malware

Pierluigi Paganini November 26, 2011
Cloud…a long journey towards a secure paradigm

When I discussed with many colleagues regarding cloud paradigm most of them smiled declaring that we face yet another found marketing to sell a methodology, known for at least a decade, under new and more appealing clothes. Indeed many of the concepts behind the cloud  approach have little innovative, but the evolutionary push to the […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 25, 2011
How much cost malware production? Which are the processes for the production of virus? (Part.1)

It is clear that the question awaits an answer deterministic, but an assessment of the main factors that influence the “final expense”. My idea is to understand what is the magnitude of the phenomenon and the costs related to a not necessarily familiar audience .  The goal is to raise awareness in the process of developing malware, and its costs. What is the purpose of the malware and how it affects the final cost? Is there a direct relationship between cost and purpose? Is there a relationship between the cost […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 24, 2011
Water utilities hacked … another SCADA system attack

The SCADA systems at the Water utilities in Illinois were hacked by a malicious attacker. “the SCADA system was powered on and off, burning out a water pump.” This is what the hacker has posted  giving proof of a direct compromise of the SCADA systems at this water utility confirming that there was actual damage. […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 22, 2011
Massive DNS poisoning: What happened to brazilian ISPs?

What is purpose for DNS cache poisoning attacks? DNS cache poisoning is an  attack methodology used to compromise in the Domain Name System and is made introduceding data artifacts into a DNS name server’s cache database that did not originate from authoritative sources. Consider that the domain name server translates a domain name into an specific […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 18, 2011
Duqu … Do we really know the enemy?

In recent months we have read many reports related the analysis of the famous malware  and different assumptions about its genesis. Who designed the malicious agent? For what purpose? What features of Duqu we know? How can protect our structure from this threat? Let’s approach the questions step by step talking about its origin, on which much has been discussed. Comparing Stuxnet to Duqu Many researcher indicate that Stuxnet is the progenitor of the Duqu, both […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 09, 2011
On demand Calling service for cybercriminals growing

Trusteer Researchers have found a professional calling service that has been designed for cybercriminals needs. The service is organized to offer the extraction of sensitive information needed for bank fraud and identity theft from individuals. The security company Trusteer has discovered an advertisement for making targeted call calls in different languages to private individuals, banks, […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 06, 2011
Hacked MIT Server Used to Stage Attacks, Scan for Vulnerabilities

Bitdefender reseachers have discovered a number of brute force attacks against several web site. The attacks have been done using a server at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The hacking attack against the MIT.edu infrastructure started with a malicious script on one MIT server.  One MIT server (CSH-2.MIT.EDU) hosts a malicious script actively used […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 06, 2011
New variants of the DevilRobber Mac OS X TrojanFound in Trojaned Apps Are Stealing Data

Mac malware has been making some headlines in the last few months, as attackers have begun applying to OS X some of the tactics they’ve been using on Windows for decades. Security analysts have discovered several variants of the DevilRobber Mac OS X Trojan, the last one is also able to steal files, installs a […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 05, 2011
Malicious attacks on Facebook

Let me share with you the paper “A study of malicious attacks on Facebook” presented by Robert Sandilands during the event VB2011 that was held from October the 3rd till the 7th in Barcelona, Spain. A well made summary on the main attacks on a social network widely used around the world but also widely […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 02, 2011
Duqu Trojan, Stuxnet-derived malware

The Duqu trojan main purpose is to obtain a remote access allowing an adversary to gather information from a compromised computer and of course to download and run arbitrary programs. Duqu malware spotted and identified by experts is based on the same Stuxnet code, however unlike Stuxnet, Duqu does not contain specific code related industrial control systems. […]