Showing posts with label Ransomware. Show all posts
New Ransomware program threatens to publish user files
The program's creators try to scare users into paying by threatening to publish their files online.
Ransomware creators have taken their extortion one step further: In addition to encrypting people's private files and demanding money before releasing a key, they now threaten to publish those files on the Internet if they're not paid.
This worrying development has recently been observed in a new ransomware program dubbed Chimera that was documented by the Anti-Botnet Advisory Centre, a service of the German Association of the Internet Industry.
The attackers behind this new threat target mainly businesses by sending rogue emails to specific employees that masquerade as job applications or business offers. The emails contain a link to a malicious file hosted on Dropbox.
Once Chimera infects a computer it starts encrypting the local files. After the first reboot it displays a ransom note on the user's desktop. The attackers ask for a payment of around 630 euro ($685) in Bitcoin in order to provide the decryption key.
Up to this point, the process is similar to that followed by other ransomware programs. However, Chimera's creators have taken their intimidation attempts to a new low. In their ransom note they claim that if they're not paid they will publish the user's files on the Internet.
There's no evidence that any victim's personal data has yet been released online, the German Anti-Botnet Advisory Centre said in a blog post.It's not clear if the ransomware program does indeed siphon off user files before or after encrypting them. But the threat could be enough to scare even users who have backups into paying.
Ransomware programs typically encrypt data locally and don't upload it to command-and-control servers because that would require a lot of storage space, even if attackers restrict the theft to certain file types such as pictures.But the prospect of this happening in the future is scary, as it would pose a major privacy risk to businesses and consumers alike.
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Hacking techniques!
1. Phishing
Phishing is still the most popular attack vector used for hacking Facebook accounts. There are variety methods to carry out phishing attack. In a simple phishing attacks a hacker creates a fake log in page which exactly looks like the real Facebook page and then asks the victim to log in. Once the victim log in through the fake page the, the victims "Email Address" and "Password" is stored in to a text file, and the hacker then downloads the text file and gets his hands on the victims credentials.
2. Keylogging
Keylogging is the easiest way to hack a Facebook password. Keylogging sometimes can be so dangerous that even a person with good knowledge of computers can fall for it. A Keylogger is basically a small program which, once is installed on victim's computer, will record every thing victim types on his/her computer. The logs are then send back to the attacker by either FTP or directly to hackers email address.
3. Stealer's
Almost 80% percent people use stored passwords in their browser to access the Facebook. This is quite convenient, but can sometimes be extremely dangerous. Stealer's are software's specially designed to capture the saved passwords stored in the victims Internet browser.
4. Session Hijacking
Session Hijacking can be often very dangerous if you are accessing Facebook on a http (non secure) connection. In Session Hijacking attack, a hacker steals the victims browser cookie which is used to authenticate the user on a website, and use it to access the victims account. Session hijacking is widely used on LAN, and WiFi connections.
5. Sidejacking With Firesheep
Sidejacking attack went common in late 2010, however it's still popular now a days. Firesheep is widely used to carry out sidejacking attacks. Firesheep only works when the attacker and victim is on the same WiFi network. A sidejacking attack is basically another name for http session hijacking, but it's more targeted towards WiFi users.
6. Mobile Phone Hacking
Millions of Facebook users access Facebook through their mobile phones. In case the hacker can gain access to the victims mobile phone then he can probably gain access to his/her Facebook account. Their are a lots of Mobile Spying software's used to monitor a Cellphone. The most popular Mobile Phone Spying software's are: Mobile Spy, and Spy Phone Gold.
7. DNS Spoofing
If both the victim and attacker are on the same network, an attacker can use a DNS spoofing attack and change the original Facebook page to his own fake page and hence can get access to victims Facebook account.
8. USB Hacking
If an attacker has physical access to your computer, he could just insert a USB programmed with a function to automatically extract saved passwords in the Internet browser.
9. Man In the Middle Attacks
If the victim and attacker are on the same LAN and on a switch based network, a hacker can place himself between the client and the server, or he could act as a default gateway and hence capturing all the traffic in between.