IceFog APT – WSWiR Episode 79

Fake Fingerprints, IOS DoS Flaws, and IceFog APT

Are you Ready for the latest InfoSec news?

This week, I’m traveling in the windy city of Chicago, speaking at ISC²’s Security Congress Conference. As a result, I did not have time to create a full length video; but fear not. My short video quickly summarizes the five big security stories, and I’ll share a few more written details and links below:

(Episode Runtime: 2:25)

Direct YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkOtYFci38

iPhone 5s’s TouchID hacked in a few days [video] – Shortly before the iPhone 5s’ release, hackers around the world were discussing how easy it would be to hack the device’s new TouchID fingerprint scanner. In fact, some even setup a fund to reward the first to do it. Well they did not disappoint. Just a day or two after its release, researchers from the Computer Chaos Club (CCC) in Germany were successful, using old, well-known technique they have demonstrated before. Check out the video to see how easy it is.
Cisco releases many IOS updates, mostly to fix DoS vulnerabilities – On Wednesday, Cisco posted eight security advisories, describing many vulnerabilities in the IOS firmware used on their routing devices. Most of the vulnerabilities are denial of service (DoS) flaws. If you manage Cisco IOS devices, you should install these updates as soon as you can.
200% increase in nasty extortion ransomware – ESET, an anti-virus company, reported seeing a 200% increase in a particular ransomware variant called FileCoder (or CryptoLocker by other AV companies). This nasty malware find many types of documents and images on your computer, and encrypts them using fairly strong public/private key crypto. It then asks you to pay around $300 to get your files back. So far the good guys haven’t cracked it’s encryption, and they are unlikely to do so without actually obtaining the attacker’s private key. If you do pay the ransom, the malware does seem to stick to its word, and decrypt your files. However, I don’t recommend capitulating with criminals. The malware mostly spreads via phishing emails. So if you warn your user about this, you may be able to avoid it. As an aside, a twitter follower anecdotally shared that he’s seen a Cryptolocker infection at his client’s site, which seems to confirm the potential increase in this malware campaign.
Kaspersky uncovers IceFog APT campaign [video] – During the week, one of our partners, Kaspersky, released details about a new APT campaign that’s targeting organizations in South Korea and Japan. The attackers seem to be a small group of very skilled hackers, who are targeting government institutes, military contractors, and telecom or satellite operators. Like most APTs of late, the attack starts with a spear-phishing email containing a documents. For more interesting details about this advanced attack campaign, see Kaspersky’s report or watch their video.
Criminals steal data from data brokers, and resell on the underground - A well-known security journalist, Brian Krebs, posted an in-depth story about an attack campaign against various data broker organizations. Essentially, attackers gained access to the networks of data brokers like LexisNexus and Dun & Bradstreet, and then leverage this access to loot the personal customer information these brokers collect. The criminals then resell this information on their malicious identity theft service sites. Be sure to read Krebs’ article for the full scoop.