November 12th, 2009

Microsoft bracing for malware attacks from embedded fonts

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 11:16 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Botnets, Browsers, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Metasploit, Microsoft, Passwords, Patch Watch, Responsible disclosure, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware

Tags: Malware, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corp., Attack Vector, Font, Attack, Metasploit, Microsoft Windows, Security, Operating Systems

Heads up to all Microsoft Windows users: If you’re running Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, stop what you’re doing and immediately download and apply the MS09-065 update released earlier this week.

Security researchers say it’s only a matter of time — days not weeks — before malicious hackers start exploiting one of the vulnerabilities via booby-trapped Web pages or Office (Word or PowerPoint) documents.

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November 10th, 2009

Major online ad site hacked, serving up exploit cocktail

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 9:55 am

Categories: Adobe, Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Data theft, Exploit code, Flash, Patch Watch, Responsible disclosure, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware

Tags: Websense Inc., Microsoft Corp., Exploit, Online Advertising, Security, Viruses And Worms, Databases, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management

A high-profile online advertising Web site has been hacked and rigged to serve multiple exploits to Microsoft Windows users surfing the net with unpatched third party desktop software.

According to a warning issued by Websense Security Labs, the malicious code was found on media-servers.net, which is described as a high-profile advertiser on the Internet realm.  The site has been firing an assortment of exploits for several months, including exploits for vulnerabilities in Microsoft DirectShow and Adobe PDF Reader. Read the rest of this entry »

November 3rd, 2009

Adobe Shockwave haunted by critical security holes

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 12:12 pm

Categories: Adobe, Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Data theft, Exploit code, Flash, Malware, Patch Watch, Pen testing, Responsible disclosure, Spam and Phishing, Viruses and Worms, Vulnerability research

Tags: Adobe Systems Inc., Shockwave, Vulnerability, Shockwave Player, Security, Ryan Naraine

Adobe today released a patch to fix several serious security flaws in its Shockwave Player software.

The update, which is rated “critical,” addresses a total of five documented vulnerabilities.  The most serious flaw could allow remote code execution attacks against Windows and Mac users. Read the rest of this entry »

October 29th, 2009

Phishing experiment sneaks through all anti-spam filters

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 2:16 pm

Categories: Botnets, Browsers, Hackers, Phishing, Spam and Phishing

Tags: Anti-spam, LinkedIn, E-mail, Phishing, Cyberthreats, Spam, Viruses And Worms, Security, Spam And Phishing, Dancho Danchev

A recently conducted ethical phishing (New study details the dynamics of successful phishing) experiment impersonating LinkedIn by mailing invitations coming from Bill Gates, has achieved a 100% success rate in bypassing the anti-spam filters it was tested against.

The experiment emphasizes on how small-scale spear phishing campaigns are capable of bypassing anti-spam filters, and once again proves that users continue interacting with phishing emails.

More info on the methodology used:

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October 29th, 2009

Spooky Halloween - scareware or crimeware?

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 11:47 am

Categories: Anti Virus, Botnets, Hackers, Malware, Passwords, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware, Uncategorized, Viruses and Worms

Tags: Campaign, Cybercriminal, Search, Marketing Research, Strategy, Security, Marketing, Management, Dancho Danchev

With all the “spooky” cybercrime trends taking place on a monthly basis, such as the death of CAPTCHA, the suspicious idleness of the Conficker botnet, the clear presence of government-tolerated and upcoming government-sponsored botnets, the inevitable migration from using malicious infrastructure to entirely relying on legitimate one, followed by the cyber terrorism myopia that cyber terrorists still need years to build advanced cyber warfare capabilities, totally excluding outsourcing as a factor for gaining competitive advantage from the big picture, I’m literally having hard time deciding which one deserves most attention.

Whatever the cybercrime tactics, the main objective for the key ‘market players’ remains the same - monetization. Which prompts this year’s Halloween question - scareware (trick) or crimeware (treat)?

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October 27th, 2009

Malware ads served from Gizmodo

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 10:04 am

Categories: Adobe, Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Botnets, Browsers, Facebook, Flash, Locally Running Web Servers, Malware, Passwords, Social Networking Applications, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware

Tags: Advertisement, Blog, Malware, Gizmodo, Ryan Naraine

[ UPDATE: Dancho has more details on this attack ]

Popular gadget blog Gizmodo has acknowledged falling victim to an “elaborate scam” that served malicious ads for scareware (fake anti-virus) to its readers.

In an apology posted online, Gizmodo said the its ad sales team was tricked into running malicious ads purporting to be from Suzuki.  Read the rest of this entry »

October 27th, 2009

Facebook password-reset spam is Bredolab botnet attack

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 8:27 am

Categories: Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Botnets, Browsers, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Facebook, Locally Running Web Servers, Malware, Microsoft, Passwords, Phishing, Social Networking Applications, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware, Viruses and Worms

Tags: Facebook, Spam, Attack, Virus Hunter, Cyberthreats, E-mail, Identity Theft, Security, Viruses And Worms, Online Communications

Virus hunters are raising the alarm for a large-scale spam attack that uses fake Facebook password-reset messages to trick PC users into downloading a dangerous piece of malware.

The malicious executable is linked to the Bredolab botnet, which has been linked to massive spam runs and identity-theft related attacks. Read the rest of this entry »

October 19th, 2009

Fake 'Conficker.B Infection Alert' spam campaign drops scareware

Posted by Dancho Danchev @ 3:01 pm

Categories: Anti Virus, Botnets, Browsers, Hackers, Malware, Microsoft, Spam and Phishing

Tags: Microsoft Windows, Cyberthreats, Internet, Spyware, Spyware, Adware & Malware, E-mail, Security, Spam, Viruses And Worms, Dancho Danchev

An ongoing spam campaign is once again attempting to impersonate Microsoft’s security team — the same campaign was first seen in April — by mass mailing Conficker.B Infection Alerts (install.zip), which upon execution drop a sample of the Antivirus Pro 2010 scareware.

Whereas the theme remains the same, the botnet masters have slightly modified the message:

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October 9th, 2009

Google patches Android DoS vulnerabilities

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 11:17 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Google, Mobile (In)Security, Patch Watch, Pen testing, Phishing, Responsible disclosure, Reverse Engineering, Spam and Phishing, iPhone

Tags: Google Inc., Phone, DOS, Vulnerability, Patch Management, Cell Phone, SMS, SMS Message, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony

Google has shipped a new version of the Android open-source mobile phone platform to fix a pair of security flaws that could lead to denial-of-service attacks.

According to an advisory from oCERT, a group that handles vulnerability disclosure for open-source projects, the flaws could allow hackers to render Android-powered devices useless. Read the rest of this entry »

October 9th, 2009

New Adobe PDF flaw under attack; Patch coming Tuesday

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 8:03 am

Categories: Adobe, Anti Virus, Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Hackers, Malware, Patch Watch, Pen testing, Research, Responsible disclosure, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware, Viruses and Worms, Vulnerability research, Zero-day attacks

Tags: Adobe Systems Inc., Adobe PDF, Adobe Acrobat, Flaw, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Attack, Microsoft Windows, Security, Viruses And Worms, Operating Systems

Adobe has confirmed a critical, unpatched vulnerability in its PDF Reader/Acrobat software is being exploited by malicious attackers.

The vulnerability affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3 and earlier versions on Windows, Macintosh and UNIX.  Adobe described the in-the wild attacks as limited and targeted, suggesting PDF documents rigged with exploits are being attached to e-mails and sent to business targets.

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