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Cyberespionage For Everyone
Mephistophocles writes "A chilling article by Darkreading's Kelly Jackson Higgins describes how the growing accessibility of hacking tools like RATs (Remote Access Trojans) have made cyber-espionage possible for more than just those financially backed by large nation-states, and speculates on what the implications of this may be: 'Researchers at Norman Security today revealed that they recently analyzed malware used in phishing emails targeting Israeli and Palestinian targets and found that attackers used malware based on the widely available Xtreme RAT crimeware kit. The attacks, which first hit Palestinian targets, this year began going after Israeli targets, including Israeli law enforcement agencies and embassies around the world. Norman says the same attacker is behind the attacks because the attacks use the same command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure, as well as the same phony digital certificates. This attack campaign just scratches the surface of the breadth and spread of these types of attacks around the world as more players have been turning to cyberspying. "We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," says Einar Oftedal, deputy CTO at Norman.'"
Norman Security is not only still around as a company, but they're now regarded as a news source.
I mean, other than "everybody panic!" ?
Sent from my ENIAC
What's the Cyberespionage alternative for using a window as a mirror to observe the target? What's the counterpart of sitting on a park bench with a newspaper with a hole in it? Cyber Grouch Marx mask anyone?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Did everyone already forget freely available rats like Sub7, BO and NetBus that used to be around in the late 90ies?
So, rather than celebrate the possibility of having transparency for all (it's not government spying when everyone is doing it to the government in return) ... Norman Security is reporting on the emergence of script kiddies?
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
They're not weapons, lethal or otherwise, if they cannot do harm. The problem here is the open OS's, and companies, notably Adobe, that create vectors (vulnerabilities) for doing harm.
The more script kiddies out there, the more secure the OSs will become because the more times they'll be attacked.
Adobe, Adobe, Adobe, Adobe, Adobe, Adobe, I'll say it a million times, because I am sick of it upgrading with some critical vulnerability. It's clear to me that Adobe is the company that currently does not have a technical grip on it's products and seems to be happy with an endless upgrade cycle.
I've started kicking their **** off PCs now because they just don't seem to be able to get their act together. But then that's also part of making OSs more secure: removing software from companies seemingly incapable of making their software secure.
As for words as weapons, bugger off, there's nothing you can say that can harm me. If you claim words as weapons then free speech is no more.
From the article:"Turns out cyberespionage malware and activity is far more prolific than imagined.".
Really? Who "imagined" that malware activity was not that "prolific"? Did they just defrost those "researchers"?. Seems like these folks are the only ones surprised by the existence of script-kiddies, hackers in the Middle-East, the extent of Chinese state-sponsored cyber-espionage, and the growing hacker communities in Brasil and other emerging nations. Globalization => globalization of hacking. Who would have imagined that....
And the article links to another one ("Scope Of APTs More Widespread Than Thought" ) that goes on:
"There's a lot of cyberespionage happening internationally. This is not going to go away," Kaspersky's Schouwenberg says.
Gee, thanks for the eye-opening, completely obvious, self-evident statement, Shouwie, Here's a question: do you experts stay constantly tuned with what's happening in the world, or do you just wake up one day, burst out of the bubble where you were busy "imagining" things, and discover reality?
You mean like Sub7 and Netbus, which were readily available in the late 90s?
Dude. This was news before Slashdot existed.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Norman was founded in 1984 and is based in Norway:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_(company)
Norton was started by Peter Norton in 1990 and is now owned by Symantec:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Internet_Security
So, as you can see.. Your experience with Norton Clone has nothing to do with Norman.
reinstall Windows
Easyer said than done when there is no Windows CD supplied.
I have even seen cases where there is no bootable recovery partition, no supplied disks whatsoever except for a manual on a CD (no drivers even), resulting in a recovery that demands you order (and pay for) a "recovery boot CD" first. I believe that was a Gateway computer.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Slashdot i welcome you in the 90's. Nice that you are rerunning stories from the era of your inception.
Hivemind harvest in progress..