MLW & Associates, LLP. » Announcements

Hacker on MLW-A

Michael L Wells — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:54:04 +0000

Today some our our viewers may have seen the rather rudimentary work of a visiting hacker to our website as the web-page itself showed that it was “hacked”. We take hacking attempts on our website as well as our client’s websites very seriously and employ every security methodology possible to keep them out, however any time you open a “piece” of a website up for a user to interact with, it opens the door to the “house” so-to-speak; at this point a hacker has access to areas of the site in which may give them more permissions than usual. We have identified this “hacker” and banned them.

Details on the Hack
The website has a feature where a user can upload file attachments. The hacker used a php exploit to upload that file to the web-root as the file “default.htm” Being the folder is writable by Apache (by default) to allow these uploads in various areas of the site, the hacker could only write this “new file” and could not “over-write” or read existing files.

Was my data compromised?
No, the hacker was only able to exploit a php upload venerability that caused the server to write his file (htm only) in the web-root. He could not read any secured files or other files that were not otherwise intended for public view.

Did the hacker delete your files or compromise any of your data?
No, again the hacker could only write a file that hadn’t already existed being the Unix file-system allows “READ-ONLY” permissions to be assigned to individual files (which is hard-coded).

Can this happen again or to my site?
To our site, yes, to our client’s sites, no. We still allow upload of files via the public; however we have taken measures to ensure that an indexed paged (default page for the web-server) cannot be uploaded. This cannot happen to clients as none of them have the upload ability outside of their control panels, which is locked down just for the client.

Happy Father’s Day

Michael L Wells — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:26:02 +0000

MLW & Associates, would like to wish all fathers around the world a Happy Father’s Day. In today’s day and age, it is all but too common for fathers to abandon a family; however it is those that stay, become life-long fathers and participate in showing our newer generations what it is to have the father figure in the family. Again to all our Dad’s, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

The ICPP Scam

Michael L Wells — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:34:01 +0000

Since I posed my news article about the ICPP Scam entitled “New Ransomware” iI have gotten maybe 300+ emails asking me if I found a solution, and if not, why not say so. Well I know the solution and without harming any files and I do apologize if I didn’t say so earlier. I would like to say again, no matter what DO NOT PAY anything to the links on the software — the software is “ransomware” and it has been proven that they do not “unlock” your pc. Thankfully, they did not employ any means of encryption to lock the files like some ransomware sites do, which really makes this more “scareware” than it is “ransomware”.

Simple solution is, restart the infected or locked PC in safemode (for those that don’t know, that is taping the F5 key during startup, just fractions of seconds before the windows logo screen comes up with the loading icon (or bar)).

You’ll notice the program does not run in safemode, but there isn’t anything else you can effectively do either. Here we go, click, start then run. Type: “msconfig” and hit enter. There in the services AND startup you’ll see the the ICPP scanner and “enforcer”.

Granted I only downloaded this software to see if it would pick up any of my software which it did not, so I am; no — I’m not downloading pirated materials just to test the scanner (lol). But I did create a few fake files that seemed to trip it a little, but seemed pretty easy to fake a payment code and disable.

If that doesn’t work, someone let me know; its been a while since I actually did any intense Microsoft clean-up work, so pardon me if I’m a bit rusty.

The Dimise of Flash

Michael L Wells — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:15:59 +0000

The popularity of Flash and Flash Players are rapidly diminishing for professional websites. An internet survey (2010) showed that more than 21% of the Internet’s web browsers are 64bit which are unable to run Flash. In 2009, the statistics only indicated 4% of the browsers being 64bit. Several critics of this sentiment will argue that people need flash for multi-media (I’ll strongly argue that you can accomplish 90% of what flash can do with Ajax/JQuery), however if adobe refuses to deliver a 64bit based flash player to the market while Mozilla refuses to develop 32 bit browsers, this will be Flash’s “time of death”.

As of late there has been word that adobe has been doing some “out-back” testing on a 64bit Flash player but they warn that it will not or ever will be compatible with the shock-wave players. This testing version is only available for the Linux Operating Systems currently.

Activities Ireland

Michael L Wells — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:25:41 +0000

We would like to introduce one of the Internet’s newest websites, www.ActivitiesIreland.ie. The Irish resort and leisure travel agency, Activities Ireland hired GWD 2 months ago to provide a powerful and robust website that would allow their patrons to explore possible outing locations across Europe. Though not new to the game, just the internet, Activities Ireland has been servicing Ireland for quite a while now under the management and leadership of Ms Nessa McCall.

If you’re ever in Ireland, feel free to drop by their office at 36 Canonbrook Park, Lucan, Co. Dublin and say hi!

TradeMarkMG : EvansPress.com

Michael L Wells — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:25:26 +0000

TradeMark Media Group now goes by the name EvansPress.com! Many may remember the incident that happened about a year ago with TradeMark Media Group, LLC, but it wasn’t pretty. In short on that story the owner of the company, Johnathan Evans had been taking jobs knowing they could not be completed, rigging websites and projects (with SEO materials to hype his own site and other “clients sites”) and releasing materials knowing there were bug and major security holes — the main issue I remember is with Carolina Cars and Trucks, where and to quote, “I’d rather be done with this project tomorrow than have to spend five hours fixing this dumb exploit.” I know, I use to work with John. Let just say I didn’t hang around long being someone of US Army background and deep southern morales.

Now here is the kicker, after I left, and everything was said and done with, he tried claiming “rights” to software my company had created during the time I had worked for him (this is in official legal documentation at Wayne Co. Clerk of Courts) that was created on MY OWN TIME. He claimed “creative rights” which I found to be bogus as a dealership can’t claim ownership of a mechanic’s car whom built his car in his off-hours.

This part I hope really helps:

IF YOU ARE A CUSTOMER OR A FUTURE CUSTOMER OF EVANSPRESS

DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING UP-FRONT
DO NOT PAY FOR PARTIALLY COMPLETED WORK!!!!
NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER PAY FOR A PROMISE!
ASK A 3RD PARTY TO CHECK HIS WORK FOR BUGS AND SECURITY EXPLOITS!

Remember that Mr Evans is not from this area, he pretends to be so you’re trust is open to him, and then he takes advantage of the openness and hospitality of our southern business owners.

IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYEE OR PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE

LOG EVERYTHING AND EVERY CONVERSION — IF MR EVANS PROMISES A COMMISSION, SALARY ETC, FORCE HIM TO TYPE IT UP AND SIGN IT. Else your salary will change on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis.
NEVER EVER ENGAGE IN ANY ACTIVITIES THAT HE CAN HOLD AGAINST YOU FOR PROFESSIONAL MEANS OR PERSONAL! I remember going to several bars with him in which he had a girl pose next to me after I was drunk — hell I didn’t care and still don’t, but he thought my wife might care so when I left, he sent me a blackmail letter that I STILL HAVE validated by Google Staff that his address sent it from their own servers. Thankfully, my wife just laughed as she saw the picture and said, “Damn you were drunk!”.
NEVER EVER EVER ALLOW HIM TO BE LATE ON PAYING YOU! IF YOU DO NOT CLAIM YOUR CHECK IMMEDIATELY HE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO SAY HE HAD ALREADY PAID YOU IN CASH!
CONTRACT CONTRACT CONTRACT! GET A CONTRACT OR GET PAID BY THE HOUR SO THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR CAN PROTECT YOU!

I do hope I have helped and be aware that many sites have rated TradeMarkMG.com as being very untrustworthy (from his former customers) so just be aware that EvansPress.com is run by the SAME PERSON.

New Ransomware

Michael L Wells — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:06:07 +0000

When I first read this article the only thing I could do was “lol” as I’ve downloaded torrents before but only if I already have a legitimate license for it. Here is the thing; if you own Microsoft Office 2009, and you have 4 kids (like I do) your CD’s will get scratched, broken, and lost, though your key is kept online with Microsoft (if you register the software), which is great. This happened to me once, and I called Microsoft about it:

Me: “I was wondering, how much does it cost for a new copy of MS Office 2009?”

MS: “$199.00″

Me: “I already bought the software once, do I really have to buy it again because of a compromised disk?”

MS: “Oh no sir! We can just send you disks in the mail for $10.00 plus shipping and handling!”

Me: “Ok so if my neighbor has the disks I can use them and just plug in my CD Key and everything is legal?”

MS: “We don’t suggest it sir, because they might have a different version (professional, home etc), but if it is the same version, it is totally legal and does not violate any EULA”

Me: “Great thanks!”

So what does this mean? It doesn’t matter how you acquire the software AS LONG AS YOU HAVE PURCHASED IT! So, thus my torrenting was born. Though you have to be careful of the torrents you get! Some torrents contain cracks and CD-Keys for the software, in such case this software is ILLEGAL to possess.

But today after reading this news article from ZD Net, I couldn’t help but to laugh. Apparently, software companies have allied together and has created a gimmick to ensure that you pay for their software by placing a program on your PC that will check for certain torrents and then LOCK your PC and tell you that the ICPP Foundation has locked the PC and it can only be unlocked by paying for a license and a fee for pirating the software. First of all the ICPP Foundation (International Copyright Publication Protection Foundation) does not engage in such acts — EVER, in fact placing this software on your PC without your knowing is simply more illegal than obtaining illegal software. Secondly, they ask you to pay only a FRACTION of the fees that a legitimate ICPP notice would ask (usually about $10,000.00 is the norm).

This however is called “Scareware” or “Ransomware” the same software that was going around in the Y2K era that popped up a count-down timer on your PC saying “PC System WIPING MEMORY In…”.

Spring Is Here!

Michael L Wells — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:11:42 +0000

As spring rolls in so does the rising temperatures and that can sometimes spell disaster for data! As the temperatures rise, air-conditioner systems will be placed under heavier loads and will break down more frequently, causing more outages and downtime. Our data-centers are fully prepared for such A/C disasters and we want you to know we have taken extra measures to ensure that if this does occur, you’re site should never experience more than 10 seconds of downtime which is the amount of time for our servers to sense that there is a problem and switch your routing data over to an alternate data-center.

Some of our subsidiaries will be having spring sales starting soon to welcome in the summer time spending sprees! Make sure you do not miss the deals we will be offering!

Website Back Up

Michael L Wells — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:10:47 +0000

We do apologize for the latest downtimes we have experienced. Over the past few days we have experienced catastrophic data-loss on our company server that runs our company websites. Upon trying to retrieve the data, we noticed that our database had been corrupted for quite some time due to a failing raid array.

We do expect that we will have all services back online (with some data-loss) by no later than January 5th, 2010. Fortunately, no client websites were affected by outage. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this outage has caused.