What Risk We are Posing! Everyone Can Become Target of the Latest Cyber Security Threats

What Risk We are Posing! Everyone Can Become a Target of the Latest Cyber Security Threats

According to a report by the Washington Post, hackers may soon be setting up a plan to unfold in 2013 that will target 30 different U.S. banking institutions. McAfee Labs, who has compiled a new cyber security report, says that banks should be on the lookout for software that creates false online transactions or targets transfers tied to large dollar amounts.

Sources say that these threats can all be tied back to “Project Blitzkrieg”, which is a program that has been around since 2008. Within the past four years, it has already stolen $5 million and plans to continue for as long as possible. During the past few months, between 300 and 500 victims located within the U.S. have fallen victim to Project Blitzkrieg’s schemes. By the spring of 2013, McAfee says that things could get even worse for U.S. banks and their customers.

Experts note that this scheme may be tied to reports from back in October by security company RSA that mentioned how a hacker out of Russia named “vorVzakone” has been openly discussing his plan to recruit a team to plan the largest Trojan attack tied to banking. McAfee warns that these threats should be taken extremely seriously as the beginning of 2013 is soon to unfold. The software can become extremely dangerous to those doing their banking online because it can replicate transactions and even delete e-mail notifications about certain transfers.

While U.S. banks will no doubt be increasing their security protocols to protect themselves from any unnecessary attacks, most already know that they are continually being cited as targets from hacking groups around the globe. Back in September, both JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America saw their sites crash because of DDoS attacks.

Samsung Smart TV Dangers

The Register has recently reported that Samsung’s newest Smart TV is completely open and vulnerable to hacking because it gives hackers the ability to steal data very quickly. According to security company ReVuln, this vulnerability most notably affects consumers who own and use their Samsung 3D TVs for internet purposes.

Those who use their Smart TVs can rent movies, browse the web for a cheap line rental, go on Facebook, and more. ReVuln claims that they have found an exploit which allows hackers to see everything the user is doing while they are using their TV, retrieve and access information like web history, and hook up an external thumb drive to the TV to conveniently steal all of this information for future use. While ReVuln noticed this exploit while using a Samsung 3D TV, the true problem is that it seems to affect all of the latest Samsung TVs with internet capabilities, which includes many different makes and models.

As these TVs continue to act more as larger PCs, it is only a matter of time until we see even more security vulnerabilities tied to them in the very near future.

Gas Station Bluetooth Skimming

News site KRCA out of Sacramento notes that crooks are using Bluetooth devices in order to steal credit card information from those who are paying for gas at the pump. The biggest issue the cyber security experts noticed is that these thieves do not even have to be near the gas station in order to steal information.

Crooks are using skimming devices that utilize Bluetooth and contain a variety of common security keys that can be used to access gas pumps for maintenance. They don’t simply pull out their device and begin swiping information for oblivious consumers. Thieves will start by installing skimmers on the pumps to collect information from those pumping gas and then pick them back up. Detectives say that these types of devices are impossible to detect.

According to experts, thieves can be up to 100 yards away and continually collect credit card information from unsuspecting users. Because of this, these crooks are impossible to detect, and the problem may only grow larger in the near future.

Troublesome QR Codes

QR codes seem to be everywhere these days. They’re typically on everything from advertisements to products that we purchase on a daily basis. In the Netherlands, hackers are posting QR codes in heavily trafficked areas like airports and major streets. When these QR codes are scanned in by a user’s smart phone, they are taken to a malicious website that may attempt to phish information from the user or possibly infect their smartphone with malware.

Disclaimer:- Before perfection, on behalf of Team VOGH, I would like to personally thank Eve Halton  for sharing this magnificent article with our readers. Eve is a very much passionate Fleet Street, she  has done her graduation in International Business and Journalism. She gained decent experience in writing articles on several fields like global politics, economics, sustainability issues, cyber security & many more.

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Implementing Intrusion (Cyber) Kill Chain -A Plenary Overview

Implementing an Intrusion (Cyber) Kill Chain 

The Intrusion (Cyber) Kill Chain is a phrase popularized by infosec industry professionals and introduced in a Lockheed Martin Corporation paper titled; “ Intelligence Driven Computer Network Defense Informed by Analysis of Adversary Campaigns and Intrusion Kill Chains”. 

The intrusion kill chain model is derived from a military model describing the phases of an attack. The phases of the military model are: find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess. The analyses of these phases are used to pinpoint gaps in capability and prioritize the development of needed systems. The first phase in this military model is to decide on a target (find). Second, once the target is decided you set about to locate it (fix). Next, you would surveill to gather intelligence (track). Once you have enough information, you decide the best way to realize your objective (target) and then implement your strategy (engage). And finally, you analyze what went wrong and what went right (assess) so that adjustments can be made in future attacks.

Lockheed Martin analysts began by mapping the phases of cyber attacks. The mapping focused on specific types of attacks, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) - The adversary/intruder gets into your network and stays for years– sending information, usually encrypted – to collection sites without being detected. Since the intruder spent so much time in the network, analysts were able to gather data about what was happening. Analysts could then sift through the data and begin grouping it into the military attack model phases. Analysts soon realized that while there were predictable phases in cyber attacks, the phases were slightly different from the military model.  The intrusion (cyber) kill chain shown below, describe the phases of a cyber attack.

The chain of events or activities are as follows:

  

Link in the Chain	Description
1.  Reconnaissance	Research, identification and selection of targets- scraping websites for information on companies and their employees in order to select targets.
2.  Weaponization	Most often, a Trojan with an exploit embedded in documents, photos, etc.
3.  Delivery	Transmission of the weapon (document with an embedded exploit) to the targeted environment.  According to Lockheed Martin's Computer Incident Response Team (LM-CIRT), the most prevalent delivery methods are email attachments,websites, and USB removable media.
4.  Exploitation	After the weapon is delivered, the intruder's code is triggered to exploit an operating system or application vulnerability, to make use of an operating system's auto execute feature or exploit the users themselves.
5.  Installation	Along with the exploit the weapon installs a remote access Trojan and/or a backdoor that allows the intruder to maintain presence in the environment
6.  Command and Control	Intruders establish a connection to an outside collection server from compromised systems and gain 'hands on the keyboard' control of the target's compromised network/systems/applications.
7.  Actions on Objective	After progressing through the previous 6 phases, the intruder takes action to achieve their objective.  The most common objectives are:  data extraction, disruption of the network, and/or use of the target's network as a hop point.

Lockheed Martin's analysts also discovered while mapping the intruder's activities, that a break (kill) in any one link in the chain would cause the intrusion to fail in its objective. This is one of the major benefits of the intrusion kill chain framework as security professionals have traditionally taken a defensive approach when it comes to incident response. This means that intrusions can be dealt with offensively too.

Lockheed Martin's case studies reveal that knowledge about previous intrusions and how they were accomplished allow analysts to recognize those previously used tactics and exploits in current attacks.  For example, mapping of three intrusions revealed that all three were delivered via email, all three used  very similar encryption, all three used the same installation program and connected to the same outside collection site. All of the intrusions were stopped before they accomplished their objective.

How did they do this? How can my company utilize this approach?

Monitoring and mapping is the key.

The following list contains some of the necessary components (not in any particular order) needed to do intrusion mapping and setting up the kill.

·         Network Intrusion Detection (NIDS)

·         Network Intrusion Prevention (NIPS)

·         Host Intrusion Detection (HIDS)

·         Firewall access control lists (ACL)

·         Full packet inspection

·         A mature IT asset management system

·         A mature and comprehensive Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

·         Device and system hardening

·         Secure configurations baselines

·         Website inspection

·         Honeypots

·         Anti-virus and anti-malware

·         Verbose logging – network devices, servers, databases, and applications

·         Log correlation

·         Alerting

·         Patching

·         Email and FTP inspection and filtering

·         Network tracing tools

·         Information Security staff trained in tracking and mapping events end-to-end

·         Coordination and partnering with IT, Application Owners, Database Administrators, Business Units and Management both in investigation and communicating the mapped intrusions.

In short, in order to implement intrusion kill chain activity a company needs to have a mature inter-operating and information security program. Additionally, they need trained staff that can investigate, map and advise 'kill' activities, keep a compendium of mapped intrusions, analyze and compare old and new intruder activity, code use, and delivery methods to thwart current and future intrusions.

The intrusion (cyber) kill chain is not an endeavor that can be successfully implemented in place of a comprehensive Information Security Program, it’s another tool to be used to protect the company's data assets.

The good news is if your company doesn't have a mature information security program there is a lot you can do while making plans to introduce an intrusion kill chains in your department's arsenal.

·         Educate your employees to watch for suspicious emails. For instance, emails that seem to be off – such as, someone in accounting receiving an invitation to attend a marketing conference. Let them know that they shouldn't open attachments included in email like this.

·         Make sure you have anti-virus and anti-malware software installed and up to date.

·         Start an inventory of your computing devices, laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, network devices and security devices.

·         You have an advantage over intruders. You know your network and what is normal and usual, they don't.  Notice user behavior that is not usual and look into it.  For example, a login at 2am for someone who works 9 to 5. Or an application process that normally runs overnight that is kicking off during the day.

·         Keep your security patches up to date.

·         Create and monitor baseline configurations.

·         Write, publish and communicate information security policies and company standards.

·         Turn on logging and start collecting and keeping logs. Start with network devices and firewalls and then add servers and databases.  Set up alerts for things such as repeated attempts at access.

·         Spend some time using search engines from outside your network to see how much information can be learned about your company from the Internet.  You'd be surprised how much you can find including sensitive documents.

All of these practices and activities give you more information about your computing environment and what is normal and usual. The more you know about your environment, the more likely it is that you will spot the intruder before any damage is done.

Disclaimer:- Before conclusion, on behalf of Team VOGH, I would like to personally thank Mr. Adrian Stolarski for sharing this remarkable article with our readers. I would also like to thank Ryan Fahey  of Infosec Institute for his spontaneous effort. 

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Microsoft Along With FBI & EC3 Shattered The Notorious ZeroAccess Botnet

Microsoft Along With FBI & EC3 Shattered The Notorious ZeroAccess Botnet Responsible For Infecting More Than 2 Million Computers

Redmond based software giant Microsoft yet again got a huge success against a big racket of cyber criminals while shattering one of the world's largest and most rampant botnets named 'ZeroAccess'. The Sirefef botnet, also known as ZeroAccess, is responsible for infecting more than 2 million computers, specifically targeting search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines, and is estimated to cost online advertisers $2.7 million each month. Tech giant Microsoft working alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) have successfully disrupted this notorious botnet. This is Microsoft’s first botnet action since the Nov. 14 unveiling of its new Cybercrime Center — a center of excellence for advancing the global fight against cyber crime — and marks the company’s eighth botnet operation in the past three years.

“This operation marks an important step in coordinated actions that are initiated by private companies and, at the same time, enable law enforcement agencies around Europe to identify and investigate the criminal organizations and networks behind these dangerous botnets that use malicious software to gain illicit profits,” said Troels Oerting, head of the EC3. “EC3 added its expertise, information communications technology infrastructure and analytic capability, as well as provided the platform for high-level cooperation between cyber crime units in five European countries and Microsoft.”

Due to its botnet architecture, ZeroAccess is one of the most robust and durable botnets in operation today and was built to be resilient to disruption efforts, relying on a peer-to-peer infrastructure that allows cyber criminals to remotely control the botnet from tens of thousands of different computers. ZeroAccess is used to commit a slew of crimes, including search hijacking, which “hijacks” people’s search results and redirects people to sites they had not intended or requested to go to in order to steal the money generated by their ad clicks. ZeroAccess also commits click fraud, which occurs when advertisers pay for clicks that are not the result of legitimate, interested human users’ clicks, but are the result of automated Web traffic and other criminal activity. Research by the University of California, San Diego shows that as of October 2013, 1.9 million computers were infected with ZeroAccess, and Microsoft determined there were more than 800,000 ZeroAccess-infected computers active on the Internet on any given day.

How It Happened:- 

Last week, Microsoft filed a civil suit against the cyber criminals operating the ZeroAccess botnet and received authorization from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to simultaneously block incoming and outgoing communications between computers located in the U.S. and the 18 identified Internet Protocol (IP) addresses being used to commit the fraudulent schemes. In addition, Microsoft took over control of 49 domains associated with the ZeroAccess botnet. A10 Networks provided Microsoft with advanced technology to support the disruptive action.

As Microsoft executed the order filed in its civil case, Europol coordinated a multijurisdictional criminal action targeting the 18 IP addresses located in Europe. Specifically, Europol worked with Latvia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany to execute search warrants and seizures on computer servers associated with the fraudulent IP addresses located in Europe. This is the second time in six months that Microsoft and law enforcement have worked together to successfully disrupt a prevalent botnet. It demonstrates the value coordinated operations have against cyber criminal enterprises. For more information about this botnet operation click here

ZeroAccess is counted as a very sophisticated malware, blocking attempts to remove it, therefore recommended for every Microsoft user to click Here for detailed instructions on how to remove this threat. As Microsoft found that the ZeroAccess malware disables security features on infected computers, leaving the computer susceptible to secondary infections, it is critical that victims rid their computers of ZeroAccess by using malware removal or antivirus software as quickly as possible. 

In conversation with press David Finn, executive director and associate general counsel of the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit said -“Microsoft is committed to working collaboratively — with our customers, partners, academic experts and law enforcement — to combat cybercrime. And we’ll do everything we can to protect computer users from the sinister activities and criminal networks that victimize innocent people and businesses around the world.” 

While talking about ZeroAccess botnet take down, I would like to remind you that in Match, last year Microsoft has successfully shutdown two command and control (C&C) server of world's of the most dangerous banking trojan Zeus.

-Source (Microsoft Official Blog)

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TeamSpeak Official Forum Hacked! Redirecting Users Into Malicious DotCache Exploit Kit

TeamSpeak Official Forum Hacked! Infecting Users By Malicious DotCache Exploit Kit

A serious security breach has compromised official forum of TeamSpeak, according to sources hackers have gained access inside the server and injected malicious script into the landing page of TeamSpeak official forum. Expert malware analyzer have figured out that the attack was thoroughly planned in order to infect millions of users while redirecting them to a DotCache exploit kit landing page as illustrated below 

TeamSpeak is a very famous Brazilian company who offers (VoIP) software that allows computer users to speak on a chat channel with fellow computer users, much like a telephone conference call. Users use the TeamSpeak client software to connect to a TeamSpeak server of their choice, from there they can join chat channels and enjoy the excellent VoIP service. Mostly it is used by millions of gamers across the globe. 

Basically we can consider TeamSpeak is a high value target, so did the hacker. Researchers said that the exploit kit landing page is hosted on atvisti.ro, a forum for ATV enthusiasts that's also been compromised. In a statement well known malware analyst & security researcher Jerome Segura said- if the Java exploit succeeds the final payload is loaded. In this particular example, the payload was the Zero Access Trojan which an Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes detects as Rootkit.0Access. The matter of a bit relief is that the malware has not yet been spotted in the wild. According to a statistic by Virus Total, only 7 of 46 leading antivirus can detect this type of malware. Exactly like TeamSpeak, a few days earlier Kahu Security researchers uncovered a similar compromise on the forum for the Nissan Pathfinder Off Road Association (NPORA) in both cases, JJEncode was used to obfuscate the malicious script. To avoid further infection, TeamSpeak forum has already been informed, an as expected they have over come this issue. For detail analysis of the above said malware you can visit official blog post of Malwarebytes. 

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Hackers Exploiting Old Ruby on Rails Vulnerability To Compromise Web Servers & Create Botnet

Hackers Exploiting Old Ruby on Rails Vulnerability (CVE-2013-0156) To Compromise Web Servers & Create IRC Botnet

A critical vulnerability on Ruby on Rails spotted in January this year which was deemed “critical” at the same time yet again found in the wild. The vulnerability known as CVE-2013-0156 that affected versions 3.0.20 and 2.3.16 again rises it's hand. Though a security patch was released by the Rails developers. But as we all know that many server administrator used to be unaware of these events have not patched their systems. As a result hackers and cyber criminals are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in the Ruby on Rails Web application development framework in order to compromise Web servers and create a dangerous botnet. This major security issue was first discovered by a security consultant Mr. Jeff Jarmoc of research firm Matasano Security. In his blog Jarmoc said "It’s pretty surprising that it’s taken this long to surface in the wild, but less surprising that people are still running vulnerable installations of Rails. It also appears to be affecting some web hosts." According to his blog post -the exploit that's currently being used by attackers adds a custom cron job -- a scheduled task on Linux machines that executes a sequence of commands. Those commands download a malicious C source file from a remote server, compile it locally and execute it. The resulting malware is a bot that connects to an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server and joins a predefined channel where it waits for commands from the attackers. A pre-compiled version of the malware is also downloaded in case the compilation procedure fails on the compromised systems.

"Functionality is limited, but includes the ability to download and execute files as commanded, as well as changing servers," Jarmoc said. "There's no authentication performed, so an enterprising individual could hijack these bots fairly easily by joining the IRC server and issuing the appropriate commands." But the matter of relief is that Jarmoc concluded while saying "this is a pretty straightforward skiddy exploit of a vulnerability that has been publicly known, and warned about, for months."

But still administrators who have not yet patched their Rails version should immediately should update the Ruby on Rails installations on their servers to at least versions 3.2.11, 3.1.10, 3.0.19 or 2.3.15 which contain the patch for this vulnerability. However, the best course of action is probably to update to the latest available Rails versions, depending on the branch used, since other critical vulnerabilities have been addressed since then. 

Brief About RoR:- Ruby on Rails is a popular framework for developing Web applications based on the Ruby programming language and is used by major websites including Hulu, GroupOn, GitHub and Scribd.

-Source (Network World)

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GFI LanGuard 2012 One Solution For vulnerability Scanning, Patch Management, Network & Software Audit

GFI LanGuard 2012 One Solution For Vulnerability Scanning, Patch Management, Network & Software Auditing 

Earlier we have talked about GFI LanGuard, but while looking at the rising cyber threats, security researcher  continue to identify new, sophisticated malware threats, vulnerability and patch management are more critical than ever as a key component of a layered security approach. To get rid of all those security challenges, GFI Software announced the availability of GFI LanGuard 2012, in which the manufacturer claimed to provide network and system administrators with the ability to manage 100 percent of their patching needs through a single, intuitive and easy-to-use interface, without the need for other update tools. So lets take a roam of this fine product of GFI Software-

Enhanced Features of GFI LanGuard 2012 include:

• Comprehensive Patch Management – Administrators can now manage 100 percent of their patching needs – both security and non-security updates – from a centralized console. No other update tools are necessary.
• Strong Vulnerability Assessment for Network Devices – Network devices such as printers, routers and switches from manufacturers such as HP and Cisco, can now be detected and scanned for vulnerabilities. GFI LanGuard 2012 performs over 50,000 checks against operating systems, installed applications and device firmware for security flaws and misconfigurations. It also runs network audits that now detect mobile devices running iOS and Android operating systems.
• Improved Scan and Remediation Performance – New Relay Agents receive patches and definition files directly from the GFI LanGuard server and distribute as appropriate – helping IT resources save time, manage network bandwidth and increase the number of devices that can be accommodated. This is particularly effective in multi-site and large networks.

GFI LanGuard 2012 combines vulnerability scanning, patch management, and network and software auditing into one solution that enables IT professionals to scan, detect, assess and correct potential security risks on their networks with minimal administrative effort. GFI LanGuard also enables administrators to inventory devices attached to their networks; receive change alerts, such as notification when a new application is installed; ensure antivirus applications are current and enabled; and strengthen compliance with industry regulations through automated patch management that defends against potential network vulnerabilities. With GFI LanGuard, IT administrators can manage more than 2,500 machines from a single console, it integrates with more than 1,500 security applications and includes keyword search functionality.

After going through the above brief description, many of you must be excited about this new product. For the kind information of our readers, yes indeed GFI LanGuard 2012 is one of the finest tool ever released in this domain. Detailed information LanGuard 2012 can be found here. Also a 30 day trail pack of GFI LanGuard 2012 has been made available for download. 

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Linux/Cdorked.A: One of The Most Sophisticated Apache Backdoor Targets Millions of Websites

Linux/Cdorked.A: One of The Most Sophisticated Apache Backdoor Targets Millions of Websites to Serve Blackhole Exploit

ESET one of the world renowned security firm headquartered in Bratislava have figured out what it called a malicious cyber rampage targeting millions of cPanel-based servers. Since last few months security experts have been tracking server level compromises that have been utilizing malicious Apache modules to inject malware into websites and  redirecting some of its requests to the infamous Blackhole Exploit packs. On cPanel-based servers, instead of adding modules or modifying the Apache configuration, the attackers started to replace the Apache binary (httpd) with a malicious one. This new backdoor is very sophisticated and this new malware has been dubbed "Linux/Cdorked.A." Several analysis reveals that it is a sophisticated and stealthy backdoor meant to drive traffic to malicious websites. According to the official blog post of ESET - Linux/Cdorked.A is one of the most sophisticated Apache backdoor's we have seen so far. The backdoor leaves no traces of compromised hosts on the hard drive other than its modified httpd binary, thereby complicating forensics analysis. All of the information related to the backdoor is stored in shared memory. The configuration is pushed by the attacker through obfuscated HTTP requests that aren't logged in normal Apache logs. This means that no command and control information is stored anywhere on the system.

This malicious cyber rampage was first detected by another security firm named 'Sucuri' and later ESET published a detailed analysis of the issue. But still there are thoughtful matter as already thousands of websites get infected. The attack is particularly dangerous as Apache web servers are among the most well-known and widely-used in the world and are used by numerous companies. This means that a successful security breach can affect numerous different businesses across a diverse range of industries.

As this malware also known as Linux/Cdorked.A has already been spotted in the wild, so on behalf of cyber media, we urge all the concern system administrator, security analyst to take care of the above issue while to checking their servers and verify that they are not affected by this threat. Detailed instructions to perform this check are provided in the ESET blog.

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Hcon Security Testing Framework (HconSTF) v0.5 Codename 'Prime' Released

Hcon Security Testing Framework (HconSTF) v0.5 Codename 'Prime' Released

Previously we have discussed couple of times about HconSTF - a browser based security testing framework. Earlier in last year we got HconSTF version 0.4, now after almost 14 month, the author of Hcon, Mr. Ashish Mistry (Information Security Researcher) has proudly released the version 0.5 of HconSTF code named "Prime." No doubt that Hcon has already became a very popular and widely used browser based pen testing framework. Not only in hackers community but also several security experts and infosec researcher's prefers Hcon as one of their all time favorite pentesing tool as HconSTF is very flexible and very handy multipurpose tool for any IT Security Professionals, Web Bug bounty Hunters, Web Developers or any one interested in IT security. As expected this version of Hcon, came with enhanced features and more functionality, so lets take a glance of HconSTF v0.5 -

HconSTF is semi-automated but you still need your brain to work it out. It can be use in all kind of security testing stages, it has tools for conducting tasks like,

• Web Penetration Testing
• Web Exploits Development
• Web Malware Analysis
• Open Source Intelligence ( Cyber Spying & Doxing )
• and much more with lots of hidden features

HconSTF v0.5 in Brief:-

• Based on Firefox 17.0.1
• Designed in Process based methodology
• Less in size (40mb packed-80mb extracted), consumes less memory
• More than 165+ search plugins
• New IDB 0.1 release integrated
• Underlined Logging for each and every request
• More NEW scanners for DomXSS, Reflected XSS
• New reporting features like note taking, url logging for easy report making
• Smart searchbox - just select and it will copy it and just change search engine to search
• Integrated Tor, AdvoR, I2p and more proxies
• New Grease monkey scripts (18 scripts)

To Download HconSTF v0.5 Click Here [Download Type- Portable (no need to install , run from usb drive or any memory card) Platform : Windows XP , Vista , 7 both x32 & x64]

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NBC.com Compromised, Hackers Exploited The Website to Spread Malware

NBC.com Compromised, Hackers Exploited The Website to Spread Malware

The month of February is still going from bad to worse for the cyber domain, in this very month cyber criminals swallowed the security system of many giant companies like Facebook, Twitter, Apple, New York Times and many more. But the game is not over yet, as we have just passed a few weeks, when the attack on NY Times took place, which stolen the employ database; yet again the cyber criminals have targeted another media giant National Broadcasting Company widely known as NBC. During the attack, hackers have successfully gain access inside the server of NBC and planted malware, in order to harm innocent readers. Famous security expert and blogger Brian Krebs said that the hackers inserted code into the NBC.com homepage. This caused visiting browsers to load pages from third-party sites that were compromised. While explaining the nature of the attacker, Krebs said; "The compromised sites tried to foist the Citadel Trojan, a variant of the Zeus Trojan." The Zeus is a "sophisticated data theft tool that steals passwords and allows attackers to control machines remotely" he added. Not only the NBC’s home page, also several others were affected, including the pages of late night talk show hosts Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon. Well known security firm Sophos explained how roughly attack played out, and how NBC got sucked into the equation:

• NBC's hacked pages were altered to add some malicious JavaScript that ran in your browser.
• The JavaScript injected an additional HTML component known as an IFRAME (inline frame) into the web page.
• The IFRAME sucked in further malicious content from websites infected with an exploit kit known as RedKit.
• The exploit kit delivered one of two exploit files to try to take control over your browser via a Java vulnerability or a PDF bug.
• If the exploit worked on your computer, financially-related crimeware from the Citadel or ZeroAccess families was installed.

This, of course, is an example of a dreaded drive-by download, where the crooks use a cascade of tricks to download, install and execute software without going through any of the warnings or confirmation dialog you might expect. This, in turn, means that even if you are a careful and well-informed user, you may end up in trouble, since there are no obvious signs that you are doing anything risky, or even unexpected.

As soon as this story get spotted the American commercial broadcasting television network, NBC News reported and confirmed that its site had been attacked. The broadcaster released the following statement regarding the website: "We've identified the problem and are working to resolve it. No user information has been compromised."

The emergency response team immediately take the situation under control and restored the website, and confirmed that the site is back again and completely safe for its visitors. But so far there is no evidence of attackers who were involved in this attack. For the safety of VOGH readers we would like to recommend you to update your operating systems and browser plugins. Also note that the attack on NBC was similar to many that have occurred in recent years in that the malicious sites tried to exploit vulnerabilities in Java. So it will better to disable Java, unless it is that much necessary. So stay tuned with VOGH and be safe in the cyber domain. 

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Apple Hacked By The Same Group Who Attacked Facebook

Apple Hacked, Macintosh Computers Infected  By The Same Group Who Attacked Facebook 

The month of February is not going good for cyber space, specially for giant organization. Last week the social networking giant Facebook fallen victim of a devastating cyber attack which did effected a number of  systems. Facebook admitted that it faced a "sophisticated attack" on computers where it has been found the attackers used a zero-day Java exploit to initiate the attack, but that no user data was compromised. The same thing happened to micro blogging site Twitter and New York Times. And now it was the turn for Apple. The California based multinational company acknowledged that recently their systems has been attacked by hackers who infected Macintosh computers of some employees. Like Facebook here also no data has been effected, "there was no evidence that any data left Apple." -said Apple. 

According to an exclusive report of Reuters -some unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers that had been infected with malicious software. The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers. The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp's Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday. The malware was also employed in attacks against Mac computers used by "other companies," Apple said, without elaborating on the scale of the assault. Experts are presuming that all these cyber attacks of February, that is Twitter, New York Times, Facebook & Lastly Apple Inc was originated from China, and executed by the same hacker group. On the other side few experts are also saying that the group responsible for the hack, has been identified as "Unit 61398" of the People's Liberation Army. But so far there is no proof. 

Apple also revealed that it plans to release a software tool later Tuesday that will protect customers against the same type of software that was used against its employees. 

Apple also provided a statement as follows:-

"Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers. The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers. We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple. We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware.

Since OS X Lion, Macs have shipped without Java installed, and as an added security measure OS X automatically disables Java if it has been unused for 35 days. To protect Mac users that have installed Java, today we are releasing an updated Java malware removal tool that will check Mac systems and remove this malware if found..."

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3 Russian Cyber Criminal Who Was The Master Mind of Banking Trojan 'Gozi' Charged in New York

3 Russian Cyber Criminal Who Was The Master Mind of Banking Trojan 'Gozi' Charged in New York 

Yet again another serious issue of cyber crime get resolved when the FBI tracked and figured out the master mind of infamous 'Gozi banking Trojan' which effected more than millions of system world wide, including a handful at NASA, leading to tens of millions of dollars in lost banking funds and damages to computer systems and networks. Three alleged international cyber criminals from Russia, responsible for creating and distributing 'Gozi' that infected over one million computers and caused tens of millions of dollars in losses charged in Manhattan Federal Court. Mihai Ionut Paunescu aged 28, a Romanian, Deniss Calovskis, 27, a Latvian, and Nikita Vladimirovich Kuzmin, 25, of the Russian Federation, are charged with computer intrusion, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and access device fraud. Federal authorities said the three were arrested last week; Kuzmin is being held in New York, while Paunescu is in custody in Romania and Calovskis in Latvia. 

According to the press release of FBI -Deniss Calovskis, a/k/a “Miami,” a Latvian national who allegedly wrote some of the computer code that made the Gozi virus so effective, was arrested in Latvia in November 2012. Mihai Ionut Paunescu, a/k/a “Virus,” a Romanian national who allegedly ran a “bulletproof hosting” service that enabled cyber criminals to distribute the Gozi virus, the Zeus trojan, and other notorious malware and to conduct other sophisticated cyber crimes, was arrested in Romania in December 2012. 

The cases are being handled by the Complex Frauds Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah Lai, Nicole Friedlander, and Thomas G.A. Brown, along with Trial Attorney Carol Sipperly of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice on the Paunescu case, are in charge of the prosecution. The charges contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defendant	Age and Residence	Charges	Maximum Penalty
Nikita Kuzmin	25; Moscow, Russia	Conspiracy to commit bank fraud; bank fraud; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; access device fraud; conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; computer intrusion	95 years in prison
Deniss Calovskis	27; Riga, Latvia	Conspiracy to commit bank fraud; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft	67 years in prison
Mihai Ionut Paunescu	28; Bucharest, Romania	Conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; conspiracy to commit bank fraud; conspiracy to commit wire fraud	60 years in prison

Brief About Gozi:-
The Gozi virus is malicious computer code, or “malware,” that steals personal bank account information, including usernames and passwords, from the users of affected computers. It was named by private sector information security experts in the U.S. who, in 2007, discovered that previously unrecognized malware was stealing personal bank account information from computers across Europe on a vast scale, while remaining virtually undetectable in the computers it infected. To date, the Gozi virus has infected over one million victim computers worldwide, among them at least 40,000 computers in the U.S., including computers belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as computers in Germany, Great Britain, Poland, France, Finland, Italy, Turkey, and elsewhere, and it has caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to the individuals, businesses, and government entities whose computers were infected.

The Gozi virus was distributed to victims’ computers in several different ways. In one method, the virus was disguised as an apparently benign .pdf document which, when opened, secretly installed the Gozi virus on the victim’s computer. Once installed, the Gozi virus—which was intentionally designed to be undetectable by anti-virus software—collected data from the infected computer in order to capture personal bank account information including usernames and passwords. That data was then transmitted to various computer servers controlled by the cyber criminals who used the Gozi virus. These cyber criminals then used the personal bank account information to transfer funds out of the victims’ bank accounts and ultimately into their own personal possession.

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