Update 1 for HPC Pack 2012 R2 is available

The installation package for HPC Pack 2012 R2 Update 1 is available for download here. The HPC Pack Image in the Azure Gallery, for both Azure Global and Azure China, is also now generally available. Together with this image, an official PowerShell script tool to deploy an HPC Pack cluster in infrastructure as a service (IaaS) VMs is now downloadable from here.

About two months ago, we announced the release of the Preview version of the Update 1 for HPC Pack 2012 R2, We want to thank everyone who helped us tested the early releases and sent us feedback. We made some important and necessary changes to our official release as a result.

The following are the significant new features in HPC Pack 2012 R2 Update 1:

  • A major focus in Update 1 has been to quickly and robustly create a Windows HPC cluster using Azure virtual machines (IaaS). In order to achieve this goal, we released an HPC Pack image in the Azure Virtual Machine Gallery. All customers with an Azure subscription can use The HPC Pack IaaS deployment script tools to quickly deploy an HPC cluster with just a few steps. For details about how to use these tools, you can refer to the help document here.
  • After a new cluster in Azure has been set up, you can use new tools to manage your HPC cluster in Azure. You can easily create, start, stop, or delete compute nodes as virtual machines on your cluster.Custom compute node images are supported. You can leverage this customization to make your whole deployment process much faster when installing applications and other dependencies. For more details, please see the online help document here.
  • We also continued the investment around our existing scenario for “bursting” to Azure with Platform as a Service (PaaS) compute instances. To further enhance this scenario, we added grow/shrink capabilities to the HPC Pack scheduler. Now you can configure your HPC cluster to automatically adjust the number of active VMs in Azure, whether using virtual machine compute nodes or PaaS compute nodes. For more details, see the help document here.
  • There are also several important new support and bug fixes added for HPC Pack, such as support of SQL Server 2014 and moving nodes to a different cluster. For more details, you can refer to the What’s New and Release Notes documents.

This post came from Microsoft

 

Azure IaaS for IT Pros Online Event (Dec 1-4)

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Is it time to level up your skills using Infrastructure as a Service?  Want to learn from the best technical engineers and noted technology leaders around? 

Join Mark Russinovich, Corey Sanders, and members of the Azure Engineering team for a live event delivered online over four days.  Join for one session, join for them all. You’ll dive deep into technical scenarios, ask questions of the experts, and level up your own skills. 

Azure IaaS for IT Pros Online Event, December 1-4

Become an IaaS go-to guru

Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Chief Technology Officer, Azure, will kick off the event, followed by deep technical training in the technologies critical for IT Pro Implementers, like you, to deepen your foundational cloud skills.  Following the keynote, experts will share their technical insights on topics including Core IaaS, Cloud Infrastructure Fabric, Open Source Software on Azure, and Workloads on Azure IaaS.

Be recognized for your skills

Get certified for your skills! Register for the event to receive reminder emails and obtain details for receiving a 50% off exam voucher you can use towards Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions for Microsoft Azure Specialist Certification.

Join the live event from 9am to 1pm PST

December 1

Establish the Foundation: Core IaaS Infrastructure Technical Fundamentals

December 2

Dive Deep into Networking, Storage,
and Disaster Recovery Scenarios

December 3

Embrace Open Source Technologies
(Chef and Puppet Configurations, Containerization with Docker and
Linux) to Accelerate and Scale Solutions

December 4

Optimize Windows Workload Architecture
and Administration Capabilities Within Azure

 

Register Here

KMS Client Setup Keys

Computers that are running volume licensing editions of Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 are, by default, KMS clients with no additional configuration needed.

To use the keys listed here (which are GVLKs), you must first have a KMS host running in your deployment. If you haven’t already configured a KMS host, see Deploy KMS Activation for steps to set one up.

If you are converting a computer from a KMS host, MAK, or retail edition of Windows to a KMS client, install the applicable setup key (GVLK) from the following tables. To install a client setup key, open an administrative command prompt on the client, type slmgr /ipk <setup key> and then press Enter.

if you are looking for KMS Client Setup Key 

Go  Here

Lost your DVD for Windows 8 or 81.

If you bought Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, you can download and install Windows from this page using just your product key

Have your product key handy. You can find it in your online order information, in the confirmation email for your purchase or on the DVD packaging. The product key is a 25-character code that looks something like this:
XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX.

Go Here

 

Linksys Wi-Fi Home Router security Issues

Linksys EA Router have a security issue, if have  EA series routers running the Linksys SMART WiFi firmware it contain multiple vulnerabilities,

CWE-320: Key Management Errors – CVE-2014-8243

An remote, unauthenticated attacker can read the router’s .htpassword file by requesting http(s)://<router_ip>/.htpasswd. The .htpasswd file contains the MD5 hash of the administrator password.

CWE-200: Information Exposure – CVE-2014-8244
A remote, unauthenticated attacker can issue various JNAP calls by sending specially-crafted HTTP POST requests to http(s)://<router_ip>/JNAP/. Depending on the JNAP action that is called, the attacker may be able to read or modify sensitive information on the router.
It should also be noted that the router exposes multiple ports to the WAN by default. Port 10080 and 52000 both expose the administrative web interface to WAN users. Depending on the model, additional ports may be exposed by default as well.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to read or modify sensitive information on the router

FIX go to the Linksys site and download updated firmware files

Reposted form the US-CERT Site

 

Apple iOS devices risk by malicious third-party apps

US-CERT warned that:

This attack works by luring users to install an app from a source other than the iOS App Store or their organizations’ provisioning system. In order for the attack to succeed, a user must install an untrusted app, such as one delivered through a phishing link. 

This technique takes advantage of a security weakness that allows an untrusted app—with the same “bundle identifier” as that of a legitimate app—to replace the legitimate app on an affected device, while keeping all of the user’s data. This vulnerability exists because iOS does not enforce matching certificates for apps with the same bundle identifier. Apple’s own iOS platform apps, such as Mobile Safari, are not vulnerable.

The  OFFICAL CERT article follows…—

______________________________

Systems Affected

iOS devices running iOS 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, and 8.1.1 beta.

Overview

A technique labeled “Masque Attack” allows an attacker to substitute malware for a legitimate iOS app under a limited set of circumstances.

Description

Masque Attack was discovered and described by FireEye mobile security researchers.[1] (link is external) This attack works by luring users to install an app from a source other than the iOS App Store or their organizations’ provisioning system. In order for the attack to succeed, a user must install an untrusted app, such as one delivered through a phishing link.  

This technique takes advantage of a security weakness that allows an untrusted app—with the same “bundle identifier” as that of a legitimate app—to replace the legitimate app on an affected device, while keeping all of the user’s data. This vulnerability exists because iOS does not enforce matching certificates for apps with the same bundle identifier. Apple’s own iOS platform apps, such as Mobile Safari, are not vulnerable.

Impact

An app installed on an iOS device using this technique may:

  • Mimic the original app’s login interface to steal the victim’s login credentials.
  • Access sensitive data from local data caches.
  • Perform background monitoring of the user’s device.
  • Gain root privileges to the iOS device.
  • Be indistinguishable from a genuine app.

Solution

iOS users can protect themselves from Masque Attacks by following three steps:

  1. Don’t install apps from sources other than Apple’s official App Store or your own organization.
  2. Don’t click “Install” from a third-party pop-up when viewing a web page.
  3. When opening an app, if iOS shows an “Untrusted App Developer” alert, click on “Don’t Trust” and uninstall the app immediately.

Further details on Masque Attack and mitigation guidance can be found on FireEye’s blog [1] (link is external). US-CERT does not endorse or support any particular product or vendor.

 

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report is the most comprehensive threat intelligence report in the industry. It provides data and insights on malware, exploits and vulnerabilities based on data from more than a billion systems worldwide and some of the busiest online services. It also includes actionable guidance to help IT Professionals manage risk. The latest report, Volume 17, focuses on the first half of 2014, with trend data for the last several quarters.

Where you are a PC user or not the insight here are great to read about

You can download the report HERE

 

Bug allowing execution of malicious code resides in TLS stack

This affects not just Windows but other operating systems Tuesday’s disclosure means that every major TLS stack—including Apple SecureTransport, GNUTLS, OpenSSL, NSS, and now Microsoft SChannel—has had a severe vulnerability this year. In some cases, the flaws merely allowed attackers to bypass encryption protections, while others—most notably the Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL and the one patched Tuesday in Windows, allowed adversaries to steal highly sensitive data and execute malicious code on vulnerable systems respectively.

Here is the Microsoft update

Published: November 11, 2014

Version: 1.0

On this page

Executive Summary


This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Microsoft Secure Channel (Schannel) security package in Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends specially crafted packets to a Windows server.

This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Microsoft Windows. For more information, see the Affected Software section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Schannel sanitizes specially crafted packets. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability.

 

Mac OSX and IOS MALWARE

WireLurker: A New Era in OS X and iOS Malware

posted by: Claud Xiao on November 5, 2014 2:30 PM

filed in: Malware, Mobility, Reports, Threat Prevention, Unit 42
tagged: Apple, globalprotect, iOS, Mac OS X, Maiyadi App Store, WireLurker

Today we published a new research paper on WireLurker, a family of malware targeting both Mac OS and iOS systems for the past six months. We believe that this malware family heralds a new era in malware attacking Apple’s desktop and mobile platforms based on the following characteristics:

  • Of known malware families distributed through trojanized / repackaged OS X applications, it is the biggest in scale we have ever seen
  • It is only the second known malware family that attacks iOS devices through OS X via USB
  • It is the first malware to automate generation of malicious iOS applications, through binary file replacement
  • It is the first known malware that can infect installed iOS applications similar to a traditional virus
  • It is the first in-the-wild malware to install third-party applications on non-jailbroken iOS devices through enterprise provisioning

WireLurker was used to trojanize 467 OS X applications on the Maiyadi App Store, a third-party Mac application store in China. In the past six months, these 467 infected applications were downloaded over 356,104 times and may have impacted hundreds of thousands of users.

How It Works

WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken. This is the reason we call it “wire lurker”. Researchers have demonstrated similar methods to attack non-jailbroken devices before; however, this malware combines a number of techniques to successfully realize a new brand of threat to all iOS devices.

WireLurker exhibits complex code structure, multiple component versions, file hiding, code obfuscation and customized encryption to thwart anti-reversing. In this whitepaper, we explain how WireLurker is delivered, the details of its malware progression, and specifics on its operation.

We further describe WireLurker’s potential impact, as well as methods to prevent, detect, contain and remediate the threat. We also detail Palo Alto Networks Enterprise Security Platform protections in place to counter associated risk.

WireLurker is capable of stealing a variety of information from the mobile devices it infects and regularly requests updates from the attackers command and control server. This malware is under active development and its creator’s ultimate goal is not yet clear.

We recommend users take the following actions to mitigate the threat from WireLurker and similar threats:

  • Enterprises should assure their mobile device traffic is routed through a threat prevention system using a mobile security application like GlobalProtect
  • Employ an antivirus or security protection product for the Mac OS X system and keep its signatures up-to-date
  • In the OS X System Preferences panel under “Security & Privacy,” ensure “Allow apps downloaded from Mac App Store (or Mac App Store and identified developers)” is set
  • Do not download and run Mac applications or games from any third-party app store, download site or other untrusted source
  • Keep the iOS version on your device up-to-date
  • Do not accept any unknown enterprise provisioning profile unless an authorized, trusted party (e.g. your IT corporate help desk) explicitly instructs you to do so
  • Do not pair your iOS device with untrusted or unknown computers or devices
  • Avoid powering your iOS device through chargers from untrusted or unknown sources
  • Similarly, avoid connecting iOS devices with untrusted or unknown accessories or computers (Mac or PC)
  • Do not jailbreak your iOS device; If you do jailbreak it, only use credible Cydia community sources and avoid the use or storage of sensitive personal information on that device

Download “WireLurker: A New Era in OS X and iOS Malware” here.

This Article  was copied  from the Nice folks at PALOATO NETWORKS