Malware What is malware? Malware: malicious software worm - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Malware What is malware? Malware: malicious software worm - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Malware What is malware? Malware: malicious software worm ransomware adware virus trojan horse etc. and how do we fight it? AV software Firewalls Filtering Patching Writing more secure software
SLIDE 1
SLIDE 2
What is malware?
- Malware: malicious software
- worm
- ransomware
- adware
- virus
- trojan horse
- etc.
SLIDE 3
… and how do we fight it?
- AV software
- Firewalls
- Filtering
- Patching
- Writing more secure software
- Training users
SLIDE 4
How to Monetize Malware
- Botnets
- Networking infected computers together
- Sending instructions to those computers to do things like:
- Send spam
- Mine cryptocurrency
- Perform ad fraud
- Perform DDoS attacks
- Stealing banking credentials
- Stealing Bitcoin and other alternative currencies
- Ransoming the computer
- Pay per install software
SLIDE 5
How malware spreads
- Attachments in emails
- Other social engineering
- Drive-by downloads
- Spreading itself
SLIDE 6
Vulnerabilities vs. Exploits
- Vulnerability: hole in software
- Exploit: code written to use vulnerability to gain
unauthorized access to something
- There’s way more known vulnerabilities than known
exploits.
- https://www.exploit-db.com/ vs. https://nvd.nist.gov/
SLIDE 7
Zero Day Attacks
- Realized exploit comes before known vulnerability
- Fairly rare
- Zero days are expensive — 1.5 million USD for
Apple iOS 10 exploit
- Overwhelmingly, exploits in the wild are not 0day.
SLIDE 8
Morris Worm
- Created in 1988 by Robert Morris
- Purportedly to measure the Internet
- Infected 10% of computers connected to the
Internet
- Slowed down computers to where they became
unusable.
SLIDE 9
Morris Worm
- Exploited Unix systems through:
- sendmail
- finger
- rsh
- weak passwords
- Note that the vulnerabilities that he exploited were known.
- Buggy: installed itself multiple times, didn’t phone home, etc.
SLIDE 10
Effects of Morris Worm
- CERT organizations worldwide
- CERT-CC at CMU funded by the US gov
- Patching known vulnerabilities
- More attention to computer security
SLIDE 11
Conficker
- Computer worm first appearing in November 2008
- Sinkholed in 2009
- Good guys registered domain names used for
attacks
- Operators arrested in 2011
- Still infecting computers today
- Millions of infections — hard to count.
SLIDE 12
Conficker — how it spreads
- Conficker-A: Vulnerability in Windows. Infected
machines scanned IP space for more machines.
- Conficker-B: Added infected USB devices, shared
network folders with weak passwords.
- Conficker C: Hardened new command and control
infrastructure and added fake AV as a monitization.
- Conficker D-E: Turned from centralized botnet to
peer-to-peer
SLIDE 13
Conficker Infections over Time
SLIDE 14
Reaction to Conficker
- Patch released before worm, yet patch rate was
slow.
- Large scale anti-botnet effort
- Microsoft added security updates for unlicensed
software
- Conficker botnet shrank at a slower pace than the
market share of Windows XP / Vista
SLIDE 15
Stuxnet
- Worm first known about in 2010, detected as early
as 2005
- Built by the US and Israeli governments to attack
Iranian nuclear program
- Targets PLCs through Windows computers
- Infected over 200,000 Windows machines
SLIDE 16
Stuxnet - how it spreads
- Use zero day exploits to compromise Windows
machines
- Spread using USB drives, peer-to-peer RPC
- Bridges computers connected to the Internet
with those that aren’t
- Attacks files connected to certain SCADA software
- Hijacks communication
SLIDE 17
Reaction to Stuxnet
- Cyberwarfare IRL
- Car bomb attacks against Iranians by Iranian
government
- Some efforts to isolate important PLCs better:
- Similar effort against North Korea failed
- Doqu/Flame
SLIDE 18
Drive by downloads
- Website infected with malware
- Malware injects code into webpage
- That code infects those who visit it by directing
them to an exploit kit through an intermediary
SLIDE 19
How are websites targeted?
- Find an exploit in a certain piece of software
- Use Google Dorks to find websites with that
vulnerability
- Compromised advertising
- Other ways?
SLIDE 20
Exploit Kits
- Each machine has different software on it
- Uses a host of exploits to infect a machine
- Exploit kits can be bought or rented
SLIDE 21
Fake Antivirus
- Installs itself on your machine and forces you to
buy software
- Many people buy this software
- Largely shut down by shutting down payment
processors
SLIDE 22
Ransomware
- Encrypts all your files using a key:
- Old: same key for all
- New: different key for each system
- Requires victim to pay criminal to get files back:
- Old: Payments through Western Union and the like
- New: Payments through Bitcoin