Security-related articles, part one
Jun 12, 2008 4:24:36 GMT
Post by CharlieChomper on Jun 12, 2008 4:24:36 GMT
In going through all the articles I plan on sharing, I opted to break it up both by subject matter as well as (in this instance) into sections so that no one feels overwhelmed by the volume of articles being posted.
That said, the first article involves those ever annoying pieces of spam that I'm sure everyone here has received or seen at one point or another regarding "prescription medications". What's interesting is that some researchers who track malware and other "nasty" bits as well as security-related issues (especially in relation to email) came to find that the spammers behind them (often at the expense of those who fall for the spam scams in question) are also actually funding
what is currently the most notorious "botnet" in existence right now: the so-called "Storm Worm" (as terrible as it may sound, the "best" way to describe the Storm Worm for those unfamiliar with it is to say that it's sort of like the AIDS virus of computers--so far mainly with Windows--in that it mutates and changes its structure, currently making it very difficult for security companies and anti-virus makers to really be able to combat it).
Most security groups have managed to track where they believe this particular piece of malware may have come from and suspect they know who may be responsible for it, but given the politics of the country of origin as well as the former professions of those believed responsible for it and that country's current government, it's so far proven impossible to try and hold those people accountable for it or even arrest or extradite them for trial (the EU has already petitioned for it and been denied).
Furthermore, the spam is also helping to spread it and other malware onto computers--I can't remember if I had mentioned this previously or not before, but for the past several years now, there has been in existence a dangerous partnership formed between spammers and the malware, virii, worm, etc. writers and worst of the worst of the black hats to where the groups are now collaborating amongst themselves not just to "harvest" email addresses and information and run scams but also to further spread any and all forms of malware to other computers and/or create what are known as "zombie systems"--computers that are infected with malware (something usually unknown to the user/owner of it) and then "used" remotely by either another infected computer or else very remotely through a complex "chain" of systems to hide the origins of it and the person or people responsible for it to further infect other computers or to commit crimes such as breaking into other systems or networks and either stealing from them or wreaking havoc on them and/or "wiping" the contents of the computer (sometimes the last bit in an attempt to hide the nature of another crime that may have been involved).
Semi-related to this, is another article involving a new form of malware that has so far managed to remain disturbingly ahead of security researchers and anti-viral companies and has many worried about such malware possibly becoming a trend in the future.
However, getting back to what I was saying about the "zombie" computers, a recent study conducted came to find that malware incidents appear to be on the rise. It also goes into the different forms of malware out there along with the most common means of their introduction to computers (mostly Windows) and ways to potentially and hopefully avoid them as well as the current "trends" involving them.
Also, in case anyone wanted to know what a "botnet" looks like, you can have a look here. Admittedly, the diagram does get a bit technical in some areas, but it does a good job of presenting the different forms of "bots" and malware out there used by the more maliciously-minded out there.
As to the last article I'll be posting as part of this thread. For anyone out there who is using Firefox and has downloaded the Vietnamese language plugin (which has since been pulled), I would urge you to do an anti-viral scan (as well as to remove this add-on)! There was found to be a trojan that appears to have infected it during the process of uploaded it from the contributor's computer by way of their ISP to Firefox's plugin database. The Mozilla group, since being made aware of this, not only pulled the plugin involved, but has already implemented and made changes to the process of submitting plugins to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again and they've gone through the rest of the database as well to verify that there weren't any others that may have contained anything malicious (only this one plugin appeared to have had an issue attached). They're presently awaiting a "clean" version of it before they'll agree to upload any plugins or add-ons again for the Vietnamese language.
Edited because apparently, I can't spell very well an otherwise "simple" word.
That said, the first article involves those ever annoying pieces of spam that I'm sure everyone here has received or seen at one point or another regarding "prescription medications". What's interesting is that some researchers who track malware and other "nasty" bits as well as security-related issues (especially in relation to email) came to find that the spammers behind them (often at the expense of those who fall for the spam scams in question) are also actually funding
what is currently the most notorious "botnet" in existence right now: the so-called "Storm Worm" (as terrible as it may sound, the "best" way to describe the Storm Worm for those unfamiliar with it is to say that it's sort of like the AIDS virus of computers--so far mainly with Windows--in that it mutates and changes its structure, currently making it very difficult for security companies and anti-virus makers to really be able to combat it).
Most security groups have managed to track where they believe this particular piece of malware may have come from and suspect they know who may be responsible for it, but given the politics of the country of origin as well as the former professions of those believed responsible for it and that country's current government, it's so far proven impossible to try and hold those people accountable for it or even arrest or extradite them for trial (the EU has already petitioned for it and been denied).
Furthermore, the spam is also helping to spread it and other malware onto computers--I can't remember if I had mentioned this previously or not before, but for the past several years now, there has been in existence a dangerous partnership formed between spammers and the malware, virii, worm, etc. writers and worst of the worst of the black hats to where the groups are now collaborating amongst themselves not just to "harvest" email addresses and information and run scams but also to further spread any and all forms of malware to other computers and/or create what are known as "zombie systems"--computers that are infected with malware (something usually unknown to the user/owner of it) and then "used" remotely by either another infected computer or else very remotely through a complex "chain" of systems to hide the origins of it and the person or people responsible for it to further infect other computers or to commit crimes such as breaking into other systems or networks and either stealing from them or wreaking havoc on them and/or "wiping" the contents of the computer (sometimes the last bit in an attempt to hide the nature of another crime that may have been involved).
Semi-related to this, is another article involving a new form of malware that has so far managed to remain disturbingly ahead of security researchers and anti-viral companies and has many worried about such malware possibly becoming a trend in the future.
However, getting back to what I was saying about the "zombie" computers, a recent study conducted came to find that malware incidents appear to be on the rise. It also goes into the different forms of malware out there along with the most common means of their introduction to computers (mostly Windows) and ways to potentially and hopefully avoid them as well as the current "trends" involving them.
Also, in case anyone wanted to know what a "botnet" looks like, you can have a look here. Admittedly, the diagram does get a bit technical in some areas, but it does a good job of presenting the different forms of "bots" and malware out there used by the more maliciously-minded out there.
As to the last article I'll be posting as part of this thread. For anyone out there who is using Firefox and has downloaded the Vietnamese language plugin (which has since been pulled), I would urge you to do an anti-viral scan (as well as to remove this add-on)! There was found to be a trojan that appears to have infected it during the process of uploaded it from the contributor's computer by way of their ISP to Firefox's plugin database. The Mozilla group, since being made aware of this, not only pulled the plugin involved, but has already implemented and made changes to the process of submitting plugins to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again and they've gone through the rest of the database as well to verify that there weren't any others that may have contained anything malicious (only this one plugin appeared to have had an issue attached). They're presently awaiting a "clean" version of it before they'll agree to upload any plugins or add-ons again for the Vietnamese language.
Edited because apparently, I can't spell very well an otherwise "simple" word.
for your input, because it keeps my eyes open and also I dont get taken in by anything anymore.