Sophisticated malware discovered after 7 years, likely created by a nation-state
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Security firm Kaspersky Labs recently released a research paper that uncovers the existence of a piece of highly complex malware that's been in circulation for almost seven years. It's called "The Mask," which is a rough English translation of Careto, a Spanish word for "ugly face" that was found in the malware's code. Aimed at high-level targets such as government institutions, embassies and large energy corporations, Kaspersky says "The Mask" has already claimed nearly 380 unique victims (with more than 1,000 IPs) in 31 countries that include China, France, Germany, the UK and the US. Kaspersky first spotted it in a spear phishing email campaign that entices the recipient over to malicious websites disguised as news sites like The Guardian and the Washington Post. Kaspersky reports that the malware is extremely sophisticated, with a set of tools that include a rootkit, a bootkit, versions that'll affect 32- and 64-bit Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and possibly even mobile operating systems like Android and iOS. Once it gets its hooks into your system, it can be used to hijack all your communication channels and snatch everything from Skype conversations to sensitive encryption keys. It's also very difficult to detect. Due to the level of finesse found in the malware, Kaspersky concludes that "The Mask" was very likely created by a nation-state, much like Stuxnet and Duqu. As to which nation-state that is, the security firm doesn't know, but says it's probably one that is Spanish-speaking based on the code's language. Intrigued? Go on and hit the PDF link here to get the full rundown of what Kaspersky discovered. http://www.securelist.com/en/downloa...emask_v1.0.pdf |
I'm not clicking on that link.
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us govt opened up pandora's box by weaponizing the internet. Now its a free for all.
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Intrigued? Go on and hit the PDF link here to get the full rundown of what Kaspersky discovered. |
Mandiant did the same thing last year. Likely a case of the marketing department not understanding the business or their audience.
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1. The US declared cyberattacks an act of war. 2. US undermined this position with the Stuxnet and Flame virus. 3. Instead of working to make US interests more secure, the US government has worked to cripple and backdoor hardware and software. This makes US companies and infrastructure more vulnerable to attack. 4. US finds and gather 0-day exploits and vulnerabilities for offensive attacks, but fail to tell US companies so that they may fix their vulnerabilities....once again making them more vulnerable to attack. America has been so busy with offensive capabilities and an cybe offensive arms race that they have neglected defense. |
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Although the US could gather cyber weapons, using them such as they have with stuxnet and Flame lead to the arms-race. Its like the idea of mutually assured destruction (aka MAD). No one uses nukes because they are scared others will too. After the US used cyberweapons, now plenty of others are as well. The worst part about all of this is that the US is more technologically advanced than most (if not all) other countries, and thus are the most vulnerable to cyberattacks. They have neglected defending the homeland to go on the offensive. |
Stuxnet will come back to Haunt us
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It doesnt sound like you are disagreeing with anything I said, just wondering how I know. All of this is common knowledge at this point, but if there is a part of my post you disagree with, than CLEARLY let me know. I really dont feel like walking you through this when its readily available via a simple google search. Quote:
That is the same with cyberweapons deployed by Operation Olympic Games. link Quote:
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Same can be said about cyberweapons. There is no proof that another country wouldn't have acted first, but the fact that the US has, led to a race by other countries to have similar capabilities. |
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The former head of the NSA Cyber program, General Keith Alexandar, was a well known paranoid megalomaniac... |
Stunningly naive, in my view, to think that other countries wouldn't use cyberweapons if the US hadn't done it first.
I also don't understand why/how the NSA controls whether privately developed software has backdoors, etc. I doubt Microsoft etc. would be very receptive to the NSA approaching them to do that. |
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One of the few that doesn't cooperate is Google (largely because they have world domination goals of their own that they don't want to share) and the government straight up went after them. |
omg no wai
1000 ips? that's it? |
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https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...p88suCocB8b2DA Quote:
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The Currency of Exploitation Quote:
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BTW, I don't care whether one person said cyber warfare is an act of war and then a different person said it isn't. As far as I'm concerned, that's an attempt to deflect from the issue. |
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Laughable.
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should've used Norton. morons.
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would disagree....though I dont think they include norton in their latest tests. |
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Norton is one of the worst pieces of Windows software there is. EDIT: That link is broken, by the way. |
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Norton is absolute shit.
Avast mateys! |
As a system administrator, I'll throw in another opinion for Norton being complete shit. Terrible performance, bloated services, nightmare administration, sometimes impossible to uninstall, etc, etc.
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EDIT: It didn't resolve. It does now. |
There is a new 0-day Adobe Flash bug that is actively being exploited. It affects Windows, Mac, and Linux. Its believed to be state sponsored (by the Syrian Government).
As I've said before, US opened up pandora's box. https://www.securelist.com/en/blog/8...g_hole_attacks |
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