'Red October' has been spying on WORLD LEADERS for 5 years - researchers
Security watchers have discovered a malware-based cyber-espionage campaign targeting diplomats, governments and scientific research institutions worldwide. Operation Red October has targeted Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics, and countries in Central Asia for the past five years, according to Kaspersky Lab. The attack has …
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Ah yes. The benefit of a monoculture.
Guessing games as to source. Have they not heard of the double bluff?
Spying?
Spying on Governments and politicians? It would be like trying to understand and make sense of the residents in a Californian Asylum for the criminally insane.
>Guessing games as to source. Have they not heard of the double bluff?
This one is SO OBVIOUSLY the Yanks that I'm left wondering whether it was us or the froggies.
Merde! Sale rôti de bœuf cochon.
Re: Spying?
@ Lars:
California is an Asylum for the criminally insane
Re: The benefit of a monoculture.
Beacuse "The researchers said the malware also has the capability to steal data from smartphones including Android handsets, iPhones and Windows Phone mobes - including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and HTC models." clearly indicates it only infects one platform.
Love it...I mean...who the fuck needs security policies let alone enforcement right?
I reckon it was the Norks...
Or the Frogs etc...possibly bonobos. Actually my money's on the apes.
*cough*
Pint coz well its all a bit much otherwise right?
I think we need more information...
Please tell us more about the hunt for Red October
:O)
(Disappointed you let that one slip through your fingers John!)
another reason to use a non-MS operating system
... that is open source and relatively much more secure. Anyone using windows is at much risk relative to non windows systems. (because windows is bloated, has a large API (official and unofficial) attack surface, is badly coded, executes code by default, (or due to file extensions hiding tricking people to do it), is closed source so no one can verify it except MS and so on.
Yes you can get trojans onto other operating systems, but trojans are much easier to defend against, you train the users.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
I was not aware that MS made adriod and the iphone.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Whoever put together the "Eadon" script needs to tweak it so that it dosen't automatically presume that any story about a compromise is an MS story.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Clearly, once Eadon and RICHTO collide, they will annihilate in a burst of gamma rays thelike of which the blogosphere has never seen.
Unfortunately they do not have attractive charge, so it may take some time until that happens.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
> once Eadon and RICHTO collide, they will annihilate
Oh please, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease...
Vic.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Did you bother to read the article?
"The researchers said the malware also has the capability to steal data from smartphones including Android handsets, iPhones and Windows Phone mobes - including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and HTC models."
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Did you bother to read the article?"
But, does it mean this malware can infect those various phones or does it look for one being plugged into a Windows PC and simply steal the data that way?
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Eadon, you really need to lay off the double espressos for a while.
Relax. Chill. Have beer. Heck, have a whole crate. Not every mention of the word "Microsoft" deserves an immediate "BAD! BAD! EVIL!! KILL IT! STUPID IF YOU USE IT!" sort of reaction - I'm positive you could construct a more coherent set of arguments supported with facts if you didn't feel compelled to follow a sort of (if contains "Microsoft" then screech loudly) algorithm (hold your horses, coders, I haven't written code in 25 years so it's crap - just stay with the principle).
Yes, I prefer other platforms too over Windows, but I am not going to jump into every... single... story... with... essentially the same style comments (maybe delete your templates?). Present some facts. Show a study where in an instance that relates to the story (important) Linux came out better. That would be good - everyone likes facts they can use, and I'm sure you would be able to find them (I am generously assuming you're not a mouth-frothing fanatic here).
Otherwise you're doing nothing more than damaging that OS you apparently love so much, which would be a shame.
Chill :)
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Unfortunately they do not have attractive charge
Yup - can't find *any* attraction there
/me runs away quickly
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Durr. You think NATO and the EU are going to switch all their users to linux?
Oh wait, Android is linux. What's your next suggestion?
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
>Clearly, once Eadon and RICHTO collide...
I'm starting to wonder if Eadon and RICHTO are one and the same... the two prongs of the same forked tongue.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
> Whoever put together the "Eadon" script needs to tweak it so that it dosen't automatically presume that any story about a compromise is an MS story.
"malware including a Trojan dropper. Microsoft Office and Microsoft Excel vulnerabilities were exploited to infect targeted systems"
What ever you do don't blame Windows ...
The writer did actually manage to *not* mention Windows in relation to malware , in the whole of the article. Where it did give a mention to Windows , it was lumped in with those well-known virus vectors .. Android and iPhones. There type of reports are only of interest as to how they manage to not not lay the blame squarely at the door of the blame-worthy. That such security breeches can still occur in 2013 beggars disbelief.
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
I have windows at home---but I don't consider it as anything but a toy operating system---I use it for toys such as certain a epson scanner and steam games collection. I never use it for anything serious.
I would never trust it in security terms either. Frightening though, that politicians are using MS windows, apparently without proper protection.
Re: What ever you do don't blame Windows ...
I find it funny that android can be a vector for a virus... like its immune but it infects windows machines.
Re: What ever you do don't blame Windows ...
those well-known virus vectors .. Android and iPhones
I'm intrigued - could you point me to the iPhone virus vectors? I must have missed that while on holidays and it's good to know the facts. I have tried Google but all I get are problems with jailbroken phones, which I do not consider a worry (you take that route, you have to deal with the consequences).
Facts, please
Re: another reason to use a non-MS operating system
Yes, MS office vulnerabilities used to infect Android phones.
Err...
Putin, Putin, Puddin' and Pie.
"Based on the registration data of C2 servers and the numerous artifacts left in executables of the malware, there is strong technical evidence to indicate the attackers have Russian-speaking origins,"
Comrade, say it isn't so.
Re: Putin, Putin, Puddin' and Pie.
More likely Chinese working with Iranians who are secretly controlled by Mossad who are financed by the US who are controlled by space lizards.
Re: Putin, Putin, Puddin' and Pie.
I think your logic accelerator needs skid control - there are no space lizards.
Re: Putin, Putin, Puddin' and Pie.
" there are no space lizards."
Nope, they were all born here on Earth
Russian humor, or someone making fun of them?
Did you see the names of the registrants of some of the C&C domains?
Sergej Dumkovski
Denis Dumkov
Denis Ustuygov (used-to-gov?)
Igor Shaven
A sense of humour
Dumkov and Dumkovski seem to be a variation on the same name thus might be a made-up one. Ustyugov would (Устюгов, there is a town Великий Устюг) -- again sounds artificial. Igor Shaven is the most unusual but plausible.
However, all these people if real, might be unaware of this "Red October".
Russian?
"Dumkov" is "Dummkopf" which is German and Ustugov looks like an English joke. Hate to say it but American or British are good bets. But spying on NATO .... hmm. That needs at least one beer.
Re: Russian?
It doesn't say they were spying on NATO, it says NATO was one of the customers of the Acid Cryptofiler product, a product that the malware could penetrate.
I have zero doubt that the USA spies on the EU and EU nations. I have zero doubt that major EU nations spy on the USA and on each other.
The artifacts of Russian in the code, those could have been inserted intentionally.
And the infecting country could well have infected some of its own machines, knowing that there would be no harm in doing so.
You would probably have to look at what commands were sent, what data was sent back, from multiple infected machines from multiple countries, to try to figure out which country was behind this.
So this is where all those snoopy privacy destroying logs that ISPs are supposed to keep on us all are supposed to come in.
So, do they have logs from the past few years that they can go back and look at? Or do our rulers exempt themselves from surveillance?
FSB 1, NATO 0
First half result in the new electronic Cold War....
Re: FSB 1, NATO 0
Surely whoever made this malware (assuming it is the Russians) is now 1 down and not 1 up on the enemy (NATO) since they've just been discovered.
NATO's (or whoever) malware is still out there, undetected.
Re: FSB 1, NATO 0
Nah 5 years running without detection they are definitely 1 up, I am sure they expected it to be discovered well before now.
NATO couldn't find its bottom without a ton of bureaucratic red tape, seriously doubt they could pull off something this clever, unless of course the yanks or Israelis gave them access to the guys who came up with Stuxnet and the other clones.
Re: FSB 1, NATO 0
If i read between the lines of the article correctly, then the malware was looking for Crytofiler files and sending them back home, where they can be thrown to the supercomputers for decrypting. Nice.
WTF - "Acid Cryptofiler"
Is it just me or does one get the feeling that an application named like something written by "l33t Haxorz" should probably be shunned for anything more than keeping wife from finding the pr0n collection?
What is wrong with PGP or SSH? Too boring?
Re: WTF - "Acid Cryptofiler"
Perhaps the first part of the name is a little nod at the inspiration behind the second? B-)
Cryptofiler
According to Wikipedia, Cryptofiler isn't used for classified information.
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