Industry Intel

Girl Scouts and OpenText empower future leaders of tomorrow with cyber resilience

The transition to a digital-first world enables us to connect, work and live in a realm where information is available at our fingertips. The children of today will be working in an environment of tomorrow that is shaped by hyperconnectivity. Operating in this...

World Backup Day reminds us all just how precious our data is

Think of all the important files sitting on your computer right now. If your computer crashed tomorrow, would you be able to retrieve your important files? Would your business suffer as a result? As more and more of our daily activities incorporate digital and online...

3 Reasons We Forget Small & Midsized Businesses are Major Targets for Ransomware

The ransomware attacks that make headlines and steer conversations among cybersecurity professionals usually involve major ransoms, huge corporations and notorious hacking groups. Kia Motors, Accenture, Acer, JBS…these companies were some of the largest to be...

How Ransomware Sneaks In

Ransomware has officially made the mainstream. Dramatic headlines announce the latest attacks and news outlets highlight the staggeringly high ransoms businesses pay to retrieve their stolen data. And it’s no wonder why – ransomware attacks are on the rise and the...

An MSP and SMB guide to disaster preparation, recovery and remediation

Introduction It’s important for a business to be prepared with an exercised business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan plan before its hit with ransomware so that it can resume operations as quickly as possible. Key steps and solutions should be followed...

Podcast: Cyber resilience in a remote work world

The global pandemic that began to send us packing from our offices in March of last year upended our established way of working overnight. We’re still feeling the effects. Many office workers have yet to return to the office in the volumes they worked in pre-pandemic....

5 Tips to get Better Efficacy out of Your IT Security Stack

If you’re an admin, service provider, security executive, or are otherwise affiliated with the world of IT solutions, then you know that one of the biggest challenges to overcome is efficacy. Especially in terms of cybersecurity, efficacy is something of an amorphous...

How Cryptocurrency and Cybercrime Trends Influence One Another

Typically, when cryptocurrency values change, one would expect to see changes in crypto-related cybercrime. In particular, trends in Bitcoin values tend to be the bellwether you can use to predict how other currencies’ values will shift, and there are usually...

A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop – part two

May 29, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Increasingly populated by novice cybercriminals thanks to the rise of cybercrime-as-a-service underground market propositions, the cybercrime ecosystem is also a home to a huge variety of underground market players.

This overall availability of managed cybercrime services results in an increasing number of underground market propositions by novice cybercriminals looking for alternative ways to monetize the fraudulently obtained goods. Although their service cannot be compared to the services offered by sophisticated cybercriminals, this niche market segment is becoming increasing common these days.

In this post, I’ll profile yet another recently advertised boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop, run by novice cybercriminals, offering access to hacked servers.

More details:

Spamvertised ‘YouTube Video Approved’ and ‘Twitter Support” themed emails lead to pharmaceutical scams

May 23, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Just like true marketers interested in improving the click-through rates of their campaign, pharmaceutical scammers are constantly looking for new ways to attract traffic to their fraudulent sites.

From compromised web shells on web sites with high page rank, the impersonation of legitimate brands, to the development of co-branding campaigns, pharmaceutical scammers persistently rotate the traffic acquisition tactics in an attempt to trick more end users into purchasing their counterfeit pharmaceutical items.

In this post, I’ll profile two currently spamvertised campaigns impersonating YouTube and Twitter, ultimately redirecting end users to pharmaceutical scams.

More details:

Spamvertised bogus online casino themed emails serving adware

May 22, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Cybercriminals are currently spamvertising online casino themed emails, which ultimately redirect users to a bogus casino site offering an executable download. Upon deeper examination, it appears that the download is actually adware.

More details:

Ongoing ‘LinkedIn Invitation’ themed campaign serving client-side exploits and malware

May 22, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Remember the ‘LinkedIn Invitations’ themed malware campaign which I profiled in March, 2012?

A few hours, ago, the cybercriminals behind it launched another round of malicious emails to millions of end and corporate users.

More details:

A peek inside a managed spam service

May 17, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Just how easy is it to become a spammer in 2012? Too easy to be true.

Especially in times when everything needed to become a spammer, starting for a managed spam appliance, DIY email harvesters, and millions of harvested emails, are available for sale within the cybercrime ecosystem. Despite the numerous botnet take downs we’ve seen in recent years, spam and phishing attacks continue plaguing millions of end and corporate users, potentially exposing them to malicious links, malicious payloads and fraudulent propositions.

In this post, I’ll profile a Russian managed spam service that’s been in operation for 5 years, allowing novice cybercriminals an easy entry into the world of spamming.

More details:

Poison Ivy trojan spreading across Skype

May 15, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Last night, a friend of mine surprisingly messaged me at 6:33 AM on Skype, with a message pointing to what appeared to be a photo site with the message “hahahahaha foto” and a link to hxxp://random_subdomain.photalbum.org

What was particularly interesting is that he created a group, and was basically sending the same message to all of his contacts. Needless to say, the time has come for me to take a deeper look, and analyze what appeared to be a newly launched malware campaign using Skype as propagation vector.

More details:

Spamvertised ‘Pizzeria Order Details’ themed campaign serving client-side exploits and malware

May 11, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

End and corporate users (and especially Pizza eaters), beware!

Cybercriminals are currently spamvertising hundreds of thousands of emails, impersonating FLORENTINO`s Pizzeria, and enticing users into clicking on a client-side exploits and malware serving link in order to cancel a $169.90 order that they never really made.

More details:

Cybercriminals release ‘Sweet Orange’ – new web malware exploitation kit

May 10, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

From DIY (do-it-yourself) exploit generating tools, to efficient platforms for exploitation of end and corporate users, today’s efficiency-oriented cybercriminals are constantly looking for ways to monetize hijacked web traffic. In order to do so, they periodically introduce new features in the exploit kits, initiate new partnerships with managed malware/script crypting services, and do their best to stay ahead of the security industry.

What are some of the latest developments in this field?

Meet Sweet Orange, one of the most recently released web malware exploitation kits, available for sale at selected invite-only cybercrime-friendly communities.

What’s so special about Sweet Orange? Does it come with customer support? What client-side exploits is it serving? How are the Russian cybercriminals behind it differentiating their underground market proposition in comparison with competing kits, such as the market leading Black Hole web malware exploitation kit?

Let’s find out.

A peek inside a boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop

May 8, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

The vibrant cybercrime ecosystem is populated by a diverse set of market players. From sellers, to buyers and vendors, sophisticated cybercriminals next to novice cybercriminals, everyone is persistently looking for ways to monetize their assets and increase their revenue.

Over the past two years, the industry witnessed the maturing business models in use by cybercriminals, and the rise of the so called cybercrime-as-a-service underground market propositions. Cybercriminals of all kinds have realized that managed services are the future that offer an efficient revenue generating platform for everyone to take advantage of.

In this post, I’ll profile a recently advertised boutique cybercrime-friendly E-shop, operated by what appears to be a novice cybercriminal looking for ways to monetize his fraudulently obtained assets.

Managed SMS spamming services going mainstream

May 7, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

Are you receiving SMS spam? According to the latest reports, millions of mobile users do.

The trend is largely driven by what Webroot is observing as an increase in underground market propositions offering managed SMS spamming services to new market entrants not interested in building and maintaining the spamming infrastructure on their own.

In this post, I’ll profile a recently advertised managed service offering SMS spamming capabilities to potential customers, discuss the latest innovations in this field, their impact to mobile security, and what are some of the key factors contributing to the growth of SMS spam.

More details:

“You Want To Pay For What!?”

May 3, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

by Nathan Collier

Recently we found new apps in alternative Chinese markets that we are considering a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA). We are calling these apps Android.PUA.SMS.QuickPay. Lets look at a sample of this app. The sample we will look at is an app called “Screen Detection” which is an app that helps find dead pixels on your screen by displaying the colors red, green, blue, black, and white making it easy to see the dead pixel in contrast to these colors. Pretty simple app. Within a few seconds of opening the app this message pops up:

“Activate the full version, charges 2 Yuan, sending an SMS, 2 /. Customer Service Phone :010 -84681340-8035”

This app has limited functionality before requesting a premium SMS be sent for the full version, and that limited functionality only lasts a few seconds. If you do not agree to sending the premium SMS the app will just keep asking you to activate the full version whenever you click. Once you agree to the message it turns on your Wifi if not already on (Okay, that’s a little fishy), and sends a premium text message. After that the app works. Two Yuan is about 32 US cents, so people may just pay the small fee instead of spending the time to find a free version; which with a simple app that only shows four different colors as it’s functionality you would think there is something out there in the Chinese android market that will do the same for free.

It may not seem like much, but two Yuan at a time these guys are making a fortune off of apps that should be free. This is only one sample, there are several more very simple apps that we found that do various things, but all ask for a payment for it to function. Although there are legitimate Android Box apps out there, these apps are different in that they have very limited functionality, are signed by a different developer, and exploits simple apps that should be free by requesting payment for full versions before you even have a chance to see what it does.

Remember to always download from apps from a trusted source and be weary of messages asking to pay money for the full version so quick on the draw.

London’s InfoSec 2012 Event – recap

May 3, 2012 | Industry Intel, Threat Lab

As many of you know, Webroot attended London’s annual security event — Europe’s largest 3 day security show — last week.

The show was a blast! Countless number of new partnerships being formed, dozens of press briefings on a daily basis, daily presentations on “Current and Emerging Trend Within the Cybercrime Ecosystem”, and best of all – many new users of the industry’s leading endpoint protection – Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete.

Taking into consideration the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words, consider going through the photos from London’s InfoSec 2012 event that we’ve prepared for you, to get an inside view of the event, and Webroot’s stand.