Zero-Day Attacks from PowerPoint

Microsoft is warning of attacks on their presentation software application, PowerPoint. Just by opening PowerPoint, a user can infect his computers and possibly other connected computers.

Microsoft issued Security Advisory 969136

An attacker could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users who operate with full administrative user rights are especially vunerable.

In a Web attack scenario, all an attacker would have to do is host a Web site that contains an a vunerable Office file. Web sites and Web sites that accept or host user-provided content could could be more vunerable . Note: an attacker would have to coax users to visit the Web site and click on a an affected PowerPoint link.

Email Note: The attack can not be automated through e-mail. A user must open an infected PowerPoint attachment that is sent in an e-mail message.

PowerPoint users in the U.S. and Canada who believe they are affected can receive technical support from Security Support or 1-866-PCSAFETY. There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates. For more information about available support options, see Microsoft Help and Support.

Affected Software:
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2000 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2002 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac

Non-affected Software
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Service Pack 1
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2003
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Service Pack 1
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
Open XML File Format Converter for Mac

Protect Corporate Integrity with the Barracuda Spam Firewall

With the latest in integrated hardware and software design, the Barracuda Spam Firewall provides the latest in e-mail spam protection. The Firewall helps ensure business integrity by scanning all incoming and outgoing e-mail to not only protect your employees from spam and viruses, but also your customers who communicate with your company via e-mail.

With no need to install additional software or configure your existing e-mail server, the Spam Firewall provides an easy to use and effective solution to preventing spam and viruses. The firewall also receives constant updates of virus and spam definitions to provide the latest in e-mail protection. Another easy-to-use and install piece of hardware is the Barracuda E-mail Message Archiver, which can work in conjunction with the Barracuda Spam Firewall to provide the best possible solutions to e-mail archiving and spam protection.

Spam is costing the business community $200 Billion per year!

The Radicati Group, a market research firm in Palo Alto, California, predicts that by 2007, there will be 50 billion spam messages each day, costing companies almost $200 billion per year. This is simply astounding and unacceptable. It’s time to take control of spam. Enter Barracuda Spam Firewalls.

The Barracuda Spam Firewall is an integrated hardware and software solution that has the power of an enterprise class solution, and the ease-of-use and affordability that businesses of all sizes demand. The Barracuda Spam Firewall 300 is a good choice for organizations with up to 1000 active email users. You can purchase the Barracuda Spam Firewall 300 online through the Tech-Army.org PX. The Barracuda Spam Firewall architecture optimizes the processing of each email for the performance to process millions of messages per day. Unlike software solutions, the Barracuda Spam Firewall reduces the load placed on the email server by off-loading both spam and virus filtering.