Multiple hacker groups are using a "construction kit" supplied by the author of a Trojan horse program discovered in October 2006 to develop and unleash more dangerous variants of the original malware.
Already such variants have stolen sensitive information belonging to at least 10,000 individuals and sent the data to rogue servers in China, Russia and the US, according to Don Jackson, a security researcher at SecureWorks based in the US.
The stolen data includes Social Security numbers, online account information, bank account and credit card numbers, usernames and passwords, and other data that users would usually input during an SSL session.
The hackers are literally infecting thousands of users with one particular variant and once that version of the Trojan is blocked by antivirus, the hackers simply launch a new one in its place
The Prg Trojan, as it has been dubbed by SecureWorks, is a variant of another Trojan called wnspoem that was unearthed in October 2006. Similar to wnspoem, the Prg Trojan and its variants are designed to sniff sensitive data from Windows internal memory buffers before the data is encrypted and sent to SSL-protected Web sites.
The Trojans are programmed to send the stolen data to multiple servers around the world where it is stored in encrypted fashion and sold to others looking for such information. An analysis of log files on the servers storing the stolen data shows that a lot of the information is coming from corporate PCs, Jackson said.
The variants include a new function that allows them to listen on TCP port 6081 and wait for a remote attacker to connect and issue commands for forwarding data or for rummaging through files on the compromised system, Jackson said.
The newer variants are also more configurable and can be programmed to send stolen data to its final destination via a chain of proxy servers.
The new Prg variants encrypt stolen data differently from the original version, making older analysis tools obsolete, he said.
What makes the threat from the Prg Trojan especially potent is the availability of a construction toolkit that allows hackers to develop and release new versions of the code faster than antivirus vendors can devise applications, Jackson said.
The toolkit allows hackers to recompile and pack the malicious code in countless subtly different ways so as to evade detection by antivirus engines typically looking for specific signatures to identify and block threats, Jackson said.
The toolkit appears to have been developed by the Russian authors of the original wnspoem Trojan and comes complete with a three-page instruction manual in Russian instructing buyers how to use it. Originally, the kit appears to have been sold to other hacker groups for around $US1000. But more recently it appears to have been posted on an underground site, where others have been downloading and using it, Jackson said.
"The hackers are literally infecting thousands of users with one particular variant and once that version of the Trojan is blocked by antivirus, the hackers simply launch a new one in its place," Jackson said.
One of the groups using the construction kit has been naming its attacks after makes of cars, including Ford, Bugatti and Mercedes, according to a SecureWorks description of the Trojan. The group has been spreading versions of the Trojan by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the ADODB database wrapper library and other components of Windows and Internet Explorer, according to SecureWorks.
That group alone may have snared data from more than 8000 victims. Data stolen by this group's Trojans are sent to servers based in the US and China, according to SecureWorks.
Another group using the toolkit has been naming its attacks using the letter "H" and has sent its variants via spam e-mails to various individuals, SecureWorks said.
One recent attack involved an e-mail with a subject line reading "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY". Data stolen by this group's Trojans is being sent back to servers in Russia. According to Jackson, many of those servers have separate staging areas on them with multiple versions of Prg Trojan programs that can be released as older versions get detected by antivirus software.
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The 2007 security hall of shame 27 December, 2007 07:47:46
Bad breaches, ghastly gaffes and five people we'd like to forgetHow bad was 2007 for breaches, vulnerabilities and similar mayhem? On the bright side, it was better than 2008 is forecast to be. With more of every sort of meltdown predicted -- more criminalization of the hacker community, more Web-application attacks, more phishing, more spamming, more zero-day attacks and more virtualization-related threats -- we're happy to tell you that you are likely to look back on 2007 as the peaceful old days. - +
True crime: The botnet barons 04 January, 2008 07:03:57
Two weeks ago, the feds revealed the names of eight people who had used botnets to engage in nefarious activity. Here are their storiesWhen federal agents announced on November 29 that they'd indicted or convicted eight individuals accused of using botnets (networks of computers infected with Trojan horse applications) to engage in criminal activity, the press release barely explained the nature and extent of the men's crimes -- or the investigations that led to arrests in an operation the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have termed Bot Roast II.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. - White PaperView this webcast and discover the drivers for changing network design practices, why many organisations are changing their approach to network architecture and how enterprises should be moving forward with open architecture multi-vendor network solutions. Register now and learn how your business can maximize the business value of the enterprise network.
- White PaperJoin industry expert Bob Spurzem and Chuck Arconi of Fox Hollow to discover how to reduce Exchange total storage and keep it at a manageable level. Learn how Exchange storage growth can be contained without sacrificing security and accessibility.
- White PaperJoin Lee Benjamin, a Microsoft Exchange MVP and Ryan Shipkowski, network administrator for Matthews, to discuss the process and ROI of implementing an email archiving solution, with emphasis on a case study from Matthews International.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
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CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
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Chris Hoff on Virtualization and Cloud Computing 20 November, 2008 10:55:00
Chris Hoff, chief security architect for the systems and technology division at Unisys and an advisor on the Skybox Security customer advisory board, is one of the biggest critics of virtualization security out there. Not because it isn't important - but rather because it is vital and needs to mature rapidly. - +
Cybersecurity is focus of new start-up incubator 20 November, 2008 07:19:00
Texas uni announces the Institute for Cyber Security.The University of Texas at San Antonio Tuesday announced a technology incubator aimed at fostering IT security-based start-ups within the state. - +
Dilip Sarangan on Physical Security M&A 20 November, 2008 11:18:00
Dilip Sarangan tracks physical security companies for Frost & Sullivan. He expects the industry's "need to have" products to weather the economic storm well, with the big players (now including IBM and Cisco) looking for value-priced acquisitions. - +
International Challenges in PCI Security 20 November, 2008 09:15:00
In a country that's seen many regulatory compliance challenges this decade, the headaches of PCI security tend to be analyzed from a largely American perspective. - +
PCI council sharpens oversight of security auditors 19 November, 2008 10:53:00
Quality assurance plan targets security assessors and scanning vendorsThe PCI Security Standards Council Monday unveiled a plan to sharpen oversight of the hundreds of security-service providers now authorized to evaluate merchant networks under the organization's Payment Card Industry data standards.
Vignette Announces 2008 Excellence Awards 21 November, 2008 10:50:00
PGP and Ponemon Institute Unveil Inaugural Australian Data Breach Study 2008 20 November, 2008 17:34:00
Symantec Cloud Services Transform Data Centre Operations Through Proactive Management 20 November, 2008 12:06:00
Verizon Business Offers Tips to Building a Successful Unified Communications and Collaboration Plan 20 November, 2008 12:04:00
AARNet Brings 4K Digital Cinema to Australia: First 4K HD Video Signal delivered into Australia by AARNet 20 November, 2008 12:02:00
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