Bridgett Brown
06-29-2004, 09:21 AM
Hackers launch new attack to steal personal information
By BRIAN KREBS
Washington Post
Published on: 06/28/04
WASHINGTON — Computer security experts and the federal government are warning Internet users to take extra precautions when browsing the Web after an Internet attack seeded Web sites with programs that hackers can use to steal personal information.
The attack is more dangerous than most, according to the government's US-CERT cybersecurity center, because infection is possible just by visiting affected Web sites, according to US-CERT, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The attackers, whose identities are unknown, targeted a flaw in Web sites powered by Microsoft's Internet Information Services Web server (IIS). The sites hit by the attack were programmed to redirect the Explorer browser to another Web site that contains code that hackers use to record what people type on their keyboards -- including data such as passwords, credit card and Social Security numbers. The code then e-mails that information back to the attackers.
Computers that run Microsoft's Internet Explorer browsers are vulnerable to infection, according to US-CERT. The CERT warning said Internet Explorer users can protect themselves by turning off the "javascript" function in their browsers. Javascript is a computer language often used in building Web sites. The attack takes advantage of two recently discovered security flaws in Internet Explorer. Microsoft released a patch in April to fix one of the security holes; the company is still working on a patch for the other flaw, which security researchers publicly detailed less than two weeks ago.
CERT recommends that Internet Explorer users consider different browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Communicator or Opera. For people who continue to use Internet Explorer, CERT and Microsoft recommend setting the browser's security setting to "high."
Among the several Web sites hit were kbb.com, the Internet address of the Kelley Blue Book automobile pricing guide, and MinervaHealth, a health care financing company based in Jackson, Wyo.
Robyn Eckard, a spokeswoman for the Irvine, Calif.-based Kelley Blue Book, said the company learned about the problem last week after Web site visitors said their antivirus software tipped them off to the code. Eckard said Kelley Blue Book removed the malicious code from its site by late Thursday afternoon.
Jennifer Scharff, vice president of marketing for the company MinervaHealth, said some of the company's clients reported the problem on Thursday. The company has since fixed its site, she said. Scharff said no more than 50 visitors browsed the Web site during the time it was serving up the hostile code.
In addition, at least one auction page on the eBay online auction site contained a photograph that links to an infected Web site, said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center.
Security experts said that the attack reveals the evolution of "phishing" 00000, a form of fraud designed to trick people into giving up their personal data to criminals who have designed Web sites to look like those of respectable companies.
Phishing 00000 are one of the most widespread types of online fraud today, prompting the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau and many other companies and consumers' groups to find ways to teach people to avoid getting 0000000. "Phishers" normally persuade people to visit fake Web sites by enticing them through e-mail messages.
Thursday's Web site attack is a new direction for online criminals, said Dave Endler, director of digital vaccine for TippingPoint, an Internet security company based in Austin, Texas. "Instead of relying on the typical phishing e-mail 00000 to social engineer users into visiting malicious spoofed Web sites, these attackers actually went straight to the source and compromised known trusted Web sites in order to infect their visitors," he said.
Joe Stewart, senior security researcher for Chicago-based Internet security firm LURHQ, said that the programs installed on victims' computers were designed to wait until the user visited a Web site like Paypal or Ebay. If the program had worked correctly, people would have seen pop-up screens on their monitors asking them to enter their credit card numbers or other financial data.
"Phishing has moved from an e-mail attack to one that's really being brought to the desktop," Stewart said.
Ken Dunham, malicious code manager for Reston, Va.-based security company iDefense, said the attack bears the trademark signatures of the Hangup Group, a Russian hacker organization thought to be responsible for unleashing the recent "Korgo" worms. Korgo worms allow hackers to read what people are typing on their computers and scours infected PCs for other financial information.
According to SANS, most large Internet service providers stopped forwarding Internet traffic to the Russian Web site that hosts the "keylogging" software.
FBI spokesman Joe Parris declined to say whether the agency is investigating this particular attack. But Parris said hackers commonly use similar Trojan horse techniques. "We work closely with Microsoft in investigating matters of this type and always follow up on any information provided by industry," he said.
Dunham and other security experts said they expect this kind of attack to become more widespread in coming weeks and months.
"These guys have the tools, techniques and motivation to launch highly sophisticated attacks that are very difficult for consumers to protect themselves against," he said. "Whoever is responsible has just seen how well this attack works, and other (hacker groups) are almost surely going to take notice."
Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager at Microsoft, said the company does not believe the attack is widespread. "Nonetheless, we view this is a very real threat, with serious significance in terms of the potential impact on our customers," he said.
Toulouse said the company is gathering information on the attack and will hand it over to the FBI.
Security experts said it is not yet clear which Microsoft vulnerability the attackers used to commandeer the Web sites. Ullrich said the culprit is a flaw in the way IIS processes secure login pages for Web sites that require users to enter a username and password. Microsoft released a patch for that flaw in April in a massive bundle of security fixes.
Toulouse said that the proprietors for the majority of sites affected by the attack failed to install the patches.
By BRIAN KREBS
Washington Post
Published on: 06/28/04
WASHINGTON — Computer security experts and the federal government are warning Internet users to take extra precautions when browsing the Web after an Internet attack seeded Web sites with programs that hackers can use to steal personal information.
The attack is more dangerous than most, according to the government's US-CERT cybersecurity center, because infection is possible just by visiting affected Web sites, according to US-CERT, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The attackers, whose identities are unknown, targeted a flaw in Web sites powered by Microsoft's Internet Information Services Web server (IIS). The sites hit by the attack were programmed to redirect the Explorer browser to another Web site that contains code that hackers use to record what people type on their keyboards -- including data such as passwords, credit card and Social Security numbers. The code then e-mails that information back to the attackers.
Computers that run Microsoft's Internet Explorer browsers are vulnerable to infection, according to US-CERT. The CERT warning said Internet Explorer users can protect themselves by turning off the "javascript" function in their browsers. Javascript is a computer language often used in building Web sites. The attack takes advantage of two recently discovered security flaws in Internet Explorer. Microsoft released a patch in April to fix one of the security holes; the company is still working on a patch for the other flaw, which security researchers publicly detailed less than two weeks ago.
CERT recommends that Internet Explorer users consider different browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Communicator or Opera. For people who continue to use Internet Explorer, CERT and Microsoft recommend setting the browser's security setting to "high."
Among the several Web sites hit were kbb.com, the Internet address of the Kelley Blue Book automobile pricing guide, and MinervaHealth, a health care financing company based in Jackson, Wyo.
Robyn Eckard, a spokeswoman for the Irvine, Calif.-based Kelley Blue Book, said the company learned about the problem last week after Web site visitors said their antivirus software tipped them off to the code. Eckard said Kelley Blue Book removed the malicious code from its site by late Thursday afternoon.
Jennifer Scharff, vice president of marketing for the company MinervaHealth, said some of the company's clients reported the problem on Thursday. The company has since fixed its site, she said. Scharff said no more than 50 visitors browsed the Web site during the time it was serving up the hostile code.
In addition, at least one auction page on the eBay online auction site contained a photograph that links to an infected Web site, said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center.
Security experts said that the attack reveals the evolution of "phishing" 00000, a form of fraud designed to trick people into giving up their personal data to criminals who have designed Web sites to look like those of respectable companies.
Phishing 00000 are one of the most widespread types of online fraud today, prompting the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau and many other companies and consumers' groups to find ways to teach people to avoid getting 0000000. "Phishers" normally persuade people to visit fake Web sites by enticing them through e-mail messages.
Thursday's Web site attack is a new direction for online criminals, said Dave Endler, director of digital vaccine for TippingPoint, an Internet security company based in Austin, Texas. "Instead of relying on the typical phishing e-mail 00000 to social engineer users into visiting malicious spoofed Web sites, these attackers actually went straight to the source and compromised known trusted Web sites in order to infect their visitors," he said.
Joe Stewart, senior security researcher for Chicago-based Internet security firm LURHQ, said that the programs installed on victims' computers were designed to wait until the user visited a Web site like Paypal or Ebay. If the program had worked correctly, people would have seen pop-up screens on their monitors asking them to enter their credit card numbers or other financial data.
"Phishing has moved from an e-mail attack to one that's really being brought to the desktop," Stewart said.
Ken Dunham, malicious code manager for Reston, Va.-based security company iDefense, said the attack bears the trademark signatures of the Hangup Group, a Russian hacker organization thought to be responsible for unleashing the recent "Korgo" worms. Korgo worms allow hackers to read what people are typing on their computers and scours infected PCs for other financial information.
According to SANS, most large Internet service providers stopped forwarding Internet traffic to the Russian Web site that hosts the "keylogging" software.
FBI spokesman Joe Parris declined to say whether the agency is investigating this particular attack. But Parris said hackers commonly use similar Trojan horse techniques. "We work closely with Microsoft in investigating matters of this type and always follow up on any information provided by industry," he said.
Dunham and other security experts said they expect this kind of attack to become more widespread in coming weeks and months.
"These guys have the tools, techniques and motivation to launch highly sophisticated attacks that are very difficult for consumers to protect themselves against," he said. "Whoever is responsible has just seen how well this attack works, and other (hacker groups) are almost surely going to take notice."
Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager at Microsoft, said the company does not believe the attack is widespread. "Nonetheless, we view this is a very real threat, with serious significance in terms of the potential impact on our customers," he said.
Toulouse said the company is gathering information on the attack and will hand it over to the FBI.
Security experts said it is not yet clear which Microsoft vulnerability the attackers used to commandeer the Web sites. Ullrich said the culprit is a flaw in the way IIS processes secure login pages for Web sites that require users to enter a username and password. Microsoft released a patch for that flaw in April in a massive bundle of security fixes.
Toulouse said that the proprietors for the majority of sites affected by the attack failed to install the patches.