Malware


Proxy Service a Front for Malware Distribution

Hundreds of thousands of users who signed up for an inexpensive proxy service called Proxybox.name got quite a steal alright. They ended up installing a Trojan horse linked to a botnet first detected last summer.Researchers at Symantec reverse engineered the Backdoor.Proxybox malware and unearthed a major black hat operation and perhaps the actual malware developer.

Social Engineers Launch New Attack on Embattled Banks

As a number of major U.S. financial institutions deal with the aftermath of what was perhaps the largest DDoS campaign ever, researchers at FireEye are reporting on a separate phishing attack that establishes a channel of malicious communications on its victims’ computers.

Malware Signed by Adobe Certificate Only Used in Limited Targeted Attacks

Adobe’s revocation of a code-signing certificate that had been used by attackers to sign several malicious utilities sparked concerns in the security community about widespread malware attacks using those utilities. The key concern was that most antimalware systems will implicitly trust files that are digitally signed and so would pass them by without flagging them as malicious. However, security researchers say that the utilities, while still circulating, aren’t being used in large-scale attacks.


Mobile malware has largely been limited to Trojans buried inside a malicious app targeting sensitive data stored on the phone such as email, contact information and SMS messages. A new proof-of-concept piece of malicious software, however, expands the scope of mobile malware and essentially turns an Android device into a surveillance tool, bringing a while new range of security and privacy implications into the equation.

Adobe announced today it was the victim of an APT-style attack after two malicious utilities commonly used in targeted attacks for privilege escalation and pivoting within a network were discovered signed by a valid Adobe digital certificate. Adobe said it will revoke the certificate next week.

Adobe products and services senior director of security Brad Arkin said in a statement that a build server with access to the Adobe code signing infrastructure was compromised and is the source of the issue.