New Attacks (and Old Attacks Made New)

The adware threat is going mobile: The world over, adware tops the list of malware infections for most regions — exceeding one-quarter of all infection types for North America and Oceania, and almost one-quarter for Europe. No longer just a nuisance, this type of attack has gone mainstream and is increasingly being found in published apps posted to legitimate app stores.

Malware tools are being democratized: Multiple users benefit from FOSS utilities designed for things like penetration testing, event or log management, and malware detection, posted on sharing sites like GitHub. They help threat researchers analyze exploits, security teams test their defenses, and security instructors to use real-life examples when building instructional labs or training students. However, because these "openware" tools are available to all, cybercriminals also have access to them. And fourth-quarter data shows that they are increasingly leveraging and weaponizing these openware tools into new threats, especially ransomware. The same is true for open source malware, such as the Mirai Internet of Things (IoT) botnet launched in 2016. Since its developers released its code on the Internet, dozens of variants have been released.

Steganography is making a comeback: Steganography hides something (malicious code, for example) within something else, often in plain sight. It is an old attack from well over a decade ago that now is most commonly seen in "capture the flag" competitions. But in the fourth quarter of 2018, we observed that it is getting its second wind. New steganography samples found by our threat researchers showed malicious payloads were being hidden inside memes being passed around on social media, most commonly on Twitter. During the attack process, after an infected image has been loaded and made contact with its command and control host, the malware is instructed to look for additional images in an associated Twitter feed that contain hidden commands, such as /print (screen capture) and /processes (write list of running processes).

Physical security and the IP network are expanding the threat landscape: Half of the top 12 global exploits identified in the fourth quarter targeted IoT devices, and four of those top 12 were related to IP-enabled security cameras. In an ironic twist, malicious actors are increasingly targeting connected security cameras because, like many IoT devices, they lack the network security protocols necessary to protect themselves. Gaining access to IoT IP cameras could allow cybercriminals to snoop on private interactions or enact malicious on-site activities (like shutting off cameras to make it easier to physically access a restricted areas). They could also use those cameras as a launching pad to break into the network to start distributed denial-of-service attacks, steal proprietary information, initiate a ransomware attack, and more. Even more concerning, as cybersecurity and physical security continue to merge, compromised IoT security devices can become a conduit to more critical systems such as alarms and fire suppression systems.