Top IT Security Bloggers

Arbor Networks
  • Dismantling a Nuclear Bot

    Arbor Networks
    A recent tweet mentioned that a new banking malware called “Nuclear Bot” has started to appear for sale on underground marketplaces. Its price starts around $2500 which is more than double the price of another recent entry to the market. This post dismantles a sample of this malware to determine whether we need to take […]
  • On the Economics, Propagation, and Mitigation of Mirai

    Arbor Networks
    By Kirk Soluk and Roland Dobbins In late November of 2016, a new Mirai variant emerged that leveraged a propagation mechanism different from the Telnet-based brute forcing mechanism originally provided in the leaked Mirai source code. This new variant exploits vulnerable implementations of the TR-064/TR-069 protocol used by ISPs to remotely manage their customer’s broadband […]
  • Analysis of CryptFile2 Ransomware Server

    Arbor Networks
    Download ASERT Threat Intelligence Report 2016-06 here This report describes several elements of a ransomware staging system using the Nemucod malware to deliver CryptFile2 (aka Hydracrypt.A and Win32/Filecoder.HydraCrypt.C) ransomware, an ongoing threat since at least mid-March of 2016. This report reveals TTP’s (tactics, techniques, procedures) of threat actors, including insight derived from limited interactions via e-mail. […]
  • Diving Into Buhtrap Banking Trojan Activity

    Arbor Networks
    Cyphort recently published an article about the Buhtrap banking trojan [https://www.cyphort.com/banking-malware-buhtrap-caught-action/], targeting users of Russian and Ukrainian banks as reported in March of 2016 by Group-IB [http://www.group-ib.com/brochures/gib-buhtrap-report.pdf]. Cyphort’s insightful article analyzes the compromise chain from the website eurolab[.]ua, directing users via an apparently injected HTML script src attribute to rozhlas[.]site which served exploit code for […]
  • FlokiBot: A Flock of Bots?

    Arbor Networks
    In early October, Flashpoint released an analysis of an underground forum advertisement for a new malware family known as FlokiBot. It took some time before a sample was found in the wild, but a researcher known as hasherezade flagged one on VirusTotal in early November. She also wrote an analysis of its dropper here. This […]
  • Flying Dragon Eye: Uyghur Themed Threat Activity

    Arbor Networks
    DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT HERE DOWNLOAD INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE (IOCs) HERE This paper documents attempted exploitation activity aimed at Uyghur interests outside of China. Exploitation is being attempted via the usual tactic of spear phishing containing malicious attachments to targets. The exploit code attached used for dropping the malware is older – CVE-2012-0158 – and from […]
  • Mirai IoT Botnet Description and DDoS Attack Mitigation

    Arbor Networks
    Authors:  Roland Dobbins & Steinthor Bjarnason Since its inception in August of 2016, the Mirai ‘Internet-of-Things’ (IoT) botnet, comprised largely of internet-enabled digital video recorders (DVRs), surveillance cameras, and other Internet-enabled embedded devices, has been utilized by attackers to launch multiple high-profile, high-impact DDoS attacks against various Internet properties and services.  Mirai serves as the basis of an ongoing DDoS-for-hire ‘booter’/‘stresser’ […]
  • TrickBot Banker Insights

    Arbor Networks
    A new banking trojan, TrickBot, has seemingly risen from the ashes left behind by the November 2015 takedown of Dyreza/Dyre infrastructure and the arrests of threat actors identified by Russian authorities. Dyreza was used to target customers of over 1000 U.S. and U.K. banks and other companies during the peak of operations. Researchers at Threat Geek […]
  • Annual Security Survey – Call for Participation

    Arbor Networks
    It’s that time again! Arbor Networks is opening its 12th annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report survey. Findings from this survey are compiled and analyzed to provide insights on a comprehensive range of issues from threat detection and incident response to staffing, budgets and partner relationships.  A copy of the report will be sent to all participants. We […]
  • On DNS and DDoS

    Arbor Networks
    The global DNS infrastructure provides the critical function of mapping seeming random sets of numbers in IP addresses (like 1.1.1.1) to a name that an Internet consumer may recognize (like www.myfavoritestore.com).   To scale to a global level, the DNS system was designed as a multi-level reference network that would allow any user on the Internet […]