IT Security Training
October 12, 2010
Harvard Townsend
Chief Information Security Officer harv@ksu.edu

Agenda
“The Internet is a bad neighborhood.”
 Why people are so easily tricked
 Characteristics of scam emails – things to look for and tools to help
 Can I open this attachment?
 Can I click on this link?
 Helpful security features built into web browsers
 Tools you can add to your web browsers
 The value and limitations of anti-virus software (Trend
Micro is still your friend)
 Misc. cautions/tips/tricks
 Q&A
2

Real K-State Federal Credit Union web site
Fake K-State Federal Credit Union web site used in spear phishing scam
3

Spear phishing scam received by K-Staters in January 2010
“Phishing” scams try to trick you into providing private
Information, like a password or bank acct info. “Spear phishing”
Targets a specific population – in this case, K-State email users.
4

The malicious link in the email took you to an exact replica of KState’s single sign-on web page hosted on a server in the Netherlands which will steal your eID and password if you enter it and “Sign in”.
Note the URL highlighted in red – “flushandfloose.nl”, which is obviously not k-state.edu
5

Fake SSO web page
Real SSO web page
6

Fake SSO web page – site not secure (http, not https) and hosted in the
Netherlands
(.nl)
Real SSO web page – note “http s”
7

Fake SSO web page
Real SSO web page –
Use the eID verification badge to validate
8

Result of clicking on eID verification badge on a legitimate K-State web site that uses the eID and password for authentication
9

Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam
10

Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam
11

Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam
12

Most effective spear phishing scam
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At least 62 replied with password, 53 of which were used to send spam from KState’s Webmail
Arrived at a time when newly admitted freshmen were getting familiar with their K-State email – 37 of the 62 victims were newly-admitted freshmen
Note characteristics that make it appear legitimate:
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“From:” header realistic:
"Help Desk" <helpdesk@kstate.edu>”
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Subject uses familiar terms:
“KSU.EDU WEBMAIL ACCOUNT UPDATE”
Message body also references realistic terms:

“IT Help Desk”, “Webmail”, “KSU.EDU”, “K-State”
Asks for “K-State eID” and password
Plausible story (accounts compromised by spammers!!)
13

Another effective spear phishing scam
This one also tricked
62 K-
Staters into giving away their eID password
14

Another effective spear phishing scam
Actually did come from a
K-State email account… one that was compromised because the user gave away her eID password in another phishing scam!
15

How to identify a scam
 General principles:
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Neither IT support staff nor any legitimate business will EVER ask for your password in an email!!!
Use common sense and logic – if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Think before you click – many have fallen victim due to a hasty reply
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Be paranoid
Don’t be timid about asking for help from your IT support person or the IT Help Desk
16

How to identify a scam
 Characteristics of scam email
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Poor grammar and spelling
The “Reply-to:” or “From:” address is unfamiliar, or is not a ksu.edu or k-state.edu address
Uses unfamiliar or inappropriate terms (like “send your account information to the MAIL CONTROL UNIT”)
It asks for private information like a password or account number
The message contains a link where the displayed address differs from the actual web address
It is unexpected (you weren’t expecting Joe to send you an attachment)
Does not provide explicit contact information (name, address, phone #) for you to verify the communication.
Good example is spear phishing scam that tries to steal your eID password is signed “Webmail administrator”
17

How to identify a scam
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Beware of scams following major news events or natural disasters (e.g., after Hurricane Katrina asking for donations and mimicking a Red Cross web site)
Seasonal scams like special Christmas offers, or IRS scams in the spring during tax season
They take advantage of epidemics or health scares, like
H1N1 scam last year
Often pose as legitimate entity – PayPal, banks, FBI, IRS,
Wal*Mart, Microsoft, etc.
If unsure, call the company to see if they sent it (we did this with recent email from Manhattan Mercury)
Hackers very good at imitating legitimate email – will use official logos, some links in the email will work properly, but one link is malicious
Many make sensational claims; remember to apply the common sense filter – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
18

From the “too good to be true” class of scams
 Three K-State students fell for this one in August.
Fortunately none lost money, although two might have if alert bank tellers didn’t catch the counterfeit checks
19

From the “too good to be true” class of scams
20

Useful sources of information

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Google – search for unique phrase in the suspected scam to see what others are reporting about it
Web sites of organization targeted by scams often have information, like the IRS www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html?portlet=1
Snopes to debunk/confirm hoaxes, rumors, and other
“urban legends” – snopes.com
Teach yourself with Sonicwall’s “Phishing and Spam
IQ Quiz” – www.sonicwall.com/phishing/
KState’s IT security web site updated regularly
SecureIT.k-state.edu
Current threats and spear phishing scams posted on K-
State’s IT threats blog threats.itsecurity.k-state.edu/
21

Evaluating attachments

Don’t open email attachments you were not expecting

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From someone you do not know
From someone you know, but weren’t expecting them to send you a file (infected computers can send malicious emails from the owner of the computer to everyone in their email addressbook)
 This is especially true if the content of the email message is brief, vague, and/or unusual
22

Evaluating attachments
 Should I trust this email?
23

Evaluating attachments
 Should I trust this email?
}
I don’t know the sender }
Very brief, vague instructions
Unexpected attachment w/ unknown content
PDF files can carry malicious code; do not trust PDF files unless validated with sender
24

Evaluating attachments
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Ignore or delete it if it’s not expected or important; not worth the risk of opening it and infecting your computer
Beware of executable files embedded in .zip attachments – is a common way for hackers to send
.exe files that would normally be deleted by email systems
If there’s any reason to believe it might be legitimate, validate the attachment before opening it
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Contact the sender and ask if it is legit
Ask your IT support person or the IT Help Desk
Test it with antivirus software to see if it is a known malicious program
25

Evaluating attachments
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Saving it to your desktop without opening it or executing it is usually safe
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If Trend Micro OfficeScan recognizes it as malicious, it will prevent you from saving it to the desktop (a function of the
“real time scan”)
If not detected, is either OK or a new variant of malware
Manually update Trend Micro OfficeScan (point to the
OfficeScan icon in the system tray, right click, select
“Update Now”), then scan the file (point to the file, right click, select “Scan with OfficeScan client”)
If OfficeScan still says “No security risk was found”, submit the file to www.virustotal.com
to be evaluated by 43 anti-virus products, including Trend Micro; here’s an example: virustotal.com/analisis/b299e2ac8871cd3e511db312d3f3e55d
26

Example of malicious email attachments
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Four different emails with the following subjects received by many K-Staters in July 2009 and again in November:
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Shipping update for your Amazon.com order 254-78546325-
658742
You have received A Hallmark E-Card!
Jessica would like to be your friend on hi5!
Your friend invited you to twitter!
Three (somewhat) different attachments:
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Shipping documents.zip
Postcard.zip
Invitation card.zip
130+ computers infected in July, 100+ in November; all had to be reformatted and reinstalled from scratch – all because users opened malicious attachments
27

Malicious
Hallmark
E-Card
28

Legitimate
Hallmark
E-Card
29

Malicious
Amazon
Shipping
Notice
30

Legitimate
Amazon
Shipping
Notice
31

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Why was it so effective?
Used familiar services
 Amazon.com
 Hallmark eCard greeting
 Twitter
Sensual enticement (“Jessica would like to be your friend on hi5!”)
Somewhat believable replicas of legitimate emails
Sent it to lots of people (bound to hit someone who just ordered something from amazon.com or is having a birthday)
Effectively masked the name of the .exe file in the .zip attachment by padding the name with lots of spaces
New variant that spread quickly so initial infections missed by antivirus protection
Been a long time since attack came by email attachment so people caught off-guard
32

What can we do?
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Remember - Hallmark, amazon.com,
Twitter, etc. do not send information or instructions in attachments
Don’t open attachment unless you are expecting it and have verified with sender
Analyze attachments before opening them
Think before you click
Be paranoid!
33

Web Browsing Threats
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Malicious links/sites – to click or not to click, that is the question.
Malicious advertisements
Driveby Download (don’t even have to click!)
Search engines tricked to present malicious/bogus result near the top of your search results (aka Blackhat Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) Poisoning )
34

Can I click on this?
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Watch for displayed URL (web address) that does not match the actual displayed: http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate actual: http://64.208.28.197/ldr.exe
Beware of link that executes a program (like ldr.exe
above)
Avoid numeric IP addresses in the URL http://168.234.153.90/include/index.html
Watch for legitimate domain names embedded in an illegitimate one http:// leogarciamusic.com
/servicing.
capitalone.com
/c1/login.aspx/
35

Can I click on this?
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Beware of email supposedly from US companies with URLs that point to a non-US domain (Kyrgyzstan in example below)
From: Capital One bank <cservice@capitalone.com>
URL in msg body: http://towernet.capitalonebank.com.
mj.org.kg
/onlineform/
IE8 highlights the actual domain name to help you identify the true source. Here’s a web address from an IRS scam email that’s actually hosted in Pakistan:
36

Can I click on this?
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Beware of domains from unexpected foreign countries
Kyrgyzstan: http://towernet.capitalonebank.com.
mj.org.kg
/onlineform/
Pakistan: http://static-host202-61-52-42.
link.net.pk
/IRS.gov/refunds.php
Lithuania: http:// kateka.lt
/~galaxy/card.exe
Hungary: http:// mail.grosz.hu
/walmart/survey/
Romania: http://www .hostinglinux.ro
/
Russia: http://mpo3do.
chat.ru
/thanks.html
MANY scams originate in China
(country code = .cn)
Country code definitions available at: www.iana.org/domains/root/db/index.html
37

Can I click on this?
 Watch for malicious URLs cloaked by URL shortening services like:
 TinyURL.com
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Bit.ly
CloakedLink.com
38

Can I click on this?
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TinyURL has a nice “preview” feature that allows you to see the real URL before going to the site. See tinyurl.com/preview.php
to enable it in your browser (it sets a cookie)
Bit.ly has a Firefox add-on to preview shortened links: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10297
It also warns you if the site appears to be malicious:
39

Can I click on this?
40

Malicious Advertisements
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Major
(aka “ad aggregators”) affiliated with Google
(e.g. Doubleclick.com), Yahoo
(yieldmanager.com), Fox and others, covering more than 50% of online ads, have been infiltrated with “poisoned ads” containing malicious code
(Source:
)
Happened to the
website last fall
41

NY Times incident
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Ad placed via phone call from person posing as
Vonage, an intl phone company and regular advertiser on NY Times web site
Since Vonage well known, they allowed ads to be served by remote 3 rd party host (i.e., not the NY Times web server)
Legitimate Vonage ads displayed all week
During the weekend, legitimate ad switched to a malicious one that served up fake antivirus scareware which tried to get people to buy bogus security software with a credit card
42

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Malicious Advertisements
Isn’t just NY Times…
 ratemyprofessors.com (!!)
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 msnbc.msn.com
health.msn.com
music.msn.com astrology.msn.com realestate.msn.com usatoday.com
cnbc.com
digg.com
mail.live.com
addictinggames.com
foxsports.com
hollywoodreporter.com
These legitimate sites are not in cahoots with the criminals, they’re just not careful enough in screening ads from third party ad networks
43

Drive-by Downloads
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The scary thing is you don’t even have to click on anything – just visiting a site with malicious code can initiate a download that installs malware on your computer without you knowing it.
Symantec claims every one of the top 100 websites in the world have served up malicious code at some point
JavaScript in the ad executes when the page is loaded and tries to exploit a vulnerability in Adobe
PDF reader, Java, or Flash… or all three; this is why a tool like NoScript or something that blocks ads is effective 44

Drive-by Downloads
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Commonly used to promote fake antivirus software (aka
“scareware” or “extortionware”) – make you believe your computer is infected with lots of malware, enticing the nervous user to “Click Here” to buy fake security software for $30-$100, plus they steal your credit card information
Can be used to infect your computer with any malware – keyloggers, Trojans, Torpig, …
Malware changes at a very rapid rate to escape detection by AV software; hackers test their malware against 43 popular AV products at virustotal.com before launching
Prevention is by keeping Adobe Reader, Flash, and
Java updated with latest security patches
45

Search Engine
Poisoning
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Search engines, like Google, are tricked into presenting a malicious link in the top 10 results for popular searches
Known as “Blackhat Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) Poisoning”
13% of Google searches for popular or trendy topics yield malicious links
Currently used mostly for fake antivirus scams
Exploit current events, popular topics
 January 2010 an all-time high with hackers capitalizing on Haitian earthquake, release of movie Avatar, and announcement of the iPad
46

Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
Search for
“Oscars 2010 winners”
Malicious pages that infect with
FakeAV scareware
Source: Sophos security blog March 8, 2010 47


Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
Examples of exploited topics in 2010:
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Tiger Woods car wreck, affairs
Death of Patrick Swayze
Affair of Sandra Bullock’s husband with Michelle “Bombshell”
McGee
Rumored death of Bill Cosby (pretty common to make up a sensational hoax)
Chilean earthquake
Moscow subway explosions
Plane crashing into IRS building in Austin, TX
Sea World killer whale attack
Sentencing of TJX hacker
Oscars
Kids’ Choice Awards
Olympics (esp. death of Georigian luge athlete)
March Madness basketball tournament
April Fools Day (a natural…)
48

Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
 How do I prevent it?

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Be paranoid – think before you click!
Pay attention to the link – only visit reputable sites; think before you click
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Pay attention to warnings from anti-phishing filters,
Trend Micro WRS, and other tools you might use to detect malicious links
(see later slides)
If you click on a search result and security warnings like this pop-up, do NOT click on anything – contact your IT support person
49

Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
 How do I prevent it?
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Run antivirus software and keep it up-to-date
(required to use Trend Micro on campus)
Keep ALL software patched, including the web browsers and plug-ins, Adobe products,
Flash, and Java
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VERY challenging for IT staff, let alone your average user
Recent study found that average home user would have to patch 75 times per year (once every 5 days!) using 22 different patching mechanisms
50

What’s a feller to do?
If you’re not scared by now, then I’m worried about you and I pity your IT support person
51

Browser features – IE8
 Domain highlighting
 SmartScreen filtering – block access to malicious sites and file downloads
52

Browser features – IE8
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Pop-up blocker- if it causes a problem with an application, add a specific exception; don’t turn off the pop-up blocker
If you don’t see a malicious pop-up message, you won’t be duped by it.
53

Browser features – IE8
 InPrivate Browsing – good if using a public computer in a lab or Internet Café since it leaves no trace of your browsing activity. The cache (“temporary Internet files” which are local copies of content from web sites you visited recently), cookies, and browser history (web address of sites you visited recently) are not stored.
54

Browser features - Firefox
 Anti-phishing and anti-malware protection – detects and blocks access to known malicious sites and downloads
55

Browser features - Firefox
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Pop-up Blocker
 Similar to IE; add exceptions at
Tools->Options->Content
Private browsing – cache, cookies, and history not saved, just like “InPrivate
Browsing” in IE
Instant Website ID – provides detailed identity information, if available, about the site:
56

Browser add-ons
Web of Trust from www.mywot.com
 Available for Firefox,
IE, Google Chrome
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Rates web sites on
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Trustworthiness
Vendor reliability
Privacy
Child safety
Warns you if about to visit a poorly rated site
Tags ratings in Google search results , which is really helpful for detecting Blackhat SEO Poisoning
Also tags links in web-based email like KState’s Zimbra
Webmail and Gmail
Provides user comments about the site and its rating
57

Browser add-ons
NoScript from noscript.net
 Extension for Firefox (not available for IE)
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Prevents execution of JavaScript, Java, and
Flash – the most common culprits for web-based attacks
Can selectively allow trusted sites
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Often able to view content of interest without enabling all scripts – you don’t need to see the ads or that cute Flash animation!
Takes some getting used to and it takes a while to build up the exceptions for trusted sites so it’s not always getting in the way of your productive use of the web
58

Browser add-ons
Adblock Plus from adblockplus.org
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Again, only for Firefox (IE is not nearly as extensible as Firefox!)
I haven’t used this tool but others have recommended it for blocking advertisements
Some have argued against blocking ads since they provide the revenue that allows so much free content on the web
59

Help from Trend Micro
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Web Reputation Services (WRS)
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Blocks access to known disreputable sites
Enabled in both Windows and Mac versions
 K-State IT security team regularly reports new malicious links to Trend to add to the block list
Also provides traditional “antivirus” malware protection
60

Trend Micro WRS is your friend
61

Recognizing Fake
Antivirus Alerts
Actual pop-up alert from Trend Micro OfficeScan:
62

Recognizing Fake
Antivirus Alerts
Example of a Fake AV “scareware” alert that tries trick you into buying worthless software to fix a non-existent infections:
63

Misc. Tips/Tricks
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Use a Mac 
Firefox vs. Internet Explorer (IE)?
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Both have vulnerabilities
Both have helpful security features
ActiveX in IE historically been a security concern but is less of a target these days
If you use IE6 or IE7, upgrade to IE8 because of significant security improvements plus application compatibility
Stay away from questionable sites
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Pornography
Gambling
Some gaming sites
Peer-to-peer file sharing applications are dangerous since they too have been infiltrated with malware; the movie you your computer when you try to run the movie.

Misc. Tips/Tricks
“… because that’s where the money is.”
Willie Sutton, famous 19 th century bank robber on why he robs banks
 Beware of where you do your online banking – cybercriminals are actively hunting you online and targeting your computer because “that’s where the money is”
 66 instances of Torpig malware at K-State thus far in 2010, 34 in
2009 – steals username/passwords and banking info
 The American Bankers Association recommends using a dedicated computer for online banking since malware typically gets on a computer via web surfing or email
 A low-end $500 PC or netbook good for this, or re-purpose the old computer when you upgrade
 Make sure your banking computer is protected with a strong password
 At the very least, don’t do online banking on the same home computer your children (and their friends) use!
 Create a separate regular user account for your children on your home computer(s)!!
65

Misc. Tips/Tricks
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Don’t let your browser store/remember important passwords like:
 eID
 Financial accounts
38% of bank account or username/password information stolen by Torpig malware came from the browser’s password store on the compromised computer
Password-protect the browser password
66 store

Misc. Tips/Tricks
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Don’t keep yourself logged into important accounts
Similar to letting the browser store username/password; effect is the same – anyone with access to the computer has access to those accounts
Never do either on a public computer
67

Conclusion
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There’s no way to be 100% secure surfing the web these days
Use multi-faceted approach to reduce your risk (browser security features, browser addons, Trend Micro security software, educate yourself)
These tools and techniques make your browsing experience less convenient and may frustrate you at times, but they are necessary in today’s hostile online climate
Think before you click!
68

What’s on your mind?
69