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No-Click Phishing On The Way
An anonymous reader writes "MessageLabs has discovered a pretty nasty - though fairly crude - phishing scam which doesn't even require recipients to click on a link in order to hand over personal data.
Simply opening the email is enough to activate a script which 'lies in wait for its victim' according to one report. The script rewrites the host files of the machine and directs users to a fake web page the next time they legitimately attempt to access an online banking page. ... However, this will only affect users who have Windows Scripting Host enabled and certain ActiveX controls, according to MessageLabs."
for those who don't know what phishing is, see the definition
[Phishing] is the luring of sensitive information, such as passwords and other personal information, from a victim by masquerading as someone trustworthy with a real need for such information.
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
attrib -r %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\Hosts
Windows Script Host (WSH) is a Windows administration tool.
WSH creates an environment for hosting scripts. That is, when a script arrives at your computer, WSH plays the part of the host -- it makes objects and services available for the script and provides a set of guidelines within which the script is executed. Among other things, Windows Script Host manages security and invokes the appropriate script engine.
WSH is language-independent for WSH-compliant scripting engines. It brings simple, powerful, and flexible scripting to the Windows platform, allowing you to run scripts from both the Windows desktop and the command prompt.
Windows Script Host is ideal for noninteractive scripting needs, such as logon scripting, administrative scripting, and machine automation. WSH Objects and Services
Windows Script Host provides several objects for direct manipulation of script execution, as well as helper functions for other actions. Using these objects and services, you can accomplish tasks such as the following:
* Print messages to the screen
* Run basic functions such as CreateObject and GetObject
* Map network drives
* Connect to printers
* Retrieve and modify environment variables
* Modify registry keys
Where Is WSH?
Windows Script Host is built into Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, and Millennium Editions. If you are running Windows 95, you can download Windows Script Host 5.6 from the Microsoft Windows Script Technologies Web site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting).
Note You can also go to the web site listed above to upgrade your current engines. The version of WSH in Windows 98, 2000, and Millennium Editions is either version 1.0 or 2.0. You must upgrade to version 5.6 to get the new features.
However, this will only affect users who have Windows Scripting Host enabled and certain ActiveX controls, according to MessageLabs.
That's like saying, "this will only affect users who have not yet switched to Linux or MacOS."
I would say that a good 98% of installations have WSHost enabled. Those that are SP2 or up to date might have the latest MS patch that I believe sets a kill bit on the Internet Explorer side of WSHost scripting under all circumstances.
This is also not really anything new. Spy and adware companies have been manipulating hosts files now for at least a year, no doubt phishers have done exactly the same thing, this is just the first reported time of it happening.
One thing you have to keep in mind is that severay so-called security experts are very bright individuals but succumb to what some call: media-whoring. This is a specific instance of a "media-whoring" by Message Labs. Let me explain my proof of this: they use ASP and IIS as opposed to something like PHP and Apache.
They are obviously not very concerned about legitimate security. There's a website that keeps track of the media fanatics: http://www.vmyths.com/
The site is run by a guy who has over a decade of solid security experience. He knows when there is something legit to worry about, and he knows when something is hype.
I suppose the best way to know is years and years of experience. If you read a lot of the security mailing lists, you'd be under the impression that the world was about to revert back to the stone age with the security threats.
But the reality is, a huge amount of idiots exist that love to overhype the security risks when it comes to viruses and worms like "I Love You" and "Sasser". Most of us know when there is going to be a big problem, but there are a huge number of others that like to spread false info.
There are others, like Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure that don't sell media hype, they sensationalize the truth. Yes, there have been instances of zombie-net owners selling their networks to spammers, but I have yet to actually see the sales, and I've been running a honeypot for well over a year now and track nearly a dozen different botnet herders.
For the most part, it looks like botnetting is still used for two things, Americans (north and south america) for File Sharing/FXPing, and Germans for DDoSing. The Russians who have been spamming have been using IE exploits and web controls, not so much IRC connections. Thus, they cannot be truly considered "botnets".