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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