Social Networks Used As an Attack Vector for Targeted Attacks
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A the Hacker
A The Hacker Madame Curie once said “En science, nous devons nous int´eresser aux choses, non aux personnes [In science, we should be interested in things, not in people].” Things, however, have since changed, and today we have to be interested not just in the facts of computer security and crime, but in the people who perpetrate these acts. Hence this discussion of hackers. Over the centuries, the term “hacker” has referred to various activities. We are familiar with usages such as “a carpenter hacking wood with an ax” and “a butcher hacking meat with a cleaver,” but it seems that the modern, computer-related form of this term originated in the many pranks and practi- cal jokes perpetrated by students at MIT in the 1960s. As an example of the many meanings assigned to this term, see [Schneier 04] which, among much other information, explains why Galileo was a hacker but Aristotle wasn’t. A hack is a person lacking talent or ability, as in a “hack writer.” Hack as a verb is used in contexts such as “hack the media,” “hack your brain,” and “hack your reputation.” Recently, it has also come to mean either a kludge, or the opposite of a kludge, as in a clever or elegant solution to a difficult problem. A hack also means a simple but often inelegant solution or technique. The following tentative definitions are quoted from the jargon file ([jargon 04], edited by Eric S. Raymond): 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. -
The Botnet Chronicles a Journey to Infamy
The Botnet Chronicles A Journey to Infamy Trend Micro, Incorporated Rik Ferguson Senior Security Advisor A Trend Micro White Paper I November 2010 The Botnet Chronicles A Journey to Infamy CONTENTS A Prelude to Evolution ....................................................................................................................4 The Botnet Saga Begins .................................................................................................................5 The Birth of Organized Crime .........................................................................................................7 The Security War Rages On ........................................................................................................... 8 Lost in the White Noise................................................................................................................. 10 Where Do We Go from Here? .......................................................................................................... 11 References ...................................................................................................................................... 12 2 WHITE PAPER I THE BOTNET CHRONICLES: A JOURNEY TO INFAMY The Botnet Chronicles A Journey to Infamy The botnet time line below shows a rundown of the botnets discussed in this white paper. Clicking each botnet’s name in blue will bring you to the page where it is described in more detail. To go back to the time line below from each page, click the ~ at the end of the section. 3 WHITE -
MODELING the PROPAGATION of WORMS in NETWORKS: a SURVEY 943 in Section 2, Which Set the Stage for Later Sections
942 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 16, NO. 2, SECOND QUARTER 2014 Modeling the Propagation of Worms in Networks: ASurvey Yini Wang, Sheng Wen, Yang Xiang, Senior Member, IEEE, and Wanlei Zhou, Senior Member, IEEE, Abstract—There are the two common means for propagating attacks account for 1/4 of the total threats in 2009 and nearly worms: scanning vulnerable computers in the network and 1/5 of the total threats in 2010. In order to prevent worms from spreading through topological neighbors. Modeling the propa- spreading into a large scale, researchers focus on modeling gation of worms can help us understand how worms spread and devise effective defense strategies. However, most previous their propagation and then, on the basis of it, investigate the researches either focus on their proposed work or pay attention optimized countermeasures. Similar to the research of some to exploring detection and defense system. Few of them gives a nature disasters, like earthquake and tsunami, the modeling comprehensive analysis in modeling the propagation of worms can help us understand and characterize the key properties of which is helpful for developing defense mechanism against their spreading. In this field, it is mandatory to guarantee the worms’ spreading. This paper presents a survey and comparison of worms’ propagation models according to two different spread- accuracy of the modeling before the derived countermeasures ing methods of worms. We first identify worms characteristics can be considered credible. In recent years, although a variety through their spreading behavior, and then classify various of models and algorithms have been proposed for modeling target discover techniques employed by them. -
The Use of the Modern Social Web by Malicious Software
Malicious software thrives in the richness of the social web ecosystem, which incorporates mobile devices, reliable networks, powerful browsers and sociable users. Modern malware is programmed to take full advantage of these elements, which are especially potent in the context of social media and social networking websites. As the result, we’re seeing malware exhibit the following characteristics: • Using social networking sites to remotely direct malicious tools and attackers' actions • Controlling social media site content to provide attackers with financial rewards • Distributing links on websites with social capabilities to for autonomous malware propagation • Defrauding participants of the social web by using chat bots and other techniques Read this briefing to understand how malicious software makes use of these techniques to thrive on the social web and to offer lucrative benefits to malware authors and operators. Together, we can better understand such emerging threat vectors and devise defenses. Copyright 2011‐2012 Lenny Zeltser 1 Social capabilities of modern websites and applications are changing how people communicate with each other and how businesses interact with customers. The social web incorporates sites that allow people to easily publish content and distribute public, private and semi‐private messages. This includes traditional blogging platforms such as Blogger, micro blogs such as Tumblr, photo sharing sites such as Flickr and social networking sites such as Facebook. We increasingly rely on the social web for both routine and crisis‐related interactions. The attackers are also paying attention to this medium. Copyright 2011‐2012 Lenny Zeltser 2 Authors and operators of malware are paying increasing attention to social media and social networking sites for conducting malicious activities. -
Cyber Threat Metrics
SANDIA REPORT SAND2012-2427 Unlimited Release Printed March 2012 Cyber Threat Metrics Mark Mateski, Cassandra M. Trevino, Cynthia K. Veitch, John Michalski, J. Mark Harris, Scott Maruoka, Jason Frye Prepared by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited Issued by Sandia National Laboratories, operated for the United States Department of Energy by Sandia Corporation. NOTICE: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors. Printed in the United States of America. This report has been reproduced from the best available copy. -
The Flame: Questions and Answers 1.8
The Flame: Questions and Answers 1.8 Aleks Kaspersky Lab Expert Posted May 28, 13:00 GMT Tags: Targeted Attacks, Wiper, Cyber weapon, Cyber espionage, Flame Duqu and Stuxnet raised the stakes in the cyber battles being fought in the Middle East – but now we’ve found what might be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed. The ‘Flame’ cyber espionage worm came to the attention of our experts at Kaspersky Lab after the UN’s International Telecommunication Union came to us for help in finding an unknown piece of malware which was deleting sensitive information across the Middle East. While searching for that code – nicknamed Wiper – we discovered a new malware codenamed Worm.Win32.Flame. Flame shares many characteristics with notorious cyber weapons Duqu and Stuxnet: while its features are different, the geography and careful targeting of attacks coupled with the usage of specific software vulnerabilities seems to put it alongside those familiar ‘superweapons’ currently deployed in the Middle East by unknown perpetrators. Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. It’s big and incredibly sophisticated. It pretty much redefines the notion of cyberwar and cyberespionage. For the full lowdown on this advanced threat, read on… General Questions What exactly is Flame? A worm? A backdoor? What does it do? Flame is a sophisticated attack toolkit, which is a lot more complex than Duqu. It is a backdoor, a Trojan, and it has wormlike features, allowing it to replicate in a local network and on removable media if it is commanded so by its master. -
List of Targets of Arrested Computer Hackers 6 March 2012
List of targets of arrested computer hackers 6 March 2012 The five computer hackers charged in New York Tribune and Los Angeles Times, using on Tuesday and a sixth who pleaded guilty are misappropriated login credentials. accused of involvement in some of the most notorious hacking incidents of the past 18 months. -- February 2011: A cyberattack on private computer security firm HBGary that involved the The following are some of the cyberattacks in theft of 60,000 emails from HBGary employees and which the two Britons, two Irishmen and two the HBGary chief executive, as well as defacing his Americans allegedly played a role as members of Twitter account. Anonymous, Lulz Security or associated groups: -- April-May 2011: A cyberattack on a Fox -- December 2010: Operation Payback. Distributed Broadcasting Company website that involved the denial of service (DDoS) attacks by members of theft of names, dates of birth, telephone numbers, Anonymous on the websites of MasterCard, email and residential addresses for more than PayPal and Visa in retaliation for their refusal to 70,000 potential contestants on the Fox television accept donations for WikiLeaks. In a DDoS attack, show the "X-Factor." a website is bombarded with traffic, slowing it down or knocking it offline completely. -- May 2011: A cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that revealed the passwords, email -- January 2011: Defacing a website of the Irish addresses, home addresses and dates of birth of political party Fine Gael after accessing computer 100,000 users of the www.sonypictures.com servers in Arizona used to maintain the website, website and a subsequent online attack against www.finegael2011.com. -
Potential Human Cost of Cyber Operations
ICRC EXPERT MEETING 14–16 NOVEMBER 2018 – GENEVA THE POTENTIAL HUMAN COST OF CYBER OPERATIONS REPORT ICRC EXPERT MEETING 14–16 NOVEMBER 2018 – GENEVA THE POTENTIAL HUMAN COST OF CYBER OPERATIONS Report prepared and edited by Laurent Gisel, senior legal adviser, and Lukasz Olejnik, scientific adviser on cyber, ICRC THE POTENTIAL HUMAN COST OF CYBER OPERATIONS Table of Contents Foreword............................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 4 Executive summary ............................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 10 Session 1: Cyber operations in practice .………………………………………………………………………….….11 A. Understanding cyber operations with the cyber kill chain model ...................................................... 11 B. Operational purpose ................................................................................................................. 11 C. Trusted systems and software supply chain attacks ...................................................................... 13 D. Cyber capabilities and exploits .................................................................................................. -
Easier Said Than Done: Legal Reviews of Cyber Weapons
Easier Said Than Done: Legal Reviews of Cyber Weapons Gary D. Brown* & Andrew O. Metcalf** INTRODUCTION On June 1, 2012, author and New York Times reporter David Sanger created a sensation within the cyber-law community. Just over a year previously, Vanity Fair, among other media outlets, reported that a malware package of unprec- edented complexity had effectively targeted the Iranian nuclear research pro- gram.1 The malware, which came to be known as Stuxnet, was also discovered on many computer systems outside Iran, but it did not appear to do any damage to these other systems. Just as the discussions spurred by the discovery of Stuxnet had begun to die down, the New York Times published an interview with Mr. Sanger to discuss his newest book, in which he alleged that the Stuxnet malware had been part of a U.S. planned and led covert cyber operation. The assertion that a nation state had used a “cyber attack” in support of its national objectives reinvigorated the attention of cyber-law commentators, both in and out of government. What makes Stuxnet interesting as a point of discussion is that the basic functioning of the software is easy to understand and easy to categorize. A piece of software was deliberately inserted into the target systems, and physical damage was the result. However, resulting physical damage is not characteristic of most cyber operations, and the legal analysis of Stuxnet is of limited utility when examining a broad range of cyber activities.2 A distinct lack of physical effects is much more characteristic of cyber operations, and the absence of physical effects has continued to complicate the legal analysis of cyber in the context of military operations. -
A PRACTICAL METHOD of IDENTIFYING CYBERATTACKS February 2018 INDEX
In Collaboration With A PRACTICAL METHOD OF IDENTIFYING CYBERATTACKS February 2018 INDEX TOPICS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 OVERVIEW 5 THE RESPONSES TO A GROWING THREAT 7 DIFFERENT TYPES OF PERPETRATORS 10 THE SCOURGE OF CYBERCRIME 11 THE EVOLUTION OF CYBERWARFARE 12 CYBERACTIVISM: ACTIVE AS EVER 13 THE ATTRIBUTION PROBLEM 14 TRACKING THE ORIGINS OF CYBERATTACKS 17 CONCLUSION 20 APPENDIX: TIMELINE OF CYBERSECURITY 21 INCIDENTS 2 A Practical Method of Identifying Cyberattacks EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW SUMMARY The frequency and scope of cyberattacks Cyberattacks carried out by a range of entities are continue to grow, and yet despite the seriousness a growing threat to the security of governments of the problem, it remains extremely difficult to and their citizens. There are three main sources differentiate between the various sources of an of attacks; activists, criminals and governments, attack. This paper aims to shed light on the main and - based on the evidence - it is sometimes types of cyberattacks and provides examples hard to differentiate them. Indeed, they may of each. In particular, a high level framework sometimes work together when their interests for investigation is presented, aimed at helping are aligned. The increasing frequency and severity analysts in gaining a better understanding of the of the attacks makes it more important than ever origins of threats, the motive of the attacker, the to understand the source. Knowing who planned technical origin of the attack, the information an attack might make it easier to capture the contained in the coding of the malware and culprits or frame an appropriate response. the attacker’s modus operandi. -
Detecting Botnets Using File System Indicators
Detecting botnets using file system indicators Master's thesis University of Twente Author: Committee members: Peter Wagenaar Prof. Dr. Pieter H. Hartel Dr. Damiano Bolzoni Frank Bernaards LLM (NHTCU) December 12, 2012 Abstract Botnets, large groups of networked zombie computers under centralised control, are recognised as one of the major threats on the internet. There is a lot of research towards ways of detecting botnets, in particular towards detecting Command and Control servers. Most of the research is focused on trying to detect the commands that these servers send to the bots over the network. For this research, we have looked at botnets from a botmaster's perspective. First, we characterise several botnet enhancing techniques using three aspects: resilience, stealth and churn. We see that these enhancements are usually employed in the network communications between the C&C and the bots. This leads us to our second contribution: we propose a new botnet detection method based on the way C&C's are present on the file system. We define a set of file system based indicators and use them to search for C&C's in images of hard disks. We investigate how the aspects resilience, stealth and churn apply to each of the indicators and discuss countermeasures botmasters could take to evade detection. We validate our method by applying it to a test dataset of 94 disk images, 16 of which contain C&C installations, and show that low false positive and false negative ratio's can be achieved. Approaching the botnet detection problem from this angle is novel, which provides a basis for further research. -
Analysis of Human Factors in Cyber Security: a Case Study of Anonymous Attack on Hbgary
Analysis of Human Factors in Cyber Security: A Case Study of Anonymous Attack on Hbgary Benjamin Aruwa Gyunka Directorate of Information and Communication Technology National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Abuja, Nigeria [email protected] Abikoye Oluwakemi Christiana Department of Computer Science University of Ilorin Ilorin, Nigeria [email protected] ABSTRACT awareness programmes for workforces and the Purpose: This paper critically analyses the implementations and maintenance of basic human factors or behaviours as major threats to security culture and policies as a panacea for cyber security. Focus is placed on the usual roles social engineering cyber attacks against played by both the attackers and defenders (the individuals and organizations. targets of the attacker) in cyber threats’ Originality: Lots of work has been done and pervasiveness and the potential impacts of such many still on-going in the field of social actions on critical security infrastructures. engineering attacks and human factors, but this Design/Methodology/Approach: To enable an study is the first to adopt an approach of a effective and practical analysis, the Anonymous practical case study to critically analyze the attack against HBGary Federal (A security firm effects of human factors on cyber security. in the United State of America) was taken as a Keywords: The Anonymous; HBGary Federal; case study to reveal the huge damaging impacts Uniform Resource Location (URL); Content of human errors and attitudes against the security Management System (CMS); SQL Injection; of organizations and individuals. Cross-site Scripting (XXS); Social Engineering; Findings: The findings revealed that the Cyber Security; Information Security powerful security firm was compromised and Paper Type: Research Paper overtaken through simple SQL injection techniques and a very crafty social engineering attack which succeeded because of sheer 1 Introduction personnel negligence and unwitting utterances.