Category Archives: Thoughts
Facebook malware scam takes hold
Facebook malware scam takes hold A “worrying number” of Facebook users are sharing a link to a malware-laden fake CNN news page reporting the U.S. has attacked Iran and Saudi Arabia, security firm Sophos said Friday. If users who follow the link then click to play what purports to be video coverage of the attack, they are prompted to update their Adobe Flash player with a pop-up window that looks very much like the real thing. Those who accept the prompt unwittingly install malware on their computers. Source Malware writers go where the crowds are. It’s always been so and one reason why Linux has far less to worry about …
Can an opened email infects a PC? Is Driveby Spam the new Internet threat?
It’s just about opening an email, without clicking any links from inside or without running any attachments, can this action infects our PC? I have always recommended to my readers to not run any attachment nor to click any link contained in an unsolicited email looking like a spam, to avoid PC infections with malware, but it seems that the subject must be treated more in-depth. I have read an article written by a german email security company named eleven which claims: The eleven Research Team has issued a warning about a new and particularly dangerous e-mail-borne method to infect PCs with viruses and Trojans. This driveby spam automatically downloads …
Kelihos Botnet Coming Back to Life
Kelihos Botnet Coming Back to Life A botnet that was crippled by Microsoft and Kaspersky Lab last September is spamming once again and experts have no recourse to stop it. Source Kelihos was never big compared to a lot of the botnets. Despite it’s size, it was extremely active. Spam and malware go hand in hand. Much of it is infected links in email which is the easiest way to infect the individual computer user. The hard way that provides more computers for the bot-herder is injecting a web site. Not just any website will do. Google and most search engines, carry a list of known infection sites to block …
Compromised WordPress based websites leading to Phoenix Exploit Kit
Sending bulk emails(spam), containing poisoned links is for long time now one of the methods used by hackers to infect computers with malware, everybody knows the reasons, to steal the user credentials or to use the infected computers in other nefarious actions as botnet. Generally, the scam emails are presented as a request from an institution, bank, other financial institution, Telephony or Internet provider to clarify a confused situation, asking for the user interaction. These fake emails are talking about large amount of money that must be paid possibly in error, trying to scare the user and determine him to act as soon as possible to rectify the situation. Other …
Critical vulnerabilities in Windows Media allow remote code execution
Recently Microsoft released several security patches for a vulnerability discovered in Windows Media components in their Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-004 – Critical. The vulnerability affects more or less all Windows operating systems 32 and 64 bits starting with Windows XP SP3, ending with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and consists in allowing of remote code execution when a specially crafted MIDI file is handled by Windows Media Player or DirectShow. Affected Windows operating systems components are as follows: Windows Media Library and DirectShow components: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Service Pack 3 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 …
Android.Counterclank Found in Official Android Market
Symantec has identified multiple publisher IDs on the Android Market that are being used to push out Android.Counterclank. This is a minor modification of Android.Tonclank, a bot-like threat that can receive commands to carry out certain actions, as well as steal information from the device. Source What started out as a way to provide a cheaper phone is now becoming a headache. Licensing is a heavy hitter in the cost of a phone. Manufactures pay serious money to use propitiatory software by Apple or Microsoft. Using Android, a derivative of Linux sourcing, provides FLOSS software. The headache with it is that the changes in OSS must be posted to the …
Woeful SCADA Security
The talk presented the findings of “Project Basecamp,” a volunteer-led security audit of leading programmable logic controllers (PLCs). The audit found that decrepit hardware, buggy software and pitiful or nonexistent security features make thousands of PLCs vulnerable to trivial attacks by external hackers that could cause PLC devices to crash or run malicious code. Source This opens a whole new field of malware attack area of opportunity. It’s been coming for a long time with claims surfacing of possible hacker attacks into infrastructure that could literally effect your way of life. To start out with, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and it’s hand in hand component PLC (Programmable Logic …
