Slashdot Mirror
'Old School' Hackers Attack European Governments Using 'MiniDuke' Malware
puddingebola writes "The Guardian reports that hackers have been targeting officials from over 20 European governments with a new piece of malware called 'MiniDuke.' 'The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, which discovered MiniDuke, said the attackers had servers based in Panama and Turkey – but an examination of the code revealed no further clues about its origin (PDF). Goverments targeted include those of Ireland, Romania, Portugal, Belgium and the Czech Republic. The malware also compromised the computers of a prominent research foundation in Hungary, two thinktanks, and an unnamed healthcare provider in the US.' Eugene Kaspersky says it's an unusual piece of malware because it's reminiscent of attacks from two decades ago. 'I remember this style of malicious programming from the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. I wonder if these types of malware writers, who have been in hibernation for more than a decade, have suddenly awoken and joined the sophisticated group of threat actors active in the cyber world.' The computers were corrupted through an Adobe PDF attachment to an email."
"The computers were corrupted through an Adobe PDF attachment to an email." -- It never ends! Why is this still an attack vector? This could have been totally avoided with a little user education and decent network security policy.
To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
Anyone else weary to click the attached PDF?
From Hell's retirement home I stab at thee!" Why do I get this picture of some hackers with walkers and false teeth striking out with a couple of old 8088s from their group home?
These days, who gets excited over pictures of Anna Kournikova?
Back in my day we were real hackers. We modified the wooden cogs with sinew and hasps! And that is the way we liked it! You young'ns and your Edison machines! Not one bit of brains amongst any of ya!
"The computers were corrupted through an Adobe PDF attachment to an email." Links to a PDF describing the attack.
mac: "The pdf was corrupted and could not be opened. Try downloading again."
mac: "The pdf was corrupted and could not be opened, open in raw text view?"
windows: "This document requires age verification to view. Please verify your internet connection and enter a valid credit card number to proceed."
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
all typeos will be hidden despite use of preview button, but will become immediately obvious two seconds after clicking POST.
That 2nd line if you coulnd't figure it out, was supposed to start with "linux: " :P
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I don't understand why hacking through PDF is considered old school. Is the exploit really old?
"The malware also compromised the computers of a prominent research foundation in Hungary, two thinktanks, and an unnamed healthcare provider in the US"
Is there some kind of rule on tech sites that you're not allowed to mention Microsoft Windows in relation to Windows malware.
AccountKiller
first thing I thought of when I saw this was, +0rc and Fravia's pages.... wow that takes me back
C|N>K
Eugene Kaspersky says it's an unusual piece of malware because it's reminiscent of attacks from two decades ago. 'I remember this style of malicious programming from the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s.
Unless I've been asleep for a very long time, the late 90s/early 00s is one decade ago.
I had lots of fun with that in the early 90's. The first time I used the tool, I created a virus with no payload - just replicating and... accidentally unleashed it on my employers network. Fortunately, being the only admin, I cleaned it up before anyone noticed - not that they would anyway. Still, thanks for the memory. And, my kids would never find such a thing on my computers! They have yet to break my encryption.
If you don't load Adobe software, how will you read the early episodes of Platinum Grit?
I'll admit there's no other valid use case for any Adobe software, though.
Luckily, Shadowline have all but the last volume (20) of Platinum Grit available as regular images, derived from the print edition layouts.
I'm not sure whether to praise Oglaf for being hilarious, or damn it for putting the nail in the coffin of Platinum Girt.