Get cutting-edge security as it happens. McAfee Labs Blog delivers the latest research, analysis and insights into the evolving threat landscape, powered by comprehensive, real-time Global Threat Intelligence and a dedicated team of multidisciplinary researchers. Read our experts’ tips and techniques to help you avoid and defeat the latest malware trends, and view portions of the actual research to stay even more informed.
One of my friends recently locked himself out of his apartment. I found this out when I called him, because while he didn’t have his keys he did have his smartphone. This was one of those times he wished he lived in one of those hotels with the Assa Abloy NFC enabled locks.
It turns out he doesn’t need to go to a hotel to open his door with a phone. Kwikset will soon be selling Kevo, a new deadbolt that can be unlocked with a bluetooth enabled phone. You can switch out your old door locks with one of these newer models
Tags: Bluetooth, iphone security, keyless, locks, mobile devices and security threats, mobile security
Financial theft is one of the most lucrative forms of cybercrime. Malware authors continue to deliver sophisticated tools and techniques to unlock online bank accounts. Attackers design and develop botnets to perform financial fraud, targeting banks and other institutions for profit. These botnets traditionally have monitored victims’ Internet activities and intercepted banking transactions to extract Read more…
Tags: banking fraud, botnet, Citadel, financial institutions
The malicious binary behind the Travnet botnet has been updated. The new code has a new compression algorithm, steals the list of running processes, adds new file extensions to its list of files to steal, and has improved its control commands. Also, after the malware has uploaded the stolen files on its remote server, the Read more…
Tags: botnet, data theft, PCRat, RAT, Travnet
This past April (4/19 to 4/21) I had the great pleasure and experience of joining the Red Team at 9th NCCDC competition. It was actually my 2nd year on the Red Team and 4th year to attend in total (I judged in 2010 and 2011). McAfee is actually a perpetual Read more…
Tags: anti-virus, critical infrastructure, Cybercrime, Data Protection, global threat intelligence, internet security, labs, malware, McAfee, McAfee Labs, NCCDC, Network Security, Red Team, Risk and Compliance, security
[This blog was primarily written by Xiaoning Li of Intel Labs, with assistance from Peter Szor of McAfee Labs.] In February 2013, the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) released security advisory APSA13-02. In that report they listed two vulnerabilities (CVE-2013-0640 and CVE-2013-0641) that were widely exploited. At Intel Labs and McAfee Labs we Read more…
Tags: Adobe, Adobe Reader, APSA13-02, ASLR, CVE-2013-0640, CVE-2013-0641, DEP, PDF, return-oriented programming, ROP, stack pivoting
Update on May 2 Adobe has confirmed this vulnerability and has scheduled a patch release for May 14. Looking back this year’s RSA Conference, you might have the feeling that the current threat landscape is primarily a series of advanced attacks. This concept includes well-known advanced persistent threats (APTs) and zero-day vulnerability exploits. To Read more…
Tags: 0 day vulnerability, Adobe Reader, Advanced Persistent Threat, APT, detection, email tracking service, exploit, PDF, tracking usage, Zero-Day
In a McAfee Labs blog by my colleague Vikas Taneja last month, he discussed high-level functioning in the malware Travnet. Since then we have continued to analyze different samples and now classify Travnet as a botnet rather than a Trojan because of the presence of control code, and the malware’s ability to wait for further Read more…
Tags: botnet, data theft, Travnet
McAfee Labs Messaging Security recently observed a spam campaign based on the Boston Marathon bombing and the Texas fertilizer plant explosion. The messages take advantage of our interest in these tragic events to lure victims to malware and exploits. Last week my colleague Paras Gupta blogged about the use of the Blackhole exploit kit to Read more…
Tags: bombings, Boston Marathon, Exploit Kit, Red Kit, spam, Texas fertilizer plant explosion
Spam campaigns based on the Blackhole Exploit Kit send messages that contain links to compromised legitimate websites, which serve hidden iframes and redirections that exploit vulnerabilities across operating systems–from Android to Windows. Spam themes we have seen vary rapidly and are disguised to appear as legitimate messages from familiar services. Campaigns spoofing Facebook, LinkedIn, American Read more…
Tags: Blackhole Exploit Kit, spam
Last week McAfee Labs reported a series of “one-click fraud” malware on Google Play in Japan. We have been monitoring this fraudulent activity and have found more than 120 additional variants on Google Play since the previous report. The malicious developers upload five or six applications per account using three to five accounts every night, Read more…
Tags: Android security, Android/OneClickFraud, Google Play, one-click fraud, online safety
Posts in McAfee Labs