Government Agencies Engaging in Criminal Hacking Techniques

Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

This article may be a little political. However bad guys are trying to win a cyberwar against us and it’s important to understand what’s being done to protect us.

The US National Security Agency is probably the most sophisticated group of security hackers in the world. Many will argue this point. The fact is, without NSA, US STRATCOM, which directs the operation and defense of the military’s Global Information Grid, and US CERT, attacks on our critical infrastructures would be successful. We’d be living in the dark, telephones wouldn’t work, food wouldn’t be delivered to your supermarket and your toilet wouldn’t flush. These are not the same bumbling government employees you see on C-SPAN.

The Obama administration is in the process of completing aninternal cyber-security review,  announcing plans for cyber-security initiatives and determining who’s going to lead the charge.

The New York Times reports that the NSA wants the job and of course, this is raising hackles amongst privacy advocates and civil libertarians who fear that the spy agency already has too much power. I’m all for checks and balances. However, in order to detect threats against our nation and other global computer infrastructures from criminal hackers and terrorists, those in charge of cyber-security must have full and unlimited access to networks. There is certainly a legitimate concern here that any government agency with too much power can overstep citizens’ rights. However, coming from a security perspective, there are some very bad guys out there who would like nothing more for you to be dead.

Here’s a glowing example of how this power is used for good. Wired.com’s Kevin Poulsen (who should be required reading) reports on an FBI-developed super spyware program called “computer and Internet protocol address verifier,” or CIPAV, which has been used to investigate extortion plots, terrorist threats and hacker attacks in cases stretching back to before the dotcom bust. This is James Bond, Hollywood blockbuster technology that makes for a gripping storyline. The CIPAV’s capabilities indicate that it gathers and reports a computer’s IP address, MAC address, open ports, a list of running program, the operating system type, version and serial number, preferred Internet browser and version, the computer’s registered owner and registered company name, the current logged-in user name and the last-visited URL. That’s the equivalent of a crime scene investigator having fresh samples of blood for the victim and perpetrator, and 360 degree crystal clear video of the crime committed.

The FBI sneaks the CIPAV onto a target’s machine like any criminal hacker would, using known web browser vulnerabilities. They use the same type of hacker psychology phishers use, tricking their target into clicking a link, downloading and installing the spyware. They function like any illegal hacker would, except legally. In one case, they hacked a mark’s MySpace page and posted a link in the subject’s private chat room, getting him to click it. In another case, the FBI was trying to track a sexual predator that had been threatening the life of a teenage girl who he’d met for sex. The man’s IP addresses were anonymous from all over the world, which made it impossible to track him down. Getting the target to install the CIPAV made it possible to find this animal. Numerous other cases are cited in the Wired.com article, including an undercover agent working a case described as a “weapon of mass destruction” (bomb & anthrax) threat, who communicated with a suspect via Hotmail, and sought approval from Washington to use a CIPAV to locate the subject’s computer.

So while Big Brother may yield some scary power, criminals and terrorists are a tad scarier. I’ve always viewed the term “Big Brother” as someone who watches over and protects you. Just my take.

As always, invest in identity theft protection and Internet security solutions to keep the bad guys and the spyware out.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses spyware.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Identity Theft Expert; Organized Webmobs Focused on Cyber Crime

Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

New reports confirm what we have been seeing in the news; organized criminals have upped the ante. Global web mobs are tearing up financial institutions’ networks.

We’ve known for some time that the long-haired, lowly, pot-smoking, havoc-reeking hacker, sitting alone in his mom’s basement, hacking for fun and fame is no more. He cut his hair and has now graduated into a full time professional criminal hacker, hacking for government secrets and financial gain.

His contacts are global, many from Russia and Eastern Europe, and they include brilliant teens, 20-somethings, all the way up to clinical psychologists who are organized, international cyber criminals.

We are in the middle of a cold cyber crime war.

Their sole motivation is money and information and they either find their way inside networks due to flaws in the applications, or they work on their victims psychologically and trick them into entering usernames and passwords, or clicking links.

According to a new Verizon report, a staggering 285 million records were compromised in 2008, which exceeds total losses for 2004-2007 combined. As many as 93% of the breaches were targeted hacks occurring at financial institutions.

Hackers made $10 million by hacking RBS Worldpay’s system, then loading up blank dummy cards and gift cards, and sending mules to use them at ATMs. The entire scheme took less than one day to pull off.

Many of these hacks occur due to flaws in the design of web applications. The criminals send out “sniffers,” which seek out those flaws. Once they are found, the attack begins. Malware is generally implanted on the network to extract usernames and passwords. Once the criminals have full access, they use the breached system as their own, storing the stolen data and eventually turning it into cash.

Meanwhile, criminal hackers have created approximately 1.6 million security threats, according to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report. 90% of these attacks were designed to steal personal information including names, addresses and credit card details. Almost every single American has had their data compromised in some way.

Unsuspecting computer users who do not update their PC’s basic security, including Windows updates, critical security patches or anti-virus definitions often become infected as part of a botnet. Botnets are used to execute many of the attacks on unprotected networks.

The same study shows computer users were hit by 349 billion spam and phishing messages. Many were tricked into giving up personal information. It is common sense not to plug data into an email that appears to be from your bank, asking to update your account. Attacks directed towards mobile phones are also rising. “Phexting” is when a text message phishes for personal data. Just hit delete.

Much of the data stolen is out of your hands. So invest in identity theft protection, and keep your McAfee Internet security software updated.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses criminal hackers who got caught.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

E-banking just got less secure

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker

There is no end to the ingenuity of the criminal hacker. They’ve figured out how to hack debit card PINS. Debit cards are linked directly to our checking accounts, which makes them tasty treats for criminal hackers.

At an ATM or cash register, most debit card users are blissfully unaware of what occurs when they swipe their cards and enter their pin numbers. A magical mystery takes place and we get to walk away with our new purchase, simply by swiping a card and tapping a few keys. The money magically disappears from our account and we celebrate by eating the Twinkie we just bought.

Whether you’re swiping your debit card at an ATM or in a store or restaurant, the process is similar. The user swipes his or her card and types in the pin number. The data is verified by a 3rd party payment processor or, in some cases, by a bank, over telephone lines or the Internet. Once the information has been validated and the payment processor confirms that the required funds exist, the money is moved from the user’s account to the merchant’s account, or is dispensed in cash.

The convenience of debit cards has led to global popularity that vastly exceeds that of handwritten checks, all the way into 3rd world countries.

We’ve known for some time that low-tech skimming at ATMs and gas pumps has been a point of compromise. Now, Wired reports that the transaction itself puts your PIN number at risk. Academics discovered this flaw years ago, but didn’t think it would be possible to execute in the field. Criminal hackers, however, have come up with the holy grail of hacks, stealing large amounts of encrypted and unencrypted debit card and pin numbers. And they have figured a way to crack the encryption codes.

The first signs of PIN tampering were recognized when investigators studied the processes of the 11 criminals who were caught after the TJX data breach. That breach involved 45 million credit and debit cards. The crime ring needed PIN codes to turn that data into cash. An investigation into this breach reported that the hacks resulted in “more targeted, cutting-edge, complex, and clever cyber crime attacks than seen in previous years.”

This revelation has some saying that the only cure for this type of hack is a complete overhaul to the payment processing system.

The compromise occurs in a device called a hardware security module (HSM), which sits on bank networks. PIN numbers pass through this device on their way to the card issuer. The module is tamper-resistant and provides a secure environment for encryption and decryption for PINs and card numbers. Criminal hackers are accessing HSMs and tricking them into providing the decrypting data. They are installing malware called “memory scrapers,” which capture the unencrypted data and use the hacked system to store it.

The PCI Security Standards Council, a self regulating body that oversees much of what occurs regarding payment card transaction, said they would begin testing HSMs. Bob Russo, general manager of the global standards body, said that the council’s testing of the devices would “focus specifically on security properties that are critical to the payment system.”

I don’t own a debit card and never have and never will. Simply put, if my debit card were hacked, that money would be coming directly from my bank account. A compromised ATM or point of sale transaction often fails to exhibit evidence of hacking. This means that I’d have to go through the arduous process of convincing my bank that it wasn’t me who withdrew thousands of dollars from my account. Whereas if a credit card is compromised, the zero-liability guarantee kicks in and I’m cured much more quickly.

Your ultimate responsibility here is to check your statements very closely and look for unauthorized activity. Read your statements online biweekly as opposed to relying solely on your monthly paper statement, and refute unauthorized charges immediately. Consider using a credit card instead of a debit card.

While this type of fraud is generally out of your control it’s still imperative you invest in internet security software such as McAfee and consider identity theft protection.

Identity Theft Expert discussing flawed card transactions

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Scamming the scammers

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Scammers and even pedophiles are getting hacked by vengeful insidious opportunists.

Who doesn’t love vigilante justice? Some readers may remember Charles Bronson, an American actor who starred in the popular series Death Wish. Bronson played Paul Kersey, a man whose wife is murdered and whose daughter raped. In response, Kersey becomes a crime-fighting vigilante. This was a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences.

There is a certain amount of satisfaction when the victim becomes victor, exacting justice, and the predator that violates the law is sufficiently punished by the vigilante. Anyone who has ever entertained vengeance fantasies can relate. Of course, one doesn’t need to have been victimized in order to seek justice. Security guard David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis in the movie Unbreakable, avenges a crime committed against someone else.

The Internet has spawned a new breed of opportunist predator. The anonymity of the web, coupled with the inherent naïveté of many computer users, along with development of new technology at a speed that outpaces the learning curve of most users, make confidence crimes easier than ever.

What I find most disturbing are parents with young families who allow their children full, unsupervised Internet access. Fox News reports that in the past 5 years, federal agents have set up honeypots of agents posing as minors to attract pedophiles and have caught upwards of 11,000 in their nets. If they caught 11,000, there must be multitudes that haven’t been caught. What most people don’t realize is that there are over a half million registered sex offenders in the United States, and over 100,000 more sex predators unaccounted for.

“Don’t talk to strangers” used to be the extent of our personal security training. Now, a stranger can be in your 12-year-old daughter’s bedroom at 2 am, chatting on his or her webcam, or even under the covers on the iPhone that he bought her in order to evade her parents’ grasp.

Now, a new form of vigilante justice is occurring: scammers are illegally scamming, blackmailing and extorting other scammers.

The FBI recently caught up with one couple who has been posing as minors, engaging sexual predators in explicit online conversations and then adding a twist. This tech savvy couple are also hackers who engage in black-hat activities. As the predators attempted to gain the trust of the supposed “minors,” the couple was actually gaining access to the predators’ computers, sending numerous files that, when opened, launched an executable and granted full and unauthorized access to the kiddy-fiddlers’ computer systems. After gaining access to the predators’ computers, the couple learned their names, addresses, family members’ contact information, places of employment, and the user names and passwords for all of their financial accounts. Once armed with this type of data, the fun began. The couple would access the pedophiles’ bank, eBay and Paypal accounts. They would also blackmail their victims, threatening to expose their deviant behaviors to anyone who would listen if they didn’t cough up some cash. In one instance, after financial demands were made and not met, the couple accessed the user name and password of a New York teacher who didn’t comply and posted the explicit chats to the teacher’s school’s intranet.

In another example, 3 men apprehended in Kentucky set up a fake child pornography website, then extorted money out of their customers. When arrested, the men confessed to the crime but claimed that they were doing it to punish child pornographers.

Call this blackmail, call it extortion, or call it vigilante justice. You decide.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft speaker discusses online predators.

Protect your identity and your child’s identity. Install McAfee security software on your PC to prevent predators from intruding. And install child monitoring software to watch your kids online.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Conficker flexes muscles, phones home

Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

The internets number one virus Conficker, called home and sent its next set of updates to its global botnet.

Conficker’s botnet, which includes anywhere from 3 to 15 million PCs, has a peer to peer (P2P) feature that allows each PC on the network to talk to one another. Each PC has the ability to become the command server. This characteristic allows Conficker to fluidly update each PC on the network.

The latest variant shows that Conficker is updating via P2P, as opposed to pinging a website for its updates. This makes Conficker “self reliant.”

botnet is a robot network of zombie computers under the control of a single leader. The concept behind a botnet is strength in numbers. Botnets can attack websites, send spam, and log data, which can lead to data breaches, credit card fraud and identity theft, and ultimately clog a network until it shuts down.

CNET reports that researchers have observed Conficker making its first update, which they believe to be a keystroke logger, a form of spyware designed to log usernames and passwords. This new update also tells the zombies to seek other PCs that have not been patched with Microsoft’s update. The worm also pings websites including MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com in order to determine whether that PC has Internet access.

The Register reports that Conficker is now pinging what’s known as a Waledac domain, which contacts a new server if the current one is blacklisted by ISPs for spamming. This allows the virus to download more updates.

In 2007 and 2008, the Storm Worm was thought to have infected over 50 million PCs. Waledac is using the same technology as the Storm Worm,which means two things. First, this may get ugly fast. And second, whoever is controlling Waledac must be the same criminal hackers that built Storm Worm.

All this means that Conficker is about as dangerous as a virus can be, with the best of the best technologies, both old and new. While the virus has yet to strike, it is definitely gearing up.

 

Identity theft speaker Robert Siciliano discusses criminals using viruses to hack credit cards.

To protect yourself, be sure you have updated Internet security software, and consider an identity theft protection service.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information

Confickers copycat evil twin

Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

Both Microsoft Certified Professional and Computerworld report on a variation of Conficker known as “Neeris.” Neeris is a 4 year old virus that has resurfaced and is now behaving like a Conficker wannabe. It is believed that the criminal hackers who created Conficker and Neeris are either the same person or are working together, double teaming the computer security community.

Neeris began showing up on March 31st into April 1st which, as we know, was supposed to be the launch date for the next set of Conficker updates.

Conficker and Neeris both include auto-run and remote call features that allow it to slither into external storage, including cameras, USB drives, external hard drives and other memory-based devices. Furthermore, it is feared that the “call home” feature will eventually enable either virus to update their abilities to wreak havoc and compromise data.

What’s troubling is that Microsoft created a critical security update specifically for Conficker, labeled the MS08-067 patch. Now, Microsoft Certified Professional states that Neeris is able to “poke holes in” this patch, indicating that the patch is no match for Neeris.

However, as stated in Computerworld, “Due to the similarities to Conficker, most of the mitigations that were mentioned also apply here. Make sure to install MS08-067 if you haven’t done so yet, and be careful to use only autoplay options you’re familiar with, or consider disabling the Autorun altogether.”

Regardless, update critical security patches and run the latest McAfee anti-virus definitions.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing viruses slithering into memory based devices here

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Is the security community selling fear?

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Cyber crime profits are running into the trillions.

Weekly, and often daily, I remind readers of how potentially screwed they are once they boot up their PCs and access the Internet. Identity theft is a real problem that messes up people’s lives. When someone’s PC is hacked and their passwords are compromised, account takeover can be financially devastating. Even though a financial institution may resolve the errors, victims still lose money.

Most are beginning to realize that the only secure PC is one that is powered off.

Many view these rants as selling “FUD”: fear, uncertainty and doubt. And selling fear is what gets people to buy your security product. Many have accused the Internet security companies of being fear mongers peddling their wares during the Conficker scare.

Fear-based selling has been going on since the beginning of time and will always be a part of the sales cycle. But am I really selling fear? Do those I work with sell fear? I don’t think so. But feel free to disagree with me.

The fact remains that there are scumbags out there, trying to figure out how to get you to part with your money in thousands of different ways, every day, all day. And if reminding readers of all these scams and then selling a solution to the problem is selling fear, then so be it. The question is, is the fear real or made up? Is there a legitimate scare that needs to be brought to light, and a solution that will fix it? Or is this just selling snake oil and false promises, and taking advantage of people?

Information Week states, “The computer security industry has failed computer users, and the Internet has become so unsafe that average users can’t protect themselves.” The Internet is not a safe place for everyday folk. The online world is like Iraq and Afghanistan (dangerous), the Taliban (criminals) are everywhere. Most people do not have the capacity to secure their networks or the technical know-how to surf safely. Studies show that 40% of web surfers haven’t updated their browser’s security, or their Windows-based computers don’t have their critical security patches updated.

The threats are real. The Washington Post reports that Senate lawmakers are advancing legislation to create mandatory computer security standards for government and private sector operators of critical infrastructure. This is legislation that will force standards in security,  ensuring that we keep the lights on, the fields plowed, the water clean, and the engines running.

If there was ever a time to be “fearful” and to make an investment in identity theft protection, Internet security software such as McAfee, or any other protective hardware or software as a result, now is that time.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing online security here

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Identity Theft Speaker; Confickers Threat Hasn’t Waned www.IDTheftSecurity.com

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

We are not out of the woods with this one.

Conficker’s rise and fall and the passing activity of the worm on April 1st has allowed researchers and anti-virus companies to better understand the virus and its impact. While April Fools was supposed to be the day of reckoning for Conficker, it wasn’t and still isn’t a joke.

Viruses often come with a trigger date, as pointed out by CNET. And while many fail to meet the media hype, they still can and often do cause millions or billions in damage.

The media does what it does and reports on the news. While they or even I may not always get the facts straight, the impetus is still there.

In a “Conficker Postmortem,” CNET examines the media frenzy and points to a humorous spoof that Wired ran, a fake live blog from the “Conficker Worm War Room.” CNET also points out that, “The New York Times called it an ‘unthinkable disaster’ in the making. CBS’s 60Minutes said the worm could ‘disrupt the entire internet,’ and The Guardian warned that it might be a ‘deadly threat’.”

The positive result of this media hype is that it brings attention to an ongoing problem for an audience that never considered themselves vulnerable to these issues. In my world, even Facebook friends and Twitter followers who had never reacted to previous posts on a plethoraof IT and personal security issues are finally starting to ask the right questions.

“Your mom’s virus,” as we knew it, has become a part of popular culture. In a sense, this is a good thing, because it’s now water cooler talk with the same level of buzz as Britney Spears going nutty. We in the security community couldn’t ask for more and better attention, that may potentially enlist an army of security moms. Thank you, Conficker!

Still, Conficker is the most sophisticated virus to date and is still waiting to strike, which can very well lead to major data breaches and identity theft. As the virus continues to call home for the yet to be delivered update, researchers have determined an estimated 3.5 to 4 million PCs are infected on the Conficker botnet, which is the most powerful and dangerous aspect of Conficker.

Overall totals of infected computers may still be between 10 and 15 million. Many of those have a dormant virus that has the capability to wreak havoc, or that may have already been rendered impotent by anti-virus providers and IT administrators who have taken advantage of numerous solutions by McAfee and others.

What the public needs to understand is this infection is anything but over. The virus phones home every day looking for its next set of updates, which could still have catastrophic results if the virus ever reaches its full potential.

The risk here is that a virus of this kind has technology that can disable anti-virus software and that prevents access to numerous websites which provide automatic security updates, including Windows.

Today, Brian Krebs from the Washington Post points out the similarity’s to Y2K potential bug, just as I did last week. “In one sense, the response to Conficker could be compared to that of Y2K: A great deal of smart people threw a whole lot of resources and energy at a fairly complex problem and managed to turn a potentially very ugly situation into a relative non-event.”

The attention that Conficker brought upon itself has rallied security professionals to be on their highest guard, which is exactly where they should be.

See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing hacking for dollars.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out Uniball.com for more information.

Conficker virus has soft launch

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

With the world watching Conficker has reached out but has not delivered any new malware.

Computer World reports “We have observed that Conficker is reaching out, but so far none of the servers they are trying to reach are serving any new malware or any new commands,” said Toralv Dirro, a security strategist at McAfee Avert Labs, in Germany.

The sense is its developers know IT security professionals are watching closely and are waiting for the noise to die down before making its next update.

A virus of this kind has enough juice to wait around for the white hats to drop their guard then strike.

However there are cures to Conficker and the longer they wait the more PCs will be cured.

For Windows learn more about Conficker and its symptoms here.

McAfee has detailed instructions on its removal here

You may need an IT administrator to do the dirty works as it’s a bit complicated for some.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing viruses here

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

WWW. Weird Wild Web Goes Nutty

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Every day new reports of another flaw and another breach. Today we learn attacks rise 33 percent. I’m not surprised.

Credit card details of 19,000 Brits have been found on a cached Google page, where they had been accidentally published by fraudsters. Silly criminal hackers need to tighten up their data security controls and not publish sensitive data like that!

Reuters reports – Fraud on the Internet reported to U.S. authorities increased by 33 percent last year, rising for the first time in three years, and is surging this year as the recession deepens, federal authorities said.

Internet fraud losses reported in the United States reached a record high $264.6 million in 2008, according to a report released on Monday from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.

CNBC reports Online scams originating from across the globe—mostly from the United States, Canada, Britain, Nigeria and China—are gathering steam this year with a nearly 50 percent increase in complaints reported to U.S. authorities in March alone.

About 74 percent of the scams were through e-mail messages last year, especially spam, while about 29 percent used websites. But criminals were increasingly tapping new technologies such as social networking sites and instant messenger services.

The report highlights one new ‘significant’ identity-theft scam involving e-mail messages that give the appearance of originating from the FBI but seek bank account information to help in investigations of money being transferred to Nigeria.

Recipients of the e-mails are told they could be richly rewarded by cooperating. Duh.

Criminal hackers are going hog wild.

Invest in identity theft protection and secure your PC with anti-virus protection such as McAfee

Meanwhile two scumbag criminal hackers are arrested while spying on children between the ages of 14 and 17 using the child’s personal Web cam. The degenerates worked together to extort money from teenagers in exchange for stolen images.

They allegedly gained access to computers using a variety of e-mail addresses and screen names.

Conficker is spawning new hacks such as Scareware as Scammers are taking advantage of the huge interest in the impending “activation” of the Conficker superworm by poisoning search engine results.

Washington Post reports experts have discovered a security hole in the computer code that powers the Conficker worm, an aggressive contagion that has spread to more than 12 million Microsoft Windows systems worldwide.

Stay tuned…

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discusses credit card scams here

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.