Apparently, a U.S. military installation where pilots command the U.S. military’s UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), Creech AFB in Nevada, has been infected by a virus. The virus is apparently logging keystrokes but is not interfering with the pilots’ ability to continue performing the UAV missions. That’s the good news. The bad news is the base IT personnel have been unable to clean the computers without wiping the hard drives and starting from scratch.Read more
Just about everyone with an Internet connection has heard the term “malware.” Even most home users (my dear old dad included) have heard the term “spyware,” even if they aren’t sure what it means. But have you heard of “ransomware”? Get ready, I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be the “next big (bad) thing” on the Internet.Read more
As you may know, our company provides 24×7 Network Security Monitoring services to many customers. Our clients vary widely in size, industry, and information security maturity. Even so, we see many similar successes, failures, and trends in security monitoring alerts between these customers. Spyware infections tendsto be a significant number of the incident reports we generate. Today, I would like to write about the reason spyware alerts are a threat to your organization, why you should take them seriously and respond timely, and what you can do to decrease these incidents on your network.
The danger of spyware is two-fold. First, it indicates a deficiency on the part of the user in general information security knowledge and specific corporate information security policies. A spyware infection means that the user likely installed unapproved software on his/her system. Perhaps the user was doing non-business related web surfing and found the “Totally Awesome Change Your Life Toolbar” from hAcme Software, Inc. Or maybe the user was tricked into installing this software via social engineering. (“Click here to install a media player to see Jane E. Celebrity in a bikini!”) Either way, the user was not aware of the dangers of his/her actions wrt. information security and wrt. corporate security policies. (You do have policies defining acceptable use of corporate information resources and punishment for misuse, right?)
The second danger (related to the first–in fact, the first is a consequence of the second, so maybe I should have reversed these points–oh well) indicated by a spyware infection is that the user has sufficient rights to execute unapproved software on his/her system that can modify his/her settings and hijack information. With these rights the user may be delivered and subsequently execute much more damaging malware that exfiltrates personal and/or corporate information or receives and executes instructions from external attackers. This malware may be delivered by the spyware itself. Regardless of how it is delivered, your organization has a problem, and it needs to be fixed.
For these two reasons above you should take spyware infections seriously and respond to them in a timely manner. But what can you do to limit future infections?
Did anyone notice this story on SecurityFocus? It’s an article discribing a series of attempted malware infections that were first reported by the SANS Internet Storm Center over Christmas. Apparently, three people reported buying digital picture frames made by the same manufacturer from three different Sam’s Club stores. When plugged into a computer, the malware on the picture frames attempted to perform various nasty things.
This type of threat is likely to increase as more and more devices become digitally aware. Your best bet for protecting yourself is to disable the autorun feature in Windows. That way you can scan and examine the devices you attach to your computer before the malware they may be hosting has an opportunity to become a part of your digital life.
