Virus Information News

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Hackers Use Web Sites, Ads to Infect PCs

Washington Post

by Brian Krebs

November 23, 2004

Hackers co-opted several popular Web sites including comedycentral.com over the weekend, using them to infect thousands of computers with a virus that can be used to steal passwords, bank accounts and other personal information.

Displaying an increasingly sophisticated approach to online theft, the hackers gained control of a German online advertising services firm and served up thousands of Internet ads designed to send visitors to one of several Web sites where the hackers had installed the virus. Hackers also can use the virus to plant programs on victims' computers that send out spam, flood monitors with pop-up advertising or attack other Web sites, said security researchers who analyzed the code.

Hacked Ad Seen on MySpace Served Spyware to a Million

Washington Post Blog

by Brian Krebs

July 19, 2006

Hacked Ad Seen on MySpace Served Spyware to a Million An online banner advertisement that ran on MySpace.com and other sites over the past week used a Windows security flaw to infect more than a million users with spyware when people merely browsed the si

Michael La Pilla, an iDefense "malcode" analyst, said he first spotted the attack Sunday while browsing MySpace on a Linux-based machine. When he browsed a page headed with an ad for DeckOutYourDeck.com, his browser asked him whether he wanted to open a file called exp.wmf. Microsoft released a patch in January to fix a serious security flaw in the way Windows renders WMF (Windows Metafile) images, and online criminal groups have been using the flaw to install adware, keystroke loggers and all manner of invasive software for the past seven months. The Deckoutyourdeck ad launching the WMF exploit.

Justin Amash votes against his own bill, the USA Freedom Act

washingtonexaminer.com

by Ashe Schow

May 22, 2014

Unhappy with last-minute changes made to a bill designed to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of American's phone and Internet records, Rep. Justin Amash voted against the bill.

The Michigan congressman, who was an original cosponsor of the USA Freedom Act, said he was "proud" of the work he and others did to promote the bill, but that he could not support the draft legislation as it is currently written. "This morning's bill maintains and codifies a large-scale, unconstitutional domestic spying program," Amash wrote on his Facebook page. "It claims to end ‘bulk collection' of Americans' data only in a very technical sense: The bill prohibits the government from, for example, ordering a telephone company to turn over all its call records every day."

US government declares hacking an act of war, then hacks allies | WashingtonExaminer.com

washingtonexaminer.com

by Ashe Schow

July 1, 2013

Revelations from European leaders on Monday that the National Security Agency bugged European Union offices in Washington and hacked into its computer network bring to light hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. government.

In 2011, the Pentagon released its first formal cyber strategy, which called computer hacking from other nations an "act of war," according to the Wall Street Journal. In late June of this year, WSJ reported that Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, released information alleging the U.S. government was hacking Chinese targets "that include the nation's mobile-phone companies and one of the country's most prestigious universities." Now that EU offices have been hacked by the U.S. government as well, one must wonder if that was an "act of war" on the part of the United States.

The president is wrong: The NSA debate wouldn't have happened without Snowden

washingtonpost.com

by Timothy B. Lee

August 9, 2013

At Friday's news conference, President Obama was asked by Chuck Todd whether the debate that has arisen in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations made Snowden a patriot. Obama disagreed.

"I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," the president said. "I called for a thorough review of our operations before Mr. Snowden made these leaks. My preference, and I think the American peoples' preferences would have been for a lawful, orderly examination of these laws." Yet the Obama administration showed little interest in subjecting the NSA to meaningful oversight and public debate prior to Snowden's actions. When Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked for a "ballpark figure" of the number of Americans whose information was being collected by the NSA last year, the agency refused to give the senator any information, arguing that doing so would violate the privacy of those whose information was collected.

Terror watch list grows to 875,000

washingtontimes.com

by Shaun Waterman

May 3, 2013

The number of names in a secret U.S. database of suspected terrorists has swollen to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago, in part because of rule changes introduced after al Qaeda's failed underwear bomb plot in 2009.

The new figures were released Friday by the U.S. National Counter-Terrorism Center, which manages the database, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE. A senior intelligence official explained the changes to The Washington Times. "It's absolutely not unwieldy," the official insisted. He was seeking to rebut charges that the growing size of such a database actually makes harder the work of finding real terrorists - what critics call the "larger haystack, same number of needles" problem.

New software uses smartphone camera for spying

washingtontimes.com

by Shaun Waterman

October 2, 2012

Researchers from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center have developed malicious software that can remotely seize control of the camera on an infected smartphone and employ it to spy on the phone's user.

The malware, dubbed "PlaceRaider," "allows remote hackers to reconstruct rich, three-dimensional models of the smartphone owner's personal indoor spaces through completely opportunistic use of the camera," the researchers said in a study published last week. The program uses images from the camera and positional information from the smartphone's gyroscopic and other sensors to map spaces the phone's user spends a lot of time in, such as a home or office.

Beware of Anti-virus Scam

WEEK News 25

by Gina Ford

December 5, 2008

An aggressive virus has been affecting computers nationwide, and it's a growing problem. It even took one of our computers down in the newsroom.

It is indeed an aggressive virus, and it's known as M-S Anti-virus...the latest version is 2009. It's a scam...the makers lure people into believing it's a protection tool and con unsuspecting people into buying it.

FIFA World Cup Spurs Targeted Spam

WHIR Web Hosting Industry News

June 17, 2010

According to Symantec, Brazil's early World Cup lead may also be giving it the unfortunate distinction of being the focus of targeted attacks.

Symantec intercepted a run of 45 targeted malware emails on June 2 en route to a number of Brazilian companies. The emails attempt to draw in World Cup fans by spoofing a well-known sportswear manufacturer sponsoring the FIFA World Cup. Symantec noted that the most interesting aspect of the attack is that It uses two attack modes, a PDF attachment and a malicious link, meaning that even if the malicious PDF attachment is removed by an anti-virus gateway, the malicious link remains in the body of the email and may still be delivered to the recipient.

Symantec to Acquire PGP and GuardianEdge for $370M

WHIR Web Hosting Industry News

April 30, 2010

Security firm Symantec announced on Thursday it will acquire two data encryption companies for $370 million. Symantec will pay $300 million in cash for PGP and $70 million in cash for GuardianEdge.

The agreements for the companies -- which both provide technology for standards-based encryption of full-disks, removable media, files, folders and smartphones -- are expected to close this quarter. Once the acquisitions are completed, Symantec will combine the technology with its own to offer data encryption across different mobile devices associated to corporate networks. The security firm will use technology from both companies and standardize it on the PGP encryption-key management platform, delivering centralized policy and key management abilities. Symantec will then integrate the PGP platform into its Protection Center, which provides a range of services including threat, security and operational dashboards and reporting. This will help Protection Center better manage endpoint security, prevent data loss and secure gateways, says the company.

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