After investigating this issue, Unimax Communications has determined that the applications described in the posting are not malware...In reviewing these applications, however, Unimax Communications has determined that there may be a potential vulnerability in the Settings App library. Because of this, Unimax Communications has updated software to correct the potential vulnerability. To Unimax Communications' knowledge, no customer data has been compromised.
The main goal of our post was to inform and protect users: both those who are Malwarebytes customers and those who are not. More importantly, we brought this issue to the press in order to invoke a resolution when there was no other option available to UMX customers. Therefore, although we're glad Unimax took action so that our users and theirs could safely use their devices, we are disappointed that it took such public action to find a resolution in the first place.
Custom Trojans – Isn’t it Old News
In October 2019, we saw several complaints in our support system from users with a government-issued phone reporting that some of its pre-installed apps were malicious. We purchased a UMX U683CL to better assist our customers and verify their claims.
Thus, we detect this app as Android/PUP.Riskware.Autoins.Fota.fbcvd, a detection name that should sound familiar to Malwarebytes for Android customers. That's because the app is actually a variant of Adups, a China-based company caught collecting user data, creating backdoors for mobile devices and, yes, developing auto-installers.
Carroll at his introductory news conference: I have been an unpopular choice in many places. It is a challenge. I would say that to [athletic director Mike Garrett] and [president Steven Sample]; that I'm going to prove them right. ... Give me all of the problems, give me all of the pressure and that's where I would like to succeed.
Palmer recalled the first phone call he received from Carroll right after news broke that he'd been hired in 2000. He still doesn't know how he got his number. Carroll laid out his plan for what USC could be -- a perennial contender.
We have recently seen an increase in ransomware attacks where the encryption is executed from the virtualization platform (ESXi or Hyper-V hosts) rather than from inside each guest operating systems (Windows, Linux etc). The benefit of this method from the attackers' side is that they can encrypt numerous systems without having to reach them all over the network and obtain administrative privileges. This can greatly increase the scope and speed of the attack, which is bad news for us.
When we at Truesec perform Security Health Checks of customers' vSphere environments, we always give everyone the following fundamental recommendations, so do make sure you also work towards getting these under control:
The execInstalledOnly setting prohibits execution of custom code inside ESXi and will make the ESXi host simply refuse to execute anything that was not installed through a signed VIB package from a certified partner.
This is very easy to achieve in ESXi compared to a general purpose operating system like Windows or Linux. ESXi is by design an "appliance" which doesn't require any custom code to be run on it apart from VMware's own code and the drivers and utilities of certified partners. Combining execInstalledOnly with TPM and Secure Boot which tamper-proofs the existing VIBs gives us an excellent combination of protective measures against ransomware and other malware executing inside the ESXi hosts.
and then checking that we are allowed to execute a custom binary. Rather than executing a real ransomware, we used a test binary that displays a 'Hello world' message to indicate that it was allowed to run:
Ursnif is one of the most popular families of Windows banking trojans deployed by cyber criminals and the code behind it has been active in one form or another since at least 2007 when it first emerged in the Gozi banking trojan.
Nov. 9, 2017. A new ransomware specimen dubbed Ordinypt raises a red flag as it is more dangerous than the average crypto infection. This one zeroes in on German users and organizations. The bad news for all the victims is that Ordinypt completely cripples files instead of making them inaccessible through encryption. This means that there is absolutely no way to get the hostage data back.
Oct. 23, 2017. Microsoft finally launches the long-awaited anti-ransomware feature called Controlled Folder Access. It is included in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The feature blocks programs that attempt to make unauthorized changes to data in certain default paths and custom folders.
Sept. 28, 2017. Security researchers discover LaserLocker, a malicious tool designed to streamline the process of creating screen locking ransomware. All it takes to generate a custom locker is think up the ransom note and tick a few checkmarks for disabling things like System Restore and Task Manager on an infected host.
Sept. 7, 2017. In an attempt to circumvent detection by antimalware suites, the authors of the above-mentioned GlobeImposter ransomware manage to get their newest malicious binary signed with a valid digital signature. The good news is, the Comodo CA revoked the certificate later on that day.
Aug. 25, 2017. The Android ransomware ecosystem may significantly expand due to the emergence of a new Trojan development kit. The solution is being promoted on Chinese hacking forums. It streamlines the process of creating custom variants of the notorious Lockdroid ransomware.
July 26, 2017. IT security analysts from Italian university Politecnico di Milano create a Windows driver and custom filesystem called ShieldFS. Its objective is to identify ransomware on early stages of the infection chain, stop the malicious processes and undo unauthorized changes to data.
June 9, 2017. Cybercriminals break new ground with the first known Ransomware-as-a-Service targeting Macs. This malicious affiliate platform, MacRansom, allows would-be extortionists to obtain their custom build of the Trojan. The RaaS authors get a 30% cut of paid ransoms.
The ransomware frenzy got much worse in May. An unidentified cybercrime group launched the WannaCry, or WanaDecrypt0r 2.0, campaign hitting numerous high-profile victims and thousands of home users via NSA exploits. The good news is, several ransomware makers ended up releasing Master Decryption Keys for their crypto threats. Read this chronicle to stay on top of the current trends in the online extortion environment.
May 25, 2017. Linguists shed light on the attribution of the newsmaking WannaCry ransomware onslaught. Having scrutinized all the 28 language editions of the ransom notes, researchers from Flashpoint came to a conclusion that this wave is being operated by Chinese-speaking crooks.
Thumbs up to researchers who try to make the computer world safer by putting a spotlight on must-patch security loopholes in what seemed reliably protected. Unfortunately, the bad guys are starting to think out of the box as well. The good news is that no matter if you are confronted with a classic or novel ransomware scenario, you are good to go as long as you have a backup to restore data from.
The UN Human Rights Office and the mechanisms we support work on a wide range of human rights topics. Learn more about each topic, see who's involved, and find the latest news, reports, events and more.
In technical circles, one part of the iPad buzz has been its microprocessor, the A4, with a lack of detail from Apple (AAPL) fueling speculation about what it can or can't do. Unlike most of its other products, Apple went with its own custom semiconductor design. The prevailing opinion says that the chip is nothing special. However, it looks as though Apple has released some details -- through a number of patent applications -- and that there is something interesting going on in the silicon.
Jon Stokes at Ars Technica sums up the smart money view that there "just isn't anything to write home about" because the chip "is a 1GHz custom SoC with a single Cortex A8 core and a PowerVR SGX GPU" -- in other words, Apple's design is based on commercially-available semiconductor intellectual property:
Update April 7, 2017: Great article on using DSC to track down machines with SMB1 installed or enabled: -smb1-in-your-environment-with-d... Update June 19, 2017 - Group Policy to disable SMB1: -smbv1-through-group-policy/ Update June 30, 2017 - You have probably seen me announce this on twitter and in other public venues: Windows 10 RS3 (Fall Creators Update) and Windows Server 2016 RS3 have SMB1 uninstalled by default under most circumstances: . The full removal has begun. Make sure you check for products that may require updates or replacement to be used without the need for SMB1. Update July 7, 2017: if your vendor requires disabling SMB2 in order to force SMB1, they will also often require disabling oplocks. Disabling Oplocks is not recommended by Microsoft, but required by some older software, often due to using legacy database technology. Windows 10 RS3 and Windows Server 2016 RS3 allow a special oplock override workaround now for these scenarios - see . This is only a workaround - just like SMB1 oplock disable is only a workaround - and your vendor should update to not require it. Many have by now (I've spoken to some, at least) and their customers might still just be running an out of date version - call your suppliers. 2ff7e9595c
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