Stingray stings again

Imagine if this guy had robbed a doughnut shop...

From The Register:

Police in Maryland, US, used controversial cellphone-tracking technology intended only for the most serious crimes to track down a man who stole $50 of chicken wings.

Police in Annapolis – an hour's drive from the heart of government in Washington DC – used a StingRay cell tower simulator in an effort to find the location of a man who had earlier robbed a Pizza Boli employee of 15 chicken wings and three sandwiches. Total worth: $56.77.

Deep Skimmers

It was generally thought that captive card readers were more secure because they had a motorized reader (card grabber) and shutter that wouldn't allow a skimmer to be inserted. Now there are "deep insert" skimmers that can bypass that mechanical obstruction.

From Krebs on Security:

ATM maker NCR Corp. says it is seeing a rapid rise in reports of what it calls “deep insert skimmers,” wafer-thin fraud devices made to be hidden inside of the card acceptance slot on a cash machine.

The value of a hack PC

For people who say that their PC has no value to a hacker - It does and you're still a target. Ransom attacks are on the rise.

From Krebs on Security:

A few years back, when I was a reporter at The Washington Post, I put together a chart listing the various ways that miscreants can monetize hacked PCs. The project was designed to explain simply and visually to the sort of computer user who can’t begin to fathom why miscreants would want to hack into his PC. “I don’t bank online, I don’t store sensitive information on my machine! I only use it to check email. What could hackers possibly want with this hunk of junk?,” are all common refrains from this type of user.

Samsung Smart Home flaws

I guess I'll be hanging my trusty lock picks and going digital now.

From Arstechnia:

Computer scientists have discovered vulnerabilities in Samsung's Smart Home automation system that allowed them to carry out a host of remote attacks, including digitally picking connected door locks from anywhere in the world.

Image from Arstechnia article

Security experts push for SWIFT update

Problem 1: The bank should have had a much better (anything would have been better!) protected network

From The Register:

Security vendors are pushing for a more comprehensive revamp of the SWIFT international inter-bank financial transaction messaging system beyond a update prompted by an $81m hack against Bangladesh's central bank.

The loss of $81m (part of an attempted $950m heist) in February’s Bangladesh cyber-heist – reckoned to be the biggest ever bank theft – has subsequently been linked to the bank’s use of second-hand $10 switches on its network and a lack of firewalls.

American Dental Association given malware USB drives

From SC Magazine:

Malware embedded on a USB drive was delivered to members of the American Dental Association (ADA).

The mailing contained a PDF file of dental procedure codes, but some of the drives also held code capable of redirecting recipients to a website known to host malicious code. If a user opened the file, the site downloaded code that could enable miscreants to gain control of a user's Windows computer.

German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses

They're infected with Conficker? Wow they must *never* update their systems. That just shouldn't happen. And they're Ok with this because the systems aren't connected to the Internet. Wow oh wow.

The nuclear power plant of Gundremmingen is pictured on March 11, 2012. (Reuters Image)

Another very interesting comment that in the article unrelated to the power plant:

"As an example, Hypponen said he had recently spoken to a European aircraft maker that said it cleans the cockpits of its planes every week of malware designed for Android phones. The malware spread to the planes only because factory employees were charging their phones with the USB port in the cockpit."

"Because the plane runs a different operating system, nothing would befall it. But it would pass the virus on to other devices that plugged into the charger"

Umm. That must not be just a USB charger then. It must be attached to a FAT file system of some sort. (Android won't mount and ext* file system out of the box)

The article is from Reuters:

"A nuclear power plant in Germany has been found to be infected with computer viruses, but they appear not to have posed a threat to the facility's operations because it is isolated from the Internet, the station's operator said on Tuesday."

"The Gundremmingen plant, located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Munich, is run by the German utility RWE"

Hospital Gets Hacked with Ransomware

It's been noted by a number of security specialists that this will be the year of medical hacks. Not only hacking medical devices but hospital IT infrastructure. I seems like a lot of victims are just paying up. This one is demanding about $1600 in bit coins. I guess that's not a lot to pay for a hospital to get back online if the attackers actually deliver with the decryption key. There's no guarantee that they won't  just encrypt the system again.

From CNBC:

Methodist Hospital, based in Henderson, Kentucky, is the victim of a ransomware attack in which hackers infiltrated its computer network, encrypted files and are now holding the data hostage, Krebs reported Tuesday.

Maybe

Thinking about moving the Insecure By Default blog over here since it would be easier to maintain and post to.