Trojan

Unknown Knowns: Arbor Warns Of Widespread Point of Sale Compromises

The hack of U.S. retailer Target put attacks on point of sale systems on the radar, and prompted major retailers to revisit the security of the systems that accept credit card transactions. Now research from Arbor Networks is warning that hackers and cyber criminals are doubling down on point of sale (PoS) systems with a wide range of specialized PoS malware and targeted attacks. Arbor says it has data suggesting that PoS compromises may be widespread, and undetected. Arbor’s Security Engineering & Response Team (SERT)  issued its findings in a Threat Intelligence Brief (2014-6)  report. The company said that “ambitious threat actors” are using targeted attack campaigns against PoS networks. The “longevity and extent” of PoS attack campaigns – even at wealthy and sophisticated organizations – is “a serious concern.”   [Read Security Ledger’s coverage of the Target data breach here.] “In organizations with security teams and well-managed network infrastructure, point of […]

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Linux IoT Worm Still Alive And Mining Virtual Coins

A few months ago we wrote about a new Internet worm notable because it spread between devices running the Linux operating systems, and because it had the ability to infect a range of non-PC devices including set top boxes. Symantec was quick to suggest that the worm, Linux.Darlloz, was the first “Internet of Things” malware. Now, three months later, Symantec is updating the story: noting that Darlloz is still out there, and seems to have  been put to use mining for virtual currencies. Writing on Symantec’s blog on Thursday, analyst Karou Hayashi said that researchers there discovered a new variant of Darlloz in January that included code changes and improvements from the version discovered at the end of 2013. Darlloz is versatile: it can run on devices using a variety of architectures, including the common Intel x86, but also hardware running the ARM, MIPS and PowerPC architectures. Those are more common […]

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Veterans Targeted In Attack Using IE 10 Zero Day

Visitors to the web site of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) are being targeted in an attack that exploits a previously unknown hole in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 web browser, according to warnings Thursday by security firms.   Some visitors to the web site of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), vfw[dot]org, were the victim of a ‘watering hole’ attack that takes advantage of a previously unknown ‘use-after-free’ vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 web browser. The VFW site was hacked and then altered to redirect users, silently, to a malicious website programmed to exploit vulnerable versions of IE 10 on systems running 32 bit versions of the Windows operating system.  The VFW did not immediately respond to e-mail and phone requests for comment. According to a write-up by the security firm FireEye, the vulnerability allows the attacker to “modify one byte of memory at an arbitrary address” stored […]

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Update: Retail Breaches Spread. Point of Sale Malware A Suspect.

Reuters is reporting on Monday that the recently disclosed hack of box store retailer Target Inc. was just one of a series of attacks against U.S. retailers, including Target, the luxury department store Neiman Marcus and other, as-yet-unnamed companies.* The story adds to other, recent revelations, including the breach at Neiman Marcus, which was first disclosed by the security blog Krebsonsecurity.com on Friday. Also on Monday, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel confirmed that his company was the victim of malicious software installed on point of sale (PoS) systems at the store. According to the Reuters report, Target Corp and Neiman Marcus are just two retailers whose networks were breached over the holiday shopping season. The story cites unnamed sources “familiar with attacks,” which have yet to be publicly disclosed. Breaches of “at least three other well-known U.S. retailers took place and were conducted using similar techniques as the one on Target,” according […]

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Week In Security: More Target Woes and CES

It was another eventful week in security, with another big revelation in the story of a hack of box retailer Target Inc. That update – which accompanied Target’s fourth quarter earnings guidance – nearly doubled the number of known victims of that attack. It also revealed that credit card data was not the only information stolen by hackers, who also made off with customer names, mailing addresses and emails. In this latest installment of Security Ledger’s Security Week in Review, we spoke with Jody Brazil, the President of the security firm FireMon about the week’s events. Jody is a seasoned security professional who works day-in-day-out with companies that are trying to manage their risk. He said that even large companies like Target can fall victim to sophisticated attacks, but the IT security may be too quick to give up on traditional defensive technologies. Jody and I had an interesting chat about […]

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