Tag Archives: MyYearbook

Friends, Followers, Fans: Be On Guard in 2010

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By Mike Kronenberg

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Do you use a social networking site? Be prepared, because I predict in 2010 it’ll be a major target for cyber criminals. Among the threat experts here at Webroot, we’ve discussed the ROI opportunity that social networks present an enterprising hacker who strings together the personal information people choose to share on social networks, or who creates a program to infect PCs with one click of a malicious link.

I’ve also discussed the issue with my colleagues in the security industry. Each of us acknowledges that users of all kinds – be it individuals, public figures, nonprofits, or corporations – assume a certain level of risk when signing on to one. But we all agree social networks are pretty much essential in today’s networked society and economy.

Given that, I’d like to share my take on the top five reasons why social networks hold such great appeal for cybercriminals so you can begin thinking about how you’ll use them in 2010. Continue reading →

Koobface: Not Just for Facebook, Anymore

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By Andrew Brandt

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smalltweet_obsThe latest generation of Koobface targets its particularly effective brand of social engineering at more social networks than ever. As the worm has evolved, we’ve seen it grow to encompass a pantheon of services, targeting more than just the widely publicized Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, but a host of other Web sites where people meet and (apparently) post links of funny videos for one another to watch.

To illustrate how pervasive the worm has become at propagation, we put together the video below. (And no, you don’t need to download some random codec to watch it, just Flash.) If you’ve got two minutes, check it out, but to get the best view, maximize the video window first (click the little “X” next to “vimeo” in the lower-right corner):

For our test, several members of Webroot’s Threat Research team created profiles on the social networks Koobface attempts to infiltrate, logged into those accounts on test computers, then executed the worm’s main installer application.

The worm checks to see which sites among the ones it targets that you’ve logged in to, and downloads specific payloads for each social networking site it targets. That makes sense: Each of those social networks has its own distinct user interface, which the payload targeting that site interacts with. But the sites all have one thing in common: They all permit members to send one another messages containing hotlinked URLs. And that’s what Koobface is best at: Propagating itself by sending links. Nothing surprised us more than finding that we could actually watch the worm interacting with the interface, filling in forms and clicking buttons, as we stared at the screen. Continue reading →

Botnet malware targets MyYearbook

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By Andrew Brandt

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The team here at Webroot has picked up on a Trojan that appears to target a relatively new social networking site: MyYearbook.com.20090427-myblot-myyb_logo

The site caters to the high-school-age crowd with activities that include various kinds of person-to-person challenges, streaming TV, and a kind of virtual matchmaker service for the tween-and-above set. We’re calling the malware that targets the site Trojan-Myblot.

We received our copy via a malicious BitTorrent download, which purportedly distributed a Windows utility. Instead, we received a file that downloaded several payloads, eventually landing our infected system firmly in the clutches of Myblot.

So what does it do? The trojan, unusual in that it requires the .Net Framework to run and was written in Microsoft’s Visual C#, runs silently in the background. While it’s running, it sends back information about the locally installed bot’s identity, whether the user of the infected system uses Gmail, and whether the infected system has received an updated bot client. It does these update checks about every 15 to 45 seconds.

Myblot reconnaisance data

Myblot reconnaisance data

Myblot phones home several times a minute

Myblot phones home several times a minute

One of MyYearbook’s activities is just called “Battles” — it’s basically a way for people to post photos of themselves, or others, and earn some sort of online cred for being voted “Scariest rollercoaster face” or “Most emo.” As if. The malware spawns popup ads that look like a Battles “IQ challenge” invitation from a teenage girl who needs to put some more clothes on. When clicked, the browser redirects the user through an ad Web site called Yeprevenue.com.

The fake MyYearbook Battles window

The fake MyYearbook Battles window

There is some good news for victims. First, the infection is easily removed, whether you sweep with Webroot Spy Sweeper or delete the file manually. The malware is also pretty badly coded, so unless all the required pieces are in exactly the right location, the Trojan fails to execute, or just throws a .Net error message and quits. Clearing your Temp folder is another way to get rid of it.

Unfortunately, there’s also bad news for users of infected machines: The server that hosts the fake Battles ad also has a tendency to redirect the browser elsewhere. In particular, the browser on my test system was pushed through two separate Web sites that used browser exploits and obfuscated Javascript code to eventually infect the system with another obnoxious piece of malware, Trojan-Relayer-Jolleee.

Jolleee quietly sends spam from infected machines to unsuspecting users, getting lists of victims and the message text from servers it contacts. So while it looks like we can easily stamp out Myblot, it doesn’t want to go out quietly, without putting up a fight.