A network frequently used for malware delivery was shut down Wednesday night, probably against the will of its operators. Troyak.org, an Internet service provider well-known for
serving Zeus botnets and other malware delivery methods, went dark
overnight, resulting in the shutdown of as many as 25 percent of the
world’s Zeus botnets, according to researchers. Read the full article. [Dark Reading]
New capabilities are strengthening the ZeuS botnet,
which criminals use to steal financial credentials and execute
unauthorized transactions in online banking, automated clearing house
(ACH) networks and payroll systems. The latest version of this
cybercrime toolkit offers a $10,000
module that can let attackers completely take control of a compromised
PC. Read the full article. [Network World]
In this wide ranging interview, cryptographer, Taher Elgamal, chief
security officer of Axway Inc. and initial driving
force behind SSL, explains how applications may be better adapted to
defend against attacks and how cloud computing may alter data
protection and authentication. Read the full article. [TechTarget]
Cybercriminals are using a fake Windows Update installation dialogue
box to sell a bogus security product called Anti-malware Defender,
security researchers have warned. Read the full article. [Computer Weekly]
By Danny TijerinaLast week at the RSA Conference, my colleague Derek Brown and I, presented findings from a research project titled MOBOTS: Pocketful of Pwnage, which was designed to show how easy it would be to create a large mobile botnet. Please note that we did not actually create a botnet; we simply presented results of two different experiments that showed how easy it would be to create one.
By Stefan TanaseYesterday’s shut down of Troyak-as was definitely good news for the whole IT security community. Seeing cybercriminals getting kicked out from the Internet and then trying to get back inside calls for popcorn and soda.But unfortunately, as some botnets struggle, others stay unaffected: Koobface, for example, which uses compromised legitimate websites as proxies for their main command and control server.
An Estonian virus writer has been jailed for two and a half years for
creating a Windows worm family that launched denial of service attacks
on the websites of a local insurance firm and ISP. Read the full article. [The Register]
Pennsylvania’s chief information security officer, Robert Maley, has been fired, apparently for talking publicly at the RSA security conference last week about a recent incident involving the Commonwealth’s online driving exam scheduling system. Read the full article. [Computerworld]
Using obvious clues from a McAfee blog post, an Israeli hacker was able to pinpoint the latest Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability and create working exploit code.The exploit code, which provides a clear roadmap to launch drive-by download attacks against IE 6 and IE 7 users, is being fitted into the Metasploit point-and-click tool.
Malicious hackers have pounced on a newly patched Adobe PDF Reader vulnerability to plant Trojan downloaders on tardy Windows users.According to researchers in Microsoft’s malware protection center, the vulnerability (CVE-2010-0188) was patched less than a month ago, proving that malicious hackers are quick to find fresh targets for malware.
Infosec Insider content is written by a trusted community of Threatpost cybersecurity subject matter experts. Each contribution has a goal of bringing a unique voice to important cybersecurity topics. Content strives to be of the highest quality, objective and non-commercial.
Sponsored Content is paid for by an advertiser. Sponsored content is written and edited by members of our sponsor community. This content creates an opportunity for a sponsor to provide insight and commentary from their point-of-view directly to the Threatpost audience. The Threatpost editorial team does not participate in the writing or editing of Sponsored Content.
