In this third and final part of our article series about risk factors, we will examine Human attack factors and Physical factors.
The previous article discussed different procedures and systems that could be invoked in order to mitigate risk. In subsequent parts we will examine areas at risk, starting with Electronic factors.
The aim of this type of initial risk analysis is to identify potentially vulnerable points that may be exploited if they are not sufficiently secured.
The ease involved in creating QR codes that links to web pages implies that this will be a popular way to facilitate the propagation of malware for mobile devices.
A successful attack is not particularly easy to carry out, as it depends on several prerequisites.
Computers do what they are told. This may result in consequences that are funny as well as dangerous.
Malware authors continue to pursue delivery mechanisms that can confuse different malware detection systems.
Coordinated efforts between experts/authorities against cybercriminals seem like the most efficient method for combating cybercriminals. Different experts and authorities are then able to focus on the part of the criminal chain that corresponds to their ability and expertise.
Computer systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex with components that are individually computerized. This increases the attack surface for cybercriminals, and represents a challenge for users and the security industry.
The steps that private users and organizations can take to protect themselves, are quite similar in character to protection of traditional computers.
Since the cybercriminals seem to shift from randomly directed mass attacks to more focused attacks, the total volume of spam will decrease.
It is almost impossible to protect completely against a targeted cyberattack against an organization.
We shall in this article focus on the PPI ecosystem and how this is used for malware distribution.
The web site (usually an infected site) that displays the message checks the browser visiting the site, and displays a warning message similar to the browser's real warning.
Recent weeks have shown that images are used as a malware spreading technique; particularly images that appear after performing a Google image search.
Do not rely on any file attachment or file on any device to be safe based on its file name.
Users of the operating system Mac OS X have so far been quite safe from malware infections compared to those who have chosen Windows as the operating system platform.
As one of the largest companies in the software industry, Microsoft's policy will influence the way vulnerabilities are handled.
Blocked access to important information - particularly if adequate backup routines are not in place - may be disastrous for the person who becomes the victim of ransomware.
Anonymous characterizes itself as a hive and a nest. One potential issue with such free structures is the potential for different actions that may conflict with each other.
Whenever malware authors find new vehicles to spread their malware, the probability for success increases immensely.
Bots and botnets comprise one of the biggest threats to the Internet and its users. However, recent news report of a success story: beheading the spam botnet Rustock.
In previous security articles, we discussed the fact that cybercriminals use big events to spread malware. Not surprisingly - nevertheless disgusting - the recent events in Japan have inspired shameless exploitations by cybercriminals.
In our security article last week, we discussed cybercriminals who targeted financial institutions in an indirect way. However, the major bulk of malware aimed at the finance sector puts the finance sector's customers at peril. One obvious reason is that the average end user's system presumably is less secure than the systems used by the financial sector.
Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) has been viewed as one of the most secure gaming devices. Applications and games from other sources than Sony could not be installed and run on PS3, and a firmware update early in 2010 disallowed using other operating systems than the one set up by Sony. All this is now changed.
December is the month to look back on the year that is coming to an end. We will attempt to sum up the situation seen from a security company's point of view. The most significant data security incidents to mention from the year are the sophisticated malware Stuxnet and incidents in the wake of WikiLeaks publication of U.S. embassy cables late November.
Some years ago it was an established "fact" that a computer could not be infected by malicious software by visiting a web page. But technology evolves quickly and some facts may change when new technology emerges. These days web pages are perhaps the most used propagation vector for malware.
According to a posting 15 November on the blog belonging to the UK based organization Get Safe Online, one in four UK web users have been targeted by so-called cold calls.
In recent months there have been lots of rumors about the upcoming email system closely integrated with Facebook. More detaileds about this have recently been disclosed by Facebook, and we will examine some aspects of the new offerings.
We have previously advocated the view that endpoint security is just one of several tools needed to accomplish secure environments. This article will examine one particular threat against the Internet community and discuss how it may be overcome.
A little more than one week ago a new extension to the Firefox web browser was published. And it got attention for sure!
In a press release 25 October the Dutch High Tech Crime Team (THTC) of the National Crime Squad announced a successful takedown of a major botnet. 143 malicious computer servers were taken down from the internet resulting from collaboration with a Dutch hosting provider, the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), the internet security company Fox IT and GOVCERT.NL and the Dutch computer emergency response team.
The product testing organization NSS Labs has recently published its test report for the 3rd quarter 2010 - test results for 11 antimalware products for consumers. The most interesting finding from this report is that the security products' performance have deteriorated compared to last year. In this security article we shall examine the implications of this.
The term Man-in-the-middle in a security context refers to an attack where someone/-thing is inserted between two endpoints and intercepts the communication between those. The intent is usually to obtain information and use this for illegitimate purposes. Recently the term Man-in-the-mobile, abbreviated as Mitmo, emerged.
Computer software evolves, and popular interpretation is to introduce new generations whenever fundamental changes arrive. If one looks at malware in the same manner, one may also classify different types into various generations.
Last week in our article "Ways to use botnets", we discussed among other issues, botnets for hire. One example we mentioned in our article was the company Aiplex Software, which was hired to try stop illegal distribution of copyrighted material.
This article will not go in depth with regard to how the different botnets function technically. We shall rather examine some of the ways botnets may be used, study one successful method used for fighting this threat, and finally discuss the idea of botnets used for benign purposes.
Fake antimalware software has become an increasing problem for end users and corporations. The creators of these rogue applications are able to earn easy money and are constantly searching for new ways to exploit their victims. A new technique has recently been seen. We shall look at this in more detail in this security article, and attempt to point to some general considerations regarding this type of software and malware in general.
In later years dangerous malicious software for mobile phones and other handheld devices has been predicted and expected by several analysts. Norman, however has traditionally been among those more reluctant in predicting that the explosion of if malicious software for mobile devices is imminent. In retrospective it seems safe to say that our view has proven correct (so far).
Norman releases generic protection against the .LNK vulnerability for customers running NPRO 7.20. The automatic scanner will stop attempts to exploit the .LNK vulnerability, thus also proactively protect customers against both known and unknown malware. Customers running Norman Network Protection will also be protected against known malware using this exploit if executed from a network share.
In this Norman report on security issues during the first half of 2010, we will go through some incidents and tendencies. We will focus on those that Norman perceives as most important in these past six months.
Last week a researcher from Google, Tavis Ormandy, posted information about and exploit code for a new vulnerability in Microsoft's help and Support center.
Earlier this month we wrote about a vulnerability in the PDF specification that could be utilized to run malicious programs embedded in a PDF file. Proof-of-concept code was published, and it was expected that real-life malware that used this technique might appear soon.
The title may imply that this article is about subscription services for email checking, like Norman Online Protection. Rather not! This time we shall examine yet another way that criminal activity imitates legitimate business.
Exploitation of how applications handle files in the Portable Document Format (PDF) is one of the most used techniques to successfully create malicious software. Usually this is accomplished by utilizing vulnerabilities in the applications used to read PDF documents, like the very popular free program, Adobe Reader.
We have earlier discussed the fact that cyber criminals are getting increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to succeed in obtaining illegitimate gain. We will now look into an example of how illegitimate businesses imitate legitimate.
The RSA Conferences are among of the most important annual security conferences. This year's US conference was held in San Francisco 1 - 5 March. One of the speakers was Microsoft's Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President Trustworthy Computing. His speech covered several interesting topics, of which we will discuss one: the ability, usefulness and implications of treating infected computers in a similar manner as infected human beings.
Code injection is a protection mechanism used by malware in order to avoid detection. The injector stores the malware as an encrypted resource, which it decrypts and injects into a running process. The injector may also contain various checks for virtual machines and system tools in order to hinder analysis.
Zimuse is a family of worms that performs destructive overwrites of the Master Boot Record of disk drives on the infected system. If the current system date and time matches certain conditions, the worm overwrites the Master Boot Record of available drives with its own data. The worm will also try to delete some of the important files of the Windows Operating system. The file is run-time compressed using PECompact arrives on the system either as a standalone file (possibly from a malicious download or e-mail) or by infected removable devices (e.g., USB sticks).
December is the month to look back on the year that is coming to an end, and we will attempt to sum up the situation seen from a security company's point of view. The most significant observation to make from this year's malware activity, is that different social networks became a major target for authors of malicious programs.
Major events, happenings and in general all kind of things that create much notice, also leave in their wake a stream of malicious software.
In several security articles we have discussed the fact that new media and communication devices are successful vehicles for malware propagation. This time we will examine a type of application, which has not been focused upon - (presumably) neither by the malware authors yet, nor by commentators.
Identity theft is a term, which has become familiar during the latest years. More exotic - until recently - has been identity production with malicious intent. A new version of Koobface does exactly that - automatically.
Earlier this month multiple tens of thousand passwords to free email accounts from Microsoft (Hotmail), Google (GMail) and Yahoo were compromised.
Open source development is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to the software’s source code. The open source approach claims to have several benefits and advantages compared to a more closed approach to source development.
In the security article this week we will discuss using a particular type of computers - dedicated servers - as part of a botnet.
Nmap (Network Mapper) is perhaps the most famous and used hacker tool that exists. Since its introduction in autumn 1997, this tool written by the pseudonym Fyodor (real name Gordon Lyon), has helped numerous hackers gathering valuable information about their targets. This summer Nmap version 5 was released. According to Insecure.org, this is supposed to be "the most important Nmap release since 1997".
Listening in to telephone conversations is traditionally associated with initiatives from national security agencies / police organizations with vast resources, or shady private detectives. This may not be the case any more if the person or persons under surveillance use a particular system for telephone calls.
Recently Norman's senior virus analyst Snorre Fagerland wrote about the malware W32/Induc.A in our security blog. This is a virus which infects the programming language Delphi. The result is that applications that are created with an infected Delphi environment are infected themselves. This has interesting implications as we shall see.
We have discussed Twitter in a few security articles this year. This time however, we shall focus on a new usage of this social network: Twitter as an element in a malicious setup.
Last week the media was flooded by information about an attack on social networking sites like Twitter, LiveJournal and Facebook, allegedly with the intent to stop one Georgian blogger.
The time has arrived when it is useful to look back on the first half of this year, and attempt to sum up the situation seen from Norman as a security company's point of view.
The short URL functionality obviously has its merits. However, there are shortcomings and security issues that make the system in itself less secure than desired.
This security article's title may look like the intro to a fairytale told to by a criminal to her child. However, a family of malicious software (malware) that has appeared this year seems to make this fairytale come true for some…
Security organizations of different types have notified about perils involved for individuals as well as corporations, and the public sector in using the Internet. Unfortunately these warnings have often not been recognized with the sincerity they deserve. President Obama's speech is therefore a welcomed acknowledgement from the highest political level.
The vendors of security software have the following simple task: Detect and remove as much malicious software as possible without erroneously defining benign software as malware. Unfortunately, this is not as simple as it seems.
Another use of web servers has been on the rise as malware spreaders. This approach exploits popular terms to trick users to visit web sites that are by intent malicious.
This week started with significant media attention about a report, which showed that several computers owned by governments and international organizations were compromized. This includes several embassies world-wide and a NATO computer.
A new type of malicious software has recently been getting some media attention. The most interesting part of this is the fact that the malware's targets are not traditional computers. Rather does this malware attack different types of devices, namely routers and modems.
ATLAS views computer attacks from a global perspective and helps users predict future network attacks. It does this by analyzing data gathered from a variety of sensors.
Social engineering in several forms has been discussed in numerous of our security articles. This time, we shall discuss it from a different angle - the traditional one, with a quite clever new twist.
Security organizations are in constant battle with malware authors, trying to protect end users from being infected by "bad stuff". As we shall see in this week's security article, some undesirable side effects unfortunately occur from time to time.
The title of this week's security information does not refer to the celebration of an anniversary for the legacy PC operating system DOS. It is another of those neologisms that pop up continuously.
The need to apply security patches to operating systems and applications has been discussed several times in our security articles. Recent events show that this is a caution that cannot be repeated too often.
So far there has been no really dangerous malicious software targeting mobile phones. The New Year 2009 started with a new, interesting threat to mobile phones, which may change this picture.
Major events, happenings and in general all kind of things that create much notice, also leave in their wake a stream of malicious software.
The Internet offers a cornucopia of applications, movies, pictures, text - everything digital that can be imagined (and some not!). Navigating this is difficult and can even be hazardous in several ways.
The use of money involved in online gaming has traditionally been only as an entrance fee to buy the game itself (if it is not free). This no longer holds true.
Recently we have seen that some of the major players on "the dark side" of the Internet community have been removed from the Internet. Malicious activity dropped instantly - and by an amazingly significant quantity.
The increasing use of USB sticks and their storage capacity constitute major security issues. Problems that were dominant with floppy disks resurface.
There are some issues with security patches that in fact may render certain users more vulnerable. This apparent contradiction will be examined in this article.
Customized malware, which utilizes and targets the Facebook community, is emerging. Several reports about different types of malware are appearing, and more are certain to come.
A few weeks ago a new name started circulating in security writings - "clickjacking". Security organizations as well as web-based news agencies reported this as a major, new threat.
A new spreading vector is becoming increasingly popular among the bad girls: Malicious web sites.
Experts - self-appointed and a few other - often claim that malicious software (malware) is the ultimate tool for terrorist groups. This Security Information will attempt to analyze this claim.
Compared to the relatively innocent scheme of malware in the early age, it has changed into an activity for "geeks" that caused major problems for individuals and organizations, and further into an industry dominated by criminals.
The usual phishing attempts are targeting random individuals, while the specialized spear phishing attacks are aimed against a particular organization.
The email worm Stration is causing delayed delivery of emails for many email users. The worm is spreading through attachments being spammed out and several hundred versions of the worm were spammed out to users during October.
During the latest couple of years we have seen a significant shift in malicious software. This enforces new requirements to software that is supposed to protect against malware.
"Vishing" is combined of the two terms "Voice over IP" and "Phishing", and is exactly that: Using the increasing use of Voice over IP to trick someone revealing personal information, with the intent to commit fraud.
The spam problem is growing faster than ever and the spammers are getting increasingly sophisticated. The number of spam has grown with more than 40 % since April and the latest form of spam is so-called image spam.
Hackers that encrypt your files and demand money in order decrypt them are an increasing threat in the world of IT criminality.
ContextPlus has stopped their activities. This company most known programs are PeopleOnPage and Apropos. Once installed, they will monitor the browsing behavior and send the obtained information to the ContextPlus servers.
Researchers of the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands have succeeded to successfully infect a RFID-chip (Radio Frequency Identification Device) with a computer virus.
A new proof of concept virus has been discovered infecting yet another application of the Microsoft Office Suite.
During the last few months the number of so called Greyware has increased massively. Greyware reefers to antispyware utilitites that force themselves into the users' machines by scaring the users and by auto-installing programs.
The worm W32/Small.KI@mm has been spreading rapidly since the beginning of this week. This malware is infecting computers through emails and through open network shares.
Below are some useful advices for you when you are buying a new computer.
Phisher or ID thieves are traditionally known to attack financial institutions, but lately the target groups seem to have changed. Today phishers are hitting on all forms of organisations, even health care businesses.
During the latest years the tendency for malware to exploit flaws in computer programs seems to have increased.
The threath of keyloggers is a rapidly growing danger in the world of IT security.
Threat is maybe not the first word that comes into your mind when talking about spam.
In April 2005 we saw a rapid change in the malware situation. There was an explosion of different kinds of malware.
The first worm that spreads through handheld devices, like mobile phones, is observed. This is a "proof of concept" program without malicious code.
Here are some general information about the Sasser worm - Frequently Asked Questions, and their answers.
It is hardly controversial to claim that the end of February and beginning of March 2004 was the worst period ever regarding the sheer number of new mailicious programs threatening the Internet community. New variants of Bagle, MyDoom and Netsky were spread daily - sometimes even more than once per day.
In September 2003 Internet users and organizations experienced the most severe attack on the Internet infrastructure since the "Morris worm" in November 1988. The outbreak of W32/Sobig.F caused major problems because of the huge amount of emails flooding the infrastructure.
Security Information Week 32, 1999From time to time there are virus alerts which turn out to be false alarms. Several of these are rumors saying ...
Security Information Week 8, 1999Several viruses have recently been created which utilize Internet protocols and applications in their behaviour.One such familiy is the W97M/Caligula viruses ...
Security Information Week 17, 1999 In our Security information for week 3 we warned about the dangerous CIH virus with payload 26 April. We now have ...
Security Information Week 5, 1999Recently a new worm has been reported several places in the world. This is called Win32.Ska.A. It is also known as ...
Security Information Week 35, 1999In week 35 a report of a new backdoor in Microsoft's operating systems Windows 95, 98, NT and the beta version ...
Security Information Week 40, 1999 There have been several reports about the PrettyPark.Worm program recently. This worm was first reported to be in the wild early ...
Security Information Week 13, 1999 Friday 26 March 1999 a new virus was discovered "In the wild" - W97M/Melissa.A. During that week-end reports came from all ...
Security Information Week 11, 1999During the last half year one has seen an explosion in so-called Windows backdoor programs. These are programs which utilize the ...
Security Information Week 20, 1999 Some companies have warned about the virus Emperor.5826. These warnings have also reached the news, and the virus has even been ...
Security Information Week 50, 1999IntroductionDuring the latest months viruses have been using e-mail clients to spread themselves. The most famous one is of course W97M/Melissa.A ...
Security Information Week 25, 1999 This year we have seen three instances of malicious programs which caused severe damage all over the world: ...
Security Information Week 23, 1999 A new, malicious worm is reported in the wild. So far reports has come from France, Germany, Israel, Czechia and the ...
Security Information Week 32, 2003
Security Information Week 21, 1999 Documents saved as RTF files are not dangerous with respect to macro virus infections. This fact has been stressed from the ...
Security Information Week 25, 2002 Introduction The Security Information for week 20 discussed in general terms why some malicious programs succeed in becoming widespread while other do ...
Security Information Week 14, 2001 Introduction It is often claimed that security companies, security consultants and the antivirus vendors, are too eager to warn about different kinds ...
Security Information Week 1, 1999 The computer magazines as well as other papers have recently published articles about a "new" kind of viruses - the so-called ...
Security Information Week 21, 2000Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a part of some of Microsoft's 32 bits operating systems or is installed when certain Microsoft ...
Security Information Week 9, 2000 In our Security Information for week 45 last year, we discussed a security problem with Internet Explorer which had as a ...
Security Information Week 8, 2000Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is Microsoft's programming language used to enhance the functionality of some of its programs, particularly the ...
Security Information Week 6, 2000During the first days of this week several high-profile web sites fell victim of what seems to be Denial of Service ...
Security Information Week 4, 2000The high frequency of updates to antivirus packages - weekly or even more often - has come about partly as a ...
In April 1999 a lot of people and organizations were paid a visit by the computer virus Melissa. This virus propagated so quickly and extensively that many compared it to the legendary "Morris worm."
