Responding to UPS pattern SPAM
It has been quite an evening at ExchangeDefender as we continue to fight the outbreak of the UPS trojan. You may have seen this:
Warning: This message has had one or more attachments removed
Warning: (UPS_INVOICE_978172.exe, UPS_INVOICE_978172.zip).
Warning: Please read the “ExchangeDefender-Attachment-Warning.txt” attachment(s) for more information.
Subject: UPS Tracking Number 6431834482
Unfortunately we were not able to deliver postal package you sent on July the 1st in time because the recipient’s address is not correct.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office
Your UPS
What is interesting about this is that the message does look fraudulent to the casual observers and people that do domestic business with UPS. However, we have encountered this format (with attachments and all) being used by UPS Commercial shipping departments in the past, which is why messages with the specific patterns received lower SPAM scores and were allowed through.
We still stripped the attachments but the attachments inside the ZIP file are passing through AV scanners as the variants change. We are now up to over thirty definitions used to track this specific worm and have taken the following steps:
UPS messages are only processed if they come from UPS.
UPS Tracking numbers are only accepted as valid if they start with 1Z.
UPS messages instigate a callback function against UPS servers.
Dealing with these extended rulesets and checks has made mail move a little slower today as we’ve dealt with onslaught of messages while this worm becomes more prevalent. UPS is also issuing a warning on their behalf:
We currently have this issue under control and it should not pose any further problems. However, expect the UPS messages to be taken with higher scrutiny and always warn users not to open executable attachments.
OWN Partner Call with Dana Epp
Yesterday we announced a new SMB security solution priced at a point that any SMB user can afford it – $20/month. Our solution is powered by AuthAnvil from Scorpion Software and it’s CEO Dana Epp joined us today to talk about it.
Over the course of this nearly 50 minute podcast you will hear many security concerns, sales and business conversations, learn how to position and intelligently discuss the aspect of two factor authentication with an SMB customer. Dana and Vlad talk further about the offering becoming a point of differentiation and trust for managed service providers (MSP) that want to assure their prospects they can trust them with their systems.
We are extremely excited to offer this solution at just $20/user/month because it breaks the pricing barrier that kept this type of an offering from becoming mainstream in SMB. With more mobility, more cloud services, more people involved in IT systems management, two factor authentication is something to discuss with your prospects, clients, staff and bosses. Tune in and listen to us address many security pain points and how we believe this announcement solves them.
OWN and Scorpion Software team up for an affordable password protection
Own Web Now Corp and Scorpion Software are teaming up on an exciting new service that helps your passwords more secure and less likely to be compromised, guessed or sniffed by hackers. Using token-based (keychain) one time passwords improves the security of the organization by allowing remote and mobile workers to provide one time passwords when they login remotely from a less secure location.
How does it work?
Logging into an organization requires a username and a password, but if you are using a shared connection, computer that may have keylogger installed, system compromised by spyware those credentials can be stolen. The token that you are issued as a part of our service has a password that changes every 60 seconds. When you attempt to login to your organization you will be asked for the password currently displayed on the device. Only the server and the token know the correct password at that time so even if your password should happen to be compromised and stolen hackers will not be able to use your password alone to gain access to your organization.
Offer Details
AuthAnvil tokens will be available with full service and support for $20 per user per month. There are no minimums, you can sign up a single user. Shipping is free as is the ongoing support, setup and service. We have worked very hard to deliver a solution that is the most flexible, affordable and meaningful for the SMB market and we look forward to offering you more ways to trust that your information stored in the cloud can only be accessed by you.
Announcing BlackBerry Support
Due to heavy demand by our ever increasing mobile customer base, Own Web Now proudly announces immediate availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server. BlackBerry users can now use fully featured synchronization between their mobile BlackBerry devices and Own Web Now hosted Exchange 2007 services. BES service is available at a low monthly fee as an addon to our hosting services. BlackBerry is the #1 selling smartphone in North America and among the most demanded business communication devices by our customer base and we are glad to finally offer you this option.
In addition to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Own Web Now fully supports Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone 2.0 as well as every POP3/IMAP based device that can communicate with Exchange over SSL.
Support request response delays July 10-14
Over the past few days we have missed our SLA on a number of support requests in the support queue, order queue and maintenance queues. An upgrade to the support portal on July 10th included a new algorithm for privacy control and support request routing, meant to allow for different types of support requests to be entered into the system but not visible to the entire staff. Accounting would see accounting requests, Support would see support requests, Executives would see executive requests and so on. In process of enabling the SLA against the requests we improperly routed a number of requests to the executive queue which was not monitored from Friday until today. We have addressed and corrected the issue and are moving the tickets and responding to them as fast as possible.
If you experienced an issue that was reported through our support system and was not answered in a timely manner we apologize and promise to have all support requests addressed today. Thank you for your patience.
ExchangeDefender LiveArchive now integrates outbound mail
It has been quite a while since we introduced a new feature to ExchangeDefender. This is mainly because we have been hard at work on ExchangeDefender 4.0 whose LiveArchive backend is completely different from the present one. But we have heard the pain and thanks to the number of very compelling arguments we now support transparent archiving of outbound mail as well as inbound mail via LiveArchive.
Service is already provisioned and active for everyone that relies on LiveArchive. You do not have to do anything to activate the outbound archiving component. This new feature brings us one step closer to giving you a fully redundant mail solution within ExchangeDefender portfolio.
For more details on LiveArchive please see the ExchangeDefender web site LiveArchive overview.
OWN Partner Call with Matt Makowicz
Joining us to wrap up the Microsoft WPC is Matt Makowicz from Ambition Consulting and Endevor, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and an ExchangeDefender marketing powerhouse! Matt talks about the overall impressions with the event and how different it was this year in particular:
- Business maturity
- Change in partner profile at WPC
- Passions of Vista stop short
- Partner training and ambitionmission.com
OWN Partner Call with Vijay Riyait and Dean Calvert
Joining us today live from Microsoft WPC in Houston are two partners from the opposite sides of the globe and opposite business models in the IT business. They are both great proponents of OwnWebNow and our services so we got them on to discuss the Microsoft’s new direction and how it impacts their business.
Dean Calvert is the president of Calvert Technologies, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Small Business Specialist from Adelaide, Australia. Dean’s firm specializes in network design, management and technical consulting. Dean was recently a Microsoft PAL and has been recognized for many years as an expert Microsoft MVP in Small Business Server product.
Vijay Riyait is the managing director of iQubed, Microsoft Small Business Specialist from Leicester and a leader in the SMB community, working with Microsoft as a PAL representing SBSC interests of the community to Microsoft. Beyond that, Vijay’s company focuses on on SharePoint and Information Worker technologies, their development and use in SMB.
Wednesday was the final keynote day at Microsoft WPC 2008 and we caught up to Vijay and Mark for a first impression of where they believe they can use their significant expertise to impact their clients business and grow their own as well. Discussion included:
- Use of SharePoint in social networking cases
- Australian SMB owner habits and hosted services penetration
- Discussion over the changing business models with the services in mind
- SBS and EBS importance and expectations
- Partner Program changes and the impact on you.
OWN Partner Call with Scott Colson
Scott Colson, Microsoft CRM MVP and Vice President of Autonomix (Gold Certified Partner from Seattle) has been a long time friend and partner of Own Web Now. Autonomix specializes in Microsoft CRM deployments and given the recent launch of Microsoft CRM Online and Microsoft S+S announcements from WPC, he was the best candidate to discuss the further Microsoft penetration into the area of services and where this leaves us Microsoft partners. Scott joined us live from the Microsoft WPC keynote with Ballmer in the background to talk about:
- Microsoft Software + Services
- Status of Microsoft CRM Online and direction so far
- Personal take on what Software + Service means for us
- The opportunity for partners to use Microsoft in this space
- SBS and EBS annoumcements
.. and we also discussed Scott’s key area of expertise: Delivering Microsoft Dynamics solutions, in particular CRM. Besides being the person to call for ExchangeDefender in the Seattle area, Scott and OWN share a client that has leveraged the online CRM solution for their business. Scott talks about the partnership process and the value delivery in services beyond infrastructure and why they are so critical to the businesses we all serve. An excellent interview to consider not just from the S+S news perspective but also possible business ventures you can pursue with CRM (and with Scott of course!) For more information, take a look at his web site: http://www.autonomix.com
OWN Partner Call with Mark Crall
Mark Crall, MCP, PAL from Charlotte Tech Care Team joins us live from Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to discuss the news and events from the first two days and PAL meetings affecting the SBSC:
- Launch date SBS and EBS announced
- Upcoming changes to the SBSC requirements
- Free SBS 2008 exam vouchers
- Changes to the Microsoft partner program for SMB
- Software + Services
- Tech business in Charlotte
Mark runs Charlotte Tech Care Team (OWN ExchangeDefender, Exchange 2007 partner) in Charlotte, NC and has a very popular blog covering the SBSC & MSP buzz. If you need tech work in Charlotte, SMB support services, ongoing managed IT care, any of our OWN products, VoIP/ResponsePoint product support you can reach Mark at (704) 248-8328.