Cyber Security News of the Week, January 22, 2012

News of the Week Summary – Cybergeddon?

Zappo’s reported that it had been hacked, exposing the personal information of 24 million customers. Anonymous brought down the Justice Department’s website and several websites associated with the entertainment industry in response to the Feds bringing down MegaUpload, a large pirate site.  America’s critical infrastructure, including water and power, as well as our manufacturing base was put at greater risk with the public release of exploits that target vulnerabilities in industrial control systems. Cyber criminals are targeting our children by installing malicious software (malware) on popular child-focused sites. Israel, Palestine and hacktivists in Saudi Arabia seem locked in cyber war. Adding insult to injury, security vendor McAfee was caught with it’s pants down as a vulnerability in one of its products allowed cyber criminals to send spam from supposedly protected PCs.

The New York Times reports again on how difficult it is even for large companies to protect their sensitive information while PC World once again documents several challenges every organization faces in securing information outside the corporate perimeter, whether in the Cloud, in employee’s homes, on laptops, on iPads and other tablets, etc. Meanwhile bank regulators are pushing financial institutions to do more to protect their customers from online bank fraud.

Want to know how cyber crime might impact your organization? Want to better understand your exposure to cyber crime? We encourage you to contact us.

Threats and Warnings

Email, Personal Information on PlayBook Left Vulnerable to Hackers: Research in Motion may have improved its overall experience on the PlayBook with its recent update, but security researchers recently revealed that the device leaves corporate email and user information open to potential hackers. Researchers Zach Lenier and Ben Nell of Intrepidus Group uncovered a vulnerability in the PlayBook’s Bridge application that leaves the authentication token for the Bridge application somewhere anyone could dig it up. PCWorld, January 17, 2012

Cyber Crime

Hackers Steal $6.7 Million in Cyber Bank Robbery: The first major cybercrime of 2012 has taken place in South Africa, with hackers made off with about $6.7 million from Postbank, which is state-owned and part of the South African post office. PCWorld, January 18, 2012

Zappos hacked, 24 million accounts accessed: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Online shoe store Zappos has been hacked, exposing the names, e-mail addresses, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card numbers of its 24 million customers, the company said late Sunday night. CNN, January 16, 2012

Internet Badlands

Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom, By the Numbers: When news of the international raid on Megaupload broke Thursday in the U.S., Internet aficionados got a glimpse at the man behind of the largest file-sharing websites in the world. And it turns out the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom, was rich, large, and most certainly in charge. He currently sits in a New Zealand prison awaiting trial, while we attempt to dissect the man who (formerly) controlled the online media empire. Time, January 21, 2012

Megaupload Execs Had Thing For Bling, Indictment Shows: The Justice Department Thursday unsealed an indictment in Virginia charging seven executives at file-sharing site Megaupload.com with copyright violations, racketeering, and money laundering. Four of the people charged, including 37-year-old Megaupload CEO and founder Kim Dotcom (aka Kim Tim Jim Vestor, aka Kim Schmitz), were arrested by New Zealand authorities, while the others remain at large. InformationWeek, January 20, 2012

Anonymous tricked people into joining Web site attacks: If you clicked a link distributed by Anonymous yesterday, you may have unwittingly helped the online activists in their attacks against U.S. government and entertainment industry sites that were organized to protest proposed antipiracy legislation. Cnet, January 20, 2012

New Report Shows Malware ‘Sleeps’ on Computer for Average of 8 Months, Collecting Data: In a new investigative report from Daily Safety Check ™, the average time before ‘activation’ of malware before committing cyber crimes – such as bank transfers, fraud and information theft – is 8 months. SFGate, January 18, 2012

Facebook exposes hackers behind Koobface worm: As expected, Facebook today started to release information about the Koobface worm (its name is an anagram of “Facebook”) and those behind it. The update comes almost a year since Facebook’s last post about the infamous piece of malware. After more than three years and numerous hours of working closely with industry leaders, the security community, and law enforcement, Facebook has announced its social network has been free of the virus for over nine months. ZDNet, January 17, 2012

Web Gang Operating in the Open: Five men believed to be responsible for spreading a notorious computer worm on Facebook and other social networks — and pocketing several million dollars from online schemes — are hiding in plain sight in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to investigators at Facebook and several independent computer security researchers. The New York Times, January 16, 2012

Cyber Security Management

Clamor for Cloud Apps Increases Corporate Data Breach Risk: Employees bringing in their own devices and choosing their own application services is significantly increasing the risk to enterprise data. PC World, January 17, 2012

Regulators push banks to improve online security: According to a report in the New York Times , the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation wants financial institutions to add a new security layer that detects unusual patterns of online activity — such as a volley of transfers to an account in Russia — in real time, starting this month. However, the Financial Times reported that a poll by a bank technology firm in November suggested that 40 percent of banks weren’t even aware that regulators want them to adopt new measures. Atm Marketplace, January 17, 2012

Even Big Companies Cannot Protect Their Data: Barbara Scott just hit the trifecta of computer security breaches. Since the New Year, Ms. Scott has been a victim of three separate cyberattacks. Two weeks ago, the online auction site eBay said in an e-mail to her that there had been suspicious activity on her account. On Monday, she received an e-mail from Zappos and another from 6PM, two online shoe retailers owned by Amazon. Both messages alerted her that — once again — her information had been compromised. The New York Times, January 17, 2012

Kids and Families Cyber Security

Hackers Target Children as Adults Wise Up to Spam: Hackers are targeting websites aimed at children, by embedding malicious software in free gaming sites, praying on the young as adults grow wise to their strategies. Forbes, January 19, 2012

Hackers spread malware via children’s gaming websites: Hackers are increasingly targeting child-focused gaming websites, according to a leading anti-virus firm. BBC, January 16, 2012

Hactivism

‘Anonymous’ hackers attack Brazilian websites: RIO DE JANEIRO — The computer hacker group Anonymous attacked websites of Brazil’s federal district Saturday as well as one belonging to a Brazilian singer to protest the forced closure of Megaupload.com. AFP, January 21, 2012

Hackers disrupt websites of Israel’s stock exchange, national air carrier: JERUSALEM — A hacker network that claims to be based in Saudi Arabia paralyzed the websites of Israel’s stock exchange and national airline on Monday, escalating an international cyber war that has jolted this security-obsessed country. The Washington Post, January 16, 2012

Critical Infrastructure Security

Hoping to Teach a Lesson, Researchers Release Exploits for Critical Infrastructure Software: MIAMI, Florida — A group of researchers has discovered serious security holes in six top industrial control systems used in critical infrastructure and manufacturing facilities and, thanks to exploit modules they released on Thursday, have also made it easy for hackers to attack the systems before they’re patched or taken offline. Wired, January 19, 2012

Cyber War – The Middle East

Israel in the frame after rapid rise in cybercrime: There has been a huge and sudden rise in online attacks in the region that seem to originate in Israel, a major anti-virus company warns. The National, January 22, 2012

Israeli and Palestinian hackers trade DDoS attacks in rising cyber-gang war: Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli hackers are waging a cyber street-fight in a tit-for-tat exchange of posturing, threats of mass credit card exposures, and denial-of-service attacks. As Hamas has egged on hackers in recent weeks, promoting more “hacktivist” attacks against Israeli targets, pro-Israel hackers have responded in kind, today taking down the websites of stock exchanges in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both sites appear to be back online. ars technica, January 17, 2012

Cyber Irony

PSA: McAfee computer security patches flaw: are you fixed?: Earlier this week, the McAfee group began sending out a fix to stopper up a flaw which turned their protection service into a hijacked spam festival. The flaw, they say, was allowing hackers to attach themselves to your computer specifically and shoot spam throughout your machine – hijacking that which was supposed to be protected using a flaw in the system that was supposed to be doing the protecting. The exploit was reported earlier this week by two customers who were taken aback by the flaw earlier this week, McAfee responding with a fix now here at the end of it. SlashGear, January 20, 2012

Ray of Sunshine

Alleged Muscovite cybercrime daddy hauled in to face US court: A suspected Russian cyber-crook has arrived in the US to face charges of security fraud, computer hacking and ID theft following his deportation from Switzerland. The Register, January 18, 2012