Newsletter
IT and Cyber Security News Update from
Centre for Research and Prevention of Computer
Crimes,
Courtesy - Sysman Computers Private Limited, Mumbai (www.sysman.in)
Since June 2005 December
17, 2014 Issue no 1520
Tenth year of
uninterrupted publication
Todays edition
BLACK MARKET : Roll up, come see the BOOMING HACKER BAZAAR!
TERROR : Sony
scraps 'The Interview' release; North Korea blamed for hack
INITIATIVE : A new GCHQ-NCA unit will
catch pedophiles in the Deep Web in UK
FORECAST : 10
cybersecurity predictions for 2015
(Click on heading above to jump to related item. Click on Top to be back here)
BLACK MARKET
: Roll up, come see the BOOMING HACKER BAZAAR!
Fake credential, premier credit cards, and 100% satisfaction,
guaranteed
By John
Leyden
15
Dec 2014
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/15/roll_up_come_see_the_booming_hacker_bazaar/
Underground
hacker markets are booming with counterfeit documents, premiere credit cards,
hacker tutorials, and "complete satisfaction guarantees", according
to a new report from Dell SecureWorks.
The
means to create a false identity are easily purchased through the cracker
bazaars. A fake social security card can be obtain for around $200, with
supporting documents as additional proof of ID offered for an additional
charge.
Between
December last year and this June, over 1,500 fake drivers licences
were purchased from a criminal network monitored by Dell researchers at a net
cost of $232,660.
Dell
SecureWorks' Counter Threat Unit (CTU) director of
malware research Joe Stewart and SecureWorks network
security analyst David Shear completed a similar study of the underground
hacker market last year. They revisited the hacker underground to see if prices
for stolen credit cards, fullz (a dossier of an
individual's credentials which can be used to commit identity theft and fraud),
bank accounts, and hacker services had gone up or down in price.
Shear
and Stewart looked at dozens of hacker markets before focusing in on four or
five of the most popular markets that garner a lot of traffic, because the
bazaars have good reputations while offering a wide range of goods and
services. Each souk offered good escrow services so unscrupulous sellers
aren't able to run off with punters' cash, because payment is only made when
buyers confirm whatever they bought is valid and good.
Shoppers
usually have 24 hours to cancel the purchase. These sites are commonly
invite-only and international.
"These
sites are global, and one really does not know where they are physically being
hosted exactly," a spokesperson for Dell SecureWorks
explained.
"And
although all of the sites are in English, it is quite apparent when
communicating with those selling the goods and services, that many of them are
foreign, including Russian, Ukranian, Eastern European. English, even in the underground, seems to
be the international business language."
The
most significant difference between the current hacker underground markets, and
those of 2013, is a boom in counterfeit documents to further enable fraud,
including new identity kits, passports, utility bills, social security cards
and driver licenses. counterfeit documents allow
crooks to apply for bank loans, commit cheque fraud or attempt government
fraud, among other scams.
In
fact, underground hacker markets are taking more or more tricks from legitimate
outlets - such as eBay - in order to establish trust amongst the dishonest, who are there to trade stolen credit cards and personal
details.
Despite
a series of law enforcement takedowns, underground hacker markets continue to
flourish. Moreover, those that are left are getting ever more professional, for
example by adopting reputation-based systems and even guarantees to would-be
credit card fraudsters that they won't be ripped off, as Dell SecureWorks explains:
Some sellers are introducing a 100 per cent
Satisfaction Guarantee; should a fake credit card fail to withdraw $200,
sellers will replace the card if they can replicate the error message. The
sellers provide terms and conditions with each purchase, specifying
circumstances where they can replace a rejected card.
Markets
are catering to beginners. Tutorials on hacking are becoming common purchases,
from a simple tutorial for $1 to a complete hacking kit for $30. These kits act
as a beginners guide to hacking, explaining how exploits work.
The
underground market studied by the security researchers restricts the sale of
compromised bank accounts to "verified purchaser with a good track
record". A high-value account containing around $75,000 - including verified
credentials - is sold at the much lower price of $4,200, Dell SecureWorks reports.
The
price for Remote Access Trojans (RATs) is considerably cheaper this year than
last. They are currently running from $20 to $50 and the most popular include: darkcomet, blackshades, cybernate,
predator pain, and Dark DDoser. Last
year, RATs ranged in price from $50 to $250.
The
current price for hacking into a website ranges between $100
to $200. Last year, the cost was between $100 to $300.
The current price for hiring a hacker to knock a website offline is also
slightly reduced from last year's prices. DDoS
attacks cost around $60-$90 per day.
Unlike
last year, Dell SecureWorks' said they are not seeing
a lot of Doxing Services for sale. Doxing is when a hacker is hired to get all the information
they can about a target, through social engineering, malware, information on
social media, the web or other sources. The few hackers selling Doxing services are charging between $25
to $100.
TERROR : Sony scraps 'The Interview'
release; North Korea blamed for hack
Sony cancels release of "The Interview"
By
Richard Verrier, Ryan Faughnder,
Brian Bennett
December
17, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-sony-box-office-20141218-story.html
Sony
Pictures Entertainment's extraordinary decision to scrap the Christmas release
of "The Interview" came amid mounting pressure from powerful theater
owners and other studios concerned that the film's release could keep
moviegoers away from multiplexes during the holidays, one of the most lucrative
periods for Hollywood.
The
action came as U.S. intelligence officials confirmed widespread speculation
that the North Korean government was behind the devastating cyberattack,
which has hobbled Sony Pictures and spread fear throughout the entertainment
industry. "The Interview" depicts the fictional assassination of
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Federal
investigators began briefing some legislators that the rogue state gave the
order to raid Sony's computer system, leading to a massive leak of sensitive
data, including emails, financial documents and even the salaries of Sony's top
executives.
The
U.S. government takes very seriously any attempt to threaten or limit artists
freedom of speech or of expression, and its considering a range of options
in weighing a potential response to the cyberattack,
a National Security Council spokeswoman said in a Wednesday night statement.
The
fast-moving events that led to Sony yanking the film across the country came
after the nation's top theater chains decided to cancel screenings following
threats of violence against theater-goers by Guardians of Peace, the hacking
group that has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Although
law enforcement authorities discounted those threats, theater owners and studio
chiefs worried that they would be enough to keep moviegoers away from theaters
and hurt the year-end box office for everyone.
The
decision would cost Sony perhaps $70 million for the costs of making the film
and marketing efforts to date, and could also prompt an executive shake-up,
industry analysts said. Sony Pictures Entertainment is led by Chairman Michael
Lynton and Co-Chairman Amy Pascal.
"By
canceling release of the film, Sony Entertainment is admitting it made the
wrong decision to go forward," said Laura Martin, senior media analyst at
Needham & Co. "They are now succumbing to pressure that they obviously
underestimated six months ago."
Sony
executives had originally resisted postponing "The Interview,"
fearing that doing so would be a victory for the hackers, and set a dangerous
precedent for future threats.
Although
many in Hollywood expressed relief at Sony's decision, others expressed anger.
"I
think every business has the right to do whatever they want, but when en
masse all of these businesses decide not to present a movie, they're basically
setting themselves up for other people to threaten them," said director
Judd Apatow, a friend and frequent collaborator of
"The Interview's" director and co-star Seth Rogen.
"What do they do when someone says the same thing about the James Bond
movie or 'Annie'?"
At
the same time, filmmakers Rogen and Evan Goldberg
with Sony's consent made a movie that portrayed the gruesome assassination of
a sitting world leader, something that film historians
say has not been done before. North Korea called months ago for the film to be
sidelined, saying it amounted to an "act of war."
Exhibitors
don't take the risks lightly. Cinemark is still dealing with legal issues from
the "Dark Knight Rises" shooting in the summer of 2012.
Owners
of shopping malls also were putting pressure on theaters to bail on the movie,
fearing any threat could scare away consumers during the busiest shopping
season of the year.
"Due
to the wavering support of the film 'The Interview' by Sony Pictures, as well
as the ambiguous nature of any real or perceived security threats, Regal
Entertainment Group has decided to delay the opening of the film in our
theatres," said the company.
AMC,
the nation's second-largest chain, said it canceled because of the
"overall confusion and uncertainty that has been created in the
marketplace."
Rival
studio executives also shared concerns about the broader impact on attendance
for the movies over the holidays. December is a key month for many studios and
accounted for roughly $1 billion in ticket sales last year in the U.S. and
Canada.
"We're
all afraid people aren't going to go to theaters in general because of the
threat," said a studio executive who declined to comment publicly because
of the sensitivity of the matter. "The theaters are supposed to be an
escape for people to get entertained.
If they don't show up, it could be
disastrous."
"In
a year when the box office is down single digits year over year, you didn't
need something else keeping people away from the theaters," said Eric Wold, an analyst with B. Riley. "It makes complete
sense to drop the movie," said Wold, who noted
that loss of the film would likely result in 2% less in quarterly revenue for
exhibitors. "It's a pretty immaterial movie for the potential risk at
hand. There's no upside."
Sony
has decided not to pursue video-on-demand distribution for the film or make it
available on YouTube or a streaming service such as Amazon or Neftlix. The option was one of a number of scenarios being
explored, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. A Sony
spokesman said simply that the studio "has no further release plans for
the film."
Also
see-
https://news.yahoo.com/sony-cancels-dec-25-release-nkorea-parody-film-221105289.html
http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/sony-pictures-entirely-scraps-releasing-the-interview-for-now/
INITIATIVE : A new GCHQ-NCA unit will
catch pedophiles in the Deep Web in UK
Prime
Minister Cameron announced that a newborn cyber unit composed by officials from
GCHQ and NCA will fight online pedophiles even in the Deep Web.
by Pierluigi Paganini
December 14th, 2014
http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/31077/cyber-crime/gchq-nca-catch-pedophiles-deep-web.html
Prime Minister David Cameron
has revealed that national intelligence agencies will join the efforts to track
and arrest online abusers and pedophiles. The British Prime Minister announced
that the British Intelligence will have greater powers for online monitoring of
suspects.
British authorities warned
that up to 1,300 children are exposed to online abuse from pedophiles,
it is a moral and social obligation to fight this social evil.
Cameron explained the
strategy of the British Government at the #WeProtectChildren
online global summit in London, announcing the creation of a new unit composed
by members from the GCHQ and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
One of the most difficult
goals of law enforcement that operate against online pedophiles, is to track
this category of criminals that makes large use of anonymizing
networks like Tor.
The newborn unit will be
involved in investigation on crimes that exploit the deep web,
Cameron referring the anonymizing networks like Tor
said that they act as digital hiding places for child abusers.
The
unit will receive £10 million next year to create specialist teams to find
explicit content on the web. There are also plans to criminalize sexual
comments sent to children on the internet by adults. The Prime Minister also
cited cases in which security services were able to track UK citizens involved
in pedophilic activities while using software designed to protect their
identities. reports RT.com news portal.
British security services
claim to be very active in the fight of child pornography online, they have
arrested more than 1,000 alleged pedophiles only the past year compared to 192
arrests between 2012 and 2013.
The law enforcement arrested
suspect pedophiles adopting sophisticated web tracking methods,
British police have also
warned that up to 1,300 children are vulnerable to abuse from pedophiles they
may come into contact with online.
GCHQ
is using its world-leading capabilities to help the NCA reach into the dark web
and bring to justice those who misuse it to harm children, declared Director
Robert Hannigan. With the NCA, we are committed to
eliminating digital hiding places for child abusers.
Cameron explained that the
new unit will benefit of a new technology that allows law enforcement to curb
the sharing of illegal photographs and videos online. Additionally,
organizations such as the Internet Watch Foundation will assist multinational
internet firms including Google and Facebook to
identify and block illegal images.
The British Intelligence will
receive the support of organizations such as the Internet Watch Foundation and
IT giants, including Google and Facebook, to identify
and persecute the illegal activities.
Every
time someone chooses to view an online image or a video of a child being
abused, they are choosing to participate in a horrific crime, Cameron said.
Every single view represents that victim being abused again. They may as well
be in the room with them.
The noble intentions of the
British Intelligence are indisputable, however, according to revelations made
by Snowden, this kind of investigations can have
serious repercussions on the human rights and support massive surveillance
programs.
FORECAST : 10 cybersecurity
predictions for 2015
By
Tom Patterson
Trusting
Security/CSO
Dec
15, 2014
Based
on my history in this space, plus the fact that my day job of running CSC's
Global Cybersecurity Consulting business lets me talk
to and help hundreds of executives around the world, I wanted to offer my
perspective on how 2014 turned out and my thoughts on what to watch for in
2015. Before starting my 2015 predictions, lets review how I did last year:
1.
Planning Goes Mainstream
2014
was the year that retailers learned that a good response to an incident is as
critical a skill as the ability to stop an attack. Organizations spent hundreds
of millions of real dollars in 2014 responding to incidents, and they are
learning from that experience that an ounce of prevention is worth hundreds of
millions of pounds of cure.
2.
Big Data and Security Meet at the SIEM
While
not mainstream in 2014, many leading companies are moving beyond security
information and event management (SIEM) services and using big data techniques
to predict what will happen so they will have time to prevent incidents. Based
on this strong start, look for far greater adoption of predictive big data in
2015.
3.
Threats Keep Evolving
As
2014 saw the release of highly evolved threats, we can agree this came true. In
many cases, criminals launched these threats which used to live only in the
systems of governments and defense companies against retail, entertainment,
finance, healthcare and more.
4.
Your Security Scope Expands
This
2014 warning that your supply chains are fast becoming threat-entry points was
proven time and time again, evidenced by high profile attacks against retail
and energy using trusted suppliers as their entry points. Continuous
monitoring for advanced threats and behavior-based security event analysis
engines are two measures that can help prevent supply chain vulnerabilities.
5.
Passé Passwords
Disappointingly,
2014 saw us remain tethered to passwords that dont work. We learned that
sony123 is not a great password choice and, in fact, passwords themselves are
no longer the answer. Federated identity ecosystems are here and will be more
widely adopted in 2015.
6.
Keys Are the Key to the Cloud
Many
more organizations adopted the cloud in 2014 the ability to own their own
keys helped prompt this widespread adoption. Companies also introduced much
great new technology to maintain keys and control while leveraging the cloud in
2014; this new technology should drive dramatic enterprise cloud adoption in
2015.
7.
Smartphones Get Dumb Again
As
with passwords, its a shame that more smartphone
manufacturers didnt leverage the virtual machine style of access on their
phones. Thus, its no surprise that much sensitive material was left in the
backseats of cabs and floating in Starbucks.
8.
Transnational Crime Becomes More Concerning Than Governments
Money
was still the top motivator for cyberattacks in 2014,
and the organizations behind organized crime became more technologically
coordinated, advanced and ruthless.
9.
Shhhhhh! Securing Your Voice
Several
new secure mobile phones, secure VoIP and add-on security, especially for
international journalists, rolled out in 2014 as people realized that many
governments and criminals eavesdrop. 2014s new crop of offerings should
continue to grow in 2015.
10.
Quit It!
Managed
security continued its double digit growth in 2014, fueled by companies
desires to turn much of their security operations over to trusted security pros
who can keep up with the tech and threat evolutions.
Lagniappe:
Secure the Robots!
2014
had both high- and low-profile attacks against industrial control and SCADA
systems, and it continues to be a head-to-head battle where the atom meets the
bit.
Of
my 2014 predictions, 82 percent bore out over the year. Lets see what you
think of my 2015 prognostications.
1. Cloud-independent security becomes a linchpin
offering, where vendors will own the linkage between your enterprise and any
brand of cloud.
2. Sandboxing goes mainstream.
We finally acknowledge that employees surf, and well build them a safe place
to do it.
3. Cyber insurance has a break-out year. While still not
perfect, demand overwhelms usefulness.
4. Cyber-silver bullets bite the dust. Companies learn
to stop claiming their products deliver impossible results, and customers stop
believing them.
5. A new global, super cybercompany
(or two) will emerge. Many of the historic brands are about to get fresh
competition. Its time.
6. CSOs will be promoted to chief trust officers.
Security is a business issue now, not just an IT issue, and companies will see
that trust is the new security.
7. Risk qualifications will become decision criteria for
boards of directors. Security works best from the top down (see above).
8. Criminals will breach home and auto control systems, and security firms will secure ecosystems.
Adversaries have just been waiting for wider deployment, which will happen in
2015.
9. Critical infrastructure will show its vulnerabilities
at a dangerous level. There are too many fingers close to too many kill
switches right now; someone is going to find a reason to press one.
10.The public will launch a backlash against companies,
apps and sites that overreach with our personal information. A years worth of
credit monitoring is not enough, and class action attorneys will figure that
out.
Lagniappe:
The blockchain will transcend payments and move into
all trust areas. 2015 is a good time to learn how it will change all of your
business transactions in the near future.
Your
task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it, said Antoine de Saint Exupéry.
2015
will be another exciting year. Lets get to work!
Dithering
Dithering is a process that uses digital noise to smooth
out colors in digital graphics and sounds in digital audio.
Digital
Graphics
All digital photos are an approximation of the original
subject, since computers cannot display an infinite amount of colors. Instead,
the colors are estimated, or rounded to the closest color available. For
example, an 8-bit GIF image can only include 256 (2^8) colors. This may be
enough for a logo or computer graphic, but is too few colors to accurately
represent a digital photo. (This is why most digital photos are saved as 16 or
24-bit JPEG images, since they support thousands or millions of colors.)
When digital photos contain only a few hundred colors, they
typically look blotchy, since large areas are represented by single colors.
Dithering can be used to reduce this blotchy appearance by adding digital noise
to smooth out the transitions between colors. This "noise" adds makes the photo appear more grainy, but gives it a more
accurate representation since the colors blend together more smoothly. In fact,
if you view a dithered 256-color image from far away, it may look identical to
the same image that is represented by thousands or millions of colors.
Digital
Audio
Like digital images, digital audio recordings are
approximations of the original analog source. Therefore, if the sampling rate
or bit depth of an audio file is too low, it may sound choppy or rough.
Dithering can be applied to the audio file to smooth out the roughness. Similar
to dithering a digital image, audio dithering adds
digital noise to the audio to smooth out the sound. If you view a dithered
waveform in an audio editor, it will appear less blocky. More importantly, if
you listen to a dithered audio track, it should sound smoother and more like
the original analog sound.
Summary
Several types of dithering algorithms are used by various
image and audio editors, though random dithering is the most common. While
dithering is often used to improve the appearance and sound of low quality
graphics and audio, it can also be applied to high quality images and
recordings. In these situations, dithering may still provide extra smoothness
to the image or sound.
I am prepared to die, but
there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. I object to violence because
when it appears to do good, the good is only
temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mahatma Gandhi
Note -