Virus Information News

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Our Mac Antivirus Blocks Java Exploits

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 22, 2013

Yesterday, two of our analysts, Brod and Timo, tested a Facebook/Apple hack related Java exploit with our Anti-Virus for Mac. And the result?

Our Mac AV blocked the exploit with a generic detection (created Nov. 19th 2012) called: Exploit:Java/Majava.B. Nice! So, how is the sample related?

Chinese Hackers

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 21, 2013

All you probably need to know about Mandiant's Chinese hacker report.

Well, that, and that not everything in Mandiant's report about Chinese hackers can be verified. Marketplace's Shanghai-based China correspondent, Rob Schmitz, called a phone number supposedly belonging to a hacker (from a Mandiant video) and reached a 69 year old farmer instead.

Timeline: Hacks Related to Apple

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 20, 2013

The hacks related to Apple involve a lot of complexities.

Macs have something like a 15% market share in the real-world. Such market share equals a relatively low motivation for bad guys to develop bulk commoditized "malware as a service" which targets average Mac owning consumers. Folks who use Macs for home are as relatively secure today as they were yesterday, and as such, they probably have a reasonable sense of security. But in the "developer world", Macs have a much higher percentage of market share. (In Silicon Valley we'd guesstimate it's probably the inverse of the real-world: 85%.) As such, there is relatively high motivation for bad guys to develop "sophisticated" attacks that incorporate Mac-based payloads. Folks who use their Macs for work should not have the same sense of security as home users. Clearly, work-based Macs are more of a target and expectations of security should scale to match the threat level.

Apple One of the "Other Companies" Hacked

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 19, 2013

Wow. According to Reuters, Apple was one of the "other companies" recently attacked by hackers who infected Macs. Hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, are affected according to Reuters.

Facebook Confirmed: Several Other Companies Hacked

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 19, 2013

Yesterday's post generated some feedback along the lines of "interesting theory". But here's the deal, that other companies were hacked is not a theory - it's a fact.

Facebook's Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan, said so himself in an interview with Ars Technica. According to Sullivan, Facebook's security team worked with a third-party to sinkhole the attacker's server - and they discovered traffic coming from several other companies. These are the domains associated with the Mac malware we wrote about yesterday...

Facebook Hacked, Mobile Dev Watering Holes, and Mac Malware

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 18, 2013

Friday, February 1st: Twitter announced it was hacked. The post (Keeping our users secure) by Bob Lord, Director of Information Security, was sparse on details but recommended disabling Java's browser plugin.

And according to Lord, the attackers "were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked." Friday, February 15th: Facebook announced it was hacked. According to the Security Team's note (Protecting People On Facebook), a handful of employees visited a compromised website hosting a Java "exploit which then allowed malware to be installed on these employee laptops."

Mitigate the Adobe Reader/Acrobat XI Vulnerability

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 14, 2013

News broke yesterday regarding a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI.

Adobe released its Security Advisory last night which includes some important mitigation options. Users can protect themselves by enabling "Protected View".

7,000 Fake Indentities Equals 200 Million USD

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 12, 2013

Most people are aware of identity theft these days, and that it's a relatively easy way for criminal types to make money (by accessing credit). But we've wondered, at what point does it become easier to fake, rather than to steal identities?

The FBI answered that question last week when it arrested 13 people on charges of bank fraud. The defendants are alleged to have used thousands of fake identities, documents, and companies to get tens of thousands of credit cards. And they cashed out two hundred million dollars. Our favorite detail? "Law enforcement discovered approximately $70,000 in cash in the oven of one defendant." Guess the freezer was full...

Update: Flash Player Exploit Targeting Macs and Windows

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 8, 2013

On Monday, we speculated that recent Java exploits may have been used to hack the Macs of Twitter employees. And today there's a Flash Player update, and Adobe reports the patched vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild.

CVE-2013-0634 affects Flash Player for Firefox and Safari for Mac. What organizations have been targeted? Adobe doesn't say. However, it's interesting to note that the Lockheed Martin Computer Incident Response Team contributed to Adobe's investigations.

What is Java technology and why do I need it?

F-Secure Weblog

by Sean

February 4, 2013

Why do I need Java? "Java is fast, secure, and reliable." Secure?

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security doesn't seem to think so. And neither does Apple, Mozilla and Twitter. Twitter was hacked last week. And for some reason (which wasn't all that clearly explained), Twitter's Director of Information Security recommended disabling Java's browser plug-in.

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