Colasoft Blog

Facebook users have to be very careful when they’re hanging out on Facebook because a new worm called FBHOLE is out there everywhere. According to the reports that FBHOLE “doesn’t seem to be doing anything else than posting a message to people’s Facebook walls”. As an innovative network security software provider, Colasoft responses to analyze the worm immediately and we do get some ideas to help keep our users away from FBHOLE worm.

Behavior Study

If you click any post link like: http://www.fbhole.com/omg/allow.php?s=a&r=[random number] (post name” try not to laugh xD”) on a post wall, you will probably be lead to a page like the figure below:

Figure 1: try not to laugh xD with a fbhole.com link

The web page pops up a message box tells that there are some errors. Of course you will click the OK button to close the dialog box readily. Once you click the OK button, you may find there is one more post submitted to your wall.

Figure 2: Error messages

After the study of the HTML and scripts of the web page, we find that wherever you click on this page, you will trigger a script that tries to submit the same post to your Facebook wall. All these are done by a hidden iframe showing below:

Figure 3: iFrame code

This iframe follows your mouse movements. Wherever you click on the page, you will always click the invisible “Publish” button.

Tips to keep your network away from FBHOLE worm:

Until now we find that is all it does without any further harm to your computer system. To help keep our users to away fromthis worm, we do have some suggestions:

1. Inform the users in your network not click any links shown in the Figure 1.
2. Set up a filter to monitor which users click these links.
3. Locate the computer and scan it with an anti-virus program because there are possibilities that the worm may evolve to infect the operation system.

by Michael Dragone at June 1, 2010.

At some point in the career of almost any IT professional, there comes a time when a detailed examination of network traffic at the packet level is required to troubleshoot a problem. These problems often occur at the worst time, and having the ability to quickly perform a detailed traffic analysis is critical to resolving the problem swiftly and efficiently.

In the field of network analyzers, there’s a range of choices. On the one end, you can obtain free tools that support basic capture tasks but require you to perform much of the analysis. On the other end, you can purchase multifunctional tools that perform the analysis for you.

I took at look at the recently released Capsa 7.1 from Colasoft to see how it performed. I was especially interested to see how it fared against free tools such as Microsoft’s Network Monitor and Wireshark (formerly Ethereal). I ran the software on a Windows XP Professional SP3 computer.

Capsa downloaded quickly, and the installation process was brief. During installation, I was given the opportunity to install additional Colasoft tools such as a packet generator. I declined because I was focusing on the network analyzer, but it was nice to see those tools included as an installation option and not as an additional download. I was also happy that the installation process gave me full control over the creation of the desktop and Quick Launch icons instead of littering my test computer with icons everywhere. Finally, I was expecting to have to reboot my computer after the installation, as I assumed that the installation routine would make changes to the network stack. I was happy to see that this wasn’t the case and no reboot was required.

When you start Capsa, an interface presents you with intuitive options that let you select the network you want to analyze and the type of analysis you want to perform, such as Full Analysis, Traffic Monitor, Security Analysis, and Email Analysis. I wanted to analyze traffic, so I selected Traffic Monitor and clicked the large play button. The analysis began immediately.

As Figure 1 shows, Capsa uses the Fluent interface introduced in Microsoft Office 2007. As such, it’s extremely easy to navigate and almost, dare I say, fun to poke around the various tabs as the product captures network traffic.

The information that the product can capture can be daunting, but it was easy to filter the capture to look for only HTTP traffic. The filter interface provides an excellent graphical representation of what your newly created filter will do.

I was able to drill-down into my newly captured HTTP traffic to the packet level and examine all the details. Because it was encrypted HTTP Secure (HTTPS) traffic, I couldn’t look into the data payload, but all the header details were available. I was also able to examine entire TCP conversations, from the initial handshake all the way down to the FIN flag. The graphical representations that this product can produce are simply wonderful.

Overall, Capsa is a joy to use. My only complaint is the high price tag, which might make it difficult to obtain if you don’t spend a majority of your time examining network traffic, as free (and excellent) alternatives exist. Despite this, I highly recommend this product and would be glad to add it to my toolbox.

After trying out the demo version, Long Island Rail Road gives a thumbs-up to Colasoft Capsa Analyzer and chooses Capsa to be the guardian of its digital health.

The Long Island Rail Road (reporting mark LI) or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York that has been classified as a Class II railroad by the Surface Transportation Board. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, servicing around 81 million passengers each year, and the oldest US railroad still operating under its original name and charter. There are 124 stations on the LIRR, and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of track on its two lines to the two forks of the island and eight major branches.

Colasoft Packet Builder and Packet Player are very useful free tools. The latest versions, Packet Builder 1.0.1 and Packet Player 1.2.1 can support windows 7.

Colasoft Packet Builder

Colasoft Packet Builder enables creating custom network packets; users can use this tool to check their network protection against attacks and intruders.Colasoft Packet Builder includes a very powerful editing feature. Besides common HEX editing raw data, it features a Decoding Editor allowing users to edit specific protocol field values much easier.

Colasoft Packet Player

Colasoft Packet Player is a packet replayer which allows users to open captured packet trace files and play them back in the network. It supports many packet trace file formats created by sniffer software, such as Coalsoft Capsa, Ethereal, Network General Sniffer and WildPackets EtherPeek/OmniPeek, etc.

Except sending packet files in original interval between loops, Colasoft Packet Player also supports sending packet files in burst mode and defining the delay between loops if the loop count is more than one.

How are you using Capsa Network Analyzer to handle daily administration issues? How did you use Capsa Network Analyzer to solve your network problems? Share your story with us and You Can Win an Acer Laptop!

Have a look of our prizes!

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Wow! another review is done by one of the greatest media in technology, physorg.com.

As computers become more ingrained in the daily operations of most companies, it seems that running into problems occurs more frequently and with greater consequences. When it comes to computer networks, the key issues are security, speed, and reliability. A newly improved network analyzer called Capsa 6.9 R2, developed by Colasoft Inc., can help companies monitor, detect, and troubleshoot network problems. This review highlights some of the main features of Colasoft Capsa, which together make the product an overall powerful tool for maintaining network security.

To read a full review, please click here. And don’t forget to comment and vote!

We are pleased to announce one of the major media in computer and software technology, TechRepublic.com, recently published a review of Capsa network analyzer

Having good insight to your network is critical. There are so many potential issues that can be going on that any additional tool can be welcome. This can include attacks, transmissions and applications without encryption, or incorrect configurations bogging down the network.

Recently, I had a chance to evaluate the Colasoft network analyzer or Capsa. Capsa offers a lot of features in a small package, though the network analyzer field is very crowded. One thing that can differentiate a network tool is ease of use.

To read a full review, click here. Do not forget to leave a message and vote for the review!

We are glad to see one of the biggest software directory, fiberdownload.com, recently tested Capsa 6.9 R2 and wrote us a very impressive review.

Capsa is a great and affordable all in one network analyzer tool that will help you carry out your daily activities without being afraid of Internet threats.
But the first question that you ask yourself when you see this application for the first time is What CAPSA means ?

After testing it, I would say that CAPSA, apart of being a great network monitoring tool, means :
Confidence
Afordability
Performance
Safety
Advanced

It’s quite impressive that we never explained the software name like this. To view the the full review, please click here

We are so excited to announce a new version of our flagship product – Colasoft Capsa Network Analyzer. The latest released Capsa 6.9 R2 is now fully compatible with the current Windows 7 32bit and 64bit Edition, satisfying the users’ growing need for Win 7 compatibility.

Please check the following for new features and latest improvement of Capsa 6.9 R2. We hope you enjoy the new version! Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.

New Features:

• Support Windows 7 32bit and 64bit Edition.
• Packet Player: Support replay multiple packet files simultaneously.
• Globally added two new options: alias(or hostname) and address can be displayed simultaneously.
• There is a new option in the global Option settings users can enable to prevent hibernation when capturing.
• New protocol ISL and FCoE can be recognized now.
• Decoders for ISL, FCoE protocols.
• Support Windows Server 2008 and X64 Edition.

Improvements:

• An online help section activated in Start Page below Quick Link.
• The Loopback won’t be shown in the NIC test wizard.

Bug Fixed:

• A wrong value has been displayed in the decode area for IP Fragment Offset.
• Users login as other windows ID will have to reactivate Capsa every time they login.

Download a Free Trial Now

We are going to release Capsa 6.9 R2 very soon, stay close