Malware

WCIT’s Security Issues

Another contentious issue at the WCIT in Dubai is 'security'. There has been a dramatic increase in nervousness regarding a whole range of security issues, especially in relation to the internet. They include: SPAM, denial-of-service-attacks, identity theft, cybercrime, cyberwarfare, and privacy issues on social media. From the list above it is clear that some of these issues are related to content, while some can be classified as national security and others as criminal offences. In other words, there is no clear-cut issue on what constitutes security. more

FBI Agent Thomas X. Grasso Receives First J.D. Falk Award for Establishing DNS Changer Working Group

Convincing competitors, disparate business entities and researchers to collaborate - many donating their services and resources - to protect millions of end-users worldwide is no small feat. Yet FBI Supervisory Special Agent Thomas X. Grasso did just that by quietly working behind the scenes to create the DNS Changer Working Group that saved an inestimable number of end-users from losing access to the Web over the last two years. more

Malware and Search Warrant

A recent decision from a federal district court addresses an issue I hadn't seen before: whether searching malware on the suspect's computer was outside the scope of the search warrant issued for that computer. It seems a narrow issue, and unfortunately the opinion issued in the case doesn't tell us a whole lot about what happened; but I thought the issue was worth writing about, if only to note that it arose. more

Bluetooth-Based Attack Vector Dubbed “BlueBorne” Exposes Almost Every Connected Device

Security firm, Armis Labs, has revealed a new attack vector that can target major mobile, desktop, and IoT operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, and Linux, and the devices using them.

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Public Private Cooperation: The Zeus Take Down Example

Microsoft took down a Zeus botnet recently. Within days it was publicly accosted by Fox-IT's director Ronald Prins for obstructing ongoing investigations and having used Fox-IT's data. This was followed by the accusation that Microsoft obstructs criminal proceedings... On top of all this EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström announced that cooperation between law enforcement and industry will be forged in the European Cyber Crime Centre as of 2013. Coincidences do not exist. Why? more

Google Reports 18 Million Daily COVID-19 Related Malware, Phishing Emails Per Day

During the last week, Google says it has been seeing 18 million malware and phishing emails related to COVID-19 daily. This, the company reported today, "is in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related daily spam messages." more

Biggest Botnet Takedown to Date

Yesterday law enforcement officials arrested 6 people and charged them with running a massive internet fraud ring. Over 4 million PCs were part of the botnet. According to the FBI, "the cyber ring used a class of malware called DNSChanger to infect approximately 4 million computers in more than 100 countries. There were about 500,000 infections in the U.S., including computers belonging to individuals, businesses, and government agencies such as NASA." more

FBI, Department of Homeland Security Issue Warning About a North Korean Trojan Malware Variant

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week issued a malware analysis report on Trojan malware variants linked to the North Korean government. more

Major Flaw Found in WannaCry Raises Questions on Whether it was Really a Ransomware

An extensive analysis of WannaCry seems to indicate attackers would be unable to determine which users have paid the ransom and they cannot decrypt on a per-user basis. more

Greylisting Still Works - Part I

Greylisting is a hoary technique for rejecting spam sent by botnets and other poorly written spamware. When a mail server receives an attempt to deliver mail from a hitherto unseen sending host IP address, it rejects the message with a "soft fail" error which tells the sender to try again later. Real mail software does try again, at which point you note that the host knows how to retry and you don't greylist mail from that IP again. more

Two Romanians Charged for Hacking Washington DC Police Computers Linked to Surveillance Cameras

US prosecutors have charged two Romanians with hacking Washington DC police computers linked to surveillance cameras just days before President Donald Trump's inauguration. more

A 60% Rise Reported on Malware Designed to Harvest Consumers’ Digital Data, aka Password Stealers

A significant rise has been detected in the use of malware aimed at harvesting consumer data, known as password stealers. more

Internet Population Passes 1 Billion, and We’re Still Afraid

We're learning this week that we have officially passed the one billion number in terms of people using the Internet. Eric Schonfeld writes in his article on TechCrunch that the number is probably higher than that. One billion is a staggering number, even though it makes up only 15 to 22 percent of the world's population. Nevertheless, those one billion Internet users give us a lot to deal with on their own in terms of social and security issues on the web. more

Canadian Spam Law Update

As you may know, there are two laws currently being discussed in Canadian legislative assemblies: Senate Bill S-220, a private member’s bill with private right of action and criminal remedies; Parliamentary Bill C-27, tabled by the government, with private right of action, coordination between various enforcement agencies... more

Lessons Behind the Microsoft 3322.org Takedown

The Microsoft action against 3322.org, a Chinese company, started with the news that computers were infected during the production phase. Stepping away from the controversy surrounding the approach, there are important lessons that cyber security officials and upper management, deciding on the level of and budget for cyber security in organisations should learn and take into account. I'm writing this contribution from a premise: China uses the fact that most IT devices are built in China to its advantage. Allow me to start with an account from personal memory to set the stage. more