Chinese Hackers Breached New York Times & Stolen Employee's Password

Chinese Hackers Breached New York Times & Stolen Employee's Password 

Yet again the story of cyber espionage by Chinese hackers spotted in the wild, when the famous and one of the most popular American news daily reported that their system has been compromised by a round of sophisticated cyber attack generated from China. After the hack of White House unclassified network, it is the second time in last six month; when Chinese hackers have targeted the American cyber space. The New York Times has reported that for the last four months Chinese hackers have been infiltrating its networks, broken into the email accounts of senior staff, stolen the corporate passwords for every Times employee and used those to gain access to the personal computers of  more than 50 employees. 

According to a blog post of NYT - The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on Oct. 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings. Security experts hired by The Times to detect and block the computer attacks gathered digital evidence that Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times’s network. They broke into the e-mail accounts of its Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the reports on Mr. Wen’s relatives, and Jim Yardley, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief in India, who previously worked as bureau chief in Beijing. 

“Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive e-mails or files from the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied,” said Jill Abramson, executive editor of The Times. The hackers tried to cloak the source of the attacks on The Times by first penetrating computers at United States universities and routing the attacks through them, said computer security experts at Mandiant, the company hired by The Times. This matches the subterfuge used in many other attacks that Mandiant has tracked to China.

Cyber Espionage of China (2011-2012) at a Glance:-

While talking about this cyber attack, we would like to refresh your memory last two years, where the scenario of big cyber attack and espionage by Chinese hackers have been spotted several times. In 2012 Chinese hackers had  breached Telvent's corporate network & gained control of US Power Grid. Also in the middle of last year, we have seen that Chinese hackers have broken into Indian Navy's Computer System & stolen sensitive data. Few months before this hack, Tokyo based computer security firm Trend Micro confirmed that Chinese hackers were responsible for biggest cyber-espionage in India, Japan & Tibet. Also the director of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander confirmed that hackers from China was responsible for the serious attack on one of the leading IT security & cyber security company RSA. Also in 2011 China was responsible behind the attack on US Chamber of Commerce, Satellite System of U.S, Nortel Network & so on.  But few days ago National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC), China's primary computer security monitoring network claimed that China fallen victim of one of biggest cyber attacks originated from US, Japan & South Korea. We must have to say that this statement is truly irrelevant. Cyber crime investigator have found that China was directly responsible for the hack into Japan's Biggest Defense Contractor Mitsubishi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) & Parliament of Japan. In case of South Korea  more than 13 Million of MapleStory players data has been stolen, there also hackers from China was responsible. 

All those above stories it has been clearly identified that China was the point of those said attacks, but it doesn't necessarily prove that it the operation is backed by the Chinese government or intelligence services. It could just as easily be a patriotic group of skilled, independent Chinese hackers upset with how the Western media is portraying their country's rulers. For all kind of cyber related topics and expert reviews on those matters just stay tuned  with only VOGH. 

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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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Apple Hired Kristen Paget, Renowned Hacker & Former Security Expert of Microsoft

Apple Hired Kristen Paget, Renowned Hacker & Former Security Expert of Microsoft 

To become  the very best along with that to maintain and hold your position, you need to deliver your hundred percent even some times more than hundred percent, and this race continues. For that we have to gather the very best guy with as. The above fact took place again, when Apple hired a renowned computer security researcher who helped Microsoft to rid Windows Vista from glaring exploits. I think, you already started guessing, let me tell you that yes you are absolutely right. Kristen Paget formerly known as Chris Paget who was part of an elite team of security experts of Microsoft has now been hired by Apple to lend her expertise to securing the company's operating systems. Apple, slowly, has been trying to make inroads into the security community. This summer, an Apple engineer spoke at the Black Hat security conference for the first time. So it is a bit predictable that why Apple is looking for security experts. Paget's exact charge at Apple is still somewhat of a mystery, with company representatives declining to comment on the specifics of what she'll be working on. After leaving Microsoft and prior to her move to 1 Infinite Loop, Paget was employed by security firm Recursion Ventures. According to sources, this past July, she'd departed stating that she wished to focus on developing security-related hardware.  

According to a report by Wired - Paget’s work at Microsoft had been similarly secretive. She’d been forbidden from speaking about it for five years after her work there ended.

But in 2011, the NDA expired, and she spilled the beans on her Vista hacking at the Black Hat Las Vegas conference. In short: Microsoft’s security team had expected Vista to be pretty clean when Paget got her hands on it, but they were wrong.

“We prevented a lot of bugs from shipping on Vista,” Paget said, according to a recording of her talk. “I’m proud of the number of bugs we found and helped get fixed.” Paget and company’s bug-hunt was so successful, in fact, that it forced Microsoft to push back Vista’s ship date. When the work was done, the hackers received special T-shirts, signed by Microsoft Vice President of Windows Development Brian Valentine. They read: “I delayed Windows Vista.” 

Until this past summer, Paget had been chief hacker at Recursion Ventures, a company that specializes in hardware security. When she left in July, she said she was looking for a break from bug-finding, hoping to find a job that involved building “security-focused hardware.”

“I’ve done too much breaking of things, it’s time to create for a change,” she said on Twitter. She was hired in September as a core operating system security researcher at Apple, according to her Linkedin Profile. 

Paget made headlines in 2010 when she built her own cellphone-intercepting base station at the Defcon hacker conference. Back then, Paget was known as Chris. She switched genders last year.

While talking about hiring geniuses by giant firms, we would like to remind you that very recently Apple has hired search guru Bill Stasior to oversee Apple's Siri voice-activated personal assistant. Along with this, few months ago social networking giant Twitter had appointed famous whitehat hacker Charlie Miller, to boost up its security.  Also in late 2011 Nicholas Allegra, the world-famous hacker known as "Comex", creator of JailbreakMe.com comes was also hired by Apple.

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NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

The cyber security directive of United States President Barack Obama has been twisted a little as the National Security Agency (NSA) has refused to release details of a secret presidential directive document that would establish a broader set of standards that would guide federal agencies in confronting Cyber threats. Several experts are presuming that the cyber security directive could allow the military and intelligence agencies to operate on the networks of private companies, such as Google and Facebook. According to the last week report by Washington Post, cited several U.S. officials saying that Obama signed off on the secret cyber security order, believed to widely expand NSA’s spying authorities, in mid-October. “The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyber war and cyber terrorism,” the report states.  

The Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to make the document public because it said the measure could expand NSA’s Cyber security authority. “Transparency is crucial to the public’s ability to monitor the government’s national security efforts and ensure that federal agencies respect privacy rights and comply with their obligations under the Privacy Act,” said EPIC’s request.
EPIC said that NSA denied the request on Nov. 21 arguing that it doesn’t have to release the document because it is a confidential presidential communication and contains information that is classified “Secret” and “Top Secret” by the agency. NSA said disclosure of the order could “reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.” The agency said EPIC could file an appeal with the NSA/Central Security Service denial and EPIC said it plans to do so. The privacy group said it is litigating similar FOIA requests with NSA, including the release of NSPD 54, a 2008 presidential directive setting out the NSA’s cyber security authority. The group called NSA a “black hole for public information about cyber security” in an official statement to Congress earlier this year. National Security Agency whistle blower William Binney said in Mid July that the U.S. government is secretly gathering information “about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country”, in “a very dangerous process” that violates Americans’ privacy.
Former President George W. Bush signed a presidential order in 2002 allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor without a warrant the international (and sometimes domestic) telephone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds or thousands of citizens and legal residents inside the United States. The program eventually came to include some purely internal controls -- but no requirement that warrants be obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and the foreign intelligence surveillance laws require.

-Source (GSN Magazine & Press TV)

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VUPEN Researchers Said: They Have First Zero-Day Exploit for Windows 8 & Internet Explorer 10

VUPEN Researchers Said: They Have First Zero-Day Exploit for Windows 8 & Internet Explorer 10

Everyday the users of Microsoft newly launched and so far most advanced windows operating system, I mean Windows 8 are increasing. But we have to keep in mind the security threats are also increasing in parallel. Recently well known French IT security firm Vupen, also known as controversial bug hunters and exploit sellers claimed to have Zero-day exploit of Windows 8. Experts at Vupen Security took credit of cracking the low-level security enhancements featured in Windows 8, Microsoft's latest operating system. According a tweet made by the official account of Vupen Security said it already has a Windows 8 exploit on offer. "Our first 0day for Win8+IE10 with HiASLR/AntiROP/DEP & Prot Mode sandbox bypass (Flash not needed) is ready for customers. Welcome #Windows8" 

Apparently, the exploit combines several unpatched (0-day) security holes in the new version of Windows and the bundled Internet Explorer 10 browser to inject malicious code into systems via specially crafted web pages. Also VUPEN CEO and head of research Chaouki Bekrar sent out a pair of ominous Tweets yesterday claiming to have developed the first zero-day exploit for Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, both released Oct. 26. Bekrar hints the exploit is a sandbox bypass for IE10 with ASLR, DEP and anti-ROP mitigations enabled. “We welcome #Windows8 with various 0Ds combined to pwn all new Win8/IE10 exploit mitigations,” Bekrar wrote. 

The exploit allegedly bypasses all of Windows 8's malware protection features: for example the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) function that Microsoft has extended in the current edition of Windows to cover more system areas and offer improved randomisation. Vupen claims that the exploit also bypasses the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and ROP features as well as Internet Explorer's sandbox-like Protected Mode. A patch for the exploited holes may not become available in the foreseeable future: Vupen said that it discovered the vulnerabilities itself and doesn't plan to disclose them to Microsoft. The company is only offering its exploit to its paying customers, among them government investigation authorities. Should Microsoft close the holes, the elaborate exploit would significantly decrease in value.

-Source (The-H & threatpost)

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NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India (DSCI) announced that the Annual Information Security Summit 2012 will be held on 11-12 December at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. The NASSCOM-DSCI Annual Information Security Summit this year will focus on the national cyber security elements- Framework, Machinery, Responsibility & Operations for all the critical information sectors like power, energy and finance where deliberation will take place on operating technologies like smart grid and industrial control system; the security and privacy imperatives of eCommerce, mCommerce and eGovernance application and platforms. The Summit will provide an opportunity to have focused discussions with government leaders along with global experts who will talk about the security ramifications at the global level. Special features such as celebrating the success of women leaders in the field of security, Workshop on IT Act and release of DSCI assessment frameworks will also be part of the annual summit. The addition of DSCIExcellence Awards 2012 to Corporate and LEAs this year along with Annual summit will truly make this as a platform where India Meets for Security. 

Who Should Attend:-

Organizations:

• User Organization – Banks, Finance, Telecom, Manufacturing, Energy
• Government & PSUs
• Technology & Service Providers
• Security Product/ Services Companies
• Academia

Individuals:

• Business Leaders
• IT Leadership
• Security & Privacy Leadership
• Security Professionals
• Security Implementer | Administrator | Officer

Participation benefits:

• Learn about new challenges, threats and vulnerabilities
• Gain Strategic direction & practical guidance
• Explore new approaches, practices, technologies and services
• Discover market developments and get a feel of technology products
• Discuss on public policies for cyber security and privacy
• Interact with national, government and global leadership

Agenda:- 

 

Tentative Agenda Topics for Annual Information Security Summit’12 : Day 1
Time	Session
0930 to 1015	Inaugural + Key Note
1015 to 1115	National Imperatives of Securing Operational Technologies … Smart Grids, Oil & Gas, & Public Utilities
1115 to 1140	Tea Break
1140 to 1200	Platinum Session 1 by Verizon
1200 to 1250	Protecting Key Economic Assets, Securing Financial Backbone …. Stock Exchange, Payment Infrastructures & Financial Switches
1250 to 1310	Platinum Session 2 by TCG
1310 to 1415	Lunch Break
1415 to 1430	Special feature
1430 to 1520	Architecting Security for New Age Banking … Business Models, Technology Transformations & Channel Revolutions in the midst of Organized, Focused, Advanced & Persistent Cyber Threats
1520 to 1540	Special feature by HP
1540 to 1640	Revolution named Clobile, Nightmare for Security? … Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Apps and Cloud Enablement Data driven Businesses
1640 to 1700	Tea Break
1700 to 1800	Data driven Businesses – Data reason for Empowerment and Concern … Big Data, Context Computing & Social Media Computing
1800 to 1900	Networking and Exhibition
1900 to 2030	DSCI Excellence Awards 2012 Corporate Law Enforcement
2030 Onwards	Cocktail Dinner
Day 2
Time	Session
0930 to 1030	Cyber Security, from National Responsibility to Global Accountability … Cyber diplomacy, converging national and international interests
1030 to 1100	Special Feature by CISCO
1100 to 1130	Tea Break
1130 to 1230	Securing Technology Transformation of Governance … eGovernance projects, Security Challenges & Solutions
1230 to 1315	Rendezvous with Women Security Leaders: Special Interaction …. Security, Challenges and Opportunities for Women
1315 to 1415	Lunch Break
1415 to 1515	Security Enablement of Growing Electronic & Mobile Commerce … Rising Volume & Growth of Commerce, Security as Enabler
1515 to 1600	Securing core, edge, access & connect: reappearance of network on agenda of security … Finding the role of network security: Infrastructure Core, Hyer-extensive organizations, Access complexities, Mobility & External exposures
1600 to 1630	Tea Break
1630 to 1730	Consumer Behaviors and Business Responsibilities In the Information Age … Responsible Behaviors, Fair Business Practices & Enabling Technologies

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Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime

Facebook Donates $250,000 to University of Alabama at CIA|JFR to Fight Against Cybercrime 

All of us, who are associated or directly involved in this cyber domain know very well that its almost impossible to stand against the rising cyber crime & cyber criminals. Then the very first question will arise and that is, what is the solution? The answer will be tie-up collaboration, unity in diversity. That means if we stand together and help each other, then definitely we can control cyber crime, not only that but also we can have a safe and secure cyber space. While talking about co-operation and collaboration then a live instance is here for you. It is your favorite social network, Facebook who stand against cyber criminals and donate $250,000 to help fight cyber crime. According to UAB News - The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $250,000 donation from Facebook in recognition of the center’s role in tracking international criminals behind social-media botnet Koobface as well as other spammers. The donation, which comes from money Facebook has recovered from spammers located around the world, will be used to expand the new CIA|JFR headquarters. 

“As a result of numerous collaborations over the years, Facebook recognizes the center as both a partner in fighting Internet abuse, and as a critical player in developing future experts who will become dedicated cybersecurity professionals,” says Joe Sullivan, chief security officer at Facebook. “The center has earned this gift for their successes in fighting cybercrime and because of the need for formal cybersecurity education to better secure everyone’s data across the world.”  

Here we want to remind our readers that 'Koobface' was the most dangerous malware ever made to infiltrate Facebook made by few Russian hacker. The hackers, known as the Koobface gang, sent Facebook users attractive invitations to watch a funny or sexy video. When the unsuspecting users clicked the link, the message appeared saying that their computer’s Flash software needed updating. The “update” was in fact malware that hijacked the user’s clicks and delivered them to advertisers, making the hackers money -to the tune of over $2 million annually. According to Kaspersky Labs the network of infected computers included between 400,000 and 800,000 PC. Earlier in this year the entire Koobface gang was exposed and the C&C server of Koobface has been stopped prenatally by few German Researchers. 

With this story here we, the entire VOGH Team would like to congratulate the team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on the donation from Facebook. More power to them and similar experts around the world, helping investigate cybercrime and making the online world a safer place! 

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Most Organized Banking-Trojan Called 'Gozi Prinimalka' By Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Banks

Most Organized Banking-Trojan Called 'Gozi Prinimalka' By Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Banks

We all might be aware of massive attack which took place last month, targeted several leading banking and financial sector of United States. The attack came just after 'anti Islamic' video was posted online. The US National Security officials accused the Iranian government for engaging cyber attacks against US Banks mainly Bank of America. Sooner or later the situation came under control. But cloud of trouble for US Banking sector is not gone completely, recently security professionals unveiled that a cartel of Russian hackers is planning to launch a separate attack aimed at stealing money from about 30 U.S. financial institutions, an apparent attempt to piggyback and capitalize on the ongoing cyber attacks on U.S. banks. The emergence of Russian hackers suggests a potential shift in the motivation of the cyber attacks from ideological to financial and also points to a longer duration of the ongoing attacks. Security experts have picked up on chatter in the cyber underworld indicating Russian cyber hackers have set their sights on about 30 U.S. financial institutions. Dubbed “Operation Blitzkrieg,” the attack is planned for this fall on 30 U.S. banks, though it’s not clear which specific institutions will be targeted. In a blog post last week, RSA said it “believes this is the making of the most substantial organized banking-Trojan operation seen to date.”

So far it’s not clear who the specific Russian hackers are, but famous security professional & blogger Brian Krebs pointed to series of posts beginning in early September on Underweb forums by a Russian hacker who uses the nickname “vorVzakone,” which translates to “thief in law.” RSA said “underground chatter” indicates the gang plans to deploy a Trojan, called “Gozi Prinimalka,” in an effort to complete fraudulent wire transfers via Man-In-The-Middle (MiTM) manual session-hacking scenarios. Herberger said MiTM is a type of attack that aims to deceive targets by violating otherwise secure communications, similar to tapping into a landline phone conversation or breaching a VPN session. “If successfully launched, the full force of this mega heist may only be felt by targeted banks in a month or two,” RSA said. The Trojan is part of a family of malware used by a crime gang that has successfully siphoned at least $5 million from banks, RSA said. The Russian hackers are also offering to pay individuals who help them carry out the attacks, indicating a desire to monetize the intrusions.

So now the vows of hacker group named 'Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters' is proving to be more dangerous for US. The hacker group earlier said "These series of attacks will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie from the Internet". For your reminder this hacker group was responsible for all the major DDoS attacks against US financial sector. “It’s not uncommon that people who have a financial motive may try to take advantage of nefarious techniques,” said Herberger. “They will jump in because they can take advantage of the fact banks are laboring and security departments are becoming overrun and softened for a different kind of motivated attack.” The emergence of the threat from Russian groups underscores the prolonged nature of the attacks against corporations, especially in the financial industry. “Security teams are coming to terms that these attacks are long,” often measured in days and weeks, said Herberger. However, security teams often aren’t “staffed for attrition.”

-Source (FOX Business)

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Leading US Banking & Financial Sector Suffering From Massive DDoS Attack

Leading US Banking & Financial Sector Suffering From Massive DDoS Attack 

Few days ago in a report we said that US National Security officials accused the Iranian government for engaging cyber attacks against US Banks. The attack came just after 'anti Islamic' video was posted online. Attacks against the websites of leading banks in the United States have the banking and financial services industry on edge. The Financial Services ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center) set its Threat Level to “High” on Wednesday, September 19, indicating a high risk of cyber attacks. Attacks against the websites of leading banks in the United States have the banking and financial services industry on edge. A Muslim hacking group calling itself Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters took responsibility for attacks on the New York Stock Exchange, Bank of America and Chase last week. This week brought attacks against Wells Fargo, US Bank and PNC. Wells Fargo used its Twitter account to apologize for service interruptions on Wednesday and said it was working to "quickly resolve this issue." Most of the targeted banks were back online and operational Thursday. The events prompted U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to use an interview on C-SPAN to point the finger of blame at the Iranian government and its elite Quds Force.
Wheather it is Iran Govt or that hacker group 'Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters' but the main issue of concern is that the Banking and financial sector has been highly disturbed since last few weeks. Though the situation came under control at last Thursday but still experts are predicting that this ongoing cyber attack is not over yet. In their statement the hacker group vows to engage more attack. "These series of attacks will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie from the Internet," said the hacker.

-Source (Naked Security) 

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Samsung Galaxy S3, S2 & HTC Android Phones are Vulnerable to 'remote wipe' Hack

Samsung Galaxy S3, S2 & HTC Android Phones are Vulnerable to 'remote wipe' Hack

Yet again a large number of Android users have been warned of a security hole. Security experts have uncovered that millions of Android handsets including the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S2, HTC One X and HTC Desire can be wiped just by visiting a malicious website that embeds particular code in weblinks. A user with a vulnerable handset who visits a page and clicks a link containing the malicious code would see their phone wiped, losing personal data such as photos and texts as well as repleaceable data such as contact details and apps. The flaw is caused by a security hole in some versions of Android's dialler software, which allows the "tel:" URL prefix to be used on a webpage to perform functions on the phone's dialling software. Normally that is useful for functions such as initiating a call on the handset directly from a site. But the tel: prefix can also be used to pass a string of non-numeric data to the dialler.

Special strings of characters can perform other functions; for example typing #06# on the dialler will display a phone's IMEI number. The flaw exploits a string that activates a factory reset of some phones because they do not force a user interaction before carrying out the function encoded in the string. The code would have to be embedded as a link to cause the user to activate it - but it would be easy to represent it as an innocent link to Google or any site. Pressing the link would initiate the wipe.

Users of vulnerable handsets may be able to install a third-party dialler and make that the default as protection against the "remote wipe" attack. Experts also pointed out that not all Android handsets have the capability for a remote wipe built in - although the number of models discovered with the vulnerability has grown since it became known on Tuesday.

Dylan Reeve, a New Zealand-based TV editor who first brought the flaw to wide notice, says that Samsung Galaxy phones which use Android 4.1 will be safe from the hack. But that still leaves millions of Galaxy S2 and some S3 models which will not have had the correct revision of the firmware rolled out to them and which could be hit.  

Though the vulnerability was fixed in Android's core code earlier this year, that code has not been propagated to every handset in use. The fact that the flaw existed in handsets from Samsung and HTC - the two biggest vendors of Android handsets - also suggests that a huge number of existing handsets could include the outdated code.

Samsung said in a statement that it has already provided a patch for the Galaxy S3, but it is not clear how long that will take for operator approval and rollout. In general software updates to any phone have to first be tested and approved by the carrier supporting the phone. Samsung said it is testing a patch for the Galaxy S2, but had no information on when it will be available or how it will be distributed. But HTC has issued a statement saying that "our devices do not support a USSD code to factory reset option." This means that they should not be vulnerable to the exploit described below.

-Source (Guardian)

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Prison CCTV System are Under Attack By Worm Named 'Conficker'

Prison CCTV System are Under Attack By Worm Named 'Conficker'

Yet again worm named 'conficker' has been spotted in the wild and this time it's showing some dangerous tricks. Security researcher from Symantec has unveiled that is infamous malware have managed to hack all the computers that control closed circuit television (CCTV) system of an unknown prison. Representatives from the correctional institutions were adamant that all the required security measures be all set and be in place so that the malware might be blocked, thus claiming that the threats were identified by protective software that were most likely false positives. Symantec experts found that a different Windows server 2003 system was required to control the prison CCTV system after examining the whole incident, and that system had remained unpatched as updates are formed interoperability problems with the cameras. An infection is introduced unintentionally through a USB drive while a contractor doing maintenance on the system. The recorded footage is modified by the threat insisting the prison's representative to catalogue it as "tampered evidence". While commenting on the matter, Director of Managed Security Services for the Asia Pacific and Japan region at anti-virus firm (Symantec), Peter Sparkes denoted that a CCTV was found to cause infection and identified as a threat, through a maintenance device. It is a software update by the involvement of a third party was that was into maintaining the CCTV.

-Source (SPAMfighter News)

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