Experts See Early Activity From The Conficker software Worm

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Members of an informal global alliance of computer security specialists who have been trying to eradicate a malicious software program known as Conficker said Tuesday that they were seeing early attempts by the program to communicate with a control server. The researchers said they were uncertain if it had been successful.

The Conficker software, which has spread aggressively around the globe since October and is designed to lash together infected machines into a powerful computer known as a botnet, has touched off widespread concern.

Computer security researchers who have examined a recent version of the program, called Conficker C, have said it was set to try to download commands from a server at an unknown Internet location on Wednesday. There was no certainty about the intent of the program, which could be used to send e-mail spam, distribute malicious software or generate a potentially devastating “denial of service” attack on Web sites or networks.

The choice of April Fool’s Day by the program’s authors, who are unknown, has led to speculation that the program might be a hoax. But a variety of computer security executives and law enforcement officials have pointed out that the program, which has spread to at least 12 million computers, could inflict genuine harm. Consensus among security specialists on Tuesday was that it was likely to take several days before the program’s intent could be determined.

A group of computer security specialists has tried to make it impossible for Conficker’s authors to download instructions to infected computers. While they were doing so, the authors began distributing the C version of the program. It was intended to begin contacting 50,000 Internet domains on Wednesday.

In response, the researchers have created a system that will allow them to trap all of the attempted botnet communications. That has involved a global effort, including monitoring the domains of 110 countries.

A spokeswoman for the Conficker Cabal, a security working group organized by Microsoft and other computer security companies, said on Tuesday that the group had no new information to report about the activity of the malicious program.

“All we are saying is ‘patch and clean, patch and clean,’ ” said Nicole Miller, a Microsoft spokeswoman, referring to the process of disinfecting and protecting machines infected by the software, which targets Windows-based computers.

Separately, I.B.M. said that Mark Yason, a company researcher, had decoded Conficker’s internal communication protocol. The company said that will make it easier for security teams to detect and interrupt the program’s activities.

Earlier this year Microsoft offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Conficker’s author or authors.

News Source: nytimes.com

Experts See Early Activity From The Conficker software Worm

President Obama went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday,Obama touts $3.6 trillion spending outline

President Obama went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to rally support among skeptical Senate Democrats for his $3.6 trillion spending plan, focusing attention on the core initiatives that unite the party while downplaying the issues that divide it.



Centrist Democrats who have complained that Obama's spending plan would drive the annual budget deficit to unacceptable levels held their tongues during the 45-minute lunchtime meeting. They asked no questions about deficits or about the administration's controversial push to force its signature investments in health care and education through the Senate without Republican votes.

Despite the meeting's friendly tone, tensions over those issues continued to simmer as budget leaders in both chambers worked on competing blueprints that would trim Obama's spending request and sharply curtail his plans for tax cuts - all in an effort to lower deficits over the next five years.

While acknowledging the adjustments to Obama's budget request, Democrats cheered the fact that budget leaders in both chambers would permit Obama's most ambitious and costly initiatives on health care, education and climate change to move forward as long as they do not interfere with deficit reduction.

Welcome unity

"There has to be some realism here," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "We're all unified on four main goals ... and that is not easy to do."

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag also claimed victory on the most significant aspects of the president's agenda.

"We are very pleased that the House and Senate budget committees are taking up resolutions that are fully in line with the president's key priorities," Orszag said. The blueprints under consideration "may not be identical twins to what the president submitted, but they are certainly brothers that look an awful lot alike."

In the House, Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., unveiled a spending plan that would slice more than $150 billion from Obama's proposal for the fiscal year that begins in October, reducing next year's deficit to $1.22 trillion, compared with $1.38 trillion under Obama's request. The House blueprint would cut the deficit to just under $600 billion by 2014, forcing the government to borrow $3.9 trillion over the next five years - about $500 billion less than Obama's proposal.

Much of the savings for next year would come by jettisoning Obama's plan to spend more on the Treasury Department's financial-sector bailout, a move that would reduce the deficit but would not prevent the president from seeking the cash.

Other trims

Spratt also rejected Obama's proposal to extend a tax break for businesses that lose money. And he trimmed $7 billion from a funding request for other government agencies, with the bulk of the reduction targeting international programs.

The House proposal would make bigger changes in future years, slicing another $60 billion from Obama's request for nondefense programs and rejecting the president's proposal to permanently exempt millions of middle-class families from the expensive alternative minimum tax.

Like the Senate, the House also scrapped Obama's plan to extend an $800 tax cut for working families that was temporarily enacted in the economic stimulus package.

The House and Senate budget committees expect to vote on their budget plans today and send them to their respective chambers for approval next week. Differences between the two chambers would then have to be resolved in a conference committee after the Easter break.

Obama would not have to sign the resulting resolution, which would not have the force of law. But it would set guidelines for lawmakers as they craft spending bills and draft legislation to implement Obama's policies.

Also Wednesday, Obama endorsed a fellow Democrat in a competitive special congressional election and was the main draw at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers.

"Sign up and pitch in to elect Scott Murphy to Congress," the president implored in an early morning e-mail to at least 50,000 people in New York's 20th Congressional District. Tying his agenda to the election's outcome, he added that electing Murphy would "make a big impact on my efforts to bring about a lasting economic recovery."

By evening, Obama headlined two fundraisers in Washington expected to bring in an estimated $3 million.



News Source : sfgate.com

President Obama went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday,Obama touts $3.6 trillion spending outline

U.S. Taking Steps to Control Violence on the Mexican Border

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Tuesday that it would move hundreds of federal agents to the country’s southern border to prevent a spillover of drug-related violence from Mexico, and that it would focus more efforts on stopping weapons and money from flowing south.

In a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said that 360 agents would be sent to the Border Patrol and to Immigration and Customs Enforcement units along the 2,000-mile border, and that 100 agents would be sent to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives units there.

Officials said 100 of the redeployed Border Patrol agents, and several new canine teams, would inspect people and vehicles leaving the United States, aided by mobile X-ray units for cars and more sophisticated license-plate readers.

Ms. Napolitano called the redeployment “a very robust movement of personnel.” She added, “If anything, this is really the first wave of things that will be happening.”

Law enforcement personnel will also be added to the United States Embassy in Mexico, and an estimated $30 million in stimulus funds will be spent to support the work of local and state law enforcement agencies along the border.

The plan will also draw on $700 million appropriated by Congress under the so-called Merida Initiative, put into effect by former President George W. Bush, to provide training and equipment to Mexican law enforcement agencies. Many of the measures announced Tuesday expanded on programs that were started by Mr. Bush.

Ms. Napolitano said the administration was still considering requests by the governors of Texas and Arizona to deploy the National Guard — a step she supported when she was governor of Arizona. She said she would discuss the request next week with Gov. Rick Perry, when she stops in Texas on her way to Mexico.

Ms. Napolitano is one of many administration officials who have planned trips to Mexico in response to growing concern in the United States about violence there.

Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg said Tuesday, “We see this as a critical partnership, one that requires as much high-level attention as any bilateral relationship we have.”

Officials said the plans announced Tuesday were a kind of down payment on President Obama’s promise to pursue a “comprehensive strategy” for securing the United States’ southern border and helping President Felipe Calderón of Mexico in a battle against cartels whose bloodletting has touched every corner of Mexico and whose organizations have stretched into many parts of the United States.

During a news conference on Tuesday night, Mr. Obama said the Mexican drug cartels “have gotten completely out of hand,” and he praised Mr. Calderón, saying the president “has been very courageous in taking on these drug cartels.”

In a shift from the policies of previous administrations, Mr. Obama has emphasized that the drug war is a “shared responsibility,” expressing support for Mexico’s fight and vowing to lead one on this side of the border as well.

Ms. Napolitano echoed that thinking on Tuesday, calling the fight against drugs “a demand issue and a supply issue.”

An estimated 90 percent of the illegal drugs that enter the United States pass through Mexico, while some 90 percent of the weapons seized from drug traffickers or at crime scenes in Mexico come from north of the border. Meanwhile, the southbound cash flow is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Tuesday that Washington’s relationship with Mexico was getting “sustained, high-level, comprehensive attention.” He said the efforts against traffickers would be led by the White House in coordination with the Departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security.

As a former border-state governor, Ms. Napolitano emphasized the importance of coordinating her agency’s efforts with state and local officials on the front lines of the drug fight. She has sent a high-level member of her staff to meet with law enforcement officials along the southern border. And each week, she confers by telephone with border sheriffs and police departments.

When asked whether the shift in personnel signaled a shift in the focus of Homeland Security away from the threat of terrorism, Ms. Napolitano said, “Absolutely not.”

“Our department has a very broad mission,” she said. “We have to be able to multitask. One of the changes in the threat environment has been what is going on in Mexico. So we need to make changes in order to deal with that particular threat.”

News Source : news.google.com

U.S. Taking Steps to Control Violence on the Mexican Border