Vulnerabilities

Rethinking Stuxnet

It’s hard to think of a story in the last few years that has generated more hype, conjecture, posturing, hyperbole and misdirection than Stuxnet, with the possible exception of the Aurora attacks. The commentary and hype around Stuxnet has shifted and morphed over the last few months, and now it seems to have coalesced around the idea that the malware was the work of Israeli intelligence and targeted specifically at Iran’s nuclear program. But this line of thinking fits together all too easily and has a number of inherent flaws.

Adobe to Release Critical Reader Patch Early

Adobe is moving up the release date for the patch for the critical bug in Reader and Acrobat and will now push the fix out on Oct. 5 instead of the following week. The flaw was disclosed last month and has been the target of attacks for several weeks now.

Researcher Demonstrates Stuxnet At Work

by Paul Roberts
3

We know Stuxnet has caused some major disruptions in nations like Iran and India. But how, exactly, does it work? In this video, Symantec researcher Liam O’Murchu demonstrates how a Stuxnet infected programmable logic controller (PLC) by Siemens can instruct a piece of machinery to run out of control.

Stolen Digital Certificates Becoming Standard Malware Components

by Dennis Fisher
4

In the 15 years or so of serious malware production before 2010, there had been perhaps a handful of examples of malicious programs using digitally signed binaries to bypass antimalware systems. The emergence of Stuxnet earlier this year brought this tactic into the center of the spotlight, and now researchers say that the new mobile Zeus variant that is targeting Symbian and BlackBerry devices is following suit, using a stolen digital certificate to help cloak itself from security systems.

The Folly of Internet Wiretapping

by Dennis Fisher
1

The last 10 years have seen a great number of advancements in the sophistication and usability of strong encryption programs, and many people now use encrypted messaging services by default. This has made it much simpler for people to keep their private thoughts and data private and secure, and now the government is working diligently to roll back all of that progress with a naive, ill-conceived effort to cripple secure communications networks in the name of national security.

LinkedIn Members Targeted by Botnet Malware

by Donald Sears

Members of LinkedIn who clicked on fake connection requests sent users to a Website that displayed “PLEASE
WAITING…4 SECONDS” before redirecting them to Google. During those 4
seconds, the Website downloaded Zeus data-theft malware onto their PCs. Read the full article. [eWEEK]

Details Emerge on IE 8 Data-Stealing Bug

by Dennis Fisher

Security researcher Chris Evans has released details of the data-stealing bug in Internet Explorer 8 that he publicized earlier this month, saying that the CSS flaw can be used to force victims to post messages on Twitter and that the bug appears to be no closer to being fixed.

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