.

Links to phishing sites were present in 0.62% of messages. Several limited attacks by the RockPhish group were detected in September. In most cases about 100-300 fake URLs were used.

The majority of phishing attacks targeted PayPal (36%) and eBay (18%).

Organizations targeted by phishing attacks

Russian phishers continued to attack users of the popular Russian email services Mail.ru and Rambler and the Yandex.Money e-payement system.

Spam by category

Breakdown of spam categories on the Russian internet in September 2008

In September, the top five categories were Adult content spam (28%), Medications, health-related goods and services (19%), Education (12%), Fake designer goods (6%), Travel and tourism (6%)

The Adult content spam category took first place from the Medications, health-related goods and services category, the first time there has been a change at the top since April 2007. The upturn in fortunes of the adult content category and its impressive 9% lead was mostly due to Russian-language spammers advertising pornographic websites. The mailing of pornographic spam has recently become so aggressive that it may account for more than half of all emails sent to the addresses listed in spammers’ databases.

Spam is still being used for negative PR. Earlier, the use of spam as a negative PR tool was limited mainly to election campaigns. Now, however, those initiating such mailings are distributing information designed to discredit certain companies or businessmen, by warning the user of their supposed unreliability. These types of messages started to appear in the middle of the summer and show no sign of letting up. It reminds us once again that by trusting the information contained in unsolicited messages from unknown senders, the recipient is allowing complete strangers to influence his own opinion.

Spammer methods and tricks

Spammers didn’t make any real new technical innovations in September. HTML tags and “invisible” text (white letters on a white background) were used to “hide” adverts from context filters, while the site addresses in messages advertising adult content were “drawn” using various symbols with a certain amount of spaces and paragraphs between them.

Even if spam messages reach users’ mail boxes, in most cases the messages are deleted by the recipients. Spammers, therefore, use social engineering to ensure that recipients notice their emails and believe the message content.

Social engineering is used extensively by spammers when spreading malicious programs. One mass mailing offered users the chance to download a new antivirus solution; the message was allegedly sent to 100 “lucky” addresses which had been chosen at random. The message also recommended that any antivirus protection installed on the user’s machine should be disabled before downloading the new program. When a user tried to download Antivirus Raptor, Trojan-PSW.Win32.LdPinch was downloaded instead.

In another email, supposedly sent by a former student missing his classmates, the recipient was asked to look through the list of graduates attached to the message. Instead of a list of ex-students, however, the attachment contained a malicious program: Trojan-Dropper.MSWord.1Table.gm.

Emails imitating legitimate messages from popular Internet resources became a common feature of spam mailings in September. Russian spammers spreading malicious programs already have experience of sending out emails that appear to be messages from social networks. In September, spammers started sending out emails that imitated messages from non-Russian resources of this type. Recipients were asked to visit the site of a school friend which actually turned out to be the spammer’s webpage.

If you’re not convinced, ask around. A brief and completely unscientific survey of just five or ten computer users you know is sure to reveal at least one catastrophe that could have been prevented with an effective backup.

Presuming you are now sold on the necessity of backing up, let’s proceed to types of backup. The two main options are “hard” and “virtual.” Both will require some investment, whether initial or long term. Both will require a bit of time in which your system will run a bit more slowly or clumsily while the backup is proceeding, but both are good options.

A hard backup refers to hardware that is utilized to backup your data—whether through cds, dvds, an external hard drive, or even another computer altogether. It’s a backup that you can lay your eyes on and hold close to your heart.

A virtual backup, on the other hand, is one in which your data is stored elsewhere—more specifically, online. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

Both types of backup have advantages and disadvantages. Let’s compare and contrast, shall we? Hard backups require an initial investment in the equipment—the blank cds, dvds, the external hard drive–, whereas virtual backups often have a free trial period so you can test it out and see if you like it. After the trial period or storage limit is reached, you’ll have to continue investing on a regular basis to continue your backup storage and protection.

Both backups offer peace of mind that your precious photos, docs, and iTunes purchases will be available elsewhere, should the ultimate tragedy befall your primary computer. Hard backups offer a tangible and portable sense of security. Sleep with your pretty pink external hard drive under your pillow—I won’t tell. Virtual hard drives, though you can’t snuggle with them at night, offer accessibility even when you’re away from your primary computer. No more regrets about hanging out at your best bud’s, wishing you had access to your cheat codes—just log on to their PC, open a browser, log into your virtual account and voila!

If this post can help prevent just one backup tragedy, I’ve done my job.

1. If using the Windows Classic Start menu, click Start | Settings | Control Panel. If using the default Windows XP Start menu, click Start | Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Network Connections icon to view network connections.
3. You may have several connection options listed. Right-click the icon for “Wireless Network Connection” and choose Properties.
4. In the Wireless Network Connection Properties dialog box, select the Wireless Networks tab.
5. If the “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” is not checked, third-party connection software may be in use. Consult that product’s documentation to determine how to disable automatic wireless connections. If the “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” is checked, then continue with the steps below.
6. Under Preferred networks, highlight the name of the network to which you plan to connect and click Advanced.
7. In the Advanced dialog box, click “Access point (infrastructure) networks only”.
8. Remove the check mark from “Automatically connect to non-preferred networks”.
9. Click Close.
10. Click OK.
11. Close the Network Connections window by clicking the X in the upper right corner of the window.

There are some terrific registry cleaning software’s out there. I know Cyberdefender is about to launch a registry product, which has some buzz, and Error Nuker is well reviewed. I don’t endorse either, but simply trying to give my readers a starting point.

COMPUTER REGISTRY 101

Just in case you don’t know, all computers running Windows have something called a registry. You can think of your computer registry as a living archive, constantly updating and keeping track of everything. Its knowledge ranges from everything about what you installed, ran and scheduled to all of your user accounts and passwords needed to log on to your machine. To manually clean your registry using the Windows Registry Editor, first create a backup of the registry, and then remove unnecessary files:

• On the desktop, click the Start button on the left bottom corner
• Click Run
• A new window to “run” commands
• Type regedit
• Click OK
• At the top of the window click File
• Go down to Export
• Type a name for the backup file, and click Save

After creating a backup of your registry, you can go to the left side of the registry editor window and view how your computer is configured.
Click on the plus sign to expand a section of the registry editor. A “well-used” area for anyone manually deleting registry files is “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.” This area is used to make registry changes to hardware and software. I will do some registry cleaner reviews in the coming posts.

So when you’re out enjoying your juicy burger and keeping updated on the WOW message boards, how do you know if the WiFi you’re borrowing is safe? Well, the short answer is: you don’t. We would like to think that if a large corporation is in charge of the free WiFi hotspot, we’re protected. Hopefully that is true. But when you’re using someone else’s stuff, you’re taking a risk, pure and simple.

The best way to protect yourself is abstinence. But I’m going to guess that if you’re reading this, you’re more interested in using the free WiFi and limiting the risks. The first clue to whether you’re being protected is the log-on. This can be seen as rather annoying—having to identify yourself, possibly create a new username, password, register, etc.—when all you want to do is open your browser and type in an address. But identification of who is using the network is crucial. Otherwise it’s like opening up the doors and letting anyone in, to do anything they want—hey, isn’t that the same principle behind increased security at malls, schools, airports, and the like? Yes, it is.

Am I seriously comparing school shooting and terrorism tragedies to free WiFi hotspots? Yes. You’ve seen how those events have changed things—tighter security, locked doors that require one to be buzzed in, and citizens urged to report suspicious activity and packages left unattended. Knowing who is using something is important! So expect for some basic information to be asked of you when you log on to a WiFi network outside of your home.

Look for a good TOS (Terms of Service). I’m not going to bore you with the obvious thing that most of us don’t do anyway—reading it—but chances are good that without a TOS, you’re just giving your personal information away to a criminal or at least making it available for one looking for an opportunity.

Make sure your computer’s antivirus software is up-to-date so if anything tries to sneak in on your free ride, your personal protection will catch it. Keep common sense things in mind—if you wouldn’t open something or click on something in the privacy of your own home, certainly do not open it just because you’re in a free WiFi spot and you’re curious. Remember: curiosity killed the kitty!

Finally, when you’re done “enjoying” (i.e. being completely paranoid that you’re going to discover something has managed to sneak in, as soon as you get home and re-establish with your home network) your free WiFi, log off. Let me say it again because, though it’s obvious, it is often overlooked since so many home users with broadband connections don’t ever do it: log off! Terminate your connection with the WiFi and power down, folks. And don’t let ketchup get stuck between the keys! It’s a you-know-what to clean up….

At home, the story is changing. Many home PC users are now interested in wireless home networks. When you get one of these fine set-ups, you get a wireless router. The wireless router should have options for creating a secure,

password-enabled network so neighbors and kids biking by with their laptops open (ha ha) can’t just log on and steal whatever is exposed, simply because you wanted the convenience of not tripping over wires and cables.

When you properly enable a home router to be secure and inaccessible to those without the secret codes, that router now functions as your personal firewall. Don’t let the fact that your employers don’t trust you convince you that you need to spend yet more money on software that says “firewall”. And when you do get those lovely reminders at work of their firewall, well, grin and bear it. It’s not likely to change anytime soon.

Breaking it down, computer protection and security comes in three rings—the outtie, the middle, the innie (Is it scarier now that I’m using belly button references?). The outer ring consists of your basic firewall and router. The middle ring consists of the typical antivirus software we expect to pay an arm and a leg for (sometimes unnecessarily, but more on that later!). Finally, the inner ring of PC security consists of the software you utilize—including your operating system.

The outer ring is one many home PC users don’t think too much about. Oftentimes the desktop and laptop units they buy come with so much “stuff” already programmed in, they don’t think about checking whether there’s an actual firewall included in that. As for the router, if you’re geeky, you’ve already probably password-enabled the highest level of protection available. You’ve seen the commercials and Dateline specials that show how easy it is to tap into your neighbors’ wireless networks and guess what? You’re not so willing to share that particular cup of sugar, no matter how neighborly you normally are.

The middle ring is the one that seems to get the most commercial and consumer attention—the antivirus programs and software that are available. A PC user need only turn on their system, check the task bar, and see whichever reassuring icon represents their antivirus protection to feel, well… reassured. Many times, this middle ring is the one that comes pre-packaged with a big box system and its highly-visual presence is enough to inspire consumers to look no further at their protection.

The final ring, the inner ring, is the operating system and software you use. Anything that communicates with the internet is both hopefully keeping your system patched and updated and free of incoming viruses, but is also then yet another avenue for the icky bugs to infect your computer. Follow the system prompts when it tells you updates are needed, or regularly check with the manufacturer’s website for updates.

The Rings are nothing to be afraid of or intimidated by. In fact, common sense will take care of the majority of your security problems. So do a quick check to see what you have, be aware but not vigilant, relax, and spend some good quality time watching something truly scary on that monitor of yesteryear—the television set.