Important Parental Control Google Feature, Safe Search

The SafeSearch setting you select on the Search settings page applies to anyone using the same Web browser and computer as you. If you have a Google Account, you can lock the setting so that other users of the computer don't change it.

Watch the video below to learn more about locking SafeSearch.

You can tell at a glance if the lock is engaged

When the SafeSearch lock is on, the top of the search results page looks different in two ways: 'SafeSearch is locked' is displayed below the search box, and the colored balls appear on the right. The results page is designed to look different enough that you can immediately tell whether the lock is on or off -- even from across the room.

Results page when locked



Follow these steps to lock SafeSearch:
1. Visit the Search settings page.
2. Click Lock SafeSearch below the filter levels.
3. If you're not signed in to your Google Account, you'll be prompted to sign in.
(Don't have a Google Account? You can create one.)
4. Once you're signed in, click Lock SafeSearch. This step takes a moment,
because strict filtering is being applied to all Google domains.
5. You'll see a confirmation page once the lock is engaged.

Tips about browsers and settings
* If you have more than one browser on your computer,
you need to set the lock on each one individually.
* If your computer has more than one user profile (for example, a family
computer), you need to set the lock on each appropriate profile.
* Make sure your browser is set to allow cookies.

Using Safari? You may need to change the default setting and enable third-party cookies for the lock to work.

Zeus Trojan found on 74,000 PCs in global botnet

More than 74,000 PCs at nearly 2,500 organizations around the globe were compromised over the past year and a half in a botnet infestation designed to steal login credentials to bank sites, social networks, and e-mail systems, a security firm said Wednesday.

The systems were infected with the Zeus Trojan and the botnet was dubbed “Kneber” after a username that linked the infected PCs on corporate and government systems, according to NetWitness.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Merck, Cardinal Health, Paramount Pictures, and Juniper Networks were among the targets in the attack. NetWitness speculated that criminals in Eastern Europe using a command-and-control server in Germany sent attachments containing the malware in e-mails or links to the malware on Web sites that employees within the companies clicked on.

NetWitness said it discovered more than 75 gigabytes worth of stolen data during routine analytic tasks as part of an evaluation of a client network on January 26. The cache of stolen data included 68,000 corporate login credentials, access to e-mail systems, online banking sites, Facebook, Yahoo, Hotmail, 2,000 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate files and data on individuals, NetWitness said in a statement and in a whitepaper available for download from its Web site.

In addition to stealing specific data, Zeus can be used to search for and steal any file on the computer, download and execute programs and allow someone to remotely control the computer.

More than half of the compromised machines were also infected with peer-to-peer bot malware called Waledac, the company said. Nearly 200 countries were affected, with most of the infections found in Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.

The news comes after Google announced an attack targeting it and what is believed to be more than 30 other companies and which was linked back to China. McAfee dubbed that attack “Operation Aurora.”

“While Operation Aurora shed light on advanced threats from sponsored adversaries, the number of compromised companies and organizations pales in comparison to this single botnet,” said Amit Yoran, chief executive of NetWitness and former Director of the National Cyber Security Division. “These large-scale compromises of enterprise networks have reached epidemic levels.”

February 17, 2010 6:59 PM PST
by Elinor Mills

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Conficker-C Worm Solution

National Cyber Alert System

Technical Cyber Security Alert TA09-088A archive

Conficker Worm Targets Microsoft Windows Systems

Original release date: March 29, 2009
Last revised: March 30, 2009
Source: US-CERT
Systems Affected - Microsoft Windows

Solution

Instructions, support and more information on how to manually remove a Conficker/Downadup infection from a system have been published by major security vendors.  Please see below for a few of those sites. Each of these vendors offers free tools that can verify the presence of a Conficker/Downadup infection and remove the worm:

Symantec:

http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-011316-0247-99

Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

Microsoft PC Safety hotline at 1-866-PCSAFETY, for assistance.

US-CERT encourages users to prevent a Conficker/Downadup infection by ensuring all systems have the MS08-067 patch (seehttp://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx), disabling AutoRun functionality (see http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-020A.html), and maintaining up-to-date anti-virus software.

 

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Last-minute Conficker survival guide

Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker's a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren't without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker's already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss -- try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check -- you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec's Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro's Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don't have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users -- whether they're worried about an infection or know for sure they're clean -- are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won't work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out. 

Yahoo Tech News -  Tue Mar 31, 2009