Malware attacks U.S. Marshals & FBI

The solutions were bought and paid for, but installations of them are months & years behind. PC security has to be a priority even when it seems like a waste of time. This is one reason why turning on automated updates is important for personal and business systems.

Malware knocks out U.S. Marshals Service network - Network World:
"Malware Wednesday crippled Windows-based computer systems at the U.S. Marshals Service, which hunts federal fugitives and operates the country's witness protection program, knocking the agency’s network offline.

The agency's press office confirmed it was having network problems and that its e-mail system was down this morning, but it was unclear if the outage extended across the entire network.
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The agency's Web site was up and running this morning, but a receptionist in the press office said "the agency's whole e-mail system is down, and the agency is unable to receive e-mail."

Later, another press office staffer confirmed that there were network problems.

Members of the agency's IT staff were communicating with vendors via Gmail accounts as they attempted to work through the issue.
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The U.S. Marshals Service runs Trend Micro’s OfficeScan, an anti-malware software that installs on desktops, laptops and mobile devices.

The agency, however, runs the 5.0 version, which is more than three years old. Trend Micro says protection against Neeris has been in OfficeScan since version 8. The current version is 10.

'[Their version] is a vastly out-of-date, end-of-life product,' said Sweeny.

In addition, Sweeny said the U.S. Marshals Service maintenance contract was up-to-date, meaning the agency had paid for upgrades to the software but had failed to install them.
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23 of 24 major federal agencies had weaknesses in their agency-wide information security programs. Those agencies included the DOJ.

While the Neeris worm has been around since 2005, a new version was discovered just last month that used the same vulnerability targeted by Conficker. The new version spreads via the Windows "autorun" command.

A patch to close the critically-rated vulnerability that Neeris and Conficker exploit was issued in October by Microsoft."

The FBI was also affected but is saying less.

Computer virus strikes US Marshals, FBI affected:
"Law enforcement computers were struck by a mystery computer virus Thursday, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their networks as a precaution.

The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department's computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem.
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Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency's computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar problems earlier.
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In addition to their external networks, most federal law enforcement agencies have an internal-only network to prevent cyber-snoopers from sensitive data.

In Thursday's incident, the Marshals Service shut down its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the problem. The FBI made similar moves to protect its system."