Tag Archive for: chats

T9000 Skype backdoor malware steals audio, video, chats, screenshots, documents

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Researchers found a complex backdoor malware which targets Skype, capturing video, audio and chat messages, as well as grabs screenshots and steals files, before sending the data back to the attacker.

Researchers at Palto Alto Networks analyzed a new variant of backdoor malware that goes to “great lengths to avoid being detected and to evade the scrutiny of the malware analysis community.” T9000, is a newer variant of T5000, or the Plat1 malware family that APT actors used in spear phishing attacks after the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370. T9000 is being used in targeted attacks against multiple U.S. organizations, dropped by a RTF file, but its functionality indicates the malware is “intended for use against a broad range of users.”

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Network World Security

Syrian rebels lured into malware honeypot sites through “sexy” online chats

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Hacking for “signals intelligence” doesn’t take NSA-level resources; it doesn’t even require very sophisticated exploit tools. Using a combination of Windows and Android malware and some very simple social engineering, a group aligned with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have raked in a wealth of intelligence on Syrian opposition groups. And they did it by pretending to be women and flirting with their victims.

Over the past two years, using a combination of fake social media and Skype accounts associated with fictional female supporters of Syrian rebel groups, the group—apparently operating from Lebanon—fooled rebel soldiers and others providing aid to them into downloading malware to their computers and Android smartphones. As revealed in a report published today by FireEye (PDF), the group (which may have been associated with Hezbollah) was able to harvest not just personal information on their targets, but also battle plans and other intelligence information that could have been used by Hezbollah and the Syrian government’s troops to counter the opposition.

FireEye discovered the operation during a malware investigation, uncovering a cache of 7.7 gigabytes of stolen data on a German server. The data contains Skype databases including chat logs and contacts, as well as documents and images.

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Ars Technica » Technology Lab

Patent wars over wiretapping VoIP & surveillance backdoors into Internet chats

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After Microsoft acquired Skype, we looked at a Microsoft patent called “Legal Intercept” meant for monitoring and recording VoIP communications. At that time, there were questions about if Microsoft would ruin Skype by making a backdoor for easy spy and pry government and law enforcement access.
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