Pinboard (guardiantech)

Apple of discord >> Securelist

guardiantech — 2013-07-04T16:03:30+00:00

Nadezhda Demidova:

cybercriminals are aiming to steal Apple ID data which provides access to users' personal information stored in iCloud (e.g., photographs, contacts, documents, email, etc.) as well as to the purchases made in the company's iTunes Store. Many malicious users go further and try to the steal bank card details used to pay for those purchases.
The scammers make use of phishing sites that imitate the official apple.com site. Since the beginning of 2012 until the present time this has resulted in a significant increase in the number of web antivirus detections triggered by users of our products attempting to visit such sites. During that period we have seen on average around 200,000 detections per day. By contrast, in 2011 the figure stood at around 1,000 detections per day.

The opening of iTunes Stores in 52 countries including Russia led to a colossal spike - 939,000 detections per day.

Mac malware signed with Apple ID infects activist’s laptop >> Ars Technica

guardiantech — 2013-05-19T16:53:05+00:00

Stealthy Mac OS X spyware that was digitally signed with a valid Apple Developer ID has been detected on the laptop of an Angolan activist attending a human rights conference, researchers said.
The backdoor, which is programmed to take screenshots and send them to remote servers under the control of the attackers, was spread using a spear phishing email, according to privacy activist Jacob Appelbaum. Spear phishing is a term for highly targeted emails that address the receiver by name and usually appear to come from someone the receiver knows.

Jacob Applebaum (@ioerror on Twitter) is the person who spotted all this; he says the target's life is "likely in danger" - just in case you thought this was some trivial bit of hacking.

Java applet attack wipes out Bitcoin accounts on Mt.Gox >> TechCrunch

guardiantech — 2013-04-11T17:26:01+00:00

John Biggs details a phishing site that grabs Bitcoins from the unwary, Not so much "wipes out" as empties. His conclusion:

Bitcoin phishing is not new and as more and more users enter the BTC fray it’s clear that it will be a bigger problem. As Twitter novelty account Bitcoin.txt notes, the market is frothy and full of folks who have little experience investing in anything, let alone an imaginary digital currency that could be part of a future economic engine – or could spell ruin for investors who click bit.ly links.

Novelty account != parody account.

Protecting web users for five years and counting >> Google Online Security Blog

guardiantech — 2012-06-21T16:08:46+00:00

Contains maps and stats showing where malware and phishing sites are hosted, and the volumes of attacks. Peculiar thing: Brazil is a major host of phishing sites?

Antiphishing standard in the works from Google, Facebook, others >> CNET News

guardiantech — 2012-01-30T07:15:24+00:00

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, PayPal and others are working together on a standard that can be used across the Internet for blocking phishing e-mails.

Not before time.

Join the fight against phishing >> Phishtak

guardiantech — 2012-01-06T21:15:42+00:00

Worthy, but one feels that it needs a bigger, more automated effort to make it effective.

Thousands of Tumblr logins stolen in phishing attack >> GFI Sunbelt Security Blog

guardiantech — 2011-06-29T05:23:13+00:00

"It's a simple enough attack, luring Tumblr users with the promise of "hidden" pornographic content that requires entering login credentials to view. 'This page contains adult content. Please revalidate your credentials"'"

The old ones are the best.