Sean thanks I just reread XP sp2 details and your right sp2 starts the firewall SOONER during boot (like before it starts most network services :-) http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnwx p/html/securityinxpsp2.asp Boot time security. In earlier versions of Windows there is a window of time between when the network stack started and when ICF provided protection. Consequently, a packet could have been received and delivered to a service without ICF filtering it, potentially exposing the computer to vulnerabilities. In SP2, the firewall driver has a static rule called a boot-time policy to perform stateful filtering. This will allow the computer to perform basic networking tasks such as DNS and DHCP and communicate with a Domain Controller to obtain policy. Once the firewall service is running, it will load and apply the run-time ICF policy and remove the boot-time filters. This change should increase system security without affecting applications. Donald.Smith@qwest.com GCIA http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xAF00EDCC pgpFingerPrint:9CE4 227B B9B3 601F B500 D076 43F1 0767 AF00 EDCC kill -13 111.2

-----Original Message----- From: Sean Donelan [mailto:sean@donelan.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 8:55 AM To: Smith, Donald Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: RE: FW: Worms versus Bots

On Tue, 4 May 2004, Smith, Donald wrote:

...

If you follow these steps outlined by SANS you should be able to successfully update and NOT get infected. This is short, easy, fully documented (with pictures :) http://www.sans.org/rr/papers/index.php?id=1298

The risk is smaller, but still exists if you follow these directions for XP pre-SP2. See the Microsoft release notes for XP SP2 for details about the fix.

If you do not have XP SP2, you need to disconnect your computer from the network prior to every boot cycle until it is fully patched.