The Woodwyn News - September 9, 2004

Windows XP SP2 Producing Positive Results

The Woodwyn staff’s initial evaluations of XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) have been very encouraging. “I have installed the service pack on a couple dozen workstations and, so far, have not experienced a single problem. Considering the security enhancements that come with SP2, I highly recommend our customers install it as soon as possible”, says Dave Dedrickson of Woodwyn Solutions.

The four main areas of improvement contained in the service pack are:

1	Network protection helping protect the user’s system from attacks over the network.
2	Safer e-mail and internet mail.
3	Safer Web browsing enabling more secure Internet experiences for the most common internet tasks.
4	Buffer overruns.

Contact the staff at Woodwyn for advice on the best method for your company to use to install the service pack.

New Version of Download.Ject Compromises Your Personal Data

·	This attack can affect all Windows computers, except those with XP SP2 installed.
·	Some servers appear to be voluntarily distributing this virus!

This new version of Download.Ject just recently appeared, and while details are still sketchy, experts say its main purpose is to install a back door virus, also called a Trojan, on compromised PCs.

Users subjected to this attack receive an e-mail or instant messaging directing them to one of many infected websites, which distribute the Trojan. A new development to this version of Download.Ject is that these hosting websites share suspect commonalities and appear to be deliberately hosting the infected webpages. Some of the sites serving the malicious code are porn sites, and others are advertising servers.

The original version of the attack surfaced in late June. The servers being used then to compromise client machines had themselves been compromised and forced into service.

In either case, the Trojan clearly has a financial motivation behind it. Download.Ject is used to monitor outgoing Web traffic to capture passwords and user IDs for online banking sites and other sensitive data. The Trojan may also change the start page of the infected PC.

Fully patched copies of XP and Internet Explorer 6 are vulnerable to the Trojan, as are older versions of IE and Windows. But machines running SP2 (Service Pack 2) for XP are not vulnerable to the new attack.

Congratulations to all involved on a successful launching of the joint Woodwyn Solutions, nParallel, and Synovis Life Technologies online exhibit ordering system!

“The online exhibit ordering system, complete with real-time inventory management, is a major part of what convinced the Synovis Corporation to partner with nParallel. We’re very pleased with the sophisticated design and user friendly qualities of this web site. It will be a real revenue generator. The development staff at Woodwyn Solutions is a great asset for us and our customers.” Megan Diamond, EVP for nParallel Click here to visit a sample page.

Also, congratulations and good luck with your new location to our friends at ImageCraft Exhibits, Inc, located in Austin, Dallas, and Houston Texas.

“Many thanks to the Woodwyn staff for coming down to Texas and helping us relocate and upgrade our network. Your expertise really helped make our transition as smooth as possible. What could have been an overwhelming task became a major success. The Woodwyn employees really know what they’re doing.” Steven Harper, IT Manager for ImageCraft Exhibits, Inc