New Malware Spies on Gmail and AOL Inboxes

malicious browser extension, Ophtek, Phishing Email, SHARPEXT, Volexity, , , ,
16
Aug 2022

Webmail remains a crucial way in which you can keep on top of your digital communication, but what happens when people start spying on it?

While AOL email addresses are far from a popular choice in 2021, there are still significant numbers in use. Gmail, however, is much more in demand, with an estimated 1.8 billion users. So, it doesn’t take a genius to see why these platforms would turn a hacker’s head. Protecting such huge amounts of data, therefore, should be paramount. Unfortunately, both AOL and Gmail have fallen short in this respect due to a malicious browser extension. And the main impact of this is that their users have found their webmail accounts compromised.

With such significant data passing through webmail accounts, it’s important that you understand any relevant threats. This slice of malware – dubbed SHARPEXT – is the perfect example of one you need to be on your guard against, so let’s take a look at it.

How Does SHARPEXT Peer Over Your Shoulder?

The infected browser extensions are believed to target three specific browsers: Chrome, Edge and Naver Whale (a South Korean browser). Judging by the evidence on offer, security researchers have determined that SHARPEXT is the work of a North Korean cybercrime group known as SharpTongue. Once the malicious browser extension is activated, it works in a novel way. Whereas similar strains of malware focus on harvesting login credentials, SHARPEXT browses its victims mail and extracts individual emails from the inbox.

You may be wondering how the SHARPEXT extension finds its way into your browser, after all, who would knowingly install a sophisticated piece of spyware on their PC? Well, as ever, it’s down to a stealthy approach by the threat actors. After sending the victim an infected document, SharpTongue use social engineering techniques to convince the recipient to open it; this installs the spyware in the background, where it remains unseen by antivirus software.

How Do You Avoid the Threat of SHARPEXT?

No one wants their email compromised and, for an organization, this can be particularly troubling due to the data at risk. And SHARPEXT is unlikely to be the last attack which uses similar techniques. Therefore, it’s vital that you know how to protect yourself and your PC against it:

  • Understand the threat of phishing emails: it’s important that your staff know how to identify a phishing email; these are one of the most common methods employed by hackers to compromise PCs. A phishing attack can be activated in seconds and, in a worst-case scenario, turn over complete control of a PC or network to a hacker.
  • Block any SHARPEXT identifiers: the coding used within SHARPEXT is innovative as it uses coding unfamiliar to security tools. Thankfully, security experts Volexity have compiled a list of identifying code which IT professionals can use to identify extensions running SHARPEXT.
  • Restrict the Installation of Extensions: in a work-based setting, there’s little reason for your employees to be installing browser extensions onto their PCs. Accordingly, it makes sense for your organization to restrict who can install extensions. If a specific extension is required, then an employee should submit a request to their IT team.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Office Macros Disabled: What the Hackers Did Next

email security, malicious websites, Office Macros, Ophtek, threatneedle, , , ,
09
Aug 2022

One of the best ways to infect a PC has, until now, been through Office macros. But, now that they’re disabled by default, what are the hackers going to do?

The numbers of hacks that have involved Office macros over the last 20 years is mindboggling. And they have involved some major attacks, such as ThreatNeedle, during this period. Accordingly, Microsoft decided that 2022 would be the year the security risk of macros was put to bed once and for all. This, as you would imagine, has put a major thorn in the side of hackers. Nonetheless, hackers are as determined as they are malicious. Therefore, they have had to refine their attack strategies and adopt new methods.

And it’s crucial that you know what they have up their sleeves.

How Have Hackers Adapted their Attacks?

Now the exploits offered by internet macros have been greatly diminished, hackers have evolved their techniques to maintain a sting in their tail.

Most notably, a significant rise in container-based attacks has been observed, but what are container-based attacks? Well, container files are any files which allow multiple data sources to be embedded in one file e.g. a .zip or .rar file can contain numerous files which are all compressed into one ‘container’ file. So, a threat actor could, for example, deliver a .zip file packed full of malware as an email attachment.

HTML smuggling has also been adopted as a popular alternative to Office macros. This form of attack involves a threat actor ‘smuggling’ infected scripts into web pages and/or associated HTML attachments. All it takes for the scripts to be activated on a victim’s PC is for the HTML to be loaded into their browser. Therefore, simply visiting a website is enough to download and activate malware, and the innocent party would have no idea an attack was unfolding in front of them.

Another increase in popularity has been noted in the form of infected .lnk files. These are files which act as shortcuts/links and, while they can be used to direct users to safe URLs, they have the potential to forward victims onto malicious websites and initiate unsafe downloads.

How Can You Keep Pace With These Techniques?

You may be able to breathe slightly easier now that macros have been disabled by default, but you need to remain alert. Make sure you counter the new threats above by practicing the following:

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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The 5 Biggest IT Security Mistakes

attachments, Backup, Data Security, Hackers, Ophtek, Password Security, , , , ,
02
Aug 2022

Almost all cyber-attacks are due a common denominator: a mistake. We aren’t perfect, of course, but we can limit number of IT security mistakes we make.

Working on a PC is far from straightforward and, as a result, the sheer number of complex routines you must work through leaves plenty of room for mistakes. At the same time, all a hacker needs to take control of your system is a few milliseconds. Accordingly, even the smallest security mistake can leave your PC at the mercy of a hacker. However, by understanding what the most common, and usually simplest, IT security mistakes are, you can strengthen your IT defenses almost immediately.

Start Eliminating These Mistakes Today

If you want to make sure your IT infrastructure is safe from hackers, then you need to avoid these five IT security mistakes:

  1. Not locking your screen: you may trust your work colleagues, but the fact remains that numerous people will enter your organization’s premises throughout the day. Some may be familiar, some may not. And that’s why it’s crucial you lock your screen. All you have to do is hit the Windows button and the L key; your screen will be locked with a password and the contents of your PC immediately protected.
  • Underestimating your value as a target: threat actors are malicious and, although they are certainly interested in big targets, they’re equally likely to target smaller organizations too. Additionally, many cyber-attacks are automated and don’t discriminate against who they attack. Therefore, never assume that your small business is of no concern to hackers. Remain vigilant and practice good IT security.
  • Passwords on Post-it notes: we all know that remembering passwords is difficult, but the biggest mistake you can make is by writing your password on a Post-it note. And then sticking it to your monitor. Sure, it’s convenient for you, but it’s also highly convenient for anyone looking to compromise your PC. Instead, create passwords you can easily remember, but are difficult for anyone else to crack.
  • Assuming email attachments are safe: ever since email became a mainstay of modern communications, it has carried a huge risk of delivering malware through email attachments. Most concerning of all, these infected attachments may be sent by email contacts you consider safe, it could even be your colleague sitting next to you. Threat actors can easily take control of a victim’s email address book and email malware under the guise of the victim’s email address. And that’s why you should evaluate every email you receive.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Sality Malware Delivers More than Recovered Passwords

block social media, download privileges, malware, Ophtek, password recovery, Sality, social media advertising, , , , , ,
20
Jul 2022

Forgetting a password is frustrating, so the promise of a password recovery tool is tempting. Until, that is, you find out it’s packed full of malware.

If something online sounds too good to be true, then it usually is – see the numerous adverts on YouTube which promise to make you $50k a month with minimal effort. And this is exactly the case with the Sality malware. Naturally, Sality doesn’t advertise itself as malware. Instead, it bundles itself stealthily, as a hidden extra, alongside a password recovery tool for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Whilst the tool does indeed help you to extract passwords, the presence of Sality opens a whole world of digital pain.

The Lowdown on Sality

Sality, in its earliest form, is believed to have been online for nearly 20 years, so it’s certainly not a new threat. However, over the years, its evolution has led to its modern variant becoming a nasty piece of malware. At present, it’s making its way into people’s PCs thanks to relatively crude, yet tempting adverts on social media sites. Advertising itself as a free download, the tool will retrieve passwords for PLC and ICS – through a vulnerability in the system’s firmware – but it also activates the Sality malware.

To understand how Sality operates, you first need to know what a peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet is. Used to generate huge amounts of processing power – usually for cracking passwords or mining cryptocurrency – a P2P botnet obtains this power by hijacking large numbers of PCs. These hijacked PCs are then forced to work together on the same task – after all, 1,000 PCs mining cryptocurrency are going to achieve their objective a lot quicker than a single PC. It appears that Sality is currently focused on cryptocurrency, but there is nothing to stop threat actors unleashing more powerful attacks e.g. taking entire IT systems down.

How Do You Handle a Sality Infection?

While Sality may have been around for some time, it hasn’t learned every trick in the book. For example, not only will it throttle an infected PCs performance by using 100% of its CPU, it also triggers numerous Windows Defender alerts. However, it does have enough sense to scan any PC it lands on for anti-virus software before shutting down any identified tools. Therefore, it’s crucial that you follow preventative approaches to avoid Sality:

  • Do Not Trust Online Adverts: legitimate password recovery tools are unlikely to be advertised on social media sites. If you have forgotten your password, then you should contact the software developers for advice. Alternatively, you can create secure backups of your passwords with an app such as Google’s Password Manager.
  • Remove Download Privileges: almost every malware threat involves a malicious download and, as such, it makes sense for your organization to limit the number of downloads taking place. By limiting download privileges to, for example, line managers, you will minimize the chances of malware being downloaded by mistake.
  • Block Social Media: if you want to make sure that you are specifically limiting the risk of Sality, you can simply block access to social media sites from within your organization’s network. However, be aware that Sality is likely to be lurking elsewhere on the internet.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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SessionManager Malware Targets Microsoft Exchange Servers

IIS, malware, Ophtek, security, SessionManager, Windows vulnerability, , , , ,
12
Jul 2022

A new piece of malware has been found to be targeting Microsoft Exchange servers operated by both military and government organizations all over the world.

Discovered by security giants Kaspersky, who also gave the malware its name, SessionManager appears to have been at large since March 2021, but its existence has only just been confirmed. It’s believed that SessionManager was created by Gelsemium, a relatively new hacking group who have already conducted a number of serious cyber-attacks.

Naturally, you would expect military and government organizations to have some of the strongest cybersecurity measures in place. And they do. However, there’s not a single IT infrastructure which can be described as 100% secure. And, as SessionManager has proved, where there are vulnerabilities, there’s a way in.

How Does SessionManager Operate?

At the start of 2021, Kaspersky revealed details of ProxyLogon, a series of vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft Exchange. As a result of these vulnerabilities, threat actors were presented with an opportunity to install malicious modules into web server software for Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS). And this is exactly how the SessionManager module came to be embedded within numerous organization’s servers.

Once installed, the threat actors were able to use SessionManager to carry out the following tasks:

  • Carry out remote command execution on affected devices
  • Gain quick and easy access to email accounts within the organization
  • Install further malware to maximize the way in which servers were compromised
  • Using infected servers to manipulate traffic moving across the network

As SessionManager has managed to operate without detection for over a year, it has been able to harvest signification amounts of sensitive data and take control of high-level networks. Even after SessionManager’s discovery, security experts have been slow to move, with Kaspersky commenting that a popular file scanning service was still failing to detect SessionManager. Accordingly, SessionManager remains active in the digital wild and maintains its threat.

What If You’re Infected with SessionManager?

Even if you do discover that your network has been infected by the SessionManager module, deleting it is not enough to fully rid yourself of it. Instead, you will need to go through the following:

  • The most important step to take first is to disable your IIS environment
  • Use the IIS manager to identify all references to the SessionManager module and ensure that these are fully removed
  • Update your IIS server to eliminate any known vulnerabilities and leave it fully patched
  • Restart your IIS environment and run a final check for any traces of SessionManager

If, of course, you want to prevent vulnerability threats such as SessionManager being enabled in the first place, then you need a conscientious approach to updates. The sooner you can install a firmware upgrade or a security patch, the sooner you can plug security holes in your IT infrastructure.

Sure, we live in a fast-paced world and it’s easy to forget minor tasks such as installing upgrades, but with automate installs a viable option, there’s not really an excuse. Therefore, keep your organization’s network safe by automating updates and enjoying the peace of mind this brings.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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