Detecting Firmware Infection : Prelim start@Google's VIRUSTOTAL

1.   The severity in cases where firmware is already infected at the time of first purchase by the user is now being realized over the years. Be it the Dell server case , Seagate firmware case , Equation Group , Proof of Concept for even Macs , NSA revelations by Snowden and the list is pretty long to workout.Over various discussions and forums I read across I could never get any kind of implementing a solution to detect a threat at the firmware level not before I read about about the first such attempt via Google VirusTotal.

2.   Google’s VirusTotal service has come-out with a new tool that analyzes firmware, the low-level code that bridges a computer’s hardware and operating system at startup. The new tool will label firmware images as either legitimate or suspicious. It can also extract certificates attached to firmware and if there are other executable files inside of it. The tool can extract portable executables (PEs) inside firmware since these could sometimes be a source of malicious behavior. 

“These executables are extracted and submitted individually to VirusTotal, such that the user can eventually see a report for each one of them and perhaps get a notion of whether there is something fishy in their BIOS image,” Santos wrote. 

3.   It will now be possible for people to extract their own firmware and submit it to VirusTotal, which has the potential to create a database of various firmware images that could contribute to research into bad ones. 

4.    No details could be fetched across of how it actually works.But happy about there being a kind of first.More options wil arise after this circulates around and we have a secure eco-system of web.

Cross OS Trojan : @ If...Then...else :-)

1.    Got this at THN.We often feel stronger when we use some kind of a open source linux OS instead of the regular pirated or even genuine Windows OS incl XP/WIN7 etc.But what i got here was a simple trojan dropper code that is based on the found out OS...IF LINUX then this trojan...or if windows then the other one....the snap shot from the original THN site is here @ http://thehackernews.com/2012/07/cross-platform-trojan-mac-windows-linux.html

2.    F-Secure has found this web exploit that detects the OS of the computer and drops the relevant trojan to match.The attack was first seen on a Columbian transport website which had been hacked by a third party. This malware is known as GetShell.A and requires users to approve a Java applet installation.It detects if you're running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux, and then downloads the corresponding malware for your platform. The malicious files developed for each type of OS connect to the same Command & Control server that F-Secure has localized at IP address 186.87.69.249.

3.  Thanks http://thehackernews.com

Bredolab grabs Attention

1.    A 27-year-old Armenian man has been charged as being the mastermind behind the Bredolab botnet, a network of millions of compromised computers worldwide.Main features of this trojan botnet are enumerated below for info : 

• Users of computers with viruses from this network will receive a notice of at the time of next login with information on the degree of infection. 
• Bredolab, known for spreading spam and rogue antivirus, is thought by some experts to have infected at least 30 million computers.
• Spread via drive-by attack websites and spam email attachments.
• Infecting machines with a backdoor that downloads additional malware without the victim's knowledge. 
• Sends out spoofed password reset messages to Facebook users in an attempt to spread malware and infect users of the social network.
• Has the power to obtain information on the user's computer including the ability to copy, change or delete files and other information," 
• Pushdo botnet uses Facebook to spread malicious email attachment: A phony message warns users that their Facebook password has been reset.
• Majority of infections are in the U.S. and the U.K. and many Western European countries.
• Discovered by the Dutch High Tech Crime Team in the late summer.
• Capable of infecting 3 million computers a month. The botnet network used servers hired in the Netherlands from a reseller of LeaseWeb, which is the largest hosting provider in the Netherlands, and one of the largest hosts in Europe.
• Able to constantly change its appearance to avoid detection by traditional antivirus signatures. Like other botnets, the Trojan communicated with the command-and-control server using encrypted messages.

Service Packs & Infection Rates

1.  First it was windows XP..then it was SP1(Service Pack 1)...followed by SP2,SP3 ...further by Vista SP1,SP2 and now Windows 7...how the upgrades in these packs have been reducing the infection rates is briefly reflected as per stats from Microsoft Security Intelligence Report.

- Infection rate for windows XP with SP3 is less then half of that for SP2 and less then a third of SP1.

- Windows Vista SP2 has a lower inefction rate then SP1 which is about 50% lower then Windows Vista Basic.

- In case of Server Operating SystemS,the infection rate for windows server 2008 with SP2 is about 20% less then the predecessor ie Windows Server 2008 RTM.

2. Thanks http://www.microsoft.com/security/sir/

CaaS : CRIME WARE AS A SERVICE at offer now

1. Bhaigiri...Supari..khokha...and similar terms have been till date used in reference with the crime world...now come to terms like Software as a Service(SaaS), Hardware as a service(HaaS) ,Platform as a service(PaaS) etc and the list is all set to become endless with cloud computing...whats the relation here?????..it goes 2 merge these two separate worldsie CRIME & IT....the earlier terms mentioned pertain to the world of crime and the later once refer to the vast possibilities and power knocking the users....thus refers to Crimeware as a Service(CaaS)

2. The controverting side is the world of hackers & cyber criminals who seem to exploit their technical tools to great effect. However, even for newbie hackers eager to join this world don’t need to possess the required levels of technological expertise. CaaS (Crimeware-as-a-Service) pulled out of some distant Cloud can provision the necessary tools, be they Virus/Worm Creation Kits, Denial of Service (DoS) applications or more simply estabilishing a botnet.A recent research proved they can be just a mouse click away! Kits were easily located to build a variant of ‘Indra’ Malware, as well as a manifestation of Badboy , providing the user with the power to create their own version to send on to their targets.

3. Granted these are not examples of cutting-edge malware, but they do however still pose a threat to the unprepared and unsuspecting organisation. As amazing as it may seem, even today there are large organisations who permit access to sites, and allow the download of Malware Construction Kits – and even more worrying, there are still pockets of companies who do not maintain their anti-virus or patches in an up-to-dtate condition.

4. Crime is going to be a inherent part in the cyber world and the cause of worry is that unlike army and mil est in the real world...no concrete effort and source is there to resist these evil forces.We are still acting to a situtaion when need of the hour is to be more then PROACTIVE.....

5. Thanks http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/