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Email compromise could be a $43bn problem

A close look at a new type of network, known as a Cloud Area Network.

The vulnerability is ‘critical’ with a CVSS severity rating of 9.8 out of 10.

Source code and Bitcoin transactions point to the malware, which emerged in March 2020, being the work of APT38, researchers at Trellix said.

Cloudflare is reporting a large DDoS attack against an unnamed company “operating a crypto launchpad.”

While this isn’t the largest application-layer attack we’ve seen, it is the largest we’ve seen over HTTPS. HTTPS DDoS attacks are more expensive in terms of required computational resources because of the higher cost of establishing a secure TLS encrypted connection. Therefore it costs the attacker more to launch the attack, and for the victim to mitigate it. We’ve seen very large attacks in the past over (unencrypted) HTTP, but this attack stands out because of the resources it required at its scale.

The attack only lasted 15 seconds. No word on motive. Was this a test? Or was that 15-second delay critical for some other fraud?

News article.

By Oliver Devane 

McAfee has identified several Youtube channels which were live-streaming a modified version of a live stream called ‘The B Word’ where Elon Musk, Cathie Wood, and Jack Dorsey discuss various aspects of cryptocurrency.  

The modified live streams make the original video smaller and put a frame around it advertising malicious sites that it claims will double the amount of cryptocurrency you send them. As the topic of the video is on cryptocurrency it adds some legitimacy to the websites being advertised.  

The original video is shown below on the left and a modified one which includes a reference to a scam site is shown on the right.  

 

 

We identified several different streams occurring at a similar same time. The images of some are shown below: 

 

The YouTube streams advertised several sites which shared a similar theme. They claim to send cryptocurrency worth double the value which they’ve received. For example, if you send 1BTC you will receive 2BTC in return. One of the site‘s frequently asked questions (FAQ) is shown below: 

Here are some more examples of the scam sites we discovered: 

The sites attempt to trick the visitors into thinking that others are sending cryptocurrency to it by showing a table with recent transactions. This is fake and is generated by JavaScript which creates random crypto wallets and amounts and then adds these to the table. 

The wallets associated with the malicious sites have received a large number of transactions with a combined value of $280,000 as of 5 PM UTC on the 5th of May 2022 

Scam Site	Crypto Type	Wallet	Value as on 5PM UTC 5th May 2022
22ark-invest[.]org	ETH	0x820a78D8e0518fcE090A9D16297924dB7941FD4f	$25,726.46
22ark-invest[.]org	BTC	1Q3r1TzwCwQbd1dZzVM9mdFKPALFNmt2WE	$29,863.78
2xEther[.]com	ETH	0x5081d1eC9a1624711061C75dB9438f207823E694	$2,748.50
2x-musk[.]net	ETH	0x18E860308309f2Ab23b5ab861087cBd0b65d250A	$10,409.13
2x-musk[.]net	BTC	17XfgcHCfpyYMFdtAWYX2QcksA77GnbHN9	$4,779.47
arkinvest22[.]net	ETH	0x2605dF183743587594A3DBC5D99F12BB4F19ac74	$11,810.57
arkinvest22[.]net	BTC	1GLRZZHK2fRrywVUEF83UkqafNV3GnBLha	$5,976.80
doublecrypto22[.]com	ETH	0x12357A8e2e6B36dd6D98A2aed874D39c960eC174	$0.00
doublecrypto22[.]com	BTC	1NKajgogVrRYQjJEQY2BcvZmGn4bXyEqdY	$0.00
elonnew[.]com	ETH	0xAC9275b867DAb0650432429c73509A9d156922Dd	$0.00
elonnew[.]com	BTC	1DU2H3dWXbUA9mKWuZjbqqHuGfed7JyqXu	$0.00
elontoday[.]org	ETH	0xBD73d147970BcbccdDe3Dd9340827b679e70d9d4	$18,442.96
elontoday[.]org	BTC	bc1qas66cgckep3lrkdrav7gy8xvn7cg4fh4d7gmw5	$0.00
Teslabtc22[.]com	ETH	0x9B857C44C500eAf7fAfE9ed1af31523d84CB5bB0	$27,386.69
Teslabtc22[.]com	BTC	18wJeJiu4MxDT2Ts8XJS665vsstiSv6CNK	$17,609.62
tesla-eth[.]org	ETH	0x436F1f89c00f546bFEf42F8C8d964f1206140c64	$5,841.84
tesla-eth[.]org	BTC	1CHRtrHVB74y8Za39X16qxPGZQ12JHG6TW	$132.22
teslaswell[.]com	ETH	0x7007Fa3e7dB99686D337C87982a07Baf165a3C1D	$9.43
teslaswell[.]com	BTC	bc1qdjma5kjqlf7l6fcug097s9mgukelmtdf6nm20v	$0.00
twittergive[.]net	ETH	0xB8e257C18BbEC93A596438171e7E1E77d18671E5	$25,918.90
twittergive[.]net	BTC	1EX3dG9GUNVxoz6yiPqqoYMQw6SwQUpa4T	$99,123.42

Scammers have been using social media sites such as Twitter and Youtube to attempt to trick users into parting ways with their cryptocurrency for the past few years. McAfee urges its customers to be vigilant and if something sounds too good to be true then it is most likely not legitimate.  

Our customers are protected against the malicious sites detailed in this blog as they are blocked with McAfee Web Advisor  

Type	Value	Product	Blocked
URL – Crypto Scam	twittergive[.]net	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	tesla-eth[.]org	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	22ark-invest[.]org	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	2xEther[.]com	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	Teslabtc22[.]com	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	elontoday[.]org	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	elonnew[.]com	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	teslaswell[.]com	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	2x-musk[.]net	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	doublecrypto22[.]com	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES
URL – Crypto Scam	arkinvest22[.]net	McAfee WebAdvisor	YES

 

The post Crypto Scammers exploit talk on Cryptocurrency appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Passwords: we entrust our most important data to these strings of letters, numbers, and special characters. So, we should make sure our passwords are words or phrases that we can easily remember, right? While this might be the most convenient option, there are more secure ways to digitally lock up your most sensitive personally identifiable information (PII). In celebration of World Password Day, we’re diving into how you can practice top-notch password security without compromising convenience.1  

The Nature of the Password 

Over the years, the password has remained a good first line of defense against cyberattacks. However, most of us tend to choose passwords based on memorable things from our lives, like family names or our pets’ birthdays. As it turns out, these details are easy for hackers to find on social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn. It’s also human nature to opt for convenience, and for many people that means setting easy-to-remember and easy-to-guess passwords. Plus, out of convenience, people often reuse passwords across multiple accounts and services. The downside is that if one account becomes compromised, all accounts become compromised. 

As an alternative to single-word passwords, many security experts advocate for passphrases over passwords. Passphrases are longer strings of words and characters that are easier for you to remember and harder for nefarious software and cybercriminals to guess than random strings of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. But, according to a study, the average American internet user was projected to have 300 online accounts by 2022.2 Can you imagine memorizing 300 different passphrases? We can all agree that sounds pretty unrealistic, so users tend to look for other solutions.  

Do You Save Your Password in a Browser?  

If the answer is yes, you may want to reconsider, as there are several risks associated with this practice. Although it’s convenient to have your browser save your passwords, they tend to do a lousy job of safeguarding your passwords, credit card numbers and personal details, such as your name and address. 

Let’s take Google Chrome, for example. Unlike most dedicated password managers, Chrome doesn’t use a primary password to encrypt all your credentials. (Note that some browsers do use one, and are therefore more secure, though you’ll still need to trust your browser provider.) This makes your Chrome-stored passwords relatively weak to “local” attacks. For example, if someone gets hold of—or guesses—your Windows password, they can then see all the logins stored in your browser’s password manager. 

Another consideration to note is that the security of all your accounts is tied to your browser account’s security. Let’s say you use the sync option to make your credentials available on all your devices. This means that logins are stored in the cloud and, though encrypted, if someone manages to hack into your browser account, they will gain access to all your logins.  

Keep Your Accounts Secure Without Compromising Convenience 

What can you do to help ensure your online profiles are kept safe without spending hours managing a complex list of passwords? Here are some easy ways to lock down your digital life without sacrificing convenience:  

Use a password manager to store unique, complex passwords for all your accounts 

A password manager is a software application that stores your passwords and other sensitive information. You can install it on computers or mobile devices and store all passwords in an encrypted file (or database). The best option is to use a password manager like McAfee True Key to store and create strong, random passwords for each site you visit. You’ll have one primary password that grants access to the rest of them—ideally, a long and random passphrase that you can remember. Once everything is set up, it should be seamless. As you log in to new sites, the password manager will offer to save your credentials for later use. 

Turn on two-factor authentication for every site that offers it 

One of the best ways to protect your accounts against unauthorized access is to turn on two-factor authentication for every site that offers it. Using two-factor authentication means a site will prompt you for a unique security code, in addition to your password, whenever you log in to an account for which you have enabled this feature.  

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security by requiring another form of identification after you enter your username and password. Some services send a temporary passcode over a text message. Others require the user to approve login attempts from new devices using an app. If someone steals your device or gains access to your account details, they’re out of luck unless they also have access to this second piece of information. Two-factor authentication is available on a wide range of websites and can help keep your accounts safe from would-be hackers, so you should always use it when available.  

Use a virtual private network (VPN) when out and about 

A VPN, or virtual private network, encrypts your data and masks your online behavior from snooping third parties. When you go to a website, your computer connects to the server where the site is hosted, and that website can see a certain amount of data about you and your computer. With a VPN, you connect to a private server first, which scrambles your data and makes it more difficult for digital eavesdroppers to track what you’re doing online. 

VPNs can provide users with greater peace of mind when on the go. Say you’re traveling on a business trip and need to connect to the Wi-Fi network provided by your hotel. Shifty characters often lurk on unprotected, free networks (such as those provided by hotels, coffee shops, airports, etc.) to lift PII from people handling sensitive emails, making banking transactions, or shopping online.  encrypts your online activity with bank-grade encryption to protect your data from prying eyes. With a premium paid plan, you can protect up to five devices at once and enjoy unlimited data protection.  

The Best of Both Worlds: Security and Convenience 

With your growing number of accounts all requiring passwords—emails, social media profiles, online banking—it’s no wonder that people tend to reuse passwords across multiple sites. This may be convenient, but it creates significant security risks if a suspicious actor manages to obtain one of your passwords and attempts to use it elsewhere. That’s why having strong passwords matters. 

Do yourself a favor and opt for a dedicated password manager that will auto-save and store your credentials for you, so you only have one password to remember. Who says security and simplicity can’t coexist?  

The post This World Password Day, Here’s How a Password Manager Can Simplify Your Life appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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