Mobile Trojans with SMS C&C

Looked into the Android SpySMS torjan as they say it has infected 40k users phones. This Mobile Trojan is using SMS as C&C protocol the way IRC C&C were used by PC Trojans back in the days. Got me thinking that the reliable SMS protocol is a nice protocol to control the android bots. The way this app try to block anti-virus from running and the long list of banking apps it controls is rather interesting as this has historically been more adapted by PC trojans and malware.

Simple file recovery

RecuvaHave been out travelling in south america, and guess what. Corrupted camera memory cards are rather common. Used the simple recovery tool Recuva from Piriform to crawl a friends photos and videos from a corrupted and later formatted memory card. Worked perfectly and best of all it has a great user interface, compared to all those command line forensic toolkits such as Skalpel and Foremost.

Check it out here

Cybersecurity for Dummies, for free!

cyberIf you like to learn more about cyber security, cyber warfare, advanced persisten threats and more, this is actually worth reading. Dont expect expert insight, but it is a starting point for those who like to get involved with one of the most interesting challenges of todays digitalized society. And it’s provided by Palo Alto for free here!

 

Less than 1% of Android devices had a PHA installed in 2014

According to Google, by October 2014 less than 0,5% of Android devices had Potentially Harmful Application (PHA) installed. That number is excluding non-malicious Rooting apps, but that is no surprise.

And, more importantly, “fewer than 0.15% of devices that download only from Google Play had a PHA installed.”

One main reason was that Google made improvements in the Android platform security technology, e.g., using SELinux sandboxing and use of Verify Apps functionality.

Read the full article here.

Fake base stations, surprised?

gsmmapFake base stations have been identified around government buildings in Oslo, Norway (according to Aftenposten). According to GSM Security Map, which compares the protection capabilities of mobile networks, Norway is ranked above with regards to the adaption of protection mechanisms to GSM networks. Does not seem “above” is enough to withstand fake base stations, unfortunately.

However, the use of fake base stations, even in Oslo, should not be a surprise. In November US marshalls were deploying fake cell towers on airplanes.