DHS & US-CERT Recommended to Disable Java in Web Browsers

DHS & US-CERT Recommended to Disable Java in Web Browsers Unless It's Absolutely Necessary

The running time is proving to be the worst period for Java, as it has been walking under serious security issues. Yet again security researchers have pointed out a zero-day security vulnerability in the Java program that hackers are exploiting. The exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability left open in Java 7 Update 10, released in October last year. It works by getting Java users to visit a website with malicious code that takes advantage of a security gap to take control of users' computers. Thus how Java is being used by cyber criminals to infect computers with malware. Oracle, hasn't specified the number of users who have downloaded Java 7 Update 10. However, Java runs on more than 850 million computers and other devices. When Oracle released Update 10, so it is predictable that more than 850 million devices run by Java is under threat. The exploit was first discovered by French researcher Kafeine, who claimed to have found it running on a site registering hundreds of thousands of page views daily. From that site, immediately that vulnerability and a large number of effected devices has been spotted in the wild. In Java 7 Update 10 the creator of Java, Oracle added several security control and fixed older bugs and promised more security enhancement, but its very unfortunate that Oracle failed to keep their promise. What ever after this newly discovered 0-day hole spotted wildly, Oracle Security Alert CVE-2013-0422 states that Java 7 Update 11 addresses this (CVE-2013-0422) and an equally severe, but distinct vulnerability (CVE-2012-3174). Immunity has indicated that only the reflection vulnerability has been fixed and that the JMX MBean vulnerability remains. Java 7u11 sets the default Java security settings to "High" so that users will be prompted before running unsigned or self-signed Java applets. It "strongly recommends" that Java SE 7 users upgrade immediately to avoid all kind of security hazards. 

After seeing all the drama, many of you have failed to keep trust in Java, and you all will be relieved when you will gone through the security advisory of CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) where they have clearly instructed to disable Java in your popular web-browser. In their official release CERT said "Unless it is absolutely necessary to run Java in web browsers, disable it as described below, even after updating to 7u11. This will help mitigate other Java vulnerabilities that may be discovered in the future."

You will see similar advice in the advisory posted on the official DHS US-CERT website where DHS also suggested to disable Java until and unless it is that much necessary. "To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities, consider disabling Java in web browsers until adequate updates are available. As with any software, unnecessary features should be disabled or removed as appropriate for your environment." - said U.S. CERT in their advisory. 

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#ProjectWhiteFox -Team GhostShell Hacked 1.6 Million Accounts of NASA, ESA, Pentagon & FBI

#ProjectWhiteFox -Team GhostShell Hacked 1.6 Million Accounts of NASA, ESA, Pentagon & FBI

After the devastating "Project Blackstar" now the hacktivist group calling them selves "Team GhostShell" announced another big hack, where the hackers have targeted several big organizations. This round of cyber attack was going under the banner of #ProjectWhiteFox, in which GhostShell has posted log-in details of 1.6 million accounts they claim are taken from a series of attacks on organizations including NASA, FBI, European Space Agency and Pentagon, as well as many companies that partner with these organizations. The Anonymous subsidiary group has posted the details on Pastebin, while describing the aim of the hack; as part of their #ProjectWhiteFox campaign to promote hacktivism and freedom of information on the internet. The hacker group claimed that the leaked information contained log-in names, passwords, email addresses, CV & several other sensitive information. In their release GhostShell said - "For those two factors we have prepared a juicy release of 1.6 million accounts/records from fields such as aerospace, nanotechnology, banking, law, education, government, military, all kinds of wacky companies & corporations working for the department of defense, airlines and more."

GhostShell members also said that they have messaged security bosses about the insecurity a number of organizations they targeted during attacks throughout 2012, describing it as "an early Christmas present." 

In a Pastebin file, GhostShell features a list of 37 organizations and companies, including The European Space Agency, NASA’s Engineers: Center for Advanced Engineering, and a Defense Contractor for the Pentagon. GhostShell sets itself apart from other hacktivist groups by targeting more than just one company or organization, and then releasing the results of its attack all at once. This set of hacks is spread out across 456 links, many of which simply contain raw dump files uploaded to GitHub and mirrored on paste sites Slexy.org and PasteSite.com.

The uploaded files contain what appears to be user data that looks to have been obtained from the servers of the various firms (likely via SQL injection). The entries include IP addresses, names, logins, email addresses, passwords, phone numbers, and even home addresses. Email accounts include the big three (Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo), as well as many .gov accounts. There are also various documents and material related to partnerships between companies and government bodies, as well as sensitive information for the aforementioned industries. 

Furthermore, the group says it has sent an email to the ICS-CERT Security Operations Center, Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), Lessons Learned and Information Sharing (LLIS), the FBI’s Washington Division and Seattle location, Flashpoint Intel Partners, Raytheon, and NASA. In it, they say to have detailed “another 150 vulnerable servers from the Pentagon, NASA, DHS, Federal Reserve, Intelligence firms, L-3 CyberSecurity, JAXA, etc.”

-Source (TNW)

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Vulnerability Found in Samsung Printers Allowing Remote Hack

Vulnerability Found in Samsung Printers Allowing Remote Hack 

Bad news for those who are using Samsung and Dell-branded printers, as in an advisory U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US CERT) issued an warning that a hard coded administrative account could allow remote attackers to take control of their device. According to the vulnerability note (VU#281284)- Samsung printers contain a hardcoded account that could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected device. Samsung printers (as well as some Dell printers manufactured by Samsung) contain a hardcoded SNMP full read-write community string that remains active even when SNMP is disabled in the printer management utility. Manipulating the above vulnerability a remote, unauthenticated attacker could access an affected device with administrative privileges. Secondary impacts include: the ability to make changes to the device configuration, access to sensitive information (e.g., device and network information, credentials, and information passed to the printer), and the ability to leverage further attacks through arbitrary code execution. 

Solution:-
Samsung and Dell have stated that models released after October 31, 2012 are not affected by this vulnerability. Samsung and Dell have also indicated that they will be releasing a patch tool later this year to address vulnerable devices.
Block Port 1118/udp
The reporter has stated that blocking the custom SNMP trap port of 1118/udp will help mitigate the risks.

Restrict Access:
As a general good security practice, only allow connections from trusted hosts and networks. Restricting access would prevent an attacker from accessing an SNMP interface using the affected credentials from a blocked network location.

While talking about vulnerabilities in Printer, then we would like to remind you that late in last year Columbia University Researchers have discovered a vulnerability in some Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet printer lines that could allow attackers to install a modified firmware to steal information, run attacks from within a network or cause physical damage to the printer. Later HP issued firmware to fix those security hole.

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Russian Hacker Behind Cyber Attack on Georgia Caught on His Webcam

Suspected Russian Hacker Behind Cyber Attack on Georgia Caught on His Webcam 

It said that there may be hundred ways to commit crimes but there are chances of one hundred and one times to get busted. Exactly the same things happened for a Russian hacker who was behind the cyber attack against the country of Georgia. Since 2011 Georgia is blaming that few Russian hackers are disturbing their cyber space while attacking its computer networks, injecting malicious code into websites, and planting spyware to steal classified information. After discovering that a cyber-spy was infecting government computers with malware designed to mine important documents, government officials decided to fight fire with fire. They intentionally allowed the malicious software to infect one particular computer, and baited it with a ZIP file called “Georgian-Nato Agreement” — exactly the sort of thing they knew the intruder would be looking for. Instead of important documents, however, the bait file was loaded with the hacker’s own malware. Once the hacker downloaded and opened the file, the software went to work stealing his documents and, best of all, hijacking his webcam to capture clear video of his face. According to the CERT-Georgia report, an analysis of the attack's command-and-control center revealed that at least 390 computers were infected in the attack. 70% of compromised PCs were based in Georgia, with other victims found in the USA, Canada, Ukraine, France, China, Germany and Russia. Computers hit in Georgia were predominantly based in government agencies, banks and critical infrastructure the report claims. 

In a 27 page report, the Georgian government explains in details that, how in early 2011 Georgian news websites were hacked in order to exploit vulnerabilities, and spread malware that hijacked infected computers and searched for sensitive documents. 

According to report by Naked Security- Georgian officials lay a trap. Georgia's CERT deliberately infected one of its own PCs with the malware, and planted a ZIP file named "Georgian-Nato Agreement" on its drive, hoping it would prove irresistible for the hacker. Sure enough the hacker stole the archive file and ran malware that Georgia CERT had planted inside, meaning that now investigators had control over the hacker's own computer. This made it relative child's play to capture images of the suspect at work in front of his PC. The CERT researchers claim that they also found a Russian email conversation on the suspect's computer in which he gives instruction on how to use his malware and infect targets. Furthermore, the suspected hacker's city, ISP, email address and other information were also acquired. Curiously, a domain used by the attackers was registered to an address in Moscow belonging to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, department of logistics - which just happens to be based close to the Russian Secret Service (FSB). Furthermore, according to CERT-Georgia, websites used to control the infected Georgian computers have links with RBN, the notorious Russian Business Network.

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Hackers Breached Adobe Server in Order to Compromise Certificate to Sign malware

Hackers Breached Adobe Server in Order to Compromise Certificate to Sign malware

Few advanced hackers have managed to break into an internal server at Adobe to compromise a digital certificate that allowed them to create at least two files that appear to be legitimately signed by the software maker, but actually contain malware. This security breach took place on Thursday and the software giant Adobe confirmed that the attackers signed at least two malicious utility programs with the valid Adobe certificate. The company traced the problem to a compromised build server that had the ability to get code approved from the company’s code-signing system. As a result of the breach, which appears to date back to early July, Adobe on Oct. 4 expects to revoke the compromised certificate that was used to sign the malicious files. According to Brad Arkin, senior director of product security and privacy for Adobe “This only affects the Adobe software signed with the impacted certificate that runs on the Windows platform and three Adobe AIR applications that run on both Windows and Macintosh,” 

Arkin wrote. “The revocation does not impact any other Adobe software for Macintosh or other platforms.” The company uncovered the breach after coming across two malicious "utilities" that appeared to be digitally signed with a valid Adobe cert. It is unclear how or whether those files were used in the wild to target anyone. "Sophisticated threat actors use malicious utilities like the signed samples during highly targeted attacks for privilege escalation and lateral movement within an environment following an initial machine compromise," Arkin wrote

In another blog posted by Arkin, he said that, generally speaking, most Adobe users won't be affected. "Is your Adobe software vulnerable because of this issue?" he wrote. "No". This issue has no impact on the security of your genuine Adobe software. Are there other security risks to you? We have strong reason to believe that this issue does not present a general security risk. The evidence we have seen has been limited to a single isolated discovery of two malicious utilities signed using the certificate and indicates that the certificate was not used to sign widespread malware."

The "build" server that was compromised was not configured according to Adobe's corporate standards, but that shortfall wasn't caught during the provisioning process, Arkin said. He added that the affected server did not provide the adversaries with access to any source code for other products, such as the popular Flash Player and Adobe Reader and Acrobat software. 

Here we would like to give you reminder that in the last few months we have been a slew of attacks against the following sites: Guild Wars 2, Gamigo, Blizzard, Yahoo, LinkedIn, eHarmony, Formspring, Android Forums, Gamigo,  Nvidia,Blizzard and  Philips. And after this breach Adobe also enlisted its name among those who was fallen victim to cyber criminals in this year. For all the latest on cyber security and hacking related stories; stay tuned with VOGH. 

UPDATE: Recently we got an update, where Adobe denies the breach. In their later press release an Adobe spokeswoman said the certificate was not actually stolen: "Adobe has stringent security measures in place to protect its code signing infrastructure. The private keys associated with the Adobe code signing certificates were stored in Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) kept in physically secure facilities. We confirmed that the private key associated with the Adobe code signing certificate was not extracted from the HSM."

-Source (Adobe, SC Magazine, WIRED)

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Three Secrets & Full Analysis of Flame's Command & Control Servers Unraveled

Three Secrets & Full Analysis of Flame's Command & Control Servers Unraveled

Flame the next generation cyber weapon which is also known as 'The Super Spy' has already fascinated the cyber-security industry with its sophistication and versatility as a Swiss-Army knife of cyber-spying. Recently security firm Kaspersky lab has published a new report on the sophisticated nation-state sponsored Flame cyber-espionage campaign. During the research, conducted by Kaspersky Lab in partnership with International Telecommunication Union’s cybersecurity executing arm - IMPACT, CERT-Bund/BSI and Symantec, a number of Command and Control (C&C) servers used by Flame’s creators were analyzed in detail. The analysis revealed new, groundbreaking facts about Flame. Particularly, traces of three yet undiscovered malicious programs were found, and it was discovered that the development of the Flame platform dates back to 2006.

Main findings:

• The development of Flame’s Command and Control platform started as early as December 2006.
• The C&C servers were disguised to look like a common Content Management System, to hide the true nature of the project from hosting providers or random investigations.
• The servers were able to receive data from infected machines using four different protocols; only one of them servicing computers attacked with Flame.
• The existence of three additional protocols not used by Flame provides proof that at least three other Flame-related malicious programs were created; their nature is currently unknown.
• One of these Flame-related unknown malicious objects is currently operating in the wild.
• There were signs that the C&C platform was still under development; one communication scheme named “Red Protocol” is mentioned but not yet implemented.
• There is no sign that the Flame C&Cs were used to control other known malware such as Stuxnet or Gauss.

The Flame cyber-espionage campaign was originally discovered in May 2012 by Kaspersky Lab during an investigation initiated by the International Communication Union. Following this discovery, ITU-IMPACT acted swiftly to issue an alert to its 144 member nations accompanied with the appropriate remediation and cleaning procedures. The complexity of the code and confirmed links to developers of Stuxnet all point to the fact that Flame is yet another example of a sophisticated nation-state sponsored cyber operation. Originally it was estimated that Flame started operations in 2010, but the first analysis of its Command and Control infrastructure (covered by at least 80 known domains names) shifted this date two years earlier.

The findings in this particular investigation are based on the analysis of the content retrieved from several C&C servers used by Flame. This information was recovered despite the fact that Flame’s control infrastructure went offline immediately after Kaspersky Lab disclosed the existence of malware. All servers were running the 64-bit version of the Debian operating system, virtualized using OpenVZ containers. Most of the servers’ code was written in the PHP programming language. Flame’s creators used certain measures to make the C&C server look like an ordinary Content Management System, in order to avoid attention from the hosting provider.

Sophisticated encryption methods were utilized so that no one, but the attackers, could obtain the data uploaded from infected machines. The analysis of the scripts used to handle data transmissions to the victims revealed four communication protocols, and only one of them was compatible with Flame. It means that at least three other types of malware used these Command and Control servers. There is enough evidence to prove that at least one Flame-related malware is operating in the wild. These unknown malicious programs are yet to be discovered.

Another important result of the analysis is that the development of the Flame C&C platform started as early as December 2006. There are signs that the platform is still in the process of development, since a new, yet not implemented protocol called the “Red Protocol” was found on the servers. The latest modification of the servers’ code was made on May 18, 2012 by one of the programmers.

“It was problematic for us to estimate the amount of data stolen by Flame, even after the analysis of its Command and Control servers. Flame’s creators are good at covering their tracks. But one mistake of the attackers helped us to discover more data that one server was intended to keep. Based on this we can see that more than five gigabytes of data was uploaded to this particular server a week, from more than 5,000 infected machines. This is certainly an example of cyber espionage conducted on a massive scale,” commented Alexander Gostev, Chief Security Expert, Kaspersky Lab. 

Here we want to remind you that after the episode of 'Duqu'; In the middle of this year The Iranian Computer Emergency Response Team (MAHER) claims to have discovered a new targeted Stuxnet attacking the country's internal system. This newly found Stuxnet have been dubbed Flame (also known as Flamer or Skywiper). Later it was spotted in the wild when software giant Microsoft confirmed that its Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Update (WU) has been infected by Flame malware. Also in many fields, the name of 'Flame' was on the high node. 

For detailed analysis on Flame's command and control (C&C) servers click Here

-Source (Kaspersky)

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Oracle Released Emergency Update to Patch Java 0day (CVE-2012-4681)

Oracle Released Emergency Update to Patch Java 0day (CVE-2012-4681)

Zero-day vulnerabilities in Java, which was on the spotlight for last few days; takes a new direction. Several security firms have already declared that, this newly found Java exploit had been added to Blackhole, a popular hacker's tool that bundles numerous exploits and tries each in turn until it finds one that will work against a personal computer. As expected  Oracle has released an emergency update to address those zero-day vulnerabilities. This Security Alert addresses security issues CVE-2012-4681 (US-CERT Alert TA12-240A and Vulnerability Note VU#636312) and two other vulnerabilities affecting Java running in web browsers on desktops. These vulnerabilities are not applicable to Java running on servers or standalone Java desktop applications. They also do not affect Oracle server-based software.

These vulnerabilities may be remotely exploitable without authentication, i.e., they may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password. To be successfully exploited, an unsuspecting user running an affected release in a browser will need to visit a malicious web page that leverages this vulnerability. Successful exploits can impact the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the user's system.

In addition, this Security Alert includes a security-in-depth fix in the AWT subcomponent of the Java Runtime Environment.

Due to the severity of these vulnerabilities, the public disclosure of technical details and the reported exploitation of CVE-2012-4681 "in the wild," Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply the updates provided by this Security Alert as soon as possible.

Supported Products Affected

Security vulnerabilities addressed by this Security Alert affect the products listed in the categories below.  Please click on the link in the Patch Availability column or in the Patch Availability Table to access the documentation for those patches.

Affected product releases and versions:

Java SE	Patch Availability
JDK and JRE 7 Update 6 and before	Java SE
JDK and JRE 6 Update 34 and before	Java SE

Patch Availability Table and Risk Matrix

Java SE fixes in this Security Alert are cumulative; this latest update includes all fixes from previous Critical Patch Updates and Security Alerts.

Patch Availability Table

Product Group	Risk Matrix	Patch Availability and Installation Information
Oracle Java SE	Oracle JDK and JRE Risk Matrix	Oracle Security Alert for CVE-2012-4681 My Oracle Support Note 1486726.1. Developers can download the latest Java SE JDK and JRE 7 and 6 releases fromhttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ja vase/downloads/index.html. Users running Java SE with a browser can download the latest JRE 7 release from http://java.com/. Users on the Windows platform can also use automatic updates to get the latest JRE 7 and 6 releases.

Also Java 7 Update 7 is now available to download for Windows (32- and 64-bit), Linux (32- and 64-bit), Mac OS X (64-bit), Solaris x86 (32- and 64-bit) and Solaris SPARC (32- and 64-bit). JDKs with the updated Java runtimes are also available. Users with Java installed on their systems, whatever operating system, should install the updates as soon as possible because malicious software that uses the vulnerability is already in circulation. For detailed information click here. 

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DHS Issues Malware Warning Impersonating FBI & US Cyber Command

DHS Issues Malware Warning Impersonating FBI & US Cyber Command

If you think that only innocent computer users are just the only target of cyber criminals, then you are absolutely wrong. Recently United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, widely known as US-CERT; which is a part of Depertment of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Cyber Security Division has issued an emergency alert wile announcing a new effort by cyber criminals to spread Malware that impersonates Federal law enforcement (FBI) and other government agencies. The malware is a malicious software that installs itself on a users computer without a users permission or knowledge, “displays a screen claiming that a Federal Government agency has identified the user’s computer as being associated with one of more crimes,” reports the US-CERT alert. Explaining further, the malware then instructs the victim “to pay a fine to regain the use of the computer, usually through prepaid money card services.” The appearance of the message displayed on a users screen is intended to seem like a legitimate and official looking warning from the FBI or US Cyber Command. In turn, the impersonation effort by the cyber criminals seeks to leverage this to scare victims into paying the so-called fine immediately.

“Affected users should not follow the payment instructions,” US-CERT recommends, adding, “Users may also choose to file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.” 

In their release US-CERT states:-

“US-CERT is aware of multiple malware campaigns impersonating multiple U.S. government agencies, including the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Once installed on a system, the malware displays a screen claiming that a Federal Government agency has identified the user's computer as being associated with one or more crimes. The user is told to pay a fine to regain the use of the computer, usually through prepaid money card services.”

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0-day Vulnerability Found in Java Spotted in the Wild

0-day Vulnerability Found in Java Spotted in the Wild

Yet another 0-day vulnerability found by FireEye's Malware Intelligence Lab that affects all the latest version of Java , including the current Java 7 update 6, are also vulnerable to the hole that is already being exploited in the wild. With the publication of a vulnerability notice by the US-CERT and warnings from the German BSI (Federal Office for Information Security), the best advice for all users is to disable Java applets in their browsers on all operating systems. The vulnerability can be exploited when a user visits a specially crafted web site and can be used to infect a system with malware. The code to exploit the problem is already available on the internet, making its use for infecting systems very likely. There is no patch available for the flaw so it is essential that users disable the Java plugins used by their browsers. Instructions for the various browsers can be found below:

• How to turn off Java Applets in Firefox
• Plugins in Chrome - refer to the Disable Specific Plugins section
• Disable Java in Safari 

Several security firms have already declared that, this newly found Java exploit had been added to Blackhole, a popular hacker's tool that bundles numerous exploits and tries each in turn until it finds one that will work against a personal computer. "Exploit code for the Java vulnerabilities has been added to the most prevalent exploit kit out there, Blackhole," said Websense in a short post on its company blog. The addition of the exploit to Blackhole was cited by FireEye researcher Atif Mushtaq in a similar blog entry yesterday as the basis for a spike in attacks. "After seeing the reliability of this attack, I have no doubt in my mind that within hours the casualties will be in the thousands," said Mushtaq.

-Source (The-H, CW)

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Researcher Security Hole Found in US Power Plants, DHS is Investigating

Researcher Security Hole Found in US Power Plants, DHS is Investigating  

Security researcher figure out seirous flaws in software for specialized networking equipment from Siemens could enable hackers to attack US power plants and other critical systems. A security expert said that he had found a backdoor in hardware from a Siemens subsidiary. The alleged flaw was made public by security researcher Justin W Clarke at a conference in Los Angeles. The equipment is widely used by power companies mainly based on US. Clarke said that the discovery of the flaw is disturbing because hackers who can spy on communications of infrastructure operators could gain credentials to access computer systems that control power plants and other critical systems. "If you can get to the inside, there is almost no authentication, there are almost no checks and balances to stop you," Clarke said.

The Department of Homeland Security said it was in contact with the firm to assess the claim. After this issue came in-front, the US Govt immeditely taken stpes & investigating the whole scenario. RuggedCom, a Canadian subsidiary of Siemens that sells networking equipment for use in harsh environments such as areas with extreme weather, said it was investigating Clarke's findings, but declined to elaborate. This is the second bug that Clarke, a high school graduate who never attended college, has discovered in products from RuggedCom, which are widely used by power companies that rely on its equipment to support communications to remote power stations.

In May, RuggedCom released an update to its Rugged Operating System software after Clarke discovered that it had a previously undisclosed "back door" account that could give hackers remote access to the equipment with an easily obtained password. The Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, which is known as ICS-CERT, said in its advisory on Tuesday that government analysts were working with RuggedCom and Clarke to figure out how to best mitigate any risks from the newly identified vulnerability. "According to this report, the vulnerability can be used to decrypt SSL traffic between an end-user and a RuggedCom network device," Read the full advisory. 

This is not the first time, earlier in 2011 - researcher found vulnerability in the security system of US Power Grid, form which NSA suspected that hacktivist Anonymous may even shutdown the entire US Power Grid. later The White House introduced an Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Maturity Model. For these kind of cyber security updates & news, just stay tuned with VOGH. 

-Source (Reuters & BBC)

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Flamer/Skywiper Stuxnet- Newly Found Cyber-Weapon Discovered By Iran National CERT (MAHER)

Flamer/Skywiper Stuxnet- Newly Found Cyber-Weapon Discovered by Iran National CERT (MAHER)

After "Duqu" now The Iranian Computer Emergency Response Team (MAHER) claims to have discovered a new targeted Stuxnet attacking the country's internal system. This newly found Stuxnet have been dubbed Flame (also known as Flamer or Skywiper). The name “Flamer” comes from one of the attack modules, located at various places in the decrypted malware code. In fact this malware is a platform which is capable of receiving and installing various modules for different goals. At the time of writing, none of the 43 tested anti viruses could detect any of the malicious components. Nevertheless, a detector was created by Maher center and delivered to selected organizations and companies in first days of May. 

Key Features of “Flamer” :-

• Distribution via removable medias

• Distribution through local networks

• Network sniffing, detecting network resources and collecting lists of vulnerable passwords

• Scanning the disk of infected system looking for specific extensions and contents

• Creating series of user’s screen captures when some specific processes or windows are active

• Using the infected system’s attached microphone to record the environment sounds

• Transferring saved data to control servers

• Using more than 10 domains as C&C servers

• Establishment of secure connection with C&C servers through SSH and HTTPS protocols

• Bypassing tens of known antiviruses, anti malware and other security software

• Capable of infecting Windows Xp, Vista and 7 operating systems

• Infecting large scale local networks

For additional information about "Flamer" click Here

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Administrative Password Reset Vulnerability Found in Seagate BlackArmor NAS

Administrative Password Reset Vulnerability Found in Seagate BlackArmor NAS

Security experts have revealed that the Seagate BlackArmor network attached storage device (NAS server) contains a static administrator password reset vulnerability by anyone with access to it and a particular URL. The BlackArmor range of network-attached storage devices is aimed at small businesses and offers storage and backup options from Windows PCs and Mac OS X systems, ranging from 1TB to 12TB of hard disk media. According to an exclusive report of US-CERT A remote unauthenticated attacker with access to the device's management web server can directly access the webpage, http://DevicesIpAddress/d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e.php and reset the administrator password. 

Seagate has been notified, but no fix has yet been made available. Also there is no current solution to the problem and US-CERT are only advising that network access to BlackArmor devices' web interface should be restricted. For additional information click here.

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Cyber-Attack on US Natural Gas Pipeline Companies Network, Said DHS

Cyber-Attack on US Natural Gas Pipeline Companies Network, Said DHS

In a report Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a major cyber attack is currently under way aimed squarely at computer networks belonging to US natural gas pipeline companies. DHS has issued at least three confidential warnings at the second highest alert level (Amber) to natural gas suppliers, giving a detailed warning of a wave of attacks. But the wave of cyber attacks, which apparently began four months ago – and may also affect Canadian natural gas pipeline companies – is continuing. That fact was reaffirmed late Friday in a public, albeit less detailed, "incident response" report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), an arm of DHS based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It reiterated warnings in the earlier confidential alerts made directly to pipeline companies and some power companies. The attacks are said to have been carried out using spear-phishing techniques, in which criminals use specially crafted virus-infected emails to target specific company employees. 

Approximately 200,000 miles of these interstate natural gas transmission pipelines in the US supply 25 percent of the nation's energy. Pipeline safety has been a major issue in recent years, highlighted by the San Bruno, Calif. In Friday's public warning, ICS-CERT reaffirms that its "analysis of the malware and artifacts associated with these cyber attacks has positively identified this activity as related to a single campaign from a single source." It goes on to broadly describe a sophisticated "spear-phishing" campaign – an approach in which cyber attackers attempt to establish digital beachheads within corporate networks.

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Nessus 5.0 Vulnerability Scanner Released

Nessus 5.0 Vulnerability Scanner Released 

Tenable Network Security officially announced the availability of Nessus 5.0 vulnerability scanner. This release introduces key features and improvements, separated into the four major phases of the vulnerability scanning process:

1. Installation and management (for enhanced usability)
2. Scan policy creation and design (for improved effectiveness)
3. Scan execution (for improved efficiency)
4. Report customization and creation (for improved communication with all parts of the organization).

Installation & Management:-
Nessus 5.0 simplifies the installation and configuration for non-technical users:

• Installation: Nessus v5.0 has a browser-based installation wizard — no special knowledge required. Users on a wide variety of platforms — Windows, Mac, Linux, or UNIX — can have Nessus v5.0 installed within minutes.

• Configuration and management: Nessus v5.0 configuration and management is now done 100% through the GUI.

• With all configuration and management now done through the web interface, the Nessus user experience is the same for all users, regardless of OS.

• With the touch of a button on the GUI, Nessus users can now quickly initiate plugin updates and see last update information.

Scan Policy Creation & Design:-
Users now enjoy improved effectiveness when creating scan policies:

• Over two dozen new pre-built plugin filters make it easy for security and compliance professionals to simplify policy creation for laser-focused scans on the areas that matter most. Users can quickly select multiple filter criteria, such as, Vulnerability Publication Date, public vulnerability database ID (OSVDB, Bugtraq, CERT Advisory, and Secunia), Plugin type (local or remote), information assurance vulnerability alert (IAVA), and more, to quickly identify easily-exploitable vulnerabilities. For example:

• Scan for all easily remotely-exploitable vulnerabilities for which there is an exploit published in your favorite exploit framework.

• Scan for local third-party client software that is unpatched.

• Scan for systems that have been missing patches for more than a year.

• Policies can be configured to produce reports that are locked to prevent editing.

Scan Execution: Improved efficiency:-
Nessus 5.0 users can take advantage of real-time scan results, on-the-fly filtering and sorting, and streamlined results navigation:

• New criticality level: Nessus v5.0 now has five severity levels — Informational, Low Risk, Medium Risk, High Risk, and Critical Risk. The Informational level quickly identifies non-vulnerability information and separates it from the vulnerability detail.

• Example: A user may want to run a query against all hosts running web servers not on the normal http or https ports, port 80 or port 443. The Informational level allows a user to quickly identify information that may be useful, but does not require immediate attention — keeping the focus on the actionable results.

• New vulnerability summary: A new vulnerability summary and redesigned host summary make it easy to see risk level without even running a report.

• Streamlined results navigation: One click to jump from a critical vulnerability to see the host(s) that is vulnerable to the details of the vulnerability.

• Take advantage of real-time results: As the scan is being run, not only can you see the results as they are being gathered, but navigate and filter on them as well. This allows you to easily act upon the vulnerability data while the scan is happening.

Report Customization:-
New reporting features allow for improved communication of vulnerability results with all parts of the organization:

• Results filtering and report creation: Results filtering and report creation is more flexible than ever before. Users can apply multiple result filtering criteria, and targeted reports can be generated against the filtered results.

• Create reports that contain only exploitable vulnerabilities, multiple risk levels (e.g., only show critical and high risk findings), filter on CVE or Bugtraq ID, plugin name, and more!

• Reports customized by audience: Reports can be customized for executives, systems administrators, or auditors. A user can exclude particular vulnerabilities from a report before it is generated, allowing delivery of results targeted to specific audiences.

• Example: During an internal scan, Nessus will report that a DNS server allows recursive queries, which is its function on the internal network. As this is a known condition, a user can suppress this result in the generated report to keep focus on true vulnerabilities.

• With four new pre-configured report formats — Compliance Check, Compliance Check (Executive), Vulnerabilities by Host, and Vulnerabilities by Plugin — users can quickly create reports by chapters.

• Example: The company’s compliance policy dictates that passwords be greater than ten characters in length. Nessus v5.0 runs a scan against the baseline, and the Compliance Check (Executive) report shows a pass/fail result to indicate if all hosts on the network are compliant with the minimum password length. With pass/fail results, the Compliance Check (Executive) report provides a quick snapshot of the company’s compliance checklist status.

• Report formats: Reports can be generated in native Nessus formats, HTML, and now PDF formats (requires Oracle Java be installed on the Nessus server).

• The new PDF report format makes it easier to share reports.

• Combined reports: Multiple report templates can be combined into one report.

• A single report can now contain vulnerabilities sorted by host and by IP address/hostname.

To Download Nessus click Here

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