Phishing, Pharming, and the latest potholes on the Information Highway A Presentation by Ian Loe,...

Phishing, Pharming, and the latest potholes on the Information Highway

A Presentation by Ian Loe, CISSP

04/18/23 COM125: Intro to Internet 2

Agenda

Malware Latest potholes on the Information Highway

Spyware Phishing Pharming

Security industry approach to emerging Malware

Security Recommendations Q & A


Malware

Short for malicious software

Any software designed

specifically

to damage or disrupt a system


Traditional Types of Malware

Virus Attaches itself to a program or file and reproduces itself Cannot be spread without a human action

Worm Spreads without human intervention

Could send out thousands of copies of itself Tunnels into a system to control it remotely

Trojan Horse Appears to be useful software/files from a legit source Could delete files and destroy information on a system Creates a back door for malicious access spread Do not reproduce by infecting files nor self-replicate


Phishing and Pharming

belong to the family of Spyware

Along with many others:

Adware

Key loggers

Dialers

Downloaders

Back doors

Latest Types of Malware


What is Spyware?

Any software that covertly gathers information on user activities

through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge

and ships it off to an unknown third-party server

over the Internet


What is Adware?

Adware is Commercial Spyware

Developed by commercial

advertising companies

who claim “not malicious intent

Usually created for

advertising/marketing purposes


How does Spyware work?

Independent executable able to: Deliver unsolicited advertising – pop-up ads Monitor keystrokes Scan files on the hard drive Snoop other apps (e.g. chat, word processors) Install other Spyware programs Read cookies Change the default home page on the browser

Consistently relays info back to source for: Advertising/marketing purposes Selling the information to another party


Spyware Concerns

Ethics and privacy Computer’s resources Internet connection bandwidth System crashes or general instability Licensing agreements for software downloads may not

always be read The notice of a Spyware installation is couched in hard-to-

read legal disclaimers Producers of Adware also produce Anti-Spyware tools – It

is a profitable industry


Getting Spyware is Easy

Drive-By Installations Social engineering Spoof certificates

Web Exploits Every MS Security Bulleting that “Could Allow Code

Execution” can be used to install Spyware Bundles

Users unwittingly install the product when they install something else – freeware/shareware> Kazaa > Games> Pirated Software > Screensavers> Smileys > Anti-Spyware programs


Malicious Spyware Types

Key-loggers Log keystrokes and send over the Internet It steals information including passwords

Dialers Cause a user’s modem to dial a 900 or 976

number


Malicious Spyware Types (cont…)

Back doors Provide hacker with complete control (e.g. Back orifice)

Downloaders Download and install Spyware, Adware, key loggers,

dialers, back doors, etc Most commonly installed using web exploits

Phishing & Pharming


What is Phishing?

The act

of sending a message to a user

falsely claiming to be an established

legitimate enterprise in an attempt to

scam the user into surrendering

private information that will be used

for identity theft


Phishing Purpose

They will cast the bait and if you bite,

they can lure your personal information out of you

ID & Passwords

Credit Card Information

NRIC / Passport Information

Bank Account Numbers


Bogus Websites

to which victims are redirected without their knowledge or consent,

look the same as a genuine website

But information like

login name and passwordis captured by

criminals


Example of a Phishing email


Anti-Phishing Groups


Pharming Out-Scams Phishing

First came Phishing, in which con artists hooked unwary

internet users one by one into compromising their personal data

Pharmers can scoop up many victims

in a single pass


What is Pharming?

New use for a relatively old concept: domain spoofing

Pharmers simply redirect as many users as

possible from legitimate commercial websites

to malicious ones


Pharming most alarming threatDNS poisoning

Large group of users to be silently shuttled to a bogus website even when typing in the correct URL

You no longer have to click

a URL link

to hand over your information to

identity thieves


Certificate Mismatch


Technical Challenges

New and evolving technology

Quickly adopts all latest techniques from Viruses, Worms and Trojans

Attracts the best & brightest hackers

Application level threat – existing enterprise defenses lack granularity

Phishing, Pharming, and the latest potholes on the Information Highway A Presentation by Ian Loe,...

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