Industry News Recap: Old School Malware Cyberattack

By | March 1st, 2013|Uncategorized|

adobe_updateThis past week, researchers at Kaspersky Lab and CrySys Lab uncovered a new strain of malware dubbed “MiniDuke.” This form of malware appears to combine old school techniques with more modern options to target government entities and institutions around the world. Hackers targeted dozens of computer systems at government agencies across Europe through a flaw in Adobe Systems software.

PC Mag reported that “it attacks via infected PDFs, which are emailed to specific targets with highly relevant subject lines….Once people opened the infected PDFs, MiniDuke attacked Adobe Reader versions 9, 10, and 11, bypassing its sandbox.

According to InformationWeek, once the attacker sends the malicious PDF documents to victims, the infected PCs use Twitter to install malware that can copy and delete files. “To compromise the victims, the attackers used extremely effective social engineering techniques which involved sending malicious PDF documents to their targets,” according to an overview of MiniDuke published by Kaspersky Lab. “The PDFs were highly relevant and well-crafted content that fabricated human rights seminar information and Ukraine’s foreign policy and NATO membership plans.”

We expect this new strain of “old school” malware to increase, so stay tuned. What do you think about the rise of malware? Let us know in the comments section below or on Twitter and Facebook. Also, be sure to check out our Tumblr page for the latest industry news stories.

Securing Your Digital Life: Lessons from the Mat Honan Hack

By | August 9th, 2012|Uncategorized|

With just a few easy details in hand, a hacker can drastically change your life. Wired technology reporter Mat Honan’s digital life was recently abolished by a couple of hackers who ultimately sought access to his three-letter Twitter handle, @Mat. Within a matter of minutes, they deleted his Google account, erasing years of communication with technology influencers.  They wiped each of his Apple devices, including all existing photos of his baby daughter. And finally, they took over his Twitter.

Mat has written a full account (a worthwhile read) on how these hackers destroyed his digital life with such ease. Access to Mat’s Gmail led them to his billing information stored in his Amazon account, which provided them with the credentials to access his Apple ID and iCloud, and eventually his Twitter handle.

Mat’s story has had a strong impact on the security and technology industries. As professionals and consumers, what can we learn?

  • Use two-factor authentication—Mat believes that had he set up two-factor authentication on his Gmail account, the hack would have been foiled from the start.
  • Avoid linking accounts when possible—Mat’s various accounts were all linked, providing access to one another.
  • Vary your email addresses—Mat’s email addresses each had the same basic format, so the hackers could guess any that were unknown.
  • Back up your data in a hard location—Mat lost private photos and documents that were only saved on his computer and iCloud.
  • Be wary of using Find My Mac tool—Hackers can use this tool to remotely wipe your computer.

One of the hackers has been in touch with Mat since the incident, saying, “He likes to publicize security exploits, so companies will fix them. He says it’s the same reason he told me how it was done.” It’s true—this story has highlighted a number of security holes in the companies we trust most with our personal data. Apple, for instance, has put a lockdown on over-the-phone Apple ID resets, and Amazon will no longer allow customers to change account settings via phone.

What is your biggest takeaway from Mat’s story? What would you do as a consumer or company to prevent this from being possible? Share your thoughts via comments, Twitter or Facebook

Avoiding Social Spam on Facebook and Twitter

By | January 30th, 2012|Uncategorized|

By John Sileo, CSID consumer security expert

The post appears like it’s coming from a known friend. It’s enticing (“check out what our old high school friend does for a living now!”), feeds on your curiosity and good nature, begs you to click. A quick peek at the video, a chance to win a FREE iPad or to download a coupon, and presto, you’ve just infected your computer with malware (all the bad stuff that sends your private information to criminals and marketers). Sound like the spam email of days gone by? You’re right – spam has officially moved into the world of social media, and it’s like winning the lottery for cyber thugs.

What is Social Spam? Nothing more than junk posts on your social media sites luring you to click on links that download malicious software onto your computer or mobile device.

Social media (especially Facebook and Twitter) are under assault by social spam. Even Facebook cautions that the social spam volume is growing more rapidly than their user base. The spam-fighting teams at both Facebook and Twitter are growing rapidly. The previous handful of special engineers has seen the inclusion of lawyers, user-operations managers, risk analysts, spam-science programmers and account-abuse specialists. Spammers are following the growing market share, exploiting our web of social relationships. Most of us are ill-prepared to defend against such spam attacks. Here’s how social spam tends to work:

1. Malware infects your friend’s computer, smartphone or tablet, allowing the spammer to access their Facebook or Twitter account exactly as if the spammer were your friend.

2. The spammer posts a message on your friend’s Facebook or Twitter page offering a free iPad, amazing coupons or a video you can’t ignore.

3. You click on the link, photo, Like button (see Like-jacking below) or video and are taken to a website that requires you to click a second time to receive the coupon, video, etc. It’s this second click that kills you, as this is when you authorize the rogue site to download malware onto your computer (not a coupon or video).

4. The malware infects your computer just like it has your friend’s and starts the process all over again using your contacts, your wall and your profile to continue the fraud.

5. Eventually, the spammer has collected a massive database of information including email addresses, login information and valuable social relationship data that they can exploit in many ways. In the process, the malware may have given them access to other data on your computer like bank logins, personal information or sensitive files. In a highly disturbing growth of criminal activity, social malware can actually impersonate users, initiating one-on-one Facebook chat sessions without your consent.

“Like-jacking” involves convincing Facebook users to click on an image or a link that looks as if a friend has clicked the “Like” button, thereby recommending that you follow suit. If our friends Like it, why shouldn’t we. So we click and download in an almost automated response. The key is to interrupt this automatic reflex before we get stung.

Fighting social spam requires immense investments of time, which can mean lost productivity (and money). Gratefully, various company site-integrity teams watch trends in user activity to spot spam. Every day, Facebook says it blocks 200 million malicious actions, such as messages linking to malware. The company can’t prevent spam, but it’s diligently working to make it harder to create and use fake profiles.

But never count on someone else to protect what is yours. You must own up to your responsibility. Follow these 6 Steps to Minimize the Risks of Social Spam:

1. If the offer in the post is too enticing, too good to be true or too bad to be real, don’t click.

2. If you do click and aren’t taken directly to what you expected, make sure you don’t click a second time. This gives the spammer the ability to download malware to your system.

3. Don’t let hackers gain access to your account in the first place – use strong alpha-numberic-upper-lower case passwords that are different for every site and that you change frequently.

4. Remember, in a world where your friend’s accounts are pretty easily taken over, not all friends are who they say they are. Be judicious. If something they post is out of character, it might not be them writing the post. Call them and verify.

5. Don’t befriend strangers. Your ego wins, but you loose.

6. Make sure you have updated computer security: operating system patches, robust passwords, file encryption, security software, firewall and protected Wi-Fi connection.

John Sileo is an award-winning author and international speaker on the dark art of deception (identity theft, data privacy, social media manipulation) and it’s polar opposite, the powerful use of trust, to achieve success. He is CEO of The Sileo Group, which advises teams on how to multiply performance by building a culture of deep trust. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer, the FDIC, and Homeland Security. Sample his Keynote Presentation (he shares how he lost $300,000, 2 years and his business to data breach), or watch him on Anderson Cooper, 60 Minutes or Fox Business. 1.800.258.8076.

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