Reports are coming in that a new iPhone worm is not only attacking “jailbroken” iPhones (where users have gotten around Apple’s built-in limitations), but also loading a botnet onto them which steals data such as banking information. These reports all say that as long as you keep your iPhone within Apple’s limitations, you are not at risk from the botnet, which exploits one of the hacks around the Apple code. But if you are one of those who has strayed from the Apple corral, you are at risk of a botnet attack. The presence of such a botnet is ... more

Anyone interested in the ongoing web fraud prevention battle should take heart in today’s news that the self-described “Godfather of Spam” is going to prison for years for his spammy activities. Four spammers — the “Godfather” and his three accomplices — were just handed multi-year prison sentences for wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and violating the CAN-SPAM Act. Two of the scam artists got more than four years, one got more than three years, and one got slightly less than three years in jail for their actions. This is good news indeed, and the federal government should ... more

Over in Britain, the folks at Qinetiq have come up with a brand-new idea to combat the many flavors of spam email attachments which are not only out there now, but would be created in the future. While it seems a temporary fix at best, it is an interesting scheme to tackle the basic problem of spam attachments which (to put it mildly) do not operate the way they are advertised. The big problem with this anti-spam scheme seems to be that once the scammers are aware of the filter, they could brainstorm some way around it, especially if ... more

The battle against the Mega-D botnet keeps unfolding this week. Earlier, it was reported that over 250,000 computers had been infected by this particular strain of malware, but today’s numbers appear to be approaching half a million infected machines. Efforts to shut down the botnet continue, and it was even reported yesterday that the CIA is taking an interest in the fight. In any case, it is interesting to see such quantifiable data when it comes to bot prevention, which is sometimes an inexact science at best. From the eWeek article: After leading a concerted effort shut ... more

A new scam is making the rounds of spam messages, this one targeted specifically at small businesses, and whoever does the accounting for these businesses. The spam email purports to give details of a failed “ACH” transaction, which translates into a red flag in processing credit or debit card orders — something no accountant or small business can afford to ignore. Such a spam scam is technical in nature, but is successful because its target is so precise. Most people who get such a message will reject it automatically, but to people whose livelihood depends on keeping a ... more

In an update to yesterday’s story on the efforts to take down the Mega-D botnet, FireEye has gained a valuable partner in their attempt to take this widespread botnet down. Shadowserver has stepped up to aid in the fight against the botnet, which controls over a quarter of a million computers at last count (and which is estimated at over half a million). This is good news indeed in the fight against this particular bot. While the goal is to eradicate it completely, the effort will still be judged a victory if it succeeds in completely blocking the ... more

FireEye is to be commended for fighting back against the Mega-D botnet last week, and for successfully bringing the botnet’s activity to a screeching halt. It managed this trick by keeping ahead of the botnet’s creators in registering the domain names the bot needs to “phone home.” Unfortunately, such efforts are merely temporary, since registering domain names costs money. And just blocking the channel of communication does not remove the bots from the affected machines, meaning that sooner or later the botnet will likely get back in touch with its creators. But while what FireEye did recently is ... more

Word is out from Trend Micro that the Koobface botnet has started a new attack on Facebook, and also a second report about it using Google Reader to spam Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and possibly other social networking sites. This attack should be seen as part of the growing threat to social networking sites without the proper type of bot detection software. Below is the Trend Micro blog on the Facebook attack, but I would also advise checking out their blog post on the wider Google Reader attack as well. The Koobface botnet has pushed out a new component that ... more

FireEye should be commended, for taking down a botnet responsible for up to four percent of all worldwide spam. The Mega-D, or Ozdok botnet was completely disabled by the proactive moves by FireEye. While this is a milestone in bot prevention, it only points out the need for better day-to-day services along this line, rather than relying on such anti-bot crusaders to do the dirty work. Ars Techinca has the full story: Security researchers have taken down a major spam offender, though the dip in spam levels may be only temporary. Members of the FireEye security team coordinated ... more

The CBS show “60 Minutes” had a segment on this weekend that was both interesting and informative on the subject of cybersecurity, looking at both the online financial threats out there as well as the military aspects of online security. It’s well worth watching or reading (both the video and the transcript are up at the CBS website) in full. But while the “60 Minutes” piece is far too long to even adequately excerpt here, Brain Krebs of the “Security Fix” blog at the Washington Post had some details about one of the schemes mentioned on the show. ... more