Coda Developer Panic Says Source Code for Several Apps Stolen via Handbrake Malware Attack

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In a blog post on Wednesday, Panic Inc. developer and co-founder Steven Frank disclosed that he downloaded a malware infected version of HandBrake earlier this month, which led to the theft of the source code for several of the company’s popular apps.

In early May, a mirror download server hosting the popular video coding app Handbrake was hacked, and an infected version of the Handbrake app took the place of the genuine article. The hacked version infected user’s machines with OSX.PROTON, which gave hackers root-access privileges to a Mac.

Hacker’s were able to access Frank’s Mac via the infected app, and collected his login credentials, including his git credentials. Frank assures Panic customers that the hacker’s did not access customer data or sync data.

In a case of extraordinarily bad luck, even for a guy that has a lot of bad computer luck, I happened to download HandBrake in that three day window, and my work Mac got pwned.

Long story short, somebody, somewhere, now has quite a bit of source code to several of our apps.

Before I continue, three important points:

  • There’s no indication any customer information was obtained by the attacker.
  • Furthermore, there’s no indication Panic Sync data was accessed.
  • Finally, our web server was not compromised.

(As a reminder, we never store credit card numbers since we process them with Stripe, and all Panic Sync data is encrypted in such a way that even we can’t see it. Read more.)

Panic offers several popular apps, including web editor Coda, FTP app Transmit, SSH client Prompt, and more. The attackers have demanded a large ransom, to be paid via Bitcoin. Panic does not intend to pay the ransom.

Panics warns customers to only download Panic’s apps from the Panic website or the Mac App Store, as the stolen source code could potentially be used to create malware-laden versions of the software packages.

Panic has been in contact with both Apple and the FBI, and Apple’s team is on the lookout for any stolen or malware-infested versions of the Panic apps. The FBI is investigating the matter.

Frank asks that customers notify the company if they see any unofficial Panic apps available in the wild. Such apps are likely to be infected with malware in an attempt to spread their evil payload.

We’ll be working overtime for the foreseeable future to keep an eye on this situation.

But we could also use your help.

If you see any cracked or otherwise unofficial versions of our apps in the wild, it’s safest to assume they are infected, and we ask that you please let us know. If you see our source show up somewhere, also let us know. And if you have information that could help with the investigation into this incident, definitely let us know.

MacTrast

How to tell if you’ve been hacked by Russia, China, or North Korea

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WannaCry had North Korea’s fingerprints all over it. The massive ransomware attack that hit over 150 countries last week reportedly contained code linked to other cyber crimes allegedly perpetrated by the Hermit Kingdom. But while it might take weeks or months for researchers to identify the culprit through forensic analyses, another set of clues already points to North Korea: motive.

There are rarely smoking guns when it comes to major cyber attacks, but clear patterns and evidence have emerged that indicate which foreign governments are responsible for the biggest ones. Would Russia or China have tried to take down hospitals in the U.K. for a measly $300? Probably not. China veers more towards stealing military and trade secrets, while Russia prefers operations that destabilize foreign governments. But North Korea will definitely hack for cash.

Here’s a quick guide to distinguishing cyber threats from North Korea, China, or Russia:

1. North Korea

Why are they attacking? What are their goals?

North Korea is a relative newcomer to the field of cyber warfare, yet it has quickly established itself as a formidable foe. The isolated country has long employed a strategy of asymmetrical warfare, so cyber attacks fit neatly into its preference for cheap, unpredictable operations that hold minimal risks of retaliation. Hit hard by sanctions, cash-strapped North Korea has recently shifted its cyber capabilities to generate income through theft and ransom — a strategy it might have just blown up to a global scale.

Who do they target?

Before the WannaCry attack, North Korea’s primary targets were South Korean banks and media companies as well as American corporations and international institutions. An attempted cyber attack on a Polish bank last year, for instance, inadvertently revealed that North Korea was also targeting the World Bank, the European Central Bank, and Bank of America. An indiscriminate attack like WannaCry might be a first, but it would hardly be surprising given their past behavior.

What do they take? How do they use it?

Even before it was implicated in the WannaCry attack, North Korea had taken to ransom. Last year, the country stole the personal data of more than 10 million customers from Interpark, a South Korean online retailer. Interpark was alerted to the breach after it received an anonymous message that demanded $2.7 million in bitcoin or else the attack would be publicized. Interpark refused to pay the ransom and alerted South Korean authorities. Interestingly, despite causing so much havoc, the WannaCry operation has seen relatively meager returns: Only about $70,000 in bitcoin has been netted to date.

North Korea’s most profitable operation, however, wasn’t ransomware at all, but a heist. Last year, it attempted to steal nearly $1 billion from a bank in Bangladesh, and successfully made off with $81 million.

All of the country’s attacks aren’t for money, though. Before WannaCry, its highest profile attack was on Sony Pictures Entertainment, when it infiltrated the company’s network in an attempt to stop the release of a comedy about the imagined assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Hackers released a trove of embarrassing emails that were widely reported on. But what received less attention was the damage done to Sony’s systems. A highly destructive form of malware was introduced and over 70 percent of its computers were left inoperable.

How did they get in?

North Korea’s sophisticated cyber capabilities are surprising considering its extreme isolation and poor infrastructure. Given the country’s limited connectivity to the outside world, its massive army of hackers, estimated to be 1,700 strong, are allowed to live and work abroad, mostly in China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. The ability to live outside of North Korea is actually a major perk for hackers given how few opportunities there are to leave the barren country. As an added bonus, many North Korean hackers are allowed to run illegal gambling websites to earn additional income.

What’s next?

With the United States and other nations ratcheting up sanctions in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear program, it is likely that North Korean hackers will continue to generate cash from hacking. Whether it returns to targeted operations or tries another indiscriminate attack like WannaCry, though, remains to be seen.

2. China

Why are they attacking? What are their goals?

Chinese cyber attacks are closely aligned with China’s broader national goals of rapidly developing its economic and military might. To that end, Chinese cyber attacks have been aimed at gathering intelligence and stealing military and trade secrets, effectively saving China billions of dollars in research and development costs and helping it quickly catch up to the U.S. in certain key areas.

Who do they target?

China’s targets stretch across American businesses, industries, and government agencies. It is widely believed that China has been responsible for many high-profile cyber attacks against the U.S. in recent years, including: stealing plans for the F-35 fighter jet; infiltrating the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s and the State Department’s networks; making off with the personal records of over 20 million Americans from the Office of Personnel Management; and breaking into the 2008 McCain and Obama presidential campaigns.

What did they take? How did they use it?

China employs a “grain of sands” approach to hacking, meaning they steal massive amounts of information — often low-level — and sift through it to find valuable nuggets.

When Coca-Cola was in the midst of negotiating the purchase of a Chinese company, for instance, Chinese hackers were poring over Coca-Cola’s systems, hoping to learn more about their negotiation strategy. In a more far-reaching and pernicious attack, Chinese hackers broke into RSA, a computer security company that supplies the SecurID tokens many employees at U.S. banks, intelligence agencies, and military contractors use to securely access computer systems. Two months later, Chinese hackers successfully penetrated Lockheed Martin’s systems partly using data stolen in the heist.

Other cyber attacks have focused on companies that manage critical infrastructure like electrical power grids and gas and water lines. One successful effort targeted a company with detailed blueprints and remote access to over 60 percent of oil and gas pipelines in North America.

How did they do it?

China loves to phish. Most cyber attacks begin with an innocent-seeming email often with an attachment. Once the attachment is opened, hackers are able to gain entry into computer networks and hunt for information. Such attacks are called spear phishing and were used to gain access to Coca-Cola, RSA, and even the State Department. Once inside, hackers can carefully prowl a network, stealing information or unleashing damaging malware.

What’s next?

After decades of widespread and brazen cyber attacks, Chinese intrusions have dramatically fallen. Since the Obama administration signed an agreement with the Chinese government to curb economic espionage in 2015, Chinese cyber attacks have decreased more than 90 percent. Chinese hackers have since turned their attention inwards to help President Xi Jinping root out corruption, and have significantly ramped up attacks on Russian industries.

3. Russia

Why are they attacking? What are their goals?

Russia possesses highly advanced cyber capabilities and is a “near peer” to the United States, according to Gen. Keith Alexander, the former head of the NSA and the military’s Cyber Command. America’s Cold War adversary has moved beyond espionage and regularly uses influence operations and electronic warfare to disrupt and destabilize countries hostile to Russian interests.

Who did they target?

Like China, Russia targets an array of Western businesses, defense contractors, government agencies, and most notably political campaigns. However, unlike China, Russia has used stolen information far more publicly.

What did they take? How did they use it?

The first major Russian cyber attack on the U.S. was uncovered in 1996. After a two-year investigation, it was discovered that hackers had broken into NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, and the Department of Energy, stealing whole weapon designs. Since then, Russia has changed tactics to influence operations and full-out cyber warfare.

Following a 2007 dispute between the Kremlin and Estonia, a former Soviet satellite state, over the relocation of a monument, Russian hackers shut down nearly all of the Estonian government’s websites, many of the country’s major news outlets, and its biggest banks. The attacks lasted nearly three weeks.

Cyber attacks were also unleashed during Russia’s war with Georgia in 2008 as well as its invasion of Crimea in 2011. In 2015, Ukraine blamed Russia for a cyber attack that left over 200,000 Ukrainians without power.

Off the battlefield, Russia has focused on influence operations aimed at undermining opponents of Russia, destabilizing governments, and discrediting democratic processes. The most notable instances, of course, were during the U.S. presidential election last year, when Russia allegedly stole and published emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and hacked into the Democratic National Committee servers in an effort to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

Meanwhile, in Europe this year, hackers successfully stole emails from the campaign of now-French President Emmanuel Macron and infiltrated Germany Parliament’s computer networks.

How did they do it?

Like China, Russia relies on spear-phishing attacks to gain access to networks. Their willingness, however, to cause physical damage is unique and highly advanced.

In its attack on Ukraine’s power grid, Russia showed the world its sophisticated capabilities. In a carefully planned attack that took months to execute, Russian hackers slowly wormed their way into Ukrainian power companies’ networks, then carefully studied the infrastructure and planted malware at power substations before launching a synchronized assault.

What’s next?

Unless it is severely punished, Russia will continue to use cyber attacks to hack elections, spread false information, and sow chaos.

The Week

Zomato Hacked, Records Of 17 Million Users Stolen, Company Assures Card Details Safe

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In a major cyber attack on food ordering app Zomato,  1.7 crore user records were stolen from the company’s database. The stolen database includes user email addresses and hashed passwords.

 What Zomato says

The company in its blog post on Thursday gave the following assurances:

  • The stolen information can’t be misused since the company has reset the passwords for all affected user
  • The stolen password cannot be converted/decrypted back to plain text
  • It also assured that no payment information or credit card data has been stolen/leaked.
  • It has recommended users to change passwords in case they’re using the same for other accounts as well.

Here is what Zomato wrote:

The hashed password cannot be converted/decrypted back to plain text – so the sanctity of your password is intact in case you use the same password for other services. But if you are paranoid about security like us, we encourage you to change your password for any other services where you are using the same password.

Important note – payment related information on Zomato is stored separately from this (stolen) data in a highly secure PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) compliant vault. No payment information or credit card data has been stolen/leaked.

As a precaution, we have reset the passwords for all affected users and logged them out of the app and website. Our team is actively scanning all possible breach vectors and closing any gaps in our environment. So far, it looks like an internal (human) security breach – some employee’s development account got compromised.

How can this stolen information be misused?

Since we have reset the passwords for all affected users and logged them out of the app and website, your zomato account is secure. Your credit card information on Zomato is fully secure, so there’s nothing to worry about there.

This is not the first instance where Zomato had to face a cyber attack as in 2015, ethical hacker Anand Prakash hacked 6.2 crore accounts of Zomato in order to expose the company’s flaw. Prakash later informed Zomato after which its technical team fixed the bug in an hour’s time, reports vcc circle.

ScoopWhoop

11 things you shouldn’t put on your Facebook

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What do you put on your Facebook profile and on your wall? Anything? Everything? Well, according to a hacker, you should be very careful what you put on your Facebook, or you could lose a lot, from money, to even your life.

Some of these things include the sort of details many people use for their passwords – things like their maiden name, first pet, or their favourite album, which seem innocuous when in this other context of a personality list.

Below is a list of some of them:

1. Photographs of your children

While it might seem cute, putting up photographs of your young ones could expose them to pedophiles. Also, what type of information or pictures would your children want to see about themselves online at a later date?

2. Phone number

Your privacy is important, so unless you have a phone number for business purposes, putting up your personal number online could lead to unnecessary phone calls, stalking or even being exposed to scammers.

3. Birthday

Your birthday is one way people can access your bank account and personal details, once they link it with your name and address.

4. Location

There are location services on Android or iPhones, which means that many people know where you live including those that may wish to harm you. Please turn off your location.

5. Too many friends

Having 4,000+ friends on Facebook, when in reality, you only know about 100 is exposing yourself to a lot of unwanted information and interaction. You should definitely prune your friend list.

6. Where your child/young family member goes to school

Do not put the name of your child’s school on Facebook. Frequent offenders are prowling the internet for such information that might put your child at risk.

7. Your boss

We have heard of people losing their jobs because of Facebook posts. While you should be careful of what you post, maybe you should remove your boss, to avoid unnecessary hassle.

8. Relationship status

Your relationships are better kept private. It may not work out, and the consequent change from “in a relationship” to “single” will make you feel worse than you already do.

9. When you are going on holiday

Putting your holiday plans on Facebook is not a good idea. Burglars can choose that time to rob your house.

10. ATM card pictures

This is never a good idea as the number on your card can be used to defraud you.

11. Boarding pass pictures

Taking a photo of your boarding pass, is a way to show off. But it could have serious consequences, the barcode on your boarding pass is unique to you, and can be used to find the information you gave to the flight company.

Naij

7 Steps to Fight Ransomware

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Ransomware can be a highly lucrative system for extracting money from a customer. Victims are faced with an unpleasant choice: either pay the ransom or lose access to the encrypted files forever. Until now, ransomware has appeared to be opportunistic and driven through random phishing campaigns. These campaigns often, but not always, rely on large numbers of emails that are harvested without a singular focus on a company or individual.

As ransomware perpetrators continue to hone their skills, we’re seeing a shift to more specific targets. The driver of this shift is the realization that companies, especially larger ones, are much higher-value targets than an average individual and are thus able to pay significantly higher ransoms.

This change has elevated the need for companies to strengthen their defensive strategies. Executives must allocate resources and ensure strategies are active against ransomware intent on paralyzing their organization.

The best defensive strategies should include the following:

1. Provide user awareness training and friendly testing. This can reduce the human attack surface.

2. Maintain a comprehensive patch management program to keep all systems up to date and reduce the endpoint attack surface.

3. Limit users’ privilege and network drive connectivity to the minimum essential for job requirements.

4. Conduct frequent backups and store them offline because many ransomware variants will spread through drive shares and can even reconnect a disconnected drive share.

5. Use network segmentation that requires authentication. For example, a user must enter a password before traversing the network. This will reduce the network attack surface.

6. Deploy advanced threat intelligence tools. Threat intelligence can be used to identify IP addresses of known command and control sites. Blocking these sites can potentially prevent malware from being able to establish its encryption routine. It’s important to note this strategy may not work on some newer versions of ransomware that operate independently and create their own encryption keys without having to communicate with a command and control server.

7. Lastly, as a final fallback, know how to buy Bitcoin (or Monero, which is emerging as an alternative means of payment.) Consider pre-purchasing some in advance in the event a ransom needs to be paid on short notice.

Should you pay the ransom to continue operations, or do you refuse to pay it as a matter of principle? The tie-breaker is the cost of downtime — measured potentially in the range of thousands of dollars per hour. One should establish in advance the financial impact of losing access to critical information or business processes, and work through the decision before facing a crisis.

Ransomware is a clear and present danger. Companies can no longer afford to take a wait-and-see attitude. If you’re vulnerable to ransomware and take no precautions to mitigate those vulnerabilities, then the only thing you’re relying upon to prevent an infection is hope — and hope is not a strategy. By implementing the seven defensive actions listed above you can greatly reduce, and potentially eliminate, vulnerabilities. Review the list again, and remember that increased security awareness training with testing can be your most effective defense.

Dark Reading

IBM Warns Customers After Shipping Them Infected USB Drives

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IBM is urging customers to destroy flash drives it shipped to storage system customers because they contain malware.

The company warned in an advisory Tuesday that an unspecified number of USB flash drives shipped with the initialization tool for Storwize systems contain malicious code. IBM instructed customers who received the V3500, V3700 and V5000 Gen 1 systems to destroy the drive to prevent the code from replicating.

“When the initialization tool is launched from the USB flash drive, the tool copies itself to a temporary folder on the hard drive of the desktop or laptop during normal operation,” IBM said in its advisory.

The malicious code is part of the Reconyc Trojan malware family, which typically targets computers in Russia and India, according to data from Kaspersky Lab.

IBM said that while the malware is copied onto the victim’s device, the malicious code is not executed during initialization.

IBM recommends users who have already inserted the drive into their systems run an antivirus system to remove the malware. Users can also remove the directory containing the identified malicious file.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the malware landed on the flash drives. IBM didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The affected Initialization USB flash drive looks like the image below, and contains a folder called InitTool.

IBM infected USB

 

Amazon Lex, the technology behind Alexa, opens up to developers

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Amazon Lex, the technology powering Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa, has exited preview, according to a report from Reuters this morning. The system, which involves natural language understanding technology combined with automatic speech recognition, was first introduced in November, at Amazon’s AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.

At the time, Amazon explained how Lex can be used by developers who want to build their own conversational applications, like chatbots.

As an example, the company had demoed a tool that allowed users to book a flight using only their voice.

However, the system is not limited to working only in the chatbots you find in today’s consumer messaging apps, like Facebook Messenger (though it can be integrated with that platform). Lex can actually work in any voice or text chatbot on mobile, web or in other chat services beyond Messenger, including Slack and Twilio SMS.
Read more

MasterCard adds fingerprint sensors to payment cards

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Our fingerprints are quickly replacing PINs and passwords as our primary means of unlocking our phones, doors and safes. They’re convenient, unique, and ultimately more secure than easily guessed or forged passwords and signatures. So it makes sense that fingerprint sensors are coming to protect our credit and debit cards. MasterCard is testing out new fingerprint sensor-enabled payment cards that, combined with the onboard chips, offer a new, convenient way to authorize your in-person transactions. Instead of signing a paper receipt or entering your PIN while struggling to cover up the number pad, you simply place your thumb on your card to prove your identity.

Read more

Facebook is developing a way to read your mind

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“What if you could type directly from your brain?”

That was the question Facebook executive Regina Dugan, who runs the company’s secretive research and hardware lab Building 8, posed to the audience Wednesday at the company’s annual F8 developer conference in San Jose.

The question was not meant to be rhetorical. Dugan and Facebook are actually making technology intended to do just that.

Facebook is building what it calls a “brain-computer speech-to-text interface,” technology that’s supposed to translate your thoughts directly from your brain to a computer screen without any need for speech or fingertips.

The idea is that this technology will be able to take what you’re thinking to yourself in silence, using non-invasive sensors that can read exactly what you intend to say, and turn it into readable text.

Dugan says the idea is not that crazy. She showed video of a woman from a Stanford research experiment who could type eight words per minute using a small electrode implanted into her brain to move a computer cursor over a keyboard.

Dugan says Facebook’s goal is to create technology that could autonomously type 100 words per minute based on a person’s thoughts “in a few years.”

The goal is to “one day become a speech prosthetic for people with communication disorders or a new means for input to AR,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Even something as simple as a ‘yes/no’ brain click or a ‘brain mouse’ would be transformative.”

It is supposed to only detect activity in a very specific region of the brain where thoughts are translated into speech. “We are not talking about decoding your random thoughts,” she said. “That might be more than any of us care to know.”

But in order to ensure that Facebook is only translating the thoughts you want to share, the company says it will need to build new sensor technology that can better detect brain activity at lightning speed.

That tech doesn’t yet exist, but the company says it has over 60 scientists working on it now. Facebook also expects to create and ship these sensors at scale, thanks in part to miniaturization advancements from the telecom industry.

Reading the human brain isn’t the kind of technology announcement we’re used to seeing from Facebook, which makes truckloads of money advertising against user selfies and home videos.

But Facebook signaled that it had widespread ambitions last year when Dugan was hired and her new secret research lab, Building 8, was announced alongside hundreds of millions in funding. And Facebook spent the better part of its F8 presentations talking about its plans for augmented reality; the company envisions a world where smartphones will be replaced by smart glasses and keyboards may not exist.

Dugan previously ran the U.S. military’s research lab, DARPA, and then worked at Google before joining Facebook, and her work thus far has been kept private. It turns out that her plans for Facebook are as audacious as you might have imagined when she joined.

“Is it a little terrifying? Of course,” she said at the end of her keynote address. “If we fail, it’s gonna suck.”
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not been shy about his scientific ambitions — but most of those have been linked to his philanthropic efforts, specifically a pledge with his wife Priscilla to spend $3 billion over the next decade trying to cure all disease.

In a lengthy letter published in February, Zuck made just a small mention of “accelerating science” amid lots of talk about creating global communities.
It’s the interface

Facebook isn’t only planning to listen to your thoughts. The company is also building technology to communicate with humans through their skin.

Facebook says its technology will act like the cochlea part of the ear, which translates sound into frequencies that are sent to the brain and decoded. Only rather than using your ears, Facebook says it will use your skin.

Though details on this project are slim, the social media company compared its new project with braille, which translates specific surface textures into words and is used by those who are visually impaired.

Recode

A Wrist Sensor That Works up a Sweat

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Researchers who are trying to find a way to make wearable health technology real say they’ve taken a big step with a device that generates enough sweat to be useful.

They’ve built a prototype that generates a few drops of perspiration — enough to measure blood sugar and to monitor other bodily functions.

It’s not ready for the market yet, but shows it is possible for people to wear lightweight devices that can deliver on the promise of pain-free diagnosis.

“You don’t stick people with anything. You can just wrap it on people’s hands and have them engage in their daily activities and you can continuously monitor them,” said Sam Emaminejad, who helped work on the device while at Stanford University.

Many groups are working to develop wearable health tech, from the glucose-sensing contact lens that Google currently has put on hold, to a so-called artificial pancreas that is really a series of linked devices that monitor blood sugar and deliver insulin as needed for diabetes patients.

What a wearable health device needs is enough bodily fluids to measure something, such as blood sugar, sodium or hormones. The time-honored method is a needle, and anywhere from a drop to a few vials of blood.

Non-invasive alternatives would have to use sweat.

There are several problems with that, number one being whether you can measure blood sugar or look for, say hormones, in sweat. Second is getting enough sweat to measure in the first place.

The Stanford team thinks they have done that.

They’ve put together sweat-stimulating compounds into a small device that delivers a low current. It can measure glucose, sodium and other compounds in the sweat and wirelessly relay that information.

“This platform extracts sweat (at a high secretion rate) on demand or periodically and performs sweat analysis in situ (in place),” they wrote in their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It was not painful and could be worn strapped to the arm. “It could be like a watch,” Emaminejad, who’s now at UCLA, told NBC News.

For proof of principle, the team measured blood sugar and minerals associated with flareups of cystic fibrosis in their volunteers. Such a device might be useful for monitoring a patient’s response to drugs, they said.

“One way I think this technology can be incorporated into our daily lives is to be incorporated into a smartwatch,” Emaminejad said. The compounds that stimulate sweating and that measure the desired compounds would need regular refreshing.

“We need a clever solution. Do we need a disposable cartridge that we can insert easily?” he asked.

And researchers will have to work on better ways to correlate measurements of blood sugar, lactase, potassium and other compounds taken from sweat to what doctors know they mean when measured in blood.

That’s one of the hiccups that held up work on the blood sugar-sensing contact lens — a lack of data on whether measurements in tears were as accurate as measurements taken from blood.

NBC News