Author Archives: BrianKrebs

‘Blackshades’ Trojan Users Had It Coming

May 19, 2014
88 Comments

The U.S. Justice Department today announced a series of actions against more than 100 people accused of purchasing and using “Blackshades,” a password-stealing Trojan horse program designed to infect computers throughout the world to spy on victims through their web cameras, steal files and account information, and log victims’ key strokes. While any effort that discourages the use of point-and-click tools for ill-gotten gains is a welcome development, the most remarkable aspect of this crackdown is that those who were targeted in this operation lacked any clue that it was forthcoming.

Experian Breach Tied to NY-NJ ID Theft Ring

May 19, 2014
30 Comments

Last year, a top official from big-three credit bureau Experian told Congress that the firm was not aware of any consumers that had been harmed by an incident in which a business unit of Experian sold consumer records directly to an online identity theft service for nearly 10 months. Today’s post presents evidence that among the ID theft service’s clients was an identity theft and credit card fraud ring of at least 32 people who were arrested last year for allegedly using the information to steal millions from more than 1,000 victims across the country.

White-Hat Hacker Schools Security Pro School

May 16, 2014
62 Comments

If you’re taking an exam to test your skills as an Internet security professional, do you get extra credit for schooling the organization that hosts the test? If that organization is the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)² — the non-profit that administers the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam — the answer is “no,” but you might get a nice ‘thank you’ from the head of the organization.

The Mad, Mad Dash to Update Flash

May 15, 2014
25 Comments

An analysis of how quickly different browser users patch Adobe Flash vulnerabilities shows a dramatic variation among browser makers. The data suggest that Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users tend to get Flash updates relatively quickly, while many users on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser consistently lag behind.

Adobe, Microsoft Issue Critical Security Fixes

May 13, 2014
34 Comments

Adobe and Microsoft today each released software updates to plug dangerous security holes in their products. Adobe pushed patches to fix holes in Adobe Acrobat/Reader as well as Flash Player. Microsoft issued eight update bundles to nix at least 13 security vulnerabilities in Windows and software that runs on top of the operating system.

Teen Arrested for 30+ Swattings, Bomb Threats

May 12, 2014
141 Comments

A 16-year-old male from Ottawa, Canada has been arrested for allegedly making at least 30 fraudulent calls to emergency services across North America over the past few months. The false alarms — two of which targeted this reporter — involved calling in phony bomb threats and multiple attempts at “swatting” — a hoax in which the perpetrator spoofs a call about a hostage situation or other violent crime in progress in the hopes of tricking police into responding at a particular address with deadly force.

Antivirus is Dead: Long Live Antivirus!

May 7, 2014
161 Comments

An article in The Wall Street Journal this week quoted executives from antivirus pioneer Symantec uttering words that would have been industry heresy a few years ago, declaring antivirus software “dead” and stating that the company is focusing on developing technologies that attack online threats from a different angle. This hardly comes as news for anyone in the security industry who’s been paying attention over the past few years, but I’m writing about it because this is a great example of how the cybercrime underground responds to — and in some cases surpasses — innovations put in place by the good guys.

Microsoft Issues Fix for IE Zero-Day, Includes XP Users

May 1, 2014
117 Comments

Microsoft said that later today it will issue an emergency security update to fix a zer0-day vulnerability that is present in all versions of its Internet Explorer Web browser and that is actively being exploited. In an unexpected twist, the company says Windows XP users also will get the update, even though Microsoft officially ceased supporting XP last month.