rootkit

Pierluigi Paganini June 01, 2015
Mac zero-day makes rootkit infection very easy

A security researcher discovered a zero-day vulnerability in many Mac firmware that could allow an easy installation of an EFI rootkits. The cyber security expert Pedro Vilaça has discovered a low-level zero-day vulnerability in Apple Mac systems that could be exploited by privileged users to more install an EFI rootkits. Vilaça explained that the attack is […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 08, 2015
GPU-based malware, the evolution of rootkits and keyloggers

Malware developers have presented two proof-of-concept malware, a rootkit and a keylogger, which exploit the GPU of the infected host. Malware authors always demonstrate a great creativity and the ability to propose even more effective solutions, recently developers have published two strains of malware, Jellyfish rootkit and the Demon keylogger, that implement an unusual way to run on a victim’s […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 09, 2015
Linux DDoS Trojan embeds RootKit component

Security experts at Avast have analyzed a new strain of DDoS trojan targeting Linux operating system dubbed XOR.DDoS which embeds a RootKit component. Security experts at Avast have identified a new strain of Linux DDoS Trojan with a built-in rootkit. Researchers suspect that a threat actor is recruiting a large number bots that could be […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 02, 2014
A new way to bypass Secure Boot security mechanism of UEFI

Security Experts discovered a new attack method to defeat Secure Boot security mechanism of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The Secure Boot security mechanism of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) can be circumvented on around half of PCs that use it, security researcher Corey Kallenberg from nonprofit research organization Mitre has demonstrated it at […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 13, 2014
Is the Agent.btz malware the link between Snake and Red October?

The agent.btz malware may have served as starting point for malware Turla and the malicious code used in the Red October campaign. In the last weeks we have discussed about the Snake platform used in a large-scale cyber espionage campaign that targeted highly secured systems belonging to Governments and Military all over the world. Experts […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 08, 2014
SNAKE – The last cyber espionage campaign on a large scale

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence has disclosed a Russian cyber espionage campaign codenamed as SNAKE that targeted Governments and Military Networks. The British cyber specialist BAE Systems Applied Intelligence has disclosed a Russian cyber espionage campaign codenamed as SNAKE that remained undetected for a log time, at least for eight years. The malware can infiltrate Windows XP, Vista, 7 […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 03, 2014
Uroburos rootkit, is it part of Russian Cyber weapon programme?

Researchers at German G Data published an interesting analysis for Uroborun rootkit alleged to be a component of Russian cyber weapons programme. Uroburos is considered an advanced rootkit that is active since as far back as 2011, it is used to infect networks belonging to high-level targets, stealing data after setting up rogue P2P networks, it targets […]

Pierluigi Paganini March 02, 2014
Government-built malware and cyber weapons will run out of control

F-Secure’s Chief Mikko Hyppönen at the TrustyCon explained the risk that Government-built malware and cyber weapons will run out of control. F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer Company Mikko Hyppönen at the TrustyCon conference in San Francisco explained that almost every government is spending a great effort to improve its cyber capabilities building a cyber weapon. “Governments writing […]

Pierluigi Paganini November 22, 2012
New “experimental” rootkit menaces Linux OS

Yesterday I wrote about a new variant of malware able to use Google Docs function to hide communications to C&C servers, but daily we read about malicious agents that compromise  every OS, also the ones considered most secure from security community. Recently security experts have detected a rootkit designed to infect Linux machines implementing an infection schema […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 25, 2012
McAfee Report on alarming growth of cyber threats

I find really interesting the report released by security firms regarding the principal cyber threats and the related evolution. This time I desire to share the data proposed in the by McAfee Labs in its McAfee Threats Report – First Quarter 2012. Let’s start observing that this first part of year have registered an impressive […]