Many content management systems and forums were originally created using the latin1 character set and the latin1_swedish_ci collation in MySQL. The problem many of these systems are facing today is the growing demand for multi-language content using special characters that cannot be accurately represented in the latin1 character set. This is where utf8 comes in.

The problem with simply converting a database from latin1 to utf8 is in the data itself. When you convert a database or table to a different character set or collation, it does not convert the content held within the tables. What happens is users end up with ‘strange’ characters in their data.

You can prevent this by taking steps to protect the data before you convert the database or tables.

An overview of the steps:

1. Backup the database. No, really, do it.
2. Alter the string field types to their binary equivalents in all tables. This will protect the data during conversion.
   • VARCHAR to VARBINARY
   • CHAR to BINARY
   • LONGTEXT to LONGBLOB
   • MEDIUMTEXT to MEDIUMBLOB
   • TEXT to BLOB
   • TINYTEXT to TINYBLOB
3. Convert the database and tables from latin1 to utf8 character set and latin1_swedish_ci to utf8_general_ci collation.
4. Convert the binary field types back to their original string field types.
5. Backup the resulting database.
6. Finished

Ex. Generic convert column to BLOB from TEXT

Ex. Generic convert table to new character set

Ex. Generic convert database to new character set utf8

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Some time ago a co-worker had mentioned someone had been rummaging through her files on her computer. She had expressed some concern over the situation as the files in question were pertaining to a terminated employee. I nodded in sympathy and asked her the following questions:

• When did this happen?
  Her response: After she had left work for the evening, but before she came in the next day.
• Did you log-off of your computer in the evening?
  Her response: No.
• Did you lock your office in the evening?
  Her response: No.
• Is there anyone currently employed that would have an interest in those files?
  Her response: Yes.
• Did you tell the Boss?
  Her response: No.

Because the office didn’t have any form of employee tracking, we could not find out who was in the building, let alone who accessed the files. While management was trying find out who did it, I was focusing more on the measures that could have been taken to prevent it. The worker had not logged off her machine or locked her office in the evening. As with all things in IT, the typical process response is always reactive instead of proactive. If the managers had taken my concerns seriously with regards to physical and virtual security months before, the situation would not have happened. This example was the catalyst I needed to affect a change in policy regarding passwords, automatic log-off, and certain aspects of physical security.

People, Process, Technology

Everyone has seen the People, Process, Technology Venn diagrams prevalent in business literature. I believe the most effective security practices involve a balance of all three categories to succeed – the process has to be sound, the technology relevant, and the people informed. Relying on any one of these categories too much will surely result in failure. No matter how locked-down a server is, if someone writes their password on a post-it note on the monitor, it is no longer secure. If there is no process in place to direct the people or the technology on the correct actions to take to be secure, it will fail.

Social Engineering

It seems the most vulnerable aspect of security lies in people’s tendency to succumb to social engineering tricks. Medium-sized companies are especially vulnerable as they may not have the means to implement physical security and also lack the close-knit employee base to detect outsiders easily. How easy do you think it would be to walk into a medium-sized company with a Canon shirt and convince them you are there to fix the copier?

I’d like to hear your own experiences with security, including what you think are the most important factors in creating a successful security policy.

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Last night Malwarebyte’s AntiMalware program detected a false positive of the Atapi.sys driver and associated registry keys. As you may know, Atapi.sys is required by the storage system in Windows, and as such deleting it will render the system unbootable.

If you have the reboot on error checked in your system properties, your system will continuously reboot itself without giving an error. If you have a stop on reboot option checked, you will see the STOP error 0x0000007B.

I have included a zip file with the following registry keys and atapi.sys (5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)) taken from a fresh install of Windows XP SP2. Apparently it only affects SP2 installations.

Registry Keys Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\atapi
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\atapi
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

Files Infected:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\atapi.sys

A few ways to fix this:

Use another machine to load Atapi.Sys and Registry Keys

1. Install the hard drive into another Windows computer and copy the computer’s good Atapi.sys driver (Windows\System32\Drivers) to your hard drive. Or download the XP SP2 one here.
2. Put the hard drive back into the original computer and select “Last known good configuration” to boot – this will restore the registry keys.
3. If the “Last known good configuration” doesn’t work, you may try editing the registry hive of your installation via another computer. Put the hard drive into a second machine and load the hive within that machine’s registry editor. If you are uncomfortable doing this, create a LiveCD of Windows (below).

Make a BartPE or LiveCD of Windows

1. Go to http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm and follow the instructions to make a LiveCD of Windows. You can also use BartPE, but the following instructions may be different (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/).
2. From a known good machine, export the above 3 registry keys to a USB drive.
3. From a known good machine, copy the atapi.sys driver from Windows\System32\Drivers to a USB drive. Or download the XP SP2 keys and atapi.sys here (zip).
4. When the LiveCD loads (this will take a while), attach the USB key to the machine. Copy the atapi.sys to your machine’s Windows\System32\Drivers directory.
5. In the LiveCD’s Windows environment, go to: Start>Program Files>Registry Editors>Regedit (remote).
6. You will be prompted to select a user from your machine to edit. Most likely it is “Administrator.”
7. Go to File and Import in the registry editor.
8. Import each of the 3 .reg keys you exported from a known good machine.
9. Restart your computer, taking out the LiveCD.
10. Everything should work.

Use Windows Repair

I don’t like this option because it does not always work. You may also need to reinstall or fix some programs after this procedure.

1. Put the Windows XP disc into the machine.
2. When the machine boots into the Setup environment, it will give you the following options:
   To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
   To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
3. Press ENTER, not R.
4. On the next screen, it will detect a previous installation and ask if you want to repair it. Choose to do so.
5. Windows will go through the setup by reinstalling all default options and drivers. You will need your Windows XP key.

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Quite a few people have asked how to remove the default HTTP Response Headers of IIS6 and IIS7. It’s very easy, actually. You can have some fun with it too (bottom).

Remove, Edit or Add HTTP Response Headers in Windows 2003 IIS6

1. Open the IIS Management Console.
2. Right-click on “Websites” and select “Properties.”
3. Click on the “HTTP Headers” tab.
4. Highlight the “X-Powered-By: ASP.NET” entry and select “Remove.”
5. Also note that you can do this for all websites as above, or for an individual website by selecting it’s properties. Useful if you have sites powered by ASP and PHP on the same server.

Remove, Edit or Add HTTP Response Headers in Windows 2008 IIS7

1. Open the IIS Management Console.
2. Click on the Server Name in the left-hand pane.
3. Under the “IIS” heading in the right-hand pane, double-click on “HTTP Response Headers.”
4. Right-click on “X-Powered-By” and select Edit or Remove.
5. Also note that you can do this for all websites as above, or for an individual website by selecting it’s properties. Useful if you have sites powered by ASP and PHP on the same server.

Power your IIS6 or IIS7 Website with Pure Evil

You can also have some fun with the “X-Powered By” response header as its purpose is informational. You can also add your own custom header.

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Most System Administrators use a hardware firewall to block IP addresses from accessing their network. Co-located servers do not always have the advantage of utilizing a hardware firewall. Software firewalls can often be expensive.

As you may already know, Windows 2003 lets administrators control IP access from the configuration panels in SMTP and IIS, among others. But what if you want to block an IP address from all services with only one motion? This is where the IP Security Policy Management snap-in comes in handy.

Configure the IP Security Policy to block your first IP address

1. Click “Start” and “Run” – type “MMC” and press OK.
2. In the MMC, click “File” and “Add/Remove Snap In.”
3. In the “Standalone” tab, click “Add.”
4. Select “IP Security Policy Management” and click “Add.”
5. Select “Local Computer” and click “Finish.”
6. Close the “Add standalone Snap-in” window and click “OK” on the “Add/Remove Snap-in” window.
7. Now that you are back in the MMC console, right-click on “IP Security Policies on Local Computer” in the left-hand pane and select “Create IP Security Policy.”
8. Click “Next.”
9. Enter a name (ex. IP Block List) and description into the boxes and click “Next.”
10. Leave “Activate the default response rule” checked. Click “Next.”
11. Leave “Active Directory default (Kerberos)” checked. Click “Next.”
12. Leave “Edit properties” checked. Click “Finish.”
13. The Properties box should be open.
14. To add your first IP address, click “Add.” Make sure “Use Add Wizard” is checked beside the button.
15. Click “Next” when the “Create IP Security Rule” wizard opens.
16. Leave “This rule does not specify a tunnel” checked. Click “Next.”
17. Select “All network connections” under Network Type (unless you want to specify by adapter). Click “Next.”
18. You are now at the “IP Filter List.” The “All ICMP Traffic” and “All IP Traffic” options will not meet our needs; we will need to add another. Click “Add.”
19. Name the IP Filter List (ex. Blocked IP List) and enter a description. Click “Add” to enter the first IP address to block.
20. The “IP Filter Wizard” will pop up. Click “Next.”
21. This will be the first IP address or IP range we enter to block. Enter a description (I usually enter the IP itself) and make sure “Mirrored” is selected below. This will ensure packets to/from are blocked, allowing you to create one rule instead of two. Click “Next.”
22. Keep “Source Address” as “My IP Address” and click “Next.”
23. Under “Destination Address” select “A specific IP Address” or “A specific IP Subnet.” If you select “Any IP address” it will block all IPs!
24. Enter in the IP address in the fields below and click “Next.”
25. Under “select protocol type” choose “Any” (means “All”) unless you specifically want to block from RDP (Remote Desktop), TCP or UDP, etc. Click “Next.”
26. Click “Finish.”
27. Now that you are back to the “IP Filter List” click “OK.”
28. You will be back in the “IP Filter List” list in the Security Rule Wizard – make sure you select your new “Blocked IP List” and not “All IP Traffic” or “All ICMP Traffic.” Click “Next.”
29. You will be taken to “Filter Action.” The lists: Permit, Request Security (Optional), and Require Security will not meet our needs. Click “Add.”
30. In the “IP Security Filter Action” wizard, click “Next.”
31. Select a name (ex. Block all Packets) and click “Next.”
32. Select “Block” for the filter action behavior. Click “Next.”
33. Click “Finish.”
34. You are back to the “Filter Action” list. Select your new list (Block All Packets) and click “Next.”
35. Click “Finish.”
36. You are back to your IP Security Policy list (Blocked IP List) Properties. Click “OK.”
37. Back in the “IP Security Policies on Local Computer” snap-in, you’ll need to assign the new policy. In the right-hand pane, right-click on your new list (IP Block List) and select “assign.”

To make it easier the next time you wish to block an IP address, save the MMC Snap-in configuration as a shortcut. Go to “File” and “Save As” and save it on your Desktop or Start Menu.

To Block Additional IP Addresses

1. Enter the IP Block List snap-in you saved.
2. In the right-hand pane double-click your IP Block List.
3. Under “IP Filter List” select the newly created “Blocked IP List” and click “Edit.” Make sure “Use Add Wizard” is checked.
4. Under “IP Filter Lists” select your “Blocked IP List” (not All ICMP or IP Traffic) and click “Edit.”
5. You are now in the “Add IP wizard” area. You will see the first IP address you blocked in a listing under “IP Filters.” Click “Add.”
6. Follow all previous steps to add the IP address you wish to block. Once finished, exit all dialog boxes.

You may need to restart the server for the settings to take effect.

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