It was reported by Reuters on 16th May 2009 that in phishing attacks on Facebook’s million of users, they have successfully collected passwords from *some* of them. Exact number not revealed.
This is the latest in a series of attacks on the site.
Facebook said:
(i) it’s now “cleaning up damage”
(ii) it’s blocking compromised accounts.
Modus operandi of attackers:
(i) breaking into accounts of some Facebook members; presumably via common methods like weak password guessing?
(ii) send e-mails to friends of the member asking them to click on links to fake websites, designed to look like the Facebook home page. There, the victims were directed to log back in to the site, where in actual fact they logged into the one controlled by the hackers, hence revealing their passwords.
The fake domains include www.151.im, www.121.im and www.123.im.
As to the objective of the hackers, it’s believed that they wanted to take over a big number of accounts, then use them to send spam selling goods to Facebook members at large.
Source
Written by pinolobu on May 16th, 2009 with no comments.
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6 May 2009
Security firm McAfee monitored cyberspace since January 2009 and found that 12 million computers have been taken over by criminals.
And compared to last year, the number of zombies has increased by 50%.
The real number is likely to be higher.
The United States has 18% of the world’s infected computers. Second is China with 13%.
SOurce
The BBC
Written by pinolobu on May 6th, 2009 with 1 comment.
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Amongst other things mentioned at the ongoing 2009 RSA conference in San Francisco, the largest ICT security event in the world:
(i) ICT security pros need to work together to fight the now highly organised cyber criminals the world over. Online fraudsters “are not bound by any rules of law” and have control over “massive armies of zombie computers”. No more acting independently: now there’s a need to collaborate, to create a common development process: standards, sharing technologies and integrating technologies and controls into the infrastructure.
(ii) Cyber criminals have infiltrated everything imaginable: from the US power grid to the Pentagon.
(iii) Sophos said a web page is infected every 4.5 seconds & every day more than 20,000 new samples of malware are discovered.
(iv) Symantec said it had blocked 245 million attacks per month in 2008 : that’s 200,000 attacks every 30 minutes, and that 90% of attacks target confidential information
(v) Attackers are changing their approaches, from mass distribution (random attacks) to a few threats being distributed to micro-distribution where there are millions of distinct threats. Meaning, they now target individuals, to try to steal confidential information (medical, financial etc). Hence, anyone can be a victim.
Source
The BBC, 21 April 2009
Written by pinolobu on April 22nd, 2009 with no comments.
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According to security specialists Finjan, almost 2 million PCs globally, including machines inside UK and US government departments, have been taken over by malicious hackers.
The giant network of remotely-controlled PCs (botnet) has been traced to a gang of cyber criminals in the Ukraine.
Written by pinolobu on April 22nd, 2009 with no comments.
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There was concern something big would happen.
It didn’t, but as the guy at Symantec said, “we will be on high alert for a long time“.
Written by pinolobu on April 2nd, 2009 with no comments.
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An electronic spy network, based mainly in China, has infiltrated computers from government offices around the world, Canadian researchers Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), comprised of Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies say after a 10-month investigation.
These types of attacks were not new, but they stood out because of “their ability to collect actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed”.
The report said the network had infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including computers belonging to foreign ministries and embassies and those linked with the Dalai Lama - Tibet’s spiritual leader.
There is no conclusive evidence China’s government was behind it, researchers say. Beijing also denied involvement.
Researchers found that ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan appear to had been targeted.
Hacked systems were also discovered in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.
Analysts say the attacks are in effect industrial espionage, with hackers showing an interest in the activities of lawmakers and major companies.
Written by pinolobu on March 30th, 2009 with no comments.
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Fake anti-virus software makers are exploiting search engines to illicitly drive people to sites selling “scareware” i.e. software that give out fake warnings about virus infections.
The criminals do this by using popular and mis-spelled search terms.
Upon visiting the sites, there will be a pop-up that claims that one’s computer is full of malware.
Motivation: monetary gains: they are making as much as USD10,000 per day out of this!
Written by pinolobu on March 23rd, 2009 with no comments.
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Facebook has been targeted by malicious hackers seeking to steal valuable data from members.
The social network site has been hit by five separate security problems in the last seven days, say security experts.
By creating fake messages padded with details of Facebook members the thieves are capitalising on the trust and social links that drive the network.
Security firms warn that the popularity of social networking sites makes them a tempting target for hi-tech thieves.
Written by pinolobu on March 2nd, 2009 with no comments.
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Criminals in Italy are increasingly making phone calls over the internet in order to avoid getting caught through mobile phone intercepts.
Milan police say organised crime, arms & drugs traffickers, & prostitution rings are turning to Skype to frustrate investigators.
The police say Skype’s encryption system is a secret which the company refuses to share with the authorities.
Investigators have become increasingly reliant on wiretaps in recent years.
They overheard a suspected cocaine trafficker telling an accomplice to switch to Skype in order to get details of a 2kg drug consignment.
Written by pinolobu on February 15th, 2009 with no comments.
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The research into the web habits of 20,000 14 to 19-year-olds across Europe found that 51% enjoy unfettered access to any and every website.
The MSN research also found that 29% of the teenagers it quizzed have suffered bullying while using the web.
Written by pinolobu on February 10th, 2009 with no comments.
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