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Comments
Government-Grade Stealth Malware In Hands Of Criminals
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theb0x
theb0x,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/28/2014 | 5:01:28 PM
Government-Grade? Lol.
To me government-grade sounds outdated. Polymorphic Shellcode has been around a long time and is by far the most difficult to detect. Most IDSs contain signatures for commonly used strings within shellcode. It also hides the commonly used strings within shellcode, making shellcode signatures useless and can be different everyime it is sent. A properly tripple encoded attack vector generated from Metasploit drops directly into RAM bypassing any system security with full kernel level privileges. The best part is there is no cure for this attack method.
Robert McDougal
Robert McDougal,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/22/2014 | 10:33:35 AM
Re: Government-grade? Is that a new explanation on criminal intent by governments?
I wonder how long until a real war is started as a result of a cyber attack.  Unfortunately, I think it is only a matter of time.

Once that happens, then there will be a cyber warfare treaty.
chriscinfosec
chriscinfosec,
 User Rank: Apprentice
7/22/2014 | 9:32:53 AM
Re: from which nation-state?
That makes sense.. the evasion/rootkit technique is very sophisticated (nation-state) but the payloads weren't (organized crime trying to make money).  We see similar things at Invincea as part of our "malware genome" analysis to determine if a malware sample is part of a larger family of malware.  In the cases where the malware is similar, the differences are usually which C&C server it's connecting to and the packing technique.
ArneN455
ArneN455,
 User Rank: Apprentice
7/22/2014 | 9:06:24 AM
Re: Government-grade? Is that a new explanation on criminal intent by governments?
That could be an idea, ofcourse, but my opinion, that I really wanted to point out, is that many more governements than people are aware of, are in fact dealing in criminal activity!

And it seem like the us-governement, is in the absolute front of this activity. With Mr. Cheney as the dark lord. And todays president started as this mass murderers apprentice!
GonzSTL
GonzSTL,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/18/2014 | 2:20:37 PM
Re: Government-grade? Is that a new explanation on criminal intent by governments?
That is unlikely to happen. Governments will always secretively want to know what goes on in other governments or organizations. Those clandestine activities have been happening ever since there were governments, so don't expect those to go away anytime soon. After all, there is some validity in wanting to spy on other governments or organizations in the interests of national defense, or other self interests. I am neither condoning or condemning their use; I'm just being pragmatic and realistic.
Kelly Jackson Higgins
Kelly Jackson Higgins,
 User Rank: Strategist
7/18/2014 | 2:17:13 PM
Re: from which nation-state?
I guess another possibility would be that they somehow got a sample and reverse-engineered it...but it's probably more likely they got it under the table somehow.
Sara Peters
Sara Peters,
 User Rank: Author
7/18/2014 | 2:13:50 PM
Re: from which nation-state?
@Kelly   Yeah, I keep thinking that the criminals have it because the government agents gave it to them. It seems like an awfully cynical viewpoint, but governments make deals with criminals all the time.
Sara Peters
Sara Peters,
 User Rank: Author
7/18/2014 | 1:54:31 PM
Re: Government-grade? Is that a new explanation on criminal intent by governments?
@ArneN455 "Government criminal-ware is being spread to other criminals. What about NOT making it in the first place?"  That's a fair question. Do you think we need to have some kind of arms treaty that applies to the use of cyberweaponry?
ArneN455
ArneN455,
 User Rank: Apprentice
7/18/2014 | 10:11:56 AM
Government-grade? Is that a new explanation on criminal intent by governments?
Government criminal-ware is being spread to other criminals. What about NOT making it in the first place? ALL those malwares are made with criminal intention, government, or not government!
GonzSTL
GonzSTL,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/18/2014 | 9:13:37 AM
Government grade malware
So really, since it is so difficult to detect, the most effective way to combat this is through effective awareness training. After all, isn't a user's insecure practice the way malware enters a system in the first place?
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