Category Archives: Malware

Internet crime, Malware, Security, Spam and scams, Things that are bad

Ransomware update

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Ransomware has been in the news a lot lately. The CryptXXX ransomware is no longer susceptible to easy decryption, and it’s been making a lot of money for its purveryors, in many cases using compromised, high profile business web sites as its delivery mechanism. On a more positive note, the people who created the TeslaCrypt ransomware stopped production and released global decryption keys. New ransomware delivery systems are able to bypass Microsoft’s EMET security software. The Cerber ransomware was recently delivered to a large proportion of Office 365 users via a Word document in an email attachment. And an even more hideous piece of malware surfaced in the last week: posing as ransomware, Ranscam actually just deletes all your files.

Ransomware is different from other kinds of attacks because of the potential damage. It can render all your data permanently inaccessible. Even paying the ransom is no guarantee that you will get all your data back intact. Other types of attacks typically try to fly more under the radar: trojans and rootkits want to control and use your computer’s resources; and viruses want to spread and open the door for other attacks. While other types of attacks can be fixed by removing the affected files, that doesn’t work for ransomware.

Like other types of attacks, ransomware first has to get onto your computer. These days, simply visiting the wrong web site can accomplish that. More common vectors are downloaded media and software, and email attachments. Preventing malware of any kind from getting onto your computer involves the kind of caution we’ve been advising for years; ransomware doesn’t change that advice.

What CAN make a big difference with a ransomware attack is limiting its reach. Once on a computer, ransomware will encrypt all data files it can access; specifically, files to which it has write access. Ransomware typically runs with the same permissions as the user who unwittingly installed it, but more insidious installs may use various techniques to increase its permissions. In any case, limiting access is the best safeguard. For example, set up your regular user so that it cannot install software or make changes to backup data.

Here’s a worst-case scenario: you run a small LAN with three computers. All your data is on those computers. Your backup data is on an external hard drive connected to one of those computers, and a copy exists on the Cloud. For convenience, you’ve configured the computers so that you can copy files between them without having to authenticate. Once ransomware gets onto one of the computers, it will encrypt all data files on that computer, but it will also encrypt data it finds on the other computers, and on the external backup drive. Worse still, some ransomware will also figure out how to get to your cloud backup and encrypt the data there as well.

How to limit your exposure? Require full authentication to access computers on your LAN. Use strong, unique passwords for all services. Store your passwords in a secure password database. Limit access to your backup resources to a special user that isn’t used for other things. In other words, exercise caution to avoid getting infected, but in case you get infected anyway, make sure that you have walls in place that limit the reach of the ransomware.

Most ransomware targets Windows systems, so most of the verbiage out there is about Windows as well. This article covers the basics fairly well.

Android, Edge, Flash, Google, Internet crime, Malware, Microsoft, Mobile, Security, Spam and scams, Windows, WordPress and other CMS

April security roundup

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People who store Slack credentials in Github code repositories learned that this a bad idea, as researchers demonstrated the ease with which this information can be gathered without any explicit permissions.

Scary news: computers at a German nuclear reactor facility were found to be loaded with malware. The only thing that prevented miscreants from playing with real nuclear reactors was the fact that these computers are not connected to the Internet.

Crappy security practices led to the theft of user account information (email addresses and poorly-encrypted passwords) from Minecraft community site Lifeboat.

The notorious hacking group known as Hacking Team made the news again, this time with reports of active drive-by exploits affecting Android devices.

The Nuclear exploit kit is still operating, despite recent, partially-successful, efforts to shut it down. Researchers showed that the kit is still being used, and may be involved in recent ransomware infections.

Good news: the two men responsible for the notorious SpyEye banking trojan, recently extradited to the US to face federal prosecution, will be spending nine and fifteen years in prison.

Zero-day exploits are on the rise, doubling from 24 in 2014 to 54 in 2015. A zero-day exploit is a hack that takes advantage of software vulnerabilities before the software’s maintainers have had a chance to develop a fix.

Cisco security researchers identified vulnerabilities in several enterprise software systems, including Red Hat’s JBoss. As many as three million web-facing servers running this software are at risk of being infected with ransomware, and in fact as many as 2100 infected servers were identified.

More good news: the Petya ransomware was found to contain a flaw that allows its victims to decrypt their data without paying any ransom.

The Mumblehard botnet was taken down by ESet researchers, after it infected at least 4000 computers and sent out countless spam emails.

Microsoft announced plans to prevent Flash content from playing automatically in the Windows 10 web browser Edge. All the major browsers appear to be heading in this direction, if they don’t already have the feature, as does Chrome.

April’s issue of the SANS ‘Ouch!’ newsletter is titled “I’m Hacked, Now What?” (PDF) and provides helpful information for the recently-hacked. The newsletter is aimed at regular users, so it may not be particularly useful for IT professionals, except as a means to educate users.

The wildly popular WhatsApp – a messaging application for mobile devices – now has end-to-end encryption. This will make life more difficult for spy agencies who want to know what users are saying to each other. But WhatsApp users should be aware that this does not make their communications invulnerable, since techniques exist to get around full encryption, such as keystroke loggers.

Bad idea: someone at CNBC thought it would be a good idea to ask users to submit their passwords to a web-based system that would test the passwords and report on their relative strength. The service itself was vulnerable, and exposed submitted passwords to network sniffing. The service was taken offline soon after the vulnerability was identified.

The web site for toy maker Maisto International was hacked and serving up ransomware for an unknown amount of time, probably several days or even weeks. The hack was made possible because the site was using outdated Joomla software.

Adware, Android, Google, Hardware, Internet crime, Malware, Mobile, Opera, Security, Spam and scams

Security roundup for March 2016

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Ransomware made news frequently in March. Two more healthcare networks in the USA were hit with ransomware. A new variety of ransomware called Petya took things to a new level, encrypting the core data structures of hard drives. TeslaCrypt continued its destructive march across Europe and into the USA. A surge in malware-laden advertising (aka malvertising) on several popular web sites, including the Certified Ethical Hacker site, led to numerous ransomware infections.

Smartphones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system remain a popular target for malware. A newly-discovered vulnerability can allow malware to permanently take over a device at the root level. Malware that exploits the still largely unpatched Stagefright vulnerability was identified.

Security researchers discovered malware that can infect computers that are not connected to networks, using external USB devices like thumb drives. The malware, dubbed USB Thief, steals large quantities of data and leaves very little evidence of its presence.

A hacking group known as Suckfly is using stolen security certificates to bypass code signing mechanisms, allowing them to distribute malware-laden apps more effectively.

The folks at Duo Security published an interesting post that aims to demystify malware attacks, describing malware infrastructure and explaining how malware spreads.

Ars Technica reported on the surprising resurgence of Office macro malware. Macros embedded in Office (Word, Excel) documents were a major problem in the 1990s but subsequent security improvements by Microsoft reduced their prevalence until recently. Getting around those improvements only requires tricking the document’s recipient into enabling macros, and it turns out that this is surprisingly easy.

Millions of customer records were made available in the wake of yet another major security breach, this time at Verizon.

Google continued to improve the security of its products, with more encryption, better user notifications and other enhancements to GMail.

Brian Krebs reported on spammers taking advantage of the trust users have in ‘.gov’ domains to redirect unsuspecting users to their spammy offerings.

Opera announced that their web browser will now include ad-blocking features that are enabled by default.

Malware, Security, WordPress and other CMS

Hacked WordPress sites spreading ransomware

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WordPress continues to be a favourite target for people engaged in malicious activity on the web. A WordPress site that isn’t kept up to date with security patches is almost guaranteed to be compromised in some way.

There’s been a recent surge in the number of hacked WordPress sites, many of of which are infecting visitors with ransomware. If you haven’t bothered to install security updates on your computer, simply visiting a compromised site can infect it. And ransomware is not something you want to mess with.

Please, make life more difficult for the people spreading malware and compromising web sites: keep your WordPress sites, operating system, and software patched.

Android, Apple, Cloud, Google, Hardware, Internet crime, Linux, Mac, Malware, Microsoft, Mobile, Privacy, Security

Security and privacy roundup for January 2016

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Your devices are talking about you

You already know that your web browser is tracking your activity. You are probably also aware of ‘The Internet of Things‘ – the increasing prevalence of devices that are connected to the Internet – and you recognize that any such device can also track your activities. Bruce Schneier reveals the next step in this evolution: enabling devices to share information about you. Of course, since the goal of all this surveillance is merely better-targeted advertising, most people are unlikely to care. Still, if privacy and control are important to you, this will not be welcome news.

Brian Krebs reminded us that ransomware can affect files in your cloud storage space as well as on your physical computer and network-connected devices.

A summary of software vulnerabilities over at VentureBeat shows Mac OS X topping the list for 2015. Microsoft’s security efforts seem to be paying off, as the highest-ranked version of Windows on the 2015 list is Windows 8.1 at number 10, and fewer than half the vulnerabilities as OS X.

Serious vulnerabilities were discovered in OpenSSH (a very commonly-used secure terminal client), OpenSSL (the ubiquitous security library), and Trend Micro antivirus software.

Vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel (affecting Android phones and Linux PCs) remain unpatched on many affected devices.

Google produced more patches for vulnerabilities affecting Android devices, but as always, the patches are finding their way to devices very slowly.

The very weak hashing functions MD5 and SHA1 are still being used in HTTPS encryption in some contexts.

It’s official: your smart TV can become infected with malware.

Network devices made by Juniper and Fortinet were found to contain serious vulnerabilities, including an NSA-developed back-door function and a hard-coded back-door password (more).

The free-to-use deep search tool Shodan made the news when researchers showed that it can be used to find household cameras, including baby-cams. Note that the problem here is not Shodan, which is just a useful search tool. The problem is the failure to properly secure Internet-connected devices.

There were more serious corporate security breaches in January, at Time Warner and Linode. As usual in these cases, the login credentials of subscribers were obtained by the attackers.

Amazon’s security practices were (unwillingly) tested by a customer, and found seriously deficient.

More malicious apps were found in the Google Play store. Google removed those apps, but not until they were downloaded millions of times by unsuspecting Android device users.

LG fixed a critical security hole affecting as many as ten million of its mobile devices.

Chrome, Internet crime, Java, Linux, Malware, Privacy, Security, Tools, WordPress and other CMS

December security and privacy roundup

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Security and privacy stories making the rounds in December…

Aethra modem botnet

In February I wrote about hack attempts on several of my WordPress sites. Most of those attacks originated in Italy, from Aethra modems provided by Italian service provider Albacom. At the time, I tried to contact Albacom and its new owner, BT Italy, with no success. Apparently I wasn’t the only person who noticed. The people who make Wordfence, an extremely useful security plugin for WordPress, recently reported on the efforts of a Voidsec security researcher to track down and report the problem.

Nemesis malware worse than ever

A particularly nasty piece of malware called Nemesis now has the ability to insert part of itself in the boot process of a PC, making it even more difficult to detect and remove. Luckily for regular folks, Nemesis mostly seems to be targeting financial institutions. On second thought, there’s nothing lucky about that.

Linux computers increasingly targeted – and vulnerable

It’s becoming clear that Linux computers can be just as vulnerable as computers running Windows: a single, unpatched application vulnerability can be all that’s required for attackers to gain complete control. Hacking groups are acting quickly when new vulnerabilities are revealed, and have been adding exposed Linux servers to their botnets at an alarming rate.

Mysterious attack on root DNS servers

In early December, most of the Internet’s core name servers were briefly flooded with requests from all over the net; the requests were all related to two specific (and undisclosed) domain names. It’s still not clear who perpetrated the attack, and no real damage was done, since the servers involved absorbed the traffic relatively easily.

Help for securing routers

The US-CERT security organization posted a useful guide for securing home routers. The guide necessarily gets into technical details, but anyone who is interested in keeping their home network secure – and has access to their router’s configuration – should give it a look.

Oracle spanked by the US FTC for its deceptive practices

Oracle has done a terrible job of informing Java users of the dangers of leaving old versions of Java installed. Worse, Java installation software is traditionally not very good at detecting and removing older Java installs. The FTC finally noticed, calling Oracle’s practices a “deceptive act or process” in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. In response, Oracle has posted a Java uninstall tool on its web site. To be fair, the newer Java runtime installers now also look for older versions and offer to uninstall them, so they are making progress.

A rational response to claims that encryption is somehow bad

You’ve no doubt noticed elected officials in various countries claiming that smartphone encryption is making police work more difficult. They often use the catchphrase ‘going dark’ and invoke ‘terrorism’ to scare people into believing their BS. There’s a post over on Techdirt that exposes the lunacy of these ‘going dark’ claims.

Panopticlick – is your browser keeping your activity private?

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) created a web-based tool that analyzes your web browser and lets you know how well it protects you against online tracking technologies. It’s a handy way to make sure that the browser you’re using is keeping your activity as private as you think it is. Keep in mind that a lot of web sites (including this one) use tracking technologies for legitimate reasons, such as counting the number of visits. To learn more, check out this helpful post over on the PixelPrivacy site that explains browser fingerprinting.

Security practices of some service providers still terrible

Brian Krebs recently reported that his PayPal account was hacked. During his subsequent investigation, he discovered that PayPal handed his credentials to someone impersonating him on the phone. PayPal’s responses to Krebs’ criticisms don’t exactly inspire confidence. Krebs says “the successful takeover of the account speaks volumes about why most organizations — including many financial institutions — remain woefully behind the times in authenticating their customers and staying ahead of identity thieves.”

Android, Apple, Google, Hardware, Internet crime, Malware, Microsoft, Mobile, Privacy, Security, WordPress and other CMS

Security and privacy roundup for November 2015

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PCs from Dell were found to include support software and related security certificates that potentially expose users to various threats. Dell moved quickly to provide fixes, but many systems remain vulnerable. As if we needed more convincing, this is yet another reason to remove manufacturer-installed software from new PCs as soon as possible after purchase.

A hacking tool called KeeFarce looks for KeePass password databases, attempts to decrypt the stored passwords, and makes the decrypted passwords available to intruders. For this to work, the target computer must already be compromised, and the KeePass database left unlocked. According to researchers, the technique could be used on any password management software. Please, if you use password management software, remember to leave it locked, even if you’re the only user. Why make things any easier for intruders?

Anti-adblocking service provider PageFair was hacked on Halloween, and for a couple of hours, visitors to about 500 web sites were shown fake Flash update warnings that actually installed malware. PageFair fixed the problem relatively quickly and apologized for the breach.

The web site for the popular vBulletin forum software was hacked and user account information stolen. Site admins reset all user passwords and warned users, but have yet to address claims that the attackers used a long-standing vulnerability in the vBulletin software itself to achieve the intrusion. If true, anyone who manages a vBulletin site should immediately install the patch, which was made available after the vBulletin site hack.

With all the furor over Windows 10’s privacy issues, it’s important to recognize that modern phones have all the same issues. Anyone who uses a smartphone has observed that most apps ask for access to private information when they are installed. Generally, user choices are limited to agreeing or cancelling installation. A new study looks at popular iOS and Android apps, the user information they collect, and where they send it. The results are about as expected, and the authors conclude, “The results of this study point out that the current permissions systems on iOS and Android are limited in how comprehensively they inform users about the degree of data sharing that occurs.” No kidding.

A nasty new type of Android malware has been discovered. Researchers say that the perpetrators download legitimate Android apps, repackage them with malware, then make the apps available on third-party sites. Once installed, the infected apps allow the malware to install itself with root access. So far, the malware only seems to be used to display ads, but with root access, there’s no limit to the potential damage. Worse still, it’s extremely difficult to remove the malware, and in many cases it’s easier to simply buy a new phone.

Ransomware was in the news a lot in November. SANS reported seeing a malware spam campaign that impersonates domain registrars, tricking recipients into clicking email links that install the ransomware Cryptowall. Ars Technica reports on changes in the latest version of Cryptowall, and a new ransomware player called Chimera. Brian Krebs reports on new ransomware that targets and encrypts web sites. Luckily, the encryption applied by that particular ransomware is relatively easy to reverse.

Several web sites and services were hit with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in November. In some cases, the attackers demanded ransom money to stop the attack. ProtonMail, provider of end-to-end encrypted email services (and used by yours truly) was hit, and the attacks didn’t stop even when the ransom was paid.

Security certificates generated using the SHA1 algorithm are nearing the end of their usefulness. Plans are already underway to stop providing them and stop supporting them in web browsers and other software. SHA1 is being phased out in favour of the much more secure SHA2 algorithm.

A rash of vulnerabilities in popular WordPress plugins, including the excellent BPS Security plugin, came to light in November. WordPress site operators are strongly encouraged to either enable auto-updates or configure their sites to send alerts when new plugin versions are detected.

An app called InstaAgent was pulled from the Apple and Google app stores when it was discovered that the app was transmitting Instagram userids and passwords to a server controlled by the app’s developer. It’s not clear how the app managed to get past the quality controls in place for both stores.

Security researchers discovered a bizarre new form of privacy invasion that uses inaudible sound – generated by advertisements on TV and in browsers – to track user behaviour. As weird as it seems, this technology is allowing true Cross Device Tracking (CDT).

On a brighter note, Google is now detecting web sites that appear to use social engineering techniques to trick users. Chrome’s Safe Browsing feature will now show a warning when you are about to visit a page Google thinks is using these devious methods.

The whole-disk encryption technology TrueCrypt was previously reported as vulnerable, and a new study has confirmed those vulnerabilities. The study also found that if TrueCrypt is used on unmounted drives, it is perfectly secure, but what use is a hard disk if it isn’t connected to anything? TrueCrypt users are still anxiously awaiting new encryption technologies like VeraCrypt.

Security researchers discovered a critical flaw in many Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. VPN software and services are used by many torrent users to protect their identity. The flaw allows a malicious person to obtain the true IP address of a VPN user.

The Readers Digest web site was infected with a variant of the Angler malware and proceeded to infect unpatched visitor computers for about a week before site operators took action. Thousands of Windows computers may have been infected before the site was finally cleaned up.

Adobe, Adware, Android, Apple, Firefox, Flash, Google, Internet crime, Java, Malware, Mobile, Security, Silverlight, WordPress and other CMS

October Security Roundup

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You probably shouldn’t rely on the security of your encrypted email. Even if you’re using current encryption technologies, certain conditions may arise during transit that cause your message to be transmitted in plain text.

There’s a well-reasoned response to a common question about the responsibility of Certificate Authorities over on the Let’s Encrypt blog. These fine folks will soon be providing free HTTPS certificates to the world, so they’ve been answering a lot of questions about how their service will work.

There’s going to be a minor apocalypse, starting January 1, 2016. On that date, Certificate Authorities will stop issuing certificates that use SHA1 encryption. SHA1 is now considered too weak for use, and is being phased out in favour of SHA2, which is much stronger. Just one problem: people stuck using older browser software and devices will lose their ability to access secure web sites and use those devices. There’s more technical nitty-gritty over at Ars Technica.

Symantec hasn’t done enough to clean up its Certificate Authority activities, according to Google. This follows the discovery that Symantec employees were issuing unauthorized certificates. Google has warned Symantec to provide a proper accounting of its CA activities or face the consequences.

A critical vulnerability in the blogging platform Joomla was discovered in October. The bug exists in all versions of Joomla from 3.2 onward. A patch was developed and made available, and anyone who manages a Joomla 3.x -based site is strongly advised to install the patched version (3.4.5) as soon as possible.

It’s increasingly dangerous to be a computer security researcher. New agreements could even make the work illegal in some regions.

Flaws in many self-encrypting external hard drives from Western Digital mean their encryption can be bypassed, according to researchers.

Google made it easier to determine why a site is flagged as unsafe, adding a Safe Browsing Site Status feature to their Transparency Report tools.

Mozilla is following the lead of Google and Microsoft, and plans to all but eliminate support for binary plugins in Firefox by the end of 2016. Binary browser plugins for Java, Flash, and Silverlight provide convenience but are a never-ending security headache. There’s one exception: Mozilla will continue to support Flash as a Firefox plugin for the foreseeable future.

The FBI teamed up with security vendors to take down another botnet in October. The Dridex botnet mainly targeted banking and corporate institutions, gathering private data and uploading it to control servers.

Cisco researchers, working with Limestone Networks, disrupted a lucrative ransomware operation in October.

A stash of thirteen million user names and plain text passwords was recently obtained by a security researcher. The records were traced to 000Webhost, an Internet services provider.

The Patreon funding web site was breached, and private information about subscribers, including encrypted passwords and donation records, was published online. Source code was also stolen, which may make decrypting the passwords much easier.

Researchers discovered numerous iPhone applications that collect and transmit private user information, in violation of Apple’s privacy policies. These apps apparently made it into the App Store because of a loophole in the validation process.

87% of Android-based devices are vulnerable to security exploits. Google develops Android updates quickly enough, but phone makers are typically very slow to make updates available to users.

New Android vulnerabilities, dubbed ‘Stagefright 2.0’ by researchers, were announced in early October. As many as a billion Android devices are vulnerable, and although patches were made available by Google, they may take weeks or months to find their way to individual devices.

A malicious Android adware campaign tricks unwary users into installing apps that appear to be from trusted vendors. These apps use slightly-modified icons of legitimate apps to fool users.

Adobe, Android, Apple, Flash, Google, Hardware, Internet crime, Linux, Mac, Malware, Mobile, Privacy, Security, Shockwave

Security & privacy roundup for September 2015

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Android made security news in September for a lockscreen bypass hack and a ransomware app designated Android/Lockerpin.A.

Passwords in the leaked Ashley Madison user database became much easier to decrypt, once again reminding us to avoid re-using passwords.

A rogue version of the iPhone development tool XCode was found to have added malicious code to almost 500 legitimate apps. Those apps were published on the Apple App Store, and were subsequently installed by millions of iPhone and iPad users.

In other Apple-related news, a simple bypass for the Gatekeeper process, that protects Mac OS X users from malicious software, was discovered.

This month’s Flash updates prompted Brian Krebs to take another look at Adobe Shockwave. He found that even the most recent versions of Shockwave still contain very out of date versions of Flash, and strongly recommends that you remove Shockwave from all your computers.

A series of exploits against the Imgur and 8chan sites caused little damage, despite their enormous potential. The true goals of the hack are still in question, and the associated vulnerabilities on the affected sites have been fixed.

A researcher discovered several serious vulnerabilities in popular security software from Kaspersky Labs. While there’s no evidence of exploits in the wild, this is rather alarming. Anti-malware software typically has access to core system functionality, making working exploits very valuable to attackers. Kaspersky Labs acted quickly to fix the bugs, but this isn’t the first time security software has been found vulnerable, and likely won’t be the last.

A new botnet called Xor.DDoS is using compromised Linux computers to perform DDoS attacks against a variety of web sites, probably at the request of paying customers. The Linux computers hosting the botnet appear to have been compromised via weak root passwords. So far, most of the targets are in Asia. This marks a shift in platform for botnet developers, which previously focused almost exclusively on Windows.