Showing posts with label hackers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hackers. Show all posts

Wi-Fi networks under virus risk


Indian computer security analysts have detected and alerted Wi-Fi users in the country against a possible virus attack that could lead to crashing and hacking of secure networks.


The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), country’s national agency to respond to computer security incidents, has found that the “Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) contains a design error that could allow a weaker-than-expected defence against brute-force attacks, which could allow an attacker to gain unauthorised access to the affected system.”
A brute-force attack, in computer terminology, is a programme that is used to crack and stealthily enter into an encrypted and password protected system while WPS is a popular method for setting up a new wireless router for a home network.
“The virus is streaming in the Indian Internet networks with a high severity. The combat mechanisms are being deployed,” a computer security analyst with a government agency said.
“An un-authenticated, remote attacker within range of the wireless access point could use the PIN (password) to gain unauthorised access to the device to retrieve the password for the wireless network or change the configuration of the device.
“Failed attempts to exploit the vulnerability could lead to a denial of service condition,” the CERT-In said in its alert to Wi-Fi users.
The agency also said that reports (with the agency) indicate that some WPS devices “do not implement any kind of lockout policy for brute-force attempts, which greatly reduces the time to perform a successful attack.”
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Chinese 'attack US DoD Smart Cards' with Sykipot Malware


A new strain of the Sykipot malware is being used by Chinese cyber criminals to compromise US Department of Defense (DoD) smart cards, a new report has revealed.
The malware has been designed to take advantage of smart card readers running ActivClient - the client application of ActivIdentity - according to unified security information and event management (SIEM) company AlienVault.
ActivIdentity's smart cards are standardised at the DoD and a number of other US government agencies. The cards are used to identify active duty military staff, selected reserve personnel, civilian employees, and eligible contractor staff.
As with previous Sykipot strains, the attackers use an email campaign to get specific targets to click on a link and deposit the Sykipot malware onto their machines. After identifying the computers that have card readers, the attackers install keystroke logging software to steal the PIN number that is used in concert with the smart card.
"When a card is inserted into the reader, the malware acts as the authenticated user and can access sensitive information," explained AlienVault's lab manager Jaime Blasco. "The malware is then controlled by the attackers and then told what - and when - to steal the appropriate data."
So far, AlienVault has seen attacks that compromise smart card readers running Windows Native x509 software, which is reportedly in commonplace use amongst a number of US government and allied agencies.
This new strain is thought to have originated from the same Chinese authors that created a version of Sykipot in 2011, which distributed a variety of spam messages claiming to contain information on the next-generation unmanned "drones", developed by the United States Air Force.
s:-http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/011412-chinese-attack-us-dod-smart-254927.html