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Detekt — Free Anti-Malware Tool To Detect Govt. Surveillance Malware

Detekt — Free Anti-Malware Tool To Detect Govt. Surveillance Malware

Nov 21, 2014
Human rights experts and Privacy International have launched a free tool allowing users to scan their computers for surveillance spyware, typically used by governments and other organizations to spy on human rights activists and journalists around the world. This free-of-charge anti-surveillance tool, called Detekt , is an open source software app released in partnership with Human rights charity Amnesty International, Germany's Digitale Gesellschaft, the Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF ) and Privacy International, in order to combat government surveillance. NEED AN EYE FOR AN EYE The global surveillance carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies recently disclosed by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shed light on just how far our own government can go to keep track of citizens, whether innocent or otherwise. Therefore, such tool will help them see if their devices have been infected by any spyware. Detekt was dev
Suspected Wirelurker iOS Malware Creators Arrested in China

Suspected Wirelurker iOS Malware Creators Arrested in China

Nov 18, 2014
It's been almost two weeks since the WireLurker malware existence was revealed for the first time, and Chinese authorities have arrested three suspects who are allegedly the authors of the Mac- and iOS-based malware that may have infected as many as hundreds of thousands of Apple users. The Beijing Bureau of Public security has announced the arrest of three suspects charged with distributing the WireLurker malware through a popular Chinese third-party online app store. The authorities also say the website that was responsible for spreading the malware has also been shut down. "WireLurker" malware was originally discovered earlier this month by security firm Palo Alto Networks targeting Apple users in China. The malware appeared as the first malicious software program that has ability to penetrate the iPhone's strict software controls. The main concern to worry about this threat was its ability to attack non-jailbroken iOS devices. Once a device infected
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
OnionDuke APT Malware served through Tor Network

OnionDuke APT Malware served through Tor Network

Nov 17, 2014
The malicious Russian Tor exit node , which was claimed to be patching binary files, is actually distributing a malware program to launch cyber-espionage attacks against European government agencies. The group behind the rogue Tor exit node had likely been infecting files for more than a year, causing victims to download and install a backdoor file that gave hackers full control of their systems. Last month Josh Pitts of Leviathan Security Group uncovered a malicious Tor exit node that wraps Windows executable files inside a second, malicious Windows executable. But when Artturi Lehtiö of F-Secure carried out an in-depth research, he found that the exit node was actually linked to the notorious Russian APT family MiniDuke . " MiniDuke " previously infected government agencies and organizations in more than 20 countries via a modified Adobe PDF email attachment . MiniDuke malware is written in assembly language with its tiny file size (20KB), and uses hijacke
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
BASHLITE Malware leverages ShellShock Bug to Hijack Devices Running BusyBox

BASHLITE Malware leverages ShellShock Bug to Hijack Devices Running BusyBox

Nov 17, 2014
Cyber criminals are using new malware variants by exploiting GNU Bash vulnerability referred to as ShellShock ( CVE-2014-6271 ) in order to infect embedded devices running BusyBox software, according to a researcher. A new variant of " Bashlite " malware targeting devices running BusyBox software was spotted by the researchers at Trend Micro shortly after the public disclosure of the ShellShock vulnerability. BusyBox provides set of command line utilities that are specifically designed to run in constrained embedded environments. At compile time, different capabilities can be left out, reducing the size of the binaries, and efforts are made to make them memory efficient. This makes the software an excellent candidate for use in consumer electronics devices, which seem to have been the items of interest in this case. The malware variant, detected as ELF_BASHLITE.A (ELF_FLOODER.W) , when executed on victim's machine, scans compromised networks for device
Darkhotel APT Malware Targets Global CEOs Using Hotel Internet

Darkhotel APT Malware Targets Global CEOs Using Hotel Internet

Nov 11, 2014
A seven-year-old cyber espionage campaign has targeted senior level executives from large global companies by using a specialized Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) , zero-day exploits, and well-developed keyloggers to extract information from them when they stay in luxury hotels during their business trips. The researchers at Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky Lab dubbed the threat as " DarkHotel APT ," appear to have the ability to know in advance when a targeted executive checks in and checks out of a hotel. The group has been operating in Asia since from 2009 but there have been infections recorded in the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Ireland and many others, as well. It uses hotel Wi-Fi networks to target elite executives at organisations in manufacturing, defense, investment capital, private equity, automotive and other industries. The group has access to zero day vulnerabilities and exploits, and it used them to infect victims. Threa
Masque Attack — New iOS Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Replace Apps with Malware

Masque Attack — New iOS Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Replace Apps with Malware

Nov 11, 2014
Android have been a long time target for cyber criminals, but now it seems that they have turned their way towards iOS devices. Apple always says that hacking their devices is too difficult for cyber crooks, but a single app has made it possible for anyone to hack an iPhone. A security flaw in Apple's mobile iOS operating system has made most iPhones and iPads vulnerable to cyber attacks by hackers seeking access to sensitive data and control of their devices, security researchers warned. The details about this new vulnerability was published by the Cyber security firm FireEye on its blog on Monday, saying the flaw allows hackers to access devices by fooling users to download and install malicious iOS applications on their iPhone or iPad via tainted text messages, emails and Web links. MASQUE ATTACK - REPLACING TRUSTED APPS The malicious iOS apps can then be used to replace the legitimate apps, such as banking or social networking apps, that were installed thro
New BlackEnergy Crimeware Enhanced to Target Linux Systems and Cisco Routers

New BlackEnergy Crimeware Enhanced to Target Linux Systems and Cisco Routers

Nov 05, 2014
Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have unearthed new capabilities in the BlackEnergy Crimeware weapon that has now ability to hacking  routers , Linux systems and Windows, targeting industry through Cisco network devices. The antivirus vendor's Global Research & Analysis Team released a report Monday detailing some of the new " relatively unknown " custom plug-in capabilities that the cyber espionage group has developed for BlackEnergy to attack Cisco networking devices and target ARM and MIPS platforms. The malware was upgraded with custom plugins including Ciscoapi.tcl which targets The Borg's kit, and According to researchers, the upgraded version contained various wrappers over Cisco EXEC-commands and " a punchy message for Kaspersky , " which reads, " F*uck U, Kaspersky!!! U never get a fresh B1ack En3rgy. So, thanks C1sco 1td for built-in backd00rs & 0-days. " BlackEnergy malware program was originally created and used by cy
AirHopper — Hacking Into an Isolated Computer Using FM Radio Signals

AirHopper — Hacking Into an Isolated Computer Using FM Radio Signals

Nov 01, 2014
In order to secure sensitive information such as Finance, many companies and government agencies generally use totally secure computer systems by making sure it aren't connected to any network at all. But the most secure systems aren't safe anymore. Security researchers at the Cyber Security Labs at Ben Gurion University in Israel have found a way to snoop on a personal computer even with no network connection. STEALING DATA USING RADIO SIGNALS Researchers have developed a proof-of-concept malware that can infiltrate a closed network to lift data from a machine that has been kept completely isolated from the internet or any Wi-Fi connection by using little more than a mobile phone's FM radio signals. Researcher Mordechai Guri , along with Professor Yuval Elovici of Ben Gurion University, presented the research on Thursday in the 9th IEEE International Conference on Malicious and Unwanted Software ( MALCON 2014 ) held at Denver. This new technology is kno
APT28 — State Sponsored Russian Hacker Group

APT28 — State Sponsored Russian Hacker Group

Oct 30, 2014
Nearly a decade-long cyber espionage group that targeted a variety of Eastern European governments and security-related organizations including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been exposed by a security research firm. The US intelligence firm FireEye released its latest Advanced Persistent Threat ( APT ) report on Tuesday which said that the cyber attacks targeting various organisations would be of the interest to Russia, and " may be " sponsored by the Russian government. The Report entitled " APT28: A Window Into Russia's Cyber Espionage Operations " published by FireEye has " evidence of long-standing, focused operations that indicate a government sponsor - specifically, a government based in Moscow. " " Despite rumours of the Russian government's alleged involvement in high-profile government and military cyber attacks, there has been little hard evidence of any link to cyber espionage, " Dan McWhort
Koler Android Ransomware Learns to Spread via SMS

Koler Android Ransomware Learns to Spread via SMS

Oct 25, 2014
Users of Android operating system are warned of a new variant of Android malware Koler that spreads itself via text message and holds the victim's infected mobile phone hostage until a ransom is paid. Researchers observed the Koler Android ransomware Trojan , at the very first time, in May when the Trojan was distributed through certain pornographic websites under the guise of legitimate apps. It locks the victim's mobile screen and then demands money from users with fake notifications from law enforcement agencies accusing users of viewing and storing child pornography. ANDROID SMS WORM Recently, researchers from mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile has discovered a new variant of the rare piece of mobile malware – named Worm.Koler – that allows the malware to spread via text message spam and attempts to trick users into opening a shortened bit.ly URL, turning Koler into an SMS worm. Once the device is infected by the Koler variant, it will first send an SMS mess
Tyupkin Malware Hacking ATM Machines Worldwide

Tyupkin Malware Hacking ATM Machines Worldwide

Oct 08, 2014
Money is always a perfect motivation for cyber criminals who tries different tricks to solely target users with card skimmers that steal debit card numbers, but now the criminals are using specialized malware that targets ATM (Automated Teller Machine) systems to withdraw cash even without the need of a card. The new backdoor program, dubbed as " Tyupkin ," requires physical access to the ATM system running 32-bit Windows platforms and booting it off of a CD in order to install the malware. According to the researchers, the threat has continued to evolve in recent months, infecting ATMs in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. There are no details relating to the criminal gang behind the attacks, but they have already stolen "millions of dollars" from ATMs worldwide using the sophisticated malware, security firms Kaspersky and Interpol, who are working together in an attempt to foil the criminal gang, said in a joint statement released on Tuesday. " Over t
BadUSB Malware Code Released — Turn USB Drives Into Undetectable CyberWeapons

BadUSB Malware Code Released — Turn USB Drives Into Undetectable CyberWeapons

Oct 04, 2014
Once again USB has come up as a major threat to a vast number of users who use USB drives – including USB sticks and keyboards. Security researchers have released a bunch of hacking tools that can be used to convert USB drive into silent malware installer. This vulnerability has come about to be known as " BadUSB ", whose source code has been published by the researchers on the open source code hosting website Github , demanding manufacturers either to beef up protections for USB flash drive firmware and fix the problem or leave hundreds of millions of users vulnerable to the attack. The code released by researchers Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson has capability to spread itself by hiding in the firmware meant to control the ways in which USB devices connect to computers. The hack utilizes the security flaw in the USB that allows an attacker to insert malicious code into their firmware. But Wait! What this means is that this critical vulnerability is now ava
FBI Arrested CEO of 'StealthGenie' for Selling Mobile Spyware Apps

FBI Arrested CEO of 'StealthGenie' for Selling Mobile Spyware Apps

Oct 01, 2014
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested the CEO of a UK-based company for allegedly advertising and selling a spyware app to individuals who suspect their romantic partners of cheating on them. The dodgy cell phone spyware application, dubbed as StealthGenie , monitors victims' phone calls, text messages, videos, emails and other communications "without detection" when it is installed on a target's phone, according to the Department of Justice. The chief executive officer of a mobile spyware maker is a Pakistani man collared 31-year-old Hammad Akbar , of Lahore, who was arrested over the weekend in Los Angeles for flogging StealthGenie spyware application and now faces a number of federal charges. According to the US Department of Justice, Akbar operates a company called InvoCode, which sold the StealthGenie spyware app online that can intercept communications to and from mobile phones including Apple, Google, and BlackBerry devices. T
Hackers Using 'Shellshock' Bash Vulnerability to Launch Botnet Attacks

Hackers Using 'Shellshock' Bash Vulnerability to Launch Botnet Attacks

Sep 27, 2014
Researchers on Thursday discovered a critical remotely exploitable vulnerability in the widely used command-line shell GNU Bourne Again Shell ( Bash ), dubbed " Shellshock " which affects most of the Linux distributions and servers worldwide, and may already have been exploited in the wild to take over Web servers as part of a botnet that is currently trying to infect other servers as well. BOTNET ATTACK IN THE WILD The bot was discovered by the security researcher with the Twitter handle @yinettesys , who reported it on Github and said it appeared to be remotely controlled by miscreants, which indicates that the vulnerability is already being used maliciously by the hackers. The vulnerability (CVE-2014-6271) , which came to light on Wednesday, affects versions 1.14 through 4.3 of GNU Bash and could become a dangerous threat to Linux/Unix and Apple users if the patches to BASH are not applied to the operating systems. However, the patches for the vulnerabil
jQuery Official Website Compromised To Serve Malware

jQuery Official Website Compromised To Serve Malware

Sep 24, 2014
The official website of the popular cross-platform JavaScript library jQuery (jquery.com) has been compromised and redirecting its visitors to a third-party website hosting the RIG exploit kit , in order to distribute information-stealing malware. JQuery is a free and open source JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. It is used to build AJAX applications and other dynamic content easily. The popular JavaScript library is used by 30 percent of websites, including 70 percent of the top 10,000 most visited websites. James Pleger , Director of Research at Risk management software company RiskIQ , reported yesterday that the attack against jQuery.com web servers launched for a short period of time on the afternoon of September 18th. So, the users who visited the website on September 18th may have infected their system with data-stealing malware by redirecting users to the website hosting RIG. Pleger urged those who visited the site durin
Limitless Keylogger Optimized with AutoIT Infected thousands of Computers

Limitless Keylogger Optimized with AutoIT Infected thousands of Computers

Sep 23, 2014
A new surge of malware has been discovered which goes on to infect hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide and allegedly steals users' social and banking site credentials. Few days back, a list of 5 million combinations of Gmail addresses and passwords were leaked online. The search engine giant, Google said that Gmail credentials didn't come from the security breaches of its system, rather the credentials had been stolen by phishing campaigns and unauthorized access to user accounts. Just now, we come across another similar incident where cyber criminals are using a malware which has already compromised thousands of Windows users worldwide in an effort to steal their Social Media account, Online account and Banking account Credentials. A Greek Security Researcher recently discovered a malware sample via a spam campaign (caught in a corporate honeypot), targeting large number of computers users rapidly. He investigated and posted a detailed technical analyses of
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