Posts Tagged ‘trojan’
Will police expand the use of malware to catch cyber-criminals?
Cyber criminals use Trojans to steal information, but are the same techniques of electronic surveillance being used by the agencies set up to protect us?
Internet crime “is no longer the elephant in the room. It is the room,” Sir Ian Andrews, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), told this week’s London Conference on Cyberspace. The rapid increase in the cost of cyber-crime means police and governments are having to protect themselves from a threat that is often nearly impossible to trace. But the web has also become a vital space to gather evidence on suspects for traditional crimes…
There was controversy earlier this month when the German state of Bavaria admitted using a Trojan – a malicious program sent to a digital device covertly to collect data – to gather intelligence on suspected criminals. The R2D2 malware received criticism for it potentially allowing officials to launch software and capture images on the infected computer…
Ironically, the Trojan is not believed to have been sophisticated enough to beat antivirus software so would only be able to infiltrate unprotected computers – something unlikely amongst experienced computer users.
But there seems to be an emerging trend of governments going on the offensive…
In the UK, senior officials have not ruled out doing something similar. “In terms of the sensitivities around particular Trojans, it wouldn’t be something that we would particularly like to talk about,” says Lee Miles, head of cyber at the UK serious crime agency, SOCA.
Cybercrime expert Professor Peter Sommer, of the London School of Economics, believes that adding software remotely to a suspect’s computer would probably be illegal under current UK law. And the introduction of new powers for the police is something that is often picked over with a fine-toothed comb before its introduction is even proposed.
“We do need to exercise care embarking down this path [of using new techniques] because of the unintended consequences – it’s something that has to be considered very carefully,” says UK Minister for Crime and Security James Brokenshire.
Will police expand the use of malware to catch cyber-criminals? Short answer? I hope so.
If they aren’t doing so, already, I imagine any policing body that can afford to will budget for counter-measures to cybercrime. After all, it seems as if the cost of the practice is still minute compared to doing nothing – and significantly less than simply relying on buying access by threats of long sentences versus cooperation by the few killer klowns ever caught through conventional means.
We’ve already had instances of counter-measures fired back at zombie servers used by hackers. That can be turned to trojan techniques in any number of ways. But, then, if I have thought of doing this – someone in computer security is probably already doing it.
60+ charged in Zeus cybercrime roundup
U.S. prosecutors have unveiled charges against more than 60 defendants allegedly involved in a global cybercrime scheme that used the Zeus Trojan and other Internet viruses to steal over $ 3 million dollars from U.S. bank accounts.
The scheme was engineered by unnamed hackers based in Eastern Europe who hijacked bank accounts…
“The mouse and the keyboard can be far more effective than the gun and the mask,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters.
Prosecutors described a complex “money mule” organization in which foreigners who entered the United States on student visas were recruited as “mules” to open bank accounts under fake names. The accounts were then used to receive and transfer the stolen funds, they said.
Federal prosecutors announced charges against 37 defendants, while Manhattan District Attorney prosecutors charged 36 people on top of 19 previously arrested. City and federal prosecutors said a number of those charged were not yet in custody.
London’s Metropolitan Police arrested 19 people on Tuesday in a possibly related case in which 6 million pounds were allegedly stolen from a number of unidentified major world banks.
There still is no patch for stupidity.
USB battery charger has a back door!
Software that can be downloaded for use with the Energizer Duo USB battery charger contains a backdoor that could allow an attacker to remotely take control of a Windows-based PC, Energizer and US-CERT is warning…
The Windows software was made available via a download with the Energizer Duo Charger, Model CHUSB, Energizer said in a statement. The battery maker said it does not know how the Trojan got into the software. “Energizer has discontinued sale of this product and has removed the site to download the software,” the statement said. “Energizer is currently working with both CERT and U.S. government officials to understand how the code was inserted in the software…”
The Trojan may have been in the software since it was first offered three years ago, according to Symantec.
“We were interested in finding out how long this file had been available to the public. The compile time for the file is May 10, 2007. It is impossible to say for sure that this Trojan has always been in this software, but from our initial inspection it appears so,” Symantec wrote in a blog post. “The Trojan still operates whether this device is found or not, so a USB charger doesn’t need to be plugged in for the Trojan to be functioning.”
Aren’t you glad the Windows security guys are doing such a great job?
Microsoft ambushes Waledac botnet – legally!
Waledac holiday template
Microsoft is intent on eliminating the Waledac botnet and is using the legal system to help.
Tim Cranton, Microsoft’s associate general counsel, wrote on the company’s blog that Microsoft has been shutting down Waledac by working with technology partners and taking legal action.
In response to a complaint filed by Microsoft, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to shut down 227 Internet domains believed to be run by cybercriminals spreading the Waledac spambot.
This week’s legal takedown of Waledac, known internally at Microsoft as “Operation b49,” came after months of investigation, wrote Cranton. Once the company had gathered its evidence, the challenge was how to find a legal means to allow Microsoft to block the suspected domains from their botnets and stop them from further infecting and controlling their victims.
To achieve this, Microsoft looked at a legal principle called “ex parte TRO.” Ex parte means without notifying the other side, and TRO stands for temporary restraining order…
“We drafted the complaint in such a way that explained to the court that the amount of damages to consumers across the world, and also other companies in addition to Microsoft itself, warranted the granting of this rather extraordinary order,” said Richard Boscovich…
The legal action has already cut off access to Waledac at the domain level, according to Cranton. This means the connection has been severed between the command and control centers of the botnet and most of the infected computers worldwide. Cranton said that Microsoft is working with security organizations to take down Waledac’s remaining peer-to-peer command and control connections.
All of the members of the worldwide dweebs association – those who never update against viruses, trojans, persist in wandering down the highway to spam hell – need to be reminded for the umpteenth time of their participation in crimes against the freedom of the Web.
