Duqu the cyberweapon

A new piece of malware has been discovered recently, going by the name Duqu. This program has been shown to look very similar to the one that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear reactors.

This malware, however, is different then Stuxnet (the malware that attacked Iran’s nuclear reactors) in that instead of causing havoc, it was designed to spy and steal sensitive data, also logging keystrokes. Symantec believes all of this could just the foundation for a cyber attack. So as of now, its just in the “gathering information” stage.

Duqu has attacked a few organizations already, the earliest detection dating back to December of 2010. However, there have been multiple variations found, leading Symantec to believe this malware has conducted far more spying then originally thought. No one knows, as of yet, who is being this piece of malware.

Not much is known at all about this malware, and for it being out for so many months still with many unanswered questions, that’s cause for some great concern. If a cyber attacker were able to sabotage a country’s nuclear reactors so easily, they could easily wreak havoc on the entire planet.

The iphone that ruined a marriage?

Just a few day ago, according to MacRumors.com, the new iPhone 4s app called “Find My Friends” has claimed its first marriage. The story was not proven fact or fiction as of yet, but it’s probably a strong possibility that its true.

The man posting the blog had installed the app on his wife’s phone without her knowledge. He had assumed she was meeting someone in the city, so he installed the app in hopes to catch her. Sure enough, the phone was listed at being at the address he was expecting. He had messaged her asking her where she was, in which she replied she was in some other location, and was effectively caught in her lie. Below is a quote from the man that posted his story in MacRumors.com:

“I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I’ve had suspicions about her meeting this guy who live uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there.

I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b!otch said she was on 10th Street!! Thank you Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks.

thankfully, she’s the rich one.”

One has to contemplate the morality of an app like this, but one need not contemplate the morality of adultery. iPhone didn’t ruin the marriage, the wife did; It may have just helped end it before things got worse.

Preventing skimming

For those who don’t know skimming is when a person records the information on a credit or debit card without the persons permission, and in most cases without them knowing. Skimming has been going on for a long time and continues to be a big issue. Just recently a German man was sentenced to three years in prison for bringing skimming equipment into the UK. SANS had a article about this in there news bits that read:

A German man has been sentenced to three years in prison for bringing card skimming technology into the UK. Thomas Beeckmann was arrested at Victoria Station in London in June; investigators say he was carrying sophisticated skimming equipment, some of which would allow users to retrieve data captured by skimmers though Bluetooth technology from a distance of 100 meters. Beeckmann’s sentence includes time for refusing to divulge his laptop encryption password to law enforcement officials as well as for possessing skimming equipment.
-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15312057
-http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Sentenced-German-engineer-modified-ca
rd-terminals-for-criminal-gangs-1362217.html

Law enforcement in the United States as well as other countries are continuously investigating skimming attacks. But the problem I have found is that even with investigations and prison sentences, skimming attacks are still to easy to preform with little risk of getting caught. Equipment to perform simple skimming attacks is very easy to come by. A simple search around the internet and you can find a place to purchase some equipment at not to high of a price. Also people don’t really watch out for skimming much, which makes it easy to get away with and not get caught. If people don’t know its happening there not going to report it to the police.  An article at merchantequip.com said:

Skimming most commonly occurs in restaurants, where the card owner looses contact with the card and a purchase is made. It takes about two seconds to scan a card through a portable reader, and the reader records all of the information on the credit card. Portable card readers are small enough that someone could easily conceal one in the pocket, sleeve, and even in their hand.

Which brings to question, how many people even think about whats happening to their card when they give it to the waiter or waitress at a restaurant.

What to do to prevent skimming? I doubt it will ever just stop happening, so the best thing to do is just be aware of how it can happen, and watch out for it. If your careful about how you use your card, and who you give it to there’s less chance your cards information will be stolen.