In case you want to know, and chances are you don't, here is the latest from the cybersecurity world...
Al Qaeda Threatens Cyber Attack - Cell Phone Cabir Virus - Apple OS X Trojan
Al Qaeda Rumored to Prep e-Jihad for Nov. 11
Al Qaeda plans to launch an electronic Jihad on Nov. 11, attacking Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate and Shiite Web sites, according to an unconfirmed report.
The report comes from DEBKAfile, an Israeli an online military intelligence magazine, which on Oct. 30 that their counter-terror sources had picked up a special Internet announcement in Arabic. The theory is that Osama bin Laden's terrorist group is retaliating against Western intelligence agencies' habit of detecting new terrorist sites and knocking them offline as soon as they're up.
There have been many other false reports like this, but there have been some real attacks too, such as attacks by the hacker group Indian Snakes against Pakistani Internet resources.
How can you look at a report like this and not sound Joe Friday-serious about it? You have to. But you don't have to spend a whole lot of time on it. Certain organizations are more likely targets than others, and those should always have elevated security anyway.
The e-jihad and associated threats are all interesting for a variety of reasons, but I see nothing about any of them that should make you change the practices you should already be following.
Cell Phone Virus
Just when you were getting the hang of protecting your computer from viruses, they must have sneezed and found your cell phone. One in every 10 phones is now a smart phone—capable of handling data and messaging. That means it's become easy and lucrative for hackers to attack your cell phone. And the dangers are just as real. From 2004 to 2006, the number of phone viruses doubled every month.
According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They'll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone's system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that's not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007.
Cabir - Compared to spyware and virus threats to your Windows PC, Cabir may look like peanuts, yet the worm is on its way to proving its potential. Cabir spreads from high-end mobiles fitted with Windows Mobile, Symbian or NTT DocoMo operating systems, having bluetooth facility. Unlike the ordinary computer virus/spyware/worm/trojan, the cellphone virus Cabir takes longer to spread the infection. Basically, it can jump from one bluetooth-enabled phone to another bluetooth-enabled phone when both are left in the “discoverable” mode, which lets the phone look for other bluetooth-enabled devices without the user's knowledge. Once it gains entry to the cellphone, it deletes files from the phone, dials expensive numbers on its own, and most visibly, drains the cellphone’s batteries.
Preventing cabir mobile phone worm infection:
1. Keep you cellphone in “hidden” mode
2. If the Cabir message file (caribe.sis) reaches you, abort installation
Cabir removal tools:
F-Secure Anti-Virus for Symbian can detect Cabir and delete the worm components. After deleting worm, you can delete this directory: c:systemsymbiansecuredatacaribesecuritymanager
Download, install and run the following Cabir fix tool.
http://www.f-secure.com/tools/f-cabir.sis
Apple not Immune from Attack
Following Apple's Macintosh's operating system being hit with its very first Trojan horse attack last week, security experts differ on what this means for the future security of the system.
"What's significant here is that the Mac has now been introduced as a target for cyber-criminals to mass compromise along-side Windows," said security expert Gadi Evron, in an email. "These criminal groups have ROI and revenue goals, and once they started hitting the Mac, it's Mac season."
The increasing popularity of Mac OS X, spurred by the iPhone, makes the platform a more interesting target for malware writers "and much more viable for data theft," Marcus said.
He noted the Mac malware was written by the same people who wrote Zlob, a back door Trojan that permits a remote attacker to perform malicious actions on a compromised machine. "They are very good at writing malware for the PC platform. So now they're taking that success from the PC world and it looks like they're looking at the Mac world," Marcus said.
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