Malware Threats: What Would Churchill Do?

Posted on November 3, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Ian Moyse, EMEA Channel Director

With Christmas fast approaching, (lest we forget the shops have kindly put all the Christmas goods out in September and early October again!) we can expect online attacks to increase as per their normal schedules, ramping up through the end of the year.

With apologies to Sir Winston Churchill, never in the field of Internet conflict was so much harm done to so many by so few.

For all the benefits the Internet provides our lives, no single technology has given so few criminals the ability to cheaply and easily target the many. We’ve seen the rise of the dark economy, where far flung cybercriminals trade skills and produce burglary tools for sale, and we live with the consequences every day. Sophisticated attacks target both our computers and our users, through social engineering.

While the increases in cybercrime incidents seem to indicate a greater number of attackers, the reality is that the growth of the Internet itself gives rise to the ever-increasing volume of botnets, keyloggers and spam. The Internet makes us all contactable and, to a degree, easily identifiable. As we surf the Web, we leave traces of our presence in the form of electronic footprints — cookies, blog postings, and of course, our activities on social networks and other online forums.

And yet, no matter what we do to stem the tide, the problems only seem to increase in size and scope.

You can tune in and listen live to more of Ian Moyse’s predictions for next year’s most serious threats in his free Webinar, ThreatNet 2011, Thursday, November 4, at 10am Eastern.

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Five Reasons You Should Always “Stop. Think. Connect.”

Posted on October 4, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Andrew Brandt

Today’s the official kickoff for National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the organizations supporting the event, including the National Cyber Security Alliance, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, and dozens of corporate citizens including Webroot, want you to protect your computer and your personal information. So they’ve come up with a three word campaign slogan they hope will become conventional wisdom for every Internet user: Stop. Think. Connect. Think of it as the 21st century equivalent of looking both ways before crossing the street.

In my case, they’re preaching to the choir. For years, I’ve advocated that people treat everything they see online critically, and to scrutinize information before acting on it. That’s because the army of criminals who commit fraud and theft over the Internet on a daily basis rely on you to not stop, not think, and to click links or open files immediately, without regard to the consequences of your actions. That’s how most people infect themselves. If you stop and think before you connect, you can prevent most of these infections yourself, simply by exercising a little restraint.

It’s hard to think of a major cybercrime outbreak over the past year that hasn’t relied, to some extent, on the naivete of its targets. Security professionals call these tricks “social engineering,” but that’s just a geeky term for criminal skullduggery that’s as common offline as online. The ruse almost always tries to invoke an adrenaline-fueled need for an immediate response — usually out of fear, greed, or panic — on the part of a victim. The victim ends up in a mental state where they are likely to make rash, impulsive decisions. And they do.

Putting the brakes on social engineering tricks usually takes all the steam out of them. To that end, I’d like to show you examples of five of the most common cyberscams that lead to the loss of personal information or sensitive data. Hopefully, if you know what to expect, you’ll simply walk away from the encounters unscathed.

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A Cave Monster from Hell Wants Your Financial Data

Posted on August 20, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Andrew Brandt

A novel and pretty sneaky Trojan designed to steal financial data appeared on our radar screen last week. The Trojan, once installed on a victim’s computer, rootkits itself to prevent detection, then watches the victim’s browser for any attempt to connect to the secured, HTTPS login page of several online banks. When the victim visits the login page the Trojan has been waiting for, the Trojan generates a form that “hovers” over the login page asking for additional verification information.

“In order to provide you with extra security, we occasionally need to ask for additional information when you access your accounts online,” reads the popup window. Everybody needs extra security, right?

Of course, the additional information that the bank appears to be asking for is all information the bank already should have if you have an account there: The number on your credit and debit cards; a Social Security number; your date of birth and mother’s maiden name; The PIN code for your debit card and the security code printed on the front of any credit card issued by the bank.

The problem is, the form completely blocks the full page, preventing you from logging in — until you fill in all the fields in the form it displays. Then it sends that information (encrypted with SSL, mind you) to a server at the IP address 121.101.216.234, part of the address space allocated to Beijing Telecom.

Your bank may outsource some of its customer service tasks, but stealing your financial identity isn’t part of the normal services your bank provides.

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WoW Expansion Beta Likely to Spawn Phishers, Scams

Posted on June 30, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Andrew Brandt

Blizzard’s announcement today that they will begin a closed beta-test for the latest expansion pack is likely to generate a lot of excitement among that particularly low breed of online criminals who steal the fruits of other people’s entertainment when they commandeer passwords for other players.

While it’s hard to believe that most players of online games aren’t aware of the profusion of phishing sites attempting to steal logins, the problem clearly isn’t going away, so the warnings remain the same: Keep a close eye on your browser’s Address Bar, and make sure you’re really logging into Blizzard’s Web site, and not some phishing creep’s trap.

If history serves, they’ll try to lure you with false promises of getting access to the beta. Don’t fall for the trap.

(Tip ‘o the hat to Threat Research Analyst Curtis Fechner for the breaking news tip.)

8 Tips for Filing Taxes Online Safely

Posted on April 6, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Mike Kronenberg

Getting ready to file your taxes online — and doing it at the last minute? Well, cyber-scammers are ready for you. Thieves are schemers, and they’ve got a bag full of tricks to steal your identity. You might even be doing things to make their job easier. And if you use a PC at work to do your return, identity theft could be as simple as a crook (or an unscrupulous coworker) digging around and finding sensitive files.

One might send you an e-mail that offers a quick refund — or a warning about a problem with your already-filed tax return. Maybe they’ll pitch you with an expert’s review of your tax return, or helpfully offer advice, asking for all the sensitive financial details you’d normally put on your return so they can “look up your account.”

Here are eight tips to stay one step ahead of these virtual pickpockets and protect yourself.

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Botnet Trojan Adds “Gootkit” Code to Web Pages

Posted on February 26, 2010 by glhaldeman

By Andrew Brandt

An insidious new Trojan that finds its way onto Windows PCs in the course of a drive-by infection employs a novel method to propagate: It connects to Web servers using stolen FTP credentials, and if successful, modifies any HTML and PHP files with extra code. The code opens an iFrame pointing to a page that loads browser exploits. The exploit pushes down the infection, which then perpetuates the process. The initial infection vector in this case was a spam message supposedly from Amazon.com containing a link to the page which performs the drive-by attacks.

The malware, which we’re calling Trojan-Backdoor-Protard, appears to seek out Web servers for which the FTP credentials may have been previously stolen in an earlier attack. Those servers all contain a pair of benign HTML tags that appears to be long strings of gibberish characters.

Code within the scripts this spy uses indicate the malware’s creators are calling the server modifications a Gootkit, and the gibberish embedded in the files Gootkit Tags. The Trojan also loads itself on an infected machine using a registry key, naming the service that loads either “kgootkit” or “gootkitsso.” During the course of researching the malware, we observed the Trojan modify these pages such that the Trojan inserted the malicious code between the two Gootkit Tags.

It stands to reason that, if you find these so-called Gootkit Tags embedded within files on your own Web server, you can be fairly confident that an FTP password has been compromised, and all your FTP passwords should be changed immediately.

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Our Twitter Q&A with Threat Research Director Jeff Horne

Posted on December 15, 2009 by glhaldeman

By Jeff Horne

On December 11, 2009, users of Twitter submitted questions to Webroot’s Director of Threat Research, Jeff Horne, as part of a live Q&A session. Webroot’s Twitter followers asked questions about connecting safely to the Internet while traveling during the holidays. A variety of questions came in live, with some others through direct messages in advance, and one non-twitter user asked a question via Webroot’s Facebook page. The interview was tracked using the #webroot hashtag, which has been omitted from the tweets to make them easier to read. We’ve posted a transcript of the Q&A on the following page.

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Shields Up During National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Mike

By Mike Kronenberg

Be suspicious. About email swindles, bogus security products and online scams. I’m not kidding around. You need to pay attention and be diligent, because cyberthreats are lurking everywhere.

What got me thinking about this was President Obama’s proclamation of October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. He said that all users — not just those in government — have to practice safe computing. The President is taking this seriously. At the start of the month he authorized the Department of Homeland Security to hire 1,000 cyber security specialists over the next three years. The goal for these professionals is to analyze risks, figure out our vulnerabilities and devise cyber-incident response strategies.

The President sounds right on target. For one thing, every unprotected PC (and those without up-to-date security software) is potentially open to attack. If your system is infected with, say, a back-door Trojan, a hacker can grab your passwords, credit card and other account numbers, and increase your risk of identity theft. On top of that, on a national scale, your infected PC can turn into a virtual, brain-dead zombie (what an image!), propagating malicous cyberattacks, and contributing to the damage of the digital infrastructure.

If you’re reading this blog, no doubt you know the obvious ways to bolster your protection: Keep your AV and AS tools updated, double-check that your firewall’s working, check for OS patches, and make sure your wireless router’s WPA is enabled. And with the focus on awareness, you might take a minute and help a novice computer user fortify his or her defenses.

But aside from the usual security tactics, I implement other safeguards on my PC at home and on the family notebook. Read on for a few you can try.

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Webroot Threat Blog – Internet Security Threat Updates from Around the World

WEBROOT – INSIGHTS INTO THREATS AND TRENDS FROM OUR INTERNET SECURITY EXPERTS

Category Archives: Passwords

A Cave Monster from Hell Wants Your Financial Data

Botnet Trojan Adds “Gootkit” Code to Web Pages

Our Twitter Q&A with Threat Research Director Jeff Horne

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