Tag Archives: flame

Kaspersky Labs preps its own OS to guard vital industry against cyberwarfare

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Kaspersky Labs preps its own OS to guard industry against cyberwarfare

Kaspersky Labs' namesake Eugene Kaspersky is worried that widely distributed and potentially state-sponsored malware like Flame and Stuxnet pose dire threats to often lightly protected infrastructure like communication and power plants -- whatever your nationality, it's clearly bad for the civilian population of a given country to suffer even collateral damage from cyberattacks. To minimize future chaos and literally keep the trains running, Kaspersky and his company are expanding their ambitions beyond mere antivirus software to build their own, extra-secure operating system just for large-scale industry. The platform depends on a custom, minimalist core that refuses to run any software that isn't baked in and has no code outside of its main purposes: there'll be no water supply shutdowns after the night watch plays Solitaire from an infected drive. Any information shared from one of these systems should be completely trustworthy, Kaspersky says. He doesn't have details as to when the OS will reach behind-the-scenes hardware, but he stresses that this is definitely not an open-source project: some parts of the OS will always remain confidential to keep ne'er-do-well terrorists (and governments) from undermining the technology we often take for granted.

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Kaspersky Labs preps its own OS to guard vital industry against cyberwarfare originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceEugene Kaspersky, Securelist  | Email this | Comments

Security researchers dissect Flame’s handling program, find three new viruses ‘at large’

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Security researchers dissect Flame's handling program, find three new viruses 'at large'

It seems that there's more than two out-of-control computer viruses roaming around the Middle East. Security researchers think that a further three could be operating "at large," with one positively identified on machines in Iran and Lebanon. Teams from Symantec and Kaspersky have separately found that the Flame malware had the electronic equivalent of a "handler," a program called NEWSFORYOU, which is also in charge of three viruses that are code-named SP, SPE and IP. The two teams have been unsuccessful in finding a sample of the trio for analysis and despite finding a cache of data on a command-and-control server, decoding it is "virtually impossible." While both security companies have declined to point a finger as to their origin, Reuters' sources suggest the United States, while The Washington Post has been told that the project was a joint-enterprise with Israel -- in keeping with the existing narrative that the pair were behind Stuxnet.

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Security researchers dissect Flame's handling program, find three new viruses 'at large' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceReuters, Kaspersky, Symantec  | Email this | Comments

Security researchers dissect Flame’s handling program, find three new viruses ‘at large’

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Security researchers dissect Flame's handling program, find three new viruses 'at large'

It seems that there's more than two out-of-control computer viruses roaming around the Middle East. Security researchers think that a further three could be operating "at large," with one positively identified on machines in Iran and Lebanon. Teams from Symantec and Kaspersky have separately found that the Flame malware had the electronic equivalent of a "handler," a program called NEWSFORYOU, which is also in charge of three viruses that are code-named SP, SPE and IP. The two teams have been unsuccessful in finding a sample of the trio for analysis and despite finding a cache of data on a command-and-control server, decoding it is "virtually impossible." While both security companies have declined to point a finger as to their origin, Reuters' sources suggest the United States, while The Washington Post has been told that the project was a joint-enterprise with Israel -- in keeping with the existing narrative that the pair were behind Stuxnet.

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Security researchers dissect Flame's handling program, find three new viruses 'at large' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceReuters, Kaspersky, Symantec  | Email this | Comments

Windows updated with better checking for bad digital certs after Flame malware incident

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Having already pushed one patch to servers as part of its response to the recently discovered Flame trojan, Microsoft is making another adjustment on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 machines. A new update going out lets revoked certificates be published and recognized much faster, which would protect against a vulnerability exploited by Flame to fake its way in as a legitimate update. Informationweek has more information on the old OCSP method used to set revocation status, and also points out another vulnerability in XML Core Services the folks in Redmond is warning people of this week and has already released a "fix it" solution for. Hit the source link to get all the details and grab the update, IT types may want to update their firewalls with the new URLs being put into use for the lists.

Windows updated with better checking for bad digital certs after Flame malware incident originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Informationweek  |  sourceMicrosoft  | Email this | Comments

Flame malware extinguishes itself, Microsoft protects against future burns

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Flame malware extinguishes itself, Microsoft protects itself from future burns

The folks behind that nasty Flame trojan that burned its way through the Middle East aren't the kind to brag -- the malware's manufacturers apparently started dousing their own fire last week. According to Symantec reports, several compromised machines retrieved a file named browse32.ocx from Flame controlled servers, which promptly removed all traces of the malware from the infected systems. Although the attackers seem spooked, Microsoft isn't taking any chances, and has issued a fix to its Windows Server Update Services to block future attacks. The update hopes to protect networked machines from a similar attack by requiring HTTPS inspection servers to funnel Windows update traffic through an exception rule, bypassing its inspection. The attackers? "They're trying to cover their tracks in any way they can," Victor Thakur, principal security response manager at Symantec told the LA Times, "They know they're being watched." Check out the source link below for the Symantec's run down of the trojan's retreat.

Flame malware extinguishes itself, Microsoft protects against future burns originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink LA Times, Electronista, Ars Technica  |  sourceSymantic, Microsoft  | Email this | Comments

Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an out-of-control creation

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Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an outofcontrol creation

Ever since Stuxnet was discovered, most of the accusing fingers have been pointed at the US, Israel or both, whether or not there was any evidence; it was hard to ignore malware that seemed tailor-made for wrecking Iranian centrifuges and slowing down the country's nuclear development. As it turns out, Occam's Razor is in full effect. An exposé from the New York Times matter-of-factly claims that the US and Israel coded Stuxnet as part of a cyberwar op, Olympic Games, and snuck it on to a USB thumb drive that infected computers at the Natanz nuclear facility. The reason we know about the infection at all, insiders say, is that it got out of control: someone modified the code or otherwise got it to spread through an infected PC carried outside, pushing Obama to either double down (which he did) or back off. Despite all its connections, the newspaper couldn't confirm whether or not the new Flame malware attack is another US creation. Tipsters did, however, deny that Flame is part of the Olympic Games push -- raising the possibility that there are other agencies at work.

[Image credit: David Holt, Flickr]

Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an out-of-control creation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Ars Technica  |  sourceNew York Times  | Email this | Comments

Flame malware snoops on PCs across the Middle East, makes Stuxnet look small-time

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Much ado was made when security experts found Stuxnet wreaking havoc, but it's looking as though the malware was just a prelude to a much more elaborate attack that's plaguing the Middle East. Flame, a backdoor Windows trojan, doesn't just sniff and steal nearby network traffic info -- it uses your computer's hardware against you. The rogue code nabs phone data over Bluetooth, spreads over USB drives and records conversations from the PC's microphone. If that isn't enough to set even the slightly paranoid on edge, it's also so complex that it has to infect a PC in stages; Flame may have been attacking computers since 2010 without being spotted, and researchers at Kaspersky think it may be a decade before they know just how much damage the code can wreak.

No culprit has been pinpointed yet, but a link to the same printer spool vulnerability used by Stuxnet has led researchers to suspect that it may be another instance of a targeted cyberwar attack given that Iran, Syria and a handful of other countries in the region are almost exclusively marked as targets. Even if you live in a 'safe' region, we'd keep an eye out for any suspicious activity knowing that even a fully updated Windows 7 PC can be compromised.

Flame malware snoops on PCs across the Middle East, makes Stuxnet look small-time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 May 2012 17:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wired  |  sourceKaspersky Securelist  | Email this | Comments

Smart Flame Control

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Smart Angle is a visual aid for flame control on a gas stove. While cooking Chinese food, the hot Wok and ingredients are not the only thing you need to have a control over. The heat or the flame of the gas is the other key element you need to keep an eye on. The conventional way to control the flame is to bend at the waist and peek at the burner and then set the flame. Smart Angle eliminates this dangerous step by using refraction.

As the designers explain, Smart Angle helps the user to be more intuitive at controlling the flame while cooking. It prevents occupational disease that might occur in the long term; example: back and waist injuries.

Designers: Hsu Sean & Yih-Wenn Luo

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(Smart Flame Control was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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