Links of the Week

Here is a hodge-podge of links that stood out this week.

Tr3Secure Data Collection Script Reloaded - Journey Into Incident Response blog - Corey Harrell has new news and updated on the Tr3Secure Volatile Data Collection Script he developed some time ago.

Tr3Secure Data Collection Script Reloaded - Journey Into Incident Response blog - Corey then follows up with a “real-world” walkthough of the Tr3Secure Volatile Data Collection Script after purposefully a lab pc for the sake of the discussion. It’s one thing to read about what a tool and process can do, it is a real treat to have the author lead a guided walkthough of the tool in action. As always, don’t forget to follow up with a comments reading as well.

plaso - super timeline - from the website “Plaso (plaso langar að safna öllu) is the Python based back-end engine used by tools such as log2timeline for automatic creation of a super timelines. The goal of log2timeline (and thus plaso) is to provide a single tool that can parse various log files and forensic artifacts from computers and related systems, such as network equipment to produce a single correlated timeline. This timeline can then be easily analysed by forensic investigators/analysts, speeding up investigations by correlating the vast amount of information found on an average computer system.”  Spotted via this CDF at Champlain post.

Microsoft Security Essentials: Aiming low? - ZDNet - Larry Seltzer offers some thoughts on Microsoft’s free AV solution. He really doesn’t thrash MSE but does point out that there are many other free alternatives that tend to perform higher. It seems like a pretty reasonable perspective.  FYI, I have been debating making a change from Microsoft Security Essentials to Bitdefender Antivirus Free. Yesterday I uninstalled MSE and replaced it with BAF. The changeover went very smooth. The deciding factor for me was the ongoing poor post-boot performance of my system.  While I don’t have a SSD drive in my laptop, I is running an Intel i7 CPU with 8 GB RAM. After boot, MSE scans on the post boot environment seem to be leading to slower post-boot launch of a number of my applications for a while as processes and files get scanned. Now that I am on BAF, I don’t see those post-boot application hangs. That said, I will continue to primarily recommend MSE to family and friends unless repeated infections indicate a need for the advance protection BAF may provide.

Before moving on from Microsoft Secuirty Essentials and Windows Defender (for Win 8), I thought this post Windows Defender and context menu for file check? (GTranslated) at Borns IT and Windows Blog was very insightful.  Some time ago I posted a number of Windows Defender tweaking tips Advanced Tips for Windows Defender with Windows 8, one of which was how to add a scan with Windows Defender to the context menu list in Win 8.  Born’s acknowledges that is a popular request and go though how it is accomplished. However, as he points out, the way Windows Defender operates, when a file is accessed via the (File) Explorer, Windows Defender already scans it before allowing access. If it is infected then you don’t get to fiddle with it.  Same thing with downloaded files; again pre-scanned by Windows Defender.  So, you can manually scan them again if you want, but know that if you do use Windows Defender in Win 8, it has already scanned the file.

Message Analyzer has Released – A New Beginning and Message Analyzer: Why so different from Network Monitor? - MessageAnalyzer Blog - Final release now public for Microsoft’s network capture analysis tool. I’m not sure it will replace Wireshark, but the approach is a step up from their older Network Monitor capture tool and is at the very minimum a great supplemental network capture tool for packet analysis.

Plugin Activation in Firefox - Mozilla Add-ons Blog - basically in a future version of Firefox, all plugins (except Flash) will become “click-to-activate”. This may or may not be a great thing depending on your security versus convenience perspective.

Wendel's Small Hacking Tricks - Killing Processes from the Microsoft Windows Command Line interface - SpiderLabs Anterior - I’m always looking to find a way to do something without a third-party tool so this is handy information to be familiar with.

Universal USB Installer (also YUMI) USB Flash drive does not boot on EeePC - RMPrepUSB, Easy2Boot and USB booting... blog - This is a pretty esoteric technical post for most folks, however if you are into USB-based system booting, it is interesting.

When setting up Windows 8.1, Microsoft appears to do all it can to shove you to create/use an on-line Microsoft account rather than a local one.  For some folks that might be fine but others (particularly the old-school crowd) will find this process similar to a cattle chute. If you are a thinking cow, it probably isn’t a very pleasant experience. Fortunately, there seem to be a number of outs if you know the game ahead of time.

• How To Install Windows 8.1 Without Microsoft Account - Into Windows
• Use Windows 8.1 with a local account instead of a Microsoft account - 4sysops
• How to setup local account in Windows 8.1 - DeDoimedo.com
• Windows 8.1 How To Convert Windows Live Account To Local Account - Next of Windows

Group Policy Search Engine Gets Updated - Group Policy Central blog - From that post by Alan Burchill:

“The Group Policy Search Engine is a great web site that has all the different version of Microsoft Group Policy ADMX files that allows you to easily and quickly search for the policy setting. This site is one I use very frequently especially and is a must have bookmark for any Group Policy Administrator.

“Well, Stephanus from Microsoft who maintains the web site has just loaded the Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 policy setting meaning you can now look up all the new policy setting in the latest version of Windows. “

Group Policy Search - site homepage.

Google Static Map Maker: Static Maps on Steroids - noupe - Nice tool to create linkable custom static Google maps rather than using a screen-shot image or a embedded and modifiable one.

Google Static Map Maker - site homepage by Katy Decorah.

Cheers!

--Claus Valca

Read More

More iOS 7 tips and notes

I still haven’t upgraded my iPhone 5 to iOS 7 yet.  So far I have 5 apps that I cannot update as they require iOS 7 to load. None of them are critical.

Neither of the girls in the Valca home have their iPhone 4 units on iOS 7 either.  Alvis did upgrade her iPad to iOS 7 without any drama and her beau just got his new iPhone 5s the other day. It’s kicking fast.

My bro just successfully upgraded his iPhone 5 to iOS 7 today and had no issues so I think I will get him to give me a tour and play on it a bit since we have the same model.

I had planned to do the upgrade this weekend as I expected some patches to come out in the period before the first release and now that was true (current version of post time is iOS 7.0.2).

But now I am reading rumors that an iOS 7.1 build might come out in a few more weeks so I think I will try to hold off the upgrade just a bit longer, especially since once you upgrade you can’t roll back to iOS 6 since Apple killed their signed firmware certificates for it.

So here is a collection of iOS 7 linkage I have grabbed so I can continue to review and pre-study and then refer-back to once I do the jump for some possible tweakage.

Downgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 6: Why Apple won’t let you - ExtremeTech

iOS 7, thoroughly reviewed -Ars Technica

Linkpost | 9.18.2013 - Chron.com’s TechBlog  - chock full of iPhone 5s/5c news and links!

Death to textures: iOS 6 and iOS 7 compared in pictures -Ars Technica

iOS 7 Review: Pretty Is as Pretty Does - Gizmodo

All The Apps Optimized for iOS 7 - Lifehacker

iOS 7 vs. iOS 6: A Look At The Major Interface Changes - Addictive Tips

iOS 7's Biggest Annoyances (and How to Fix Them) - Lifehacker

New lease on life or death sentence? iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 - Ars Technica

Upgraded to iOS 7? 5 Shiny New Things To Check Out Right Away - MakeUseOf

How to turn off iOS 7 frequent location tracking and increase your privacy - iMore

iOS 7 Smart Multitasking & Background App Refresh Explained - Addictive Tips

Everything You Need to Know About the iOS 7 Upgrade - Kinja

Linkpost | 9.19.2012 - Chron.com’s TechBlog

Eight things to love about iOS 7 [Updated] - Chron.com’s TechBlog

Here’s how to prepare for iOS 7 - Chron.com’s TechBlog

Before and after: The best iOS 7 app redesigns (Updating) - The Next Web

How to access list view in the Calendars app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7 - iMore

Lesser Known New Features & Changes In iOS 7 - Addictive TIps

How to disable Control Center access on the iOS 7 Lock screen - iMore

How to delete individual iMessages and texts in iOS 7 - iMore

iOS 7 lock screen bypass flaw discovered, and how to fix it - ZDNet

iPhone 5s Teardown - iFixit

Apple iOS 7 Uses New Multi-path TCP Protocol Extension - Daniel Miessler

Top 10 Secret Features of iOS 7 - Lifehacker

How to bring the bold fonts back to iOS 7 - iMore

iOS 7.0.2 now available, fixes Lock screen passcode bypass - iMore

Apple releases iOS 7.0.2 with fix for Lock screen passcode bypass flaw - 9to5Mac

iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2, and iOS 7.1 already seeing widespread testing inside Apple - 9to5Mac

Cheers

--Claus Valca

Read More

PowerShell for ForSec & Incident Response: A Brief Musing

I am a PowerShell noobie and know beyond next to nothing on PowerShell usage.

Not that I’m not trying to get up to speed. 

• PowerShell Learning Grinds On - GSD Blog
• PowerShell Reference Post: The Train Cometh Near… - GSD blog

However it’s a slow climb up that learning mountain with my time being so tight at the moment.

In typical fashion, that hasn’t stopped my brain from chewing on the potential applications for PowerShell once I get more accomplished.

It struck me last week that PowerShell might be a useful tool (in some circumstances with knowledge aforethought of the impact using PowerShell on that system might have) for ForSec and Incident Response efforts. Having the “power” of PowerShell at our disposal once our enterprise goes Win7 on the desktops might allow expanded options where some third-party tools might be a challenge deploying.

So I hit the Google and here is what I found that looked worthy of investigation and additional reading and study.

Note: there were a number of additional websites I found that seemed -- in title at least -- to be applicable. However, I chose not to include them at this time as they seemed pretty new and the material on the (for now)  didn’t seem to be that useful. If they mature and grow, then I will add them in at a later time.

Live Response Using PowerShell - PDF link - SANS Institute Reading Room paper written by Sajeev Nair - August 2013.

Incident Management with PowerShell - video ~45 min - YouTube - Presentation by Matt Johnson & J. Wolfgang Goerlich of MWJ Computing - March 2013

The Power of PowerShell Remoting - SANS Computer Forensics and Incident Response blog - Mike Pilkington

Weekend Scripter: Using PowerShell to Aid in Security Forensics - Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog - Will Steele guest blogger

Use PowerShell to Aid in Security Forensics - Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog

toolsmith: Security Investigations with PowerShell - HolisticInfoSec blog post by Russ McRee

How to find running processes and their port number - Shay Levy - (added to post 09/15/2013) - Embedded in Russ McRee’s post above was a quick reference to this post which has some juicy material for you network guys.

Script Get-NetworkStatistics - netstat -ano with filtering - (added to post 09/15/2013) - Embedded in the comments of Shay Levy’s post was a link to this one as well offered by rambling cookie monster. Whew!

The rambling cookie monster’s site is darn sharp and has these tasty crumbs we can pick up and enjoy:

• PowerShell Basic Cheat Sheet
• PowerShell Cheat Sheet

Tools to Grab Locked Files - Journey Into Incident Response - Corey Harrell - Post mentions “Invoke-NinjaCopy” which is a PowerShell script. More detailed info here: Using PowerShell to Copy NTDS.dit / Registry Hives, Bypass SACL’s / DACL’s / File Locks - clymb3r

Powershell: Forensic Onliners - ldap389 blog. (added to post 09/15/2013) The post itself is great, but there is a reference to other PowerShell material near the top that you might overlook. Hit the whitepaper link below and browse to the section.

You can find a cool onliner that retrieves the events of the Account logon category in this Windows Logon Forensics whitepaper (chapter 6.4. Querying Events). The onliner fetchs the following events which occurred during the past five days:

• A Kerberos authentication ticket (TGT) was requested.
• The computer attempted to validate the credentials for an account.

Live forensics: prefetch and powershell - 8bits blog

Parsing Windows Eventlogs in Powershell - ISC Diary

PoshSec (PowerShell Security) - GitHub - (added to post 09/15/2013) - added after great comment tip from J Wolfgang Goerlich.

• PoshSec Main Repository - GitHub - PoshSec Wiki - per that page:
  

Current Release Features

This initial project release was based on SANS CSIS 20 Controls to assist an organization securing itself against digital attacks. The purpose of this release is to "baseline" an environment given the stated controls in the CSIS. The release is focused on the following controls:

• Account Monitoring
• Inventory of Authorized and Unauthorized Devices
• Network Baseline

Account Monitoring

• accounts that do not expire
• accounts that expire
• list all accounts
• disabled accounts
• locked out accounts
• passwords over expired date
• disabled account access

Inventory of Authorized and Unauthorized Devices

• DNS Logging Status
• Inventory

Network Baseline

• open ports


About

This project started by Will Steele (@pen_test) and Matt Johnson (@mwjcomputing) has several goals:

• Publish a PowerShell module to aid people in the use of PowerShell in regards to security.
• Provide some guidance on how to use PowerShell in the information security space, on both the offensive and defensive side with blog posts and articles.
• Be a location to obtain links to others using PowerShell in the information security space.
• Getting Started with PoshSec - PoshSec Wiki.

Digital Forensic Case Leads : Flame On! The most sophisticated malware since...the last one, Higher Ed data breach and PowerShell forensics - SANS Computer Forensics and Incident Response blog - (added to post 09/15/2013) - buried near the bottom are these PS gems under the “Good Reads” section:

• PowerShell to do evil: PowerSploit - A PowerShell Post-Exploitation Framework
• PowerShell to find evil:
  • Use PowerShell to Aid in Security Forensics - Technet blog
  • Offline analysis
  • Get File Hashes
  • Find Changed Files

I suspect that just because there isn’t that much (yet) material in this area, doesn’t mean that PowerShell isn’t a worthwhile supplemental tool in these areas. Powershell is primarily used for system administration tools and tasks, but I bet that with time and development, some clever out-of-the-box thinkers can expand on how it can be leveraged. Particularly if it involves collecting and parsing out registry, activity logs, and file-system data remotely from live systems.

As the Hey, Scripting Guy! Ed Wilson posted in one of the aforementioned links:

RM, the key thing to remember, whether you are doing security forensics, Exchange Server administration, Office automation, or anything between, is that Windows PowerShell is Windows PowerShell is Windows PowerShell. This means that all of the Windows PowerShell best practices still apply. One of those Windows PowerShell best practices is to preserve the object. The object-oriented nature of Windows PowerShell is one of the revolutionary features of the language, and it is a major contributor to its ease-of-use.

Note   When doing any type of computer forensics, a major principle is to avoid making any changes to the system. Therefore, as a crucial first step, you should use a tool such as the Windows Sysinternals utility tool, Disk2vhd, so you can be assured of not changing things like file access times on the original system.

Therefore, in keeping with the object-oriented nature of Windows PowerShell, you want to use techniques that preserve the object for as long as possible.

So my question is this, do any of the ForSec/Incident Response readers of this blog know of any other recommended resources that would be useful to me and others in using PowerShell in these applications?

If you do, please drop a tip/recommendation or even a “sanitized to protect the guilty” case-study example in the comments.

Cheers!

--Claus V.

Read More

GSD Saturday Linkfest: IT Crowd and ForSec Folks welcome

News and Links For the ForSec Crowd

Kali Linux 1.0.5 and Software Defined Radio - Kali Linux - new build released with updates and some bells-and-whistles to boot!

Windows 8 / Server 2012 Memory Forensics - Forensic Methods

Inside Windows Rootkits - Forensic Methods

Links - Windows Incident Response blog - Lots of great fresh material here!

Forensic Perspective - Windows Incident Response blog

Tools to Grab Locked Files - Journey Into Incident Response blog - Cory Harrell has a simply amazing post full of tremendous resources worth taking a look into for using to grab locked files.

DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, Volume 14 Windows Application & PDF - Kurt Shintaku's Blog - This is too good to pass up! From Kurt’s post.

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Windows application analyzes the threat landscape of exploits, vulnerabilities, and malware using the latest data from hundreds of millions of systems around the world and some of the Internet’s busiest online services.

Readers will find the data, insights, and guidance provided in this report useful in helping them protect their organizations, software, and users.  

Key features of the application include:

• All content, in one convenient place – includes all 800+ pages of content from Volume 14 of our latest report and is fully searchable.
• High fidelity charts – Many customers have asked us if they can obtain high resolution versions of the charts. We’ve delivered that in the application and have even included the “save as” functionality so that customers may use them in other applications, such as PowerPoint.
• Reader friendly – We’ve designed the application with you, the reader in mind. One example of this is the integration of our glossary into the body of a page which appear as mouse-over tool-tips.

Security Intelligence Report (SIR) vol.14 (Windows Application) - Microsoft.com - The installable application has 800+ pages of content while the PDF version checks in at 120 pages. Pick you medicine and pucker up.

Other useful Microsoft security and threat response links:

• Microsoft Malware Protection Center
• Microsoft Security Response Center
• Computer Security Tools & Downloads – TechNet Security
• Microsoft Security Intelligence Report

Microsoft Security Essentials Prerelease - Microsoft Download Center - new pre-release version 4.4.207.0 for interested users of MSSE. Released on 09.09.13 so it is very fresh.

(IN)SECURE Magazine issue 39 released - HelpNet Security - Download directly here (PDF link).

News and Links For the IT Crowd

I enjoy the technical and scientific articles I get in my RSS feeds over from the IEEE Spectrum website. It has great material and is terribly technical. Some sadly interesting IT news I’ve seen over there recently tag state IT departments.

• IT Hiccups of the Week: A Bad Week for U.S. State Government IT - IEEE Spectrum
• Is There a U.S. IT Worker Shortage? - IEEE Spectrum
• IT Hiccups of the Week: U.S. State Government IT System Meltdowns Galore - IEEE Spectrum

A new find this week has been the Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool

The Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT) is a program that provides a detailed report of your installed Office programs. This report includes many parameters about your Office program configuration and highlights known problems found when OffCAT scans your computer. For any problems that are listed in the report, you are provided with a link to a public-facing article (usually a Microsoft Knowledge Base article) on the issue so you can read about possible fixes for the problem. If you are a Help Desk professional, you can also save the report to file so that the report can be viewed in the Office Configuration Analyzer Tool on another client where the tool is installed. The Office Configuration Analyzer Tool 1.1 also includes a command-line version that can be used to collect an OffCAT scan without user intervention.

I’ve been playing with it for a while and am amazed at the depth of information and assistance it provides, particularly for many very obscure items.

Spotted over at this 4sysops post FREE: Microsoft OffCAT – Office Configuration Analyzer Tool 1.1

MBSA 2.3 Preview Release Available - Anything about IT - News about a new preview release version of Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (note link is to public version 2.2) that supports MS OS’s between XP and Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 Command Prompt or PowerShell - Anything about IT

PowerShell 4.0 – A first look - 4sysops

How to Know When an Object Was Created and Changed in Active Directory - WindowsNetworking.com

When was the Last Password Changed for a User Account in Active Directory - WindowsNetworking.com

Office 365 for Nonprofits Organizations - Microsoft.com - Microsoft recently announced that they are offering Office 365 for non-profits (including eligible churches). This could be a big deal for many, learn more here.

SysInternals Tools, Windows 8 Training - Microsoft Virtual Academy - Seven video training modules and supporting materials to assist with learning the latest in core SysInternals tools. Check it out! Hat tip to Kurt Shintaku.

Kyle Beckman has posted a great series about Folder Redirection over at 4sysops that I (re)discovered. Lots of good information and tips here.

• Folder Redirection – Part 1: Introduction - 4sysops
• Folder Redirection – Part 2: Setting up your file server
• Folder Redirection – Part 3: Explanation of folder permissions
• Folder Redirection – Part 4: Group Policy configuration
• Folder Redirection – Part 5: Best practices
• How to disable Folder Redirection

Create a new Windows Service

Moon Point Support Weblog had a helpful post: Creating a Service for a Windows System

It caught my eye as we are working with a system down in the coal-mines that requires running the core features as applications rather than services which makes security and log-in/account management more than a little bit challenging. Alas, this won’t solve those headaches but it is worth bookmarking and knowing.

How To Create a User-Defined Service - Microsoft Support

How to create a Windows service by using Sc.exe - Microsoft Support

NSSM - the Non-Sucking Service Manager

Virtualization Software Updates

Download VMware Player 6.0 - VMware

VMware woos power users and IT pros with Fusion and Workstation upgrades - Ars Technica

VMware Player 6 Released with Full Windows 8.1 Support - Next of Windows

Oracle VM VirtualBox - Version 4.2.18 released - Oracle

General Application and Utility Updates of Note

UltraVNC VNC - version release 1.1.93 now out.

PeStudio - version release 7.45 now out.

Speccy v1.23 - Piriform - new release.

HWiNFO Portable - version 4.24-2000 - PortableApps.com - in what begs another GSD LinkList post, HWiNFO is yet another system hardware info-gathering resource I’ve been playing with. I’ve got more than a few I call up from the bullpen and this one has been added to the pitching stable.

IOBit Driver Booster Free - I confess I was very skeptical when I saw this new application appear. I have a few trusted driver apps to catalog and/or back up existing drivers on a system, and some vendor-specific driver update scanning applications used to update my systems. However, I have generally distained apps that claim to scan for driver updates on Windows systems and tell me what I need. Driver updating can be a dangerous and system-harmful thing if the wrong one is applied. So when I tried with trepidation this application, I found the UI was super clean and easy to navigate, the scan was immediate and dead-on fast, it seemed very accurate (finding only one out of date driver), provides a detailed and comprehensive list of drivers checked and their status, and creates a Restore point before every driver update is installed. It’s so easy I’d recommend it to my non-techy friends and family who I support. Great job IOBit! I’ll be running this one weekly!

SoftPerfect Network Scanner - updated to version 5.5. See Changelog for details.

Wireshark - updated to Stable version 1.10.2 and Old Stable version 1.8.10.

• Wireshark 1.10.2 - Release notes
• Wireshark 1.8.10 - Release notes

For you crazy WinPE building fans who use WinBuilder, a new version has been released that is much different from the previous version you may be familiar with. At the time of this blog-posting, the Winbuilder.net site seems to be temporarily down, but here were the applicable links you need to check out. I suspect fans of WinBuilder will fall one one side of the fence or the other; love it or hate it. Particularly with the Java building components.

• WinBuilder - Development - reboot.pro
• WinBuilder - reboot.pro
• without imbedded Java RTEs - download version.

lessmsi (aka Less Msiérables) · ActiveScott at GitHub - now at version 1.1.3 The download link is a bit hard to find on the page if you aren’t used to GitHub. Look for “1 release" at the top bar just above the purple band and click it to find the compiled binaries in lessmsi-v1.1.3.zip.

d7 v10 Just Released! - Computer Technician - Foolish IT LLC.the updated change list is too expansive for me to try to list here. Check it out.

SoundVolumeView - new NirSoft utility - View/change sound levels & save/load sound level profiles on Windows Vista/7/8/2008 - More details in this NirSoft blog post.

Whew!  That post tired me out…or maybe it was the A&M/Alabama game live-streaming on my second monitor.

--Claus Valca

Read More

Find that File (on a Windows system) - LinkList

Here is a list of some free fast-file-finder alternatives.

I did a similar one a long time ago but seems time for an update.

• SwiftSearch - SourceForge.net - Just tired this little gem and it truly is rocking fast. Seriously fast. Like make a movie about the need for speed fast. In fact finding this one led me to feel obligated to make this whole post. Spotted via this post FAST! Windows NTFS file search utility - SwiftSearch from Steve Si (of RMPrepUSB/Easy2Boot fame).
• SearchMyFiles - NirSoft -This is my go-to for searching up files on my personal Windows systems.
• SMF – Search my Files - funk.eu. The complimentary application I use to SearchMyFiles. Please don’t be confused with the similar names. It has some additional power-lifting features I find useful.
• UltraSearch - JamSoftware - Nice and Neat little application.
• Ultra File Search - another great little application.
• Locate32 - regularly updated and uses an indexing database to help with finding.
• Everything Search Engine - VoidTools - Another index-based file searching tool.
• eXpress FreshFiles Finder (XFFF) - Irins - kind of a niche app but I absolutely love it for what it does. It has helped me wonderfully as a sysadmin.
• Agent Ransack - MythicSoft - “Lite” version that supports boolean expressions, Perl Regex expressions. Comes (like some of the other apps here) in x32 and x64 supported versions.
• MasterSeeker - another clever little file find utility. See this nice review by AddictiveTips for some of the extra features it has: MasterSeeker Is A Search Tool For Windows With Filters & Regex Support

--Claus V.

Read More

iOS 7 - Coming to something near you soon

I hesitated to post this linkfest on iOS 7.

Some of the links are old and some are geeky and not everybody who stops by GSD even has an iPhone/iPad/iWhatever device…and probably could care less.

So please indulge me with the link-dump on iOS 7.  No gushing (yet) shall occur.

I’m personally going to hold off dumping it on my iPhone 5 device for a few weeks until the blog-0-sphere settles down and the dust (and commenting/review/feedback) has been kicked up and spread around.

So this is for reference purposes only.

(And so I can figure out what to do when all the users I support at work with enterprise-issued iPhone 4S devices manually upgrade their devices and then tell me they don’t know how to work them in the new iOS version on Sept 19th.)

Fresh linkage I had saved on iOS 7 (& new iPhone model) news

• All the New Stuff in iOS 7 - Lifehacker
• iOS 7: what's changed since June? - The Verge
• Apple iPhone 5S: Everything You Need to Know - Gizmodo
• What's The Difference Between The iPhone 5S and 5C? – ReadWrite
• A tale of two iPhones: Hands-on with the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C (update: video!) - Ars Technica
• iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c vs. iPhone 4s: Which iPhone model should you get? - iMore
• Potential Security Applications of the iPhone 5S M7 Motion Coprocessor - Lenny Zeltser on Information Security
• Apple gets ready for iOS 7 shock - TechBlog’s Dwight Silverman
• Apple introduces the iPhone 5S and 5C; iOS 7 update coming Sept. 18 - TechBlog’s Dwight Silverman
• iOS 7 Ships September 18 - AllThingsD blog
• Here’s who should (and shouldn’t) buy the iPhone 5S - TechBlog’s Dwight Silverman

Older linkage I had saved on iOS 7 news

• iOS 7 Feature: Multi-tasking in Landscape mode - The4Cast blog
• WWDC 2013 and iOS 7: What we didn't get - iMore.com
• A Complete Summary Of Major New Features & Changes In iOS 7 - AddictiveTips blog
• Flattened: An iOS 7 design gallery - Ars Technica
• Sure, iOS 7 Looks Awfully Familiar. It Also Looks Like A Winner – ReadWrite
• Apple's New iOS 7: What You Need To Know Now – ReadWrite
• Apple Announces iOS 7: New Design, Multitasking & Many New Features Are Coming Your Way [Updates] - MakeUseOf blog
• iOS 7 - Matt Gemmell
• Why does the design of iOS 7 look so different? - The Next Web
• iOS 7 preview: Notification Center - iMore.com

Whatever…

--Claus Valca

Read More

What an MS Update Cycle This Month + others as well

Is it just me? Or has this been a super-challenging MS Update cycle this time ‘round?

At home on our Windows 7/8 systems I must have had scan for updates, install updates, reboot, re-scan for updates, install more updates, reboot, re-scan for updates, install final round of updates a few more times than I can previously recall.

Lots and lots of updates (though that may be partially my fault for leaving Office 2007 on when I installed Office 2010).  I do that for trouble-shooting support as not all my peeps are are on the same version of Office that I would like to be on.

And at work on our XP systems, for some reason we got bit with the MS bug where we successfully install KB2760411 and KB2760588 but after reboot, Windows Update says they still need to be installed! Wow.

Here is more linkage than  you need regarding Microsoft and third-party app updating this month.

First Up: Microsoft Patching Information

Microsoft fixes bad patch detection - ZDNet Zero Day blog

Why all the errors in Microsoft updates lately? - ZDNet Zero Day blog

Update for Outlook 2013 breaks folder pane - ZDNet Zero Day blog

Microsoft botches still more patches in latest Automatic Update - Microsoft windows - InfoWorld

Outlook 2013 Folder Pane Disappears After Installing September 2013 Public Update - Office Sustained Engineering - TechNet Blogs

I’ve actually been holding off running my monthly WSUS Offline Update build until word comes out that these have been resolved.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, September 2013 - SpiderLabs Anterior - Amusing and helpful patch summary

Lovely tokens and the September 2013 security updates - MSRC blog - details with pretty graphs

Assessing risk for the September 2013 security update - Security Research & Defense blog

Microsoft September 2013 Black Tuesday Overview - ISC Diary post

Next in Line: Adobe (Flash, Shockwave, Air)

Adobe September 2013 Black Tuesday Overview - ISC Diary post

Update Flash, Shockwave ASAP! Adobe also patches Acrobat and Reader - ZDNet Zero Day blog

Adobe, Microsoft Push Critical Security Fixes - Krebs on Security

Chrome Releases: Flash Player Update - Chrome Releases blog

On the Tail End: Oracle’s Java

It's about time: Java update includes tool for blocking drive-by exploits - The Register

Oracle Updates Java - Threatpost

Oracle finally adds whitelisting capabilities to Java - Computerworld

Security of Java takes a dangerous turn for the worse, experts say - Ars Technica

New features aim to shore up Java’s flagging security - Ars Technica

Go Get ‘Em Cowboy!

Hopefully your system is already set to download and process your Microsoft Updates. If not, stop, drop, and roll and get them on now manually if you must.

Adobe Flash may do an auto-updating or not, depending on your installation and settings.  I've not seen Air or Shockwave self-update ever.

Java might offer the update to you…or not.

If in doubt, you should be able to find direct downloads here.

• Adobe Flash Player Distribution - Adobe
• Shockwave Player Distribution Downloads - Adobe
• Archived Adobe AIR SDK version - Adobe
• Java Downloads for All Operating Systems - Oracle

Finally, if you have any doubt at all regarding your update level for these particular applications try one of these options; or even better, run both.

• Qualys BrowserCheck - be sure to hit this link in all browsers that you use on your system!
• The Secunia Software Inspector - Online Software Inspector (OSI) - they have a PSI installable version as well worth checking out.

They are really nice and pretty and are often overlooked…like the proverbial girl next door.

However they will hold your hand just as warmly and the kisses are just as sweet!

Stay patched, my friends.

Cheers!

--Claus Valca

Read More