112-691: Bitdefender is a multinational cybersecurity technology company dual-headquartered in Bucharest, Romania and Santa Clara, California, with offices in the United States , Europe , Australia and the Middle East . The company was founded in 2001 by the current CEO and main shareholder , Florin Talpeș. Bitdefender develops and delivers cybersecurity products and services, including endpoint protection , cloud and managed security , antivirus software , and security for
224-420: A Trojan , entering a system through, for example, a malicious attachment, embedded link in a phishing email, or a vulnerability in a network service. The program then runs a payload , which locks the system in some fashion, or claims to lock the system but does not (e.g., a scareware program). Payloads may display a fake warning purportedly by an entity such as a law enforcement agency , falsely claiming that
336-603: A 30% stake in the company, putting its valuation over $ 600 million. In 2018, Bitdefender opened a new subsidiary in Australia, through acquisition of assets from SMS eTech. That year, the company also acquired behavioral and network security analysis company RedSocks. Bitdefender opened its own Security Operations Center in San Antonio, Texas in 2019. Bitdefender signed a multi-year partnership deal with Scuderia Ferrari on September 28, 2022. In April 2024, Bitdefender announced
448-447: A 6-digit code. While the malware claimed that this call would be free, it was routed through a rogue operator in a country with high international phone rates, who placed the call on hold, causing the user to incur large international long-distance charges. In 2012, Symantec reported spread out of Eastern Europe of ransomware with a lock screen purporting to be law enforcement demanding payment for illegal activity. In February 2013,
560-429: A Trojan known as CryptoLocker , which generated a 2048-bit RSA key pair and uploaded in turn to a command-and-control server, and used to encrypt files using a whitelist of specific file extensions . The malware threatened to delete the private key if a payment of Bitcoin or a pre-paid cash voucher was not made within 3 days of the infection. Due to the extremely large key size it uses, analysts and those affected by
672-587: A big impact on information security in organizations. Cultural concepts can help different segments of the organization work effectively or work against effectiveness toward information security within an organization. Information security culture is the "...totality of patterns of behavior in an organization that contributes to the protection of information of all kinds." Andersson and Reimers (2014) found that employees often do not see themselves as part of their organization's information security effort and often take actions that impede organizational changes. Indeed,
784-491: A blog post describing the flaw, a move criticized in the MIT Technology Review . The article wrote that Bitdefender's program wasn't even safe - it was flawed and would "damage" files decrypted with it due to bugs within it, unlike the earlier decryptors that had been quietly used. Second, the blog post tipped off DarkSide as to the nature of the flaw, leading to the group sarcastically thanking Bitdefender and patching
896-476: A colleague, which, when listened to by an attacker, could be exploited. Data transmitted across an "open network" allows an attacker to exploit a vulnerability and intercept it via various methods. Unlike malware , direct-access attacks, or other forms of cyber attacks, eavesdropping attacks are unlikely to negatively affect the performance of networks or devices, making them difficult to notice. In fact, "the attacker does not need to have any ongoing connection to
1008-412: A consequence make a Cold boot attack possible, to hardware implementation faults that allow for access or guessing of other values that normally should be inaccessible. In Side-channel attack scenarios, the attacker would gather such information about a system or network to guess its internal state and as a result access the information which is assumed by the victim to be secure. The target information in
1120-412: A design failure so severe it was not necessary to pay the extortionist at all. Its payload hid the files on the hard drive and encrypted only their names , and displayed a message claiming that the user's license to use a certain piece of software had expired. The user was asked to pay US$ 189 to "PC Cyborg Corporation" in order to obtain a repair tool even though the decryption key could be extracted from
1232-445: A feature of modern computers that allows certain devices, such as external hard drives, graphics cards, or network cards, to access the computer's memory directly." Eavesdropping is the act of surreptitiously listening to a private computer conversation (communication), usually between hosts on a network. It typically occurs when a user connects to a network where traffic is not secured or encrypted and sends sensitive business data to
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#17328696682541344-488: A fictitious criminal charge. Fusob requests iTunes gift cards for payment, unlike most cryptocurrency-centric ransomware. In order to infect devices, Fusob masquerades as a pornographic video player. When it is installed, it first checks the device's system language. If the language is Russian or Eastern-European, Fusob remains dormant. Otherwise, it locks the device and demands ransom. About 40% of victims are in Germany, while
1456-944: A form of clickjacking to cause the user to give it "device administrator" privileges to achieve deeper access to the system. Different tactics have been used on iOS devices, such as exploiting iCloud accounts and using the Find My iPhone system to lock access to the device. On iOS 10.3 , Apple patched a bug in the handling of JavaScript pop-up windows in Safari that had been exploited by ransomware websites. It recently has been shown that ransomware may also target ARM architectures like those that can be found in various Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, such as Industrial IoT edge devices. In August 2019 researchers demonstrated it's possible to infect DSLR cameras with ransomware. Digital cameras often use Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP - standard protocol used to transfer files.) Researchers found that it
1568-680: A free AI-powered scam detector.Bitdefender and NinjaOne announced a partnership in May 2024 to integrate their security software into a single product suite. Bitdefender joined the No More Ransom initiative in 2016, releasing free decryption tools for victims of ransom attacks to decrypt their devices without having to pay to do so.In 2018, Bitdefender joined the Cybersecurity Tech Accord,. In 2019, Bitdefender provided operational support to Europol's European Cybercrime Centre , helping shut down
1680-403: A malfunctioning update that classified every executable program as well as DLL files as infected. These files were all marked as 'Trojan.FakeAlert.5' and were moved into quarantine. This action led to software and systems malfunctions that affected users globally. Bitdefender representatives announced the removal of the faulty update and a workaround for the users affected, except for those using
1792-476: A malicious code inside a particular HTML or web page. HTML files can carry payloads concealed as benign, inert data in order to defeat content filters . These payloads can be reconstructed on the other side of the filter. When a target user opens the HTML, the malicious code is activated; the web browser then "decodes" the script, which then unleashes the malware onto the target's device. Employee behavior can have
1904-439: A new class of multi-vector, polymorphic cyber threats combine several types of attacks and change form to avoid cybersecurity controls as they spread. Multi-vector polymorphic attacks, as the name describes, are both multi-vectored and polymorphic. Firstly, they are a singular attack that involves multiple methods of attack. In this sense, they are “multi-vectored (i.e. the attack can use multiple means of propagation such as via
2016-433: A page to scan for malware, this variant was designed to require users to visit a web page and enter a CAPTCHA code before the payload is actually downloaded, preventing such automated processes from being able to scan the payload. Symantec determined that these new variants, which it identified as CryptoLocker.F , were again, unrelated to the original CryptoLocker due to differences in their operation. A notable victim of
2128-409: A private individual's photographs and documents) that the ransomware had encrypted. As ransomware matured as a business, organised gangs entered the field, advertising on the dark Web for experts, and outsourcing functions. This led to improvement in the quality of ransomware and its success. Rather than random emails, the gangs stole credentials, found vulnerabilities in target networks, and improved
2240-467: A ransomware Trojan based on the Stamp.EK exploit kit surfaced; the malware was distributed via sites hosted on the project hosting services SourceForge and GitHub that claimed to offer "fake nude pics" of celebrities. In July 2013, an OS X -specific ransomware Trojan surfaced, which displays a web page that accuses the user of downloading pornography. Unlike its Windows-based counterparts, it does not block
2352-416: A ransomware Trojan known as WinLock. Unlike the previous Gpcode Trojan, WinLock did not use encryption. Instead, WinLock trivially restricted access to the system by displaying pornographic images and asked users to send a premium-rate SMS (costing around US$ 10) to receive a code that could be used to unlock their machines. The scam hit numerous users across Russia and neighbouring countries—reportedly earning
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#17328696682542464-451: A separate machine filtering network traffic. Firewalls are common amongst machines that are permanently connected to the Internet. Some organizations are turning to big data platforms, such as Apache Hadoop , to extend data accessibility and machine learning to detect advanced persistent threats . Ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware that permanently blocks access to
2576-601: A side channel can be challenging to detect due to its low amplitude when combined with other signals Social engineering , in the context of computer security, aims to convince a user to disclose secrets such as passwords, card numbers, etc. or grant physical access by, for example, impersonating a senior executive, bank, a contractor, or a customer. This generally involves exploiting people's trust, and relying on their cognitive biases . A common scam involves emails sent to accounting and finance department personnel, impersonating their CEO and urgently requesting some action. One of
2688-705: A standard computer user may be able to exploit a vulnerability in the system to gain access to restricted data; or even become root and have full unrestricted access to a system. The severity of attacks can range from attacks simply sending an unsolicited email to a ransomware attack on large amounts of data. Privilege escalation usually starts with social engineering techniques, often phishing . Privilege escalation can be separated into two strategies, horizontal and vertical privilege escalation: Any computational system affects its environment in some form. This effect it has on its environment can range from electromagnetic radiation, to residual effect on RAM cells which as
2800-408: A state of emergency and announce that Costa Rica is "at war" with its ransomware hackers. In some infections, there is a two-stage payload, common in many malware systems. The user is tricked into running a script, which downloads the main virus and executes it. In early versions of the dual-payload system, the script was contained in a Microsoft Office document with an attached VBScript macro, or in
2912-448: A warning purportedly from a law enforcement agency claiming that the computer has been used for illegal activities, such as downloading unlicensed software or child pornography . Due to this behaviour, it is commonly referred to as the "Police Trojan". The warning informs the user that to unlock their system, they would have to pay a fine using a voucher from an anonymous prepaid cash service such as Ukash or paysafecard . To increase
3024-485: A way of filtering network data between a host or a network and another network, such as the Internet . They can be implemented as software running on the machine, hooking into the network stack (or, in the case of most UNIX -based operating systems such as Linux , built into the operating system kernel ) to provide real-time filtering and blocking. Another implementation is a so-called physical firewall , which consists of
3136-560: A windows scripting facility (WSF) file. As detection systems started blocking these first stage payloads, the Microsoft Malware Protection Center identified a trend away toward LNK files with self-contained Microsoft Windows PowerShell scripts. In 2016, PowerShell was found to be involved in nearly 40% of endpoint security incidents. Some ransomware strains have used proxies tied to Tor hidden services to connect to their command and control servers, increasing
3248-447: A wrong password enough consecutive times to cause the victim's account to be locked, or they may overload the capabilities of a machine or network and block all users at once. While a network attack from a single IP address can be blocked by adding a new firewall rule, many forms of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are possible, where the attack comes from a large number of points. In this case, defending against these attacks
3360-475: Is actually intelligence gathering. The first reported death following a ransomware attack was at a German hospital in October 2020. A significant increase in ransomware attacks occurred during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic . Evidence has demonstrated that the targeted institutions of these attacks included government, finance, and healthcare. Researchers have contended that several different factors can explain
3472-444: Is an intractable problem, and difficult-to-trace digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for the ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators difficult. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out using a Trojan disguised as a legitimate file that the user is tricked into downloading or opening when it arrives as an email attachment. However, one high-profile example,
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3584-465: Is little incentive to encrypt data since it can be easily restored via online synchronization. Mobile ransomware typically targets the Android platform, as it allows applications to be installed from third-party sources. The payload is typically distributed as an APK file installed by an unsuspecting user; it may attempt to display a blocking message over top of all other applications, while another used
3696-471: Is much more difficult. Such attacks can originate from the zombie computers of a botnet or from a range of other possible techniques, including distributed reflective denial-of-service (DRDoS), where innocent systems are fooled into sending traffic to the victim. With such attacks, the amplification factor makes the attack easier for the attacker because they have to use little bandwidth themselves. To understand why attackers may carry out these attacks, see
3808-508: Is not a perfect subset of information security , therefore does not completely align into the security convergence schema. A vulnerability refers to a flaw in the structure, execution, functioning, or internal oversight of a computer or system that compromises its security. Most of the vulnerabilities that have been discovered are documented in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database. An exploitable vulnerability
3920-439: Is one for which at least one working attack or exploit exists. Actors maliciously seeking vulnerabilities are known as threats . Vulnerabilities can be researched, reverse-engineered, hunted, or exploited using automated tools or customized scripts. Various people or parties are vulnerable to cyber attacks; however, different groups are likely to experience different types of attacks more than others. In April 2023,
4032-494: Is protected by standard security measures, these may be bypassed by booting another operating system or tool from a CD-ROM or other bootable media. Disk encryption and the Trusted Platform Module standard are designed to prevent these attacks. Direct service attackers are related in concept to direct memory attacks which allow an attacker to gain direct access to a computer's memory. The attacks "take advantage of
4144-419: Is repaired. The most sophisticated payloads encrypt files, with many using strong encryption to encrypt the victim's files in such a way that only the malware author has the needed decryption key. Payment is virtually always the goal, and the victim is coerced into paying for the ransomware to be removed either by supplying a program that can decrypt the files, or by sending an unlock code that undoes
4256-425: Is spear-phishing which leverages personal or organization-specific details to make the attacker appear like a trusted source. Spear-phishing attacks target specific individuals, rather than the broad net cast by phishing attempts. Privilege escalation describes a situation where an attacker with some level of restricted access is able to, without authorization, elevate their privileges or access level. For example,
4368-478: The Bitcoin cryptocurrency . In May 2020, vendor Sophos reported that the global average cost to remediate a ransomware attack (considering downtime, people time, device cost, network cost, lost opportunity and ransom paid) was $ 761,106. Ninety-five percent of organizations that paid the ransom had their data restored. The first known malware extortion attack, the "AIDS Trojan" written by Joseph Popp in 1989, had
4480-477: The Internet of things . Bitdefender products are distributed through partners in over 150 countries and the US market is estimated to generate more than 40% of its revenues. As of 2023, the company employed more than 1,800 people worldwide. Bitdefender software was originally developed by SOFTWIN, a company founded in 1990 in post-communist Romania. It was originally sold as AVX (Antivirus Expert) from 1996 until 2001, when
4592-642: The United Kingdom Department for Science, Innovation & Technology released a report on cyber attacks over the last 12 months. They surveyed 2,263 UK businesses, 1,174 UK registered charities, and 554 education institutions. The research found that "32% of businesses and 24% of charities overall recall any breaches or attacks from the last 12 months." These figures were much higher for "medium businesses (59%), large businesses (69%), and high-income charities with £500,000 or more in annual income (56%)." Yet, although medium or large businesses are more often
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4704-573: The WannaCry worm , traveled automatically between computers without user interaction. Starting as early as 1989 with the first documented ransomware known as the AIDS trojan , the use of ransomware scams has grown internationally. There were 181.5 million ransomware attacks in the first six months of 2018. This record marks a 229% increase over this same time frame in 2017. In June 2014, vendor McAfee released data showing that it had collected more than double
4816-603: The Zedo ad network in late-September 2014 that targeted several major websites; the ads redirected to rogue websites that used browser plugin exploits to download the payload. A Barracuda Networks researcher also noted that the payload was signed with a digital signature in an effort to appear trustworthy to security software. CryptoWall 3.0 used a payload written in JavaScript as part of an email attachment, which downloads executables disguised as JPG images. To further evade detection,
4928-436: The "practice of designing computer systems to achieve security goals." These goals have overlap with the principles of "security by design" explored above, including to "make initial compromise of the system difficult," and to "limit the impact of any compromise." In practice, the role of a security architect would be to ensure the structure of a system reinforces the security of the system, and that new changes are safe and meet
5040-407: The 'attacker motivation' section. A direct-access attack is when an unauthorized user (an attacker) gains physical access to a computer, most likely to directly copy data from it or steal information. Attackers may also compromise security by making operating system modifications, installing software worms , keyloggers , covert listening devices or using wireless microphones. Even when the system
5152-414: The 2008 version. In 2020, hacker group DarkSide switched their main encryption ransomware product over to an "affiliate" model wherein other attackers could download and use their software in exchange for a portion of the profits. However, they introduced a bug in the process where affiliate hackers would all use the same private RSA key - meaning that a decryption package for a single target who paid
5264-525: The August 2014 discovery of a Trojan specifically targeting network-attached storage devices produced by Synology . In January 2015, it was reported that ransomware-styled attacks have occurred against individual websites via hacking, and through ransomware designed to target Linux -based web servers . In 2022, Costa Rica received widespread Conti ransomware attacks affecting government, healthcare and industry. This lead President Rodrigo Chaves to declare
5376-650: The Bitdefender subsidiary was created, and AVX was rebranded under the Bitdefender name. In 2007, Bitdefender became a separate business entity with external capital entry, with Axxess Capital Investment Fund as a key shareholder. From 2004 to 2015, the company expanded with offices in the United States, Germany , United Kingdom , Denmark , and the Middle East. In 2017, the company acquired French partner Profil Technology. British fund Virtuvian Partners would then buy
5488-451: The FBI. Globally, according to Statistica , there were about 623 million ransomware attacks in 2021, and 493 million in 2022. The concept of file-encrypting ransomware was invented and implemented by Young and Yung at Columbia University and was presented at the 1996 IEEE Security & Privacy conference. It is called cryptoviral extortion and it was inspired by the fictional facehugger in
5600-541: The Metropolitan Police clarified that they would never lock a computer in such a way as part of an investigation. In May 2012, Trend Micro threat researchers discovered templates for variations for the United States and Canada , suggesting that its authors may have been planning to target users in North America. By August 2012, a new variant of Reveton began to spread in the United States, claiming to require
5712-688: The Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev for his alleged involvement in the botnet. It was estimated that at least US$ 3 million was extorted with the malware before the shutdown. In September 2014, a wave of ransomware Trojans surfaced that first targeted users in Australia , under the names CryptoWall and CryptoLocker (which is, as with CryptoLocker 2.0, unrelated to the original CryptoLocker). The Trojans spread via fraudulent e-mails claiming to be failed parcel delivery notices from Australia Post ; to evade detection by automatic e-mail scanners that follow all links on
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#17328696682545824-760: The Sipulimarket and Silkktie darknet markets . Bitdefender’s 2020 research into the Interplanetary Storm botnet proxy network was provided to law enforcement ahead of the FBI dismantling the network in November 2023. In May 2024, Bitdefender was a supporting partner for Europol’s Operation Endgame, which Europol called the largest operation ever against bots. It led to the takedown of over 100 servers, and four arrests worldwide. On March 20, 2010, computers running Bitdefender under 64-bit versions of Windows were affected by
5936-614: The Trojan considered CryptoLocker extremely difficult to repair. Even after the deadline passed, the private key could still be obtained using an online tool, but the price would increase to 10 BTC—which cost approximately US$ 2300 as of November 2013. CryptoLocker was isolated by the seizure of the Gameover ZeuS botnet as part of Operation Tovar , as officially announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on 2 June 2014. The Department of Justice also publicly issued an indictment against
6048-561: The Trojans was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ; live programming on its television news channel ABC News 24 was disrupted for half an hour and shifted to Melbourne studios due to a CryptoWall infection on computers at its Sydney studio. Another Trojan in this wave, TorrentLocker , initially contained a design flaw comparable to CryptoDefense; it used the same keystream for every infected computer, making
6160-508: The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2020, which examined 3,950 security breaches, discovered 30% of cybersecurity incidents involved internal actors within a company. Research shows information security culture needs to be improved continuously. In "Information Security Culture from Analysis to Change", authors commented, "It's a never-ending process, a cycle of evaluation and change or maintenance." To manage
6272-558: The Web, email and applications." However, they are also multi-staged, meaning that “they can infiltrate networks and move laterally inside the network.” The attacks can be polymorphic, meaning that the cyberattacks used such as viruses, worms or trojans “constantly change (“morph”) making it nearly impossible to detect them using signature-based defences.” Phishing is the attempt of acquiring sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details directly from users by deceiving
6384-451: The attack itself was a success. Common targets for exfiltration include: Exfiltration attacks are usually targeted, with a curated victim list, and often preliminary surveillance of the victim's systems to find potential data targets and weaknesses. With the increased popularity of ransomware on PC platforms, ransomware targeting mobile operating systems has also proliferated. Typically, mobile ransomware payloads are blockers, as there
6496-467: The attack that is presented here the victim retains access to the information but its disclosure is at the discretion of the computer virus". The attack is rooted in game theory and was originally dubbed "non-zero sum games and survivable malware". The attack can yield monetary gain in cases where the malware acquires access to information that may damage the victim user or organization, e.g., the reputational damage that could result from publishing proof that
6608-505: The best form of encryption possible for wireless networks is best practice, as well as using HTTPS instead of an unencrypted HTTP . Programs such as Carnivore and NarusInSight have been used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and NSA to eavesdrop on the systems of internet service providers . Even machines that operate as a closed system (i.e., with no contact with the outside world) can be eavesdropped upon by monitoring
6720-459: The bug. A notable incident that took place after Bitdefender's public disclosure was the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack in May 2021. While the security researchers who had been using the flaw before acknowledge that it's probable DarkSide would eventually have noticed and fixed the issue, they still criticized Bitdefender for using the bug merely for a brief burst of publicity, rather than in
6832-417: The code of the Trojan. The Trojan was also known as "PC Cyborg". Popp was declared mentally unfit to stand trial for his actions, but he promised to donate the profits from the malware to fund AIDS research. The idea of abusing anonymous cash systems to safely collect ransom from human kidnapping was introduced in 1992 by Sebastiaan von Solms and David Naccache . This electronic money collection method
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#17328696682546944-426: The data in files but also the file names. Fusob is a major family of mobile ransomware. Between April 2015 and March 2016, about 56 percent of accounted mobile ransomware was Fusob. Like most other pieces of ransomware, it employs scare tactics to extort a hefty sum from the user. The app acts as if it were a notice from the authorities , demanding the victim to pay a fine from $ 100 to $ 200 USD or otherwise face
7056-427: The data publicly if the ransom was not paid; in at least one case they did this. Many other gangs followed; "leak sites" were created on the dark web where stolen data could be accessed. Later attacks focussed on the threat to leak data, without necessarily locking it—this negated the protection afforded victims by robust backup procedures. As of 2023 there is a risk of hostile governments using ransomware to conceal what
7168-465: The difficulty of tracing the exact location of the criminals. Furthermore, dark web vendors have increasingly started to offer the technology as a service , wherein ransomware is sold, ready for deployment on victims' machines, on a subscription basis, similarly to Adobe Creative Cloud or Office 365. Symantec has classified ransomware to be the most dangerous cyber threat. In August 2010, Russian authorities arrested nine individuals connected to
7280-421: The disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. The significance of the field stems from the expanded reliance on computer systems , the Internet , and wireless network standards . Its importance is further amplified by the growth of smart devices , including smartphones , televisions , and the various devices that constitute the Internet of things (IoT). Cybersecurity has emerged as one of
7392-456: The e-money was previously encrypted by the user, it is of no use to the user if it gets encrypted by a cryptovirus". They referred to these attacks as being " cryptoviral extortion", an overt attack that is part of a larger class of attacks in a field called cryptovirology , which encompasses both overt and covert attacks. The cryptoviral extortion protocol was inspired by the parasitic relationship between H. R. Giger's facehugger and its host in
7504-405: The encryption trivial to overcome. However, this flaw was later fixed. By late-November 2014, it was estimated that over 9,000 users had been infected by TorrentLocker in Australia alone, trailing only Turkey with 11,700 infections. Another major ransomware Trojan targeting Windows, CryptoWall, first appeared in 2014. One strain of CryptoWall was distributed as part of a malvertising campaign on
7616-499: The entire computer, but simply exploits the behaviour of the web browser itself to frustrate attempts to close the page through normal means. In July 2013, a 21-year-old man from Virginia, whose computer coincidentally did contain pornographic photographs of underage girls with whom he had conducted sexualized communications, turned himself in to police after receiving and being deceived by FBI MoneyPak Ransomware accusing him of possessing child pornography. An investigation discovered
7728-416: The entire computer." Backdoors can be very hard to detect and are usually discovered by someone who has access to the application source code or intimate knowledge of the operating system of the computer. Denial-of-service attacks (DoS) are designed to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Attackers can deny service to individual victims, such as by deliberately entering
7840-465: The faint electromagnetic transmissions generated by the hardware. TEMPEST is a specification by the NSA referring to these attacks. Malicious software ( malware ) is any software code or computer program "intentionally written to harm a computer system or its users." Once present on a computer, it can leak sensitive details such as personal information, business information and passwords, can give control of
7952-541: The fatal flaw being that the decryption key could be extracted from the Trojan, and implemented an experimental proof-of-concept cryptovirus on a Macintosh SE/30 that used RSA and the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) to hybrid encrypt the victim's data. Since public key cryptography is used, the virus only contains the encryption key. The attacker keeps the corresponding private decryption key private. Young and Yung's original experimental cryptovirus had
8064-518: The first time since 2013, in 2018 there was an observed decrease in ransomware activity with a drop of 20 percent. Before 2017, consumers were the preferred victims, but in 2017 this changed dramatically, it moved to the enterprises. In 2018 this path accelerated with 81 percent infections which represented a 12 percent increase. The common distribution method today is based on email campaigns. In late 2019 ransomware group Maze downloaded companies' sensitive files before locking them, and threatened to leak
8176-457: The following sections: Security by design, or alternately secure by design, means that the software has been designed from the ground up to be secure. In this case, security is considered a main feature. The UK government's National Cyber Security Centre separates secure cyber design principles into five sections: These design principles of security by design can include some of the following techniques: Security architecture can be defined as
8288-488: The group over US$ 16 million. In 2011, a ransomware Trojan surfaced that imitated the Windows Product Activation notice, and informed users that a system's Windows installation had to be re-activated due to "[being a] victim of fraud". An online activation option was offered (like the actual Windows activation process), but was unavailable, requiring the user to call one of six international numbers to input
8400-434: The illusion that the computer is being tracked by law enforcement, the screen also displays the computer's IP address , while some versions display footage from a victim's webcam to give the illusion that the user is being recorded. Reveton initially began spreading in various European countries in early 2012. Variants were localized with templates branded with the logos of different law enforcement organizations based on
8512-528: The increase in attacks during this time. However, a major factor is that remote work , which became the norm for many industries in 2020, led to the surge in attacks because of the lack of security in comparison to traditional work environments. In 2012, a major ransomware Trojan known as Reveton began to spread. Based on the Citadel Trojan (which, itself, is based on the Zeus Trojan), its payload displays
8624-444: The incriminating files, and the man was charged with child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography. The converse of ransomware is a cryptovirology attack invented by Adam L. Young that threatens to publish stolen information from the victim's computer system rather than deny the victim access to it. In a leakware attack, malware exfiltrates sensitive host data either to the attacker or alternatively, to remote instances of
8736-490: The information security culture, five steps should be taken: pre-evaluation, strategic planning, operative planning, implementation, and post-evaluation. In computer security, a countermeasure is an action, device, procedure or technique that reduces a threat, a vulnerability, or an attack by eliminating or preventing it, by minimizing the harm it can cause, or by discovering and reporting it so that corrective action can be taken. Some common countermeasures are listed in
8848-536: The launch of Bitdefender Voyager Ventures, a corporate venture capital unit. Bitdefender's original product was sold as Antivirus Expert until 2001, when it was rebranded under the Bitdefender name. Since 2011, Bitdefender has expanded to include consumer and enterprise security products, and in 2021, an extended detection and response (XDR) platform. Like most security suites, Bitdefender’s consumer services are managed through an online portal, called Bitdefender Central. In December 2023, Bitdefender launched Scamio,
8960-449: The life-threatening risk of spoofing in the healthcare industry. Tampering describes a malicious modification or alteration of data. It is an intentional but unauthorized act resulting in the modification of a system, components of systems, its intended behavior, or data. So-called Evil Maid attacks and security services planting of surveillance capability into routers are examples. HTML smuggling allows an attacker to "smuggle"
9072-470: The main techniques of social engineering are phishing attacks. In early 2016, the FBI reported that such business email compromise (BEC) scams had cost US businesses more than $ 2 billion in about two years. In May 2016, the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team was the victim of this type of cyber scam with a perpetrator impersonating the team's president Peter Feigin , resulting in the handover of all
9184-598: The malware creates new instances of explorer.exe and svchost.exe to communicate with its servers. When encrypting files, the malware also deletes volume shadow copies and installs spyware that steals passwords and Bitcoin wallets . The FBI reported in June 2015 that nearly 1,000 victims had contacted the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center to report CryptoWall infections, and estimated losses of at least $ 18 million. The most recent version, CryptoWall 4.0, enhanced its code to avoid antivirus detection, and encrypts not only
9296-530: The malware to avoid detection by anti-malware scanners. Ransoms demanded escalated into the much larger sums (millions) that an enterprise would pay to recover its data, rather than what an individual would pay for their documents (hundreds). In 2016, a significant uptick in ransomware attacks on hospitals was noted. According to the 2017 Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec Corp, ransomware affected not only IT systems but also patient care, clinical operations, and billing. Online criminals may be motivated by
9408-403: The malware, and the attacker threatens to publish the victim's data unless a ransom is paid. The attack was presented at West Point in 2003 and was summarized in the book Malicious Cryptography as follows, "The attack differs from the extortion attack in the following way. In the extortion attack, the victim is denied access to its own valuable information and has to pay to get it back, where in
9520-584: The money available and sense of urgency within the healthcare system. Ransomware is growing rapidly across the internet users but also for the IoT environment. The big problem is that millions of dollars are lost by some organizations and industries that have decided to pay, such as the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and the MedStar Health. According to Symantec 2019 ISTR report, for
9632-556: The most significant new challenges facing the contemporary world, due to both the complexity of information systems and the societies they support. Security is particularly crucial for systems that govern large-scale systems with far-reaching physical effects, such as power distribution , elections , and finance . Although many aspects of computer security involve digital security, such as electronic passwords and encryption , physical security measures such as metal locks are still used to prevent unauthorized tampering. IT security
9744-414: The movie Alien . Examples of extortionate ransomware became prominent in May 2005. By mid-2006, Trojans such as Gpcode , TROJ.RANSOM.A, Archiveus , Krotten, Cryzip, and MayArchive began utilizing more sophisticated RSA encryption schemes, with ever-increasing key-sizes. Gpcode.AG, which was detected in June 2006, was encrypted with a 660-bit RSA public key. In June 2008, a variant known as Gpcode.AK
9856-432: The movie Alien . Cryptoviral extortion is the following three-round protocol carried out between the attacker and the victim. The symmetric key is randomly generated and will not assist other victims. At no point is the attacker's private key exposed to victims and the victim need only send a very small ciphertext (the encrypted symmetric-cipher key) to the attacker. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out using
9968-473: The nature of backdoors, they are of greater concern to companies and databases as opposed to individuals. Backdoors may be added by an authorized party to allow some legitimate access or by an attacker for malicious reasons. Criminals often use malware to install backdoors, giving them remote administrative access to a system. Once they have access, cybercriminals can "modify files, steal personal information, install unwanted software, and even take control of
10080-615: The number of ransomware samples that quarter than it had in the same quarter the previous year. CryptoLocker was particularly successful, procuring an estimated US$ 3 million before it was taken down by authorities, and CryptoWall was estimated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to have accrued over US$ 18 million by June 2015. In 2020, the IC3 received 2,474 complaints identified as ransomware with adjusted losses of over $ 29.1 million. The losses could be more than that, according to
10192-560: The openness of the Internet. These strategies mostly include phishing , ransomware , water holing and scanning. To secure a computer system, it is important to understand the attacks that can be made against it, and these threats can typically be classified into one of the following categories: A backdoor in a computer system, a cryptosystem , or an algorithm is any secret method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls. These weaknesses may exist for many reasons, including original design or poor configuration. Due to
10304-436: The operators of CryptoLocker had procured about US$ 27 million from infected users. The CryptoLocker technique was widely copied in the months following, including CryptoLocker 2.0 (thought not to be related to CryptoLocker), CryptoDefense (which initially contained a major design flaw that stored the private key on the infected system in a user-retrievable location , due to its use of Windows' built-in encryption APIs), and
10416-545: The payload's changes. While the attacker may simply take the money without returning the victim's files, it is in the attacker's best interest to perform the decryption as agreed, since victims will stop sending payments if it becomes known that they serve no purpose. A key element in making ransomware work for the attacker is a convenient payment system that is hard to trace. A range of such payment methods have been used, including wire transfers , premium-rate text messages , pre-paid voucher services such as paysafecard , and
10528-595: The payment of a $ 200 fine to the FBI using a MoneyPak card. In February 2013, a Russian citizen was arrested in Dubai by Spanish authorities for his connection to a crime ring that had been using Reveton; ten other individuals were arrested on money laundering charges. In August 2014, Avast Software reported that it had found new variants of Reveton that also distribute password-stealing malware as part of its payload. Encrypting ransomware reappeared in September 2013 with
10640-411: The pros and cons of publicly disclosing such vulnerabilities in malware. Cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity , digital security , or information technology (IT) security ) is the protection of computer software , systems and networks from threats that can lead to unauthorized information disclosure, theft or damage to hardware , software , or data , as well as from
10752-409: The ransom would work on any target that had the ransomware installed. Security researchers noticed and were quietly already helping victims of the software, but with no public notice, making it so that the attackers would only see an inexplicable decrease in ransom payments that could be written off as chance. Months later, Bitdefender publicly released a decryptor of their own development and issued
10864-428: The real website. Preying on a victim's trust, phishing can be classified as a form of social engineering . Attackers can use creative ways to gain access to real accounts. A common scam is for attackers to send fake electronic invoices to individuals showing that they recently purchased music, apps, or others, and instructing them to click on a link if the purchases were not authorized. A more strategic type of phishing
10976-476: The right foundation to systematically address business, IT and security concerns in an organization. A state of computer security is the conceptual ideal, attained by the use of three processes: threat prevention, detection, and response. These processes are based on various policies and system components, which include the following: Today, computer security consists mainly of preventive measures, like firewalls or an exit procedure . A firewall can be defined as
11088-432: The security requirements of the organization. Similarly, Techopedia defines security architecture as "a unified security design that addresses the necessities and potential risks involved in a certain scenario or environment. It also specifies when and where to apply security controls. The design process is generally reproducible." The key attributes of security architecture are: Practicing security architecture provides
11200-448: The software at all. The attacker can insert the software onto a compromised device, perhaps by direct insertion or perhaps by a virus or other malware, and then come back some time later to retrieve any data that is found or trigger the software to send the data at some determined time." Using a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts data between two points, is one of the most common forms of protection against eavesdropping. Using
11312-455: The system has been used for illegal activities, contains content such as pornography and "pirated" media . Some payloads consist simply of an application designed to lock or restrict the system until payment is made, typically by setting the Windows Shell to itself, or even modifying the master boot record and/or partition table to prevent the operating system from booting until it
11424-623: The system to the attacker, and can corrupt or delete data permanently. Another type of malware is ransomware , which is when "malware installs itself onto a victim's machine, encrypts their files, and then turns around and demands a ransom (usually in Bitcoin ) to return that data to the user." Types of malware include some of the following: Man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM) involve a malicious attacker trying to intercept, surveil or modify communications between two parties by spoofing one or both party's identities and injecting themselves in-between. Types of MITM attacks include: Surfacing in 2017,
11536-428: The team's employees' 2015 W-2 tax forms. Spoofing is an act of pretending to be a valid entity through the falsification of data (such as an IP address or username), in order to gain access to information or resources that one is otherwise unauthorized to obtain. Spoofing is closely related to phishing . There are several types of spoofing, including: In 2018, the cybersecurity firm Trellix published research on
11648-596: The user's country; for example, variants used in the United Kingdom contained the branding of organizations such as the Metropolitan Police Service and the Police National E-Crime Unit . Another version contained the logo of the royalty collection society PRS for Music , which specifically accused the user of illegally downloading music. In a statement warning the public about the malware,
11760-427: The users. Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing , instant messaging , text message , or on a phone call. They often direct users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. The fake website often asks for personal information, such as login details and passwords. This information can then be used to gain access to the individual's real account on
11872-401: The victim send the asymmetric ciphertext to the attacker who deciphers it and returns the symmetric decryption key it contains to the victim for a fee. Long before electronic money existed Young and Yung proposed that electronic money could be extorted through encryption as well, stating that "the virus writer can effectively hold all of the money ransom until half of it is given to him. Even if
11984-417: The victim's personal data unless a "ransom" is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion. It encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. In a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack, recovering the files without the decryption key
12096-616: The victims, since larger companies have generally improved their security over the last decade, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have also become increasingly vulnerable as they often "do not have advanced tools to defend the business." SMBs are most likely to be affected by malware, ransomware, phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks , and Denial-of Service (DoS) Attacks. Normal internet users are most likely to be affected by untargeted cyberattacks. These are where attackers indiscriminately target as many devices, services, or users as possible. They do this using techniques that take advantage of
12208-461: The way that would most help victims of the scheme. Bitdefender has defended their actions on their blog, saying that they only wished to make as many organizations as possible aware of the existence of the bug in DarkSide's ransom attacks. Bitdefender defended their actions, saying they only wished to notify as many organizations as possible, triggering a discussion among cybersecurity professionals about
12320-432: Was also proposed for cryptoviral extortion attacks. In the von Solms-Naccache scenario a newspaper publication was used (since bitcoin ledgers did not exist at the time the paper was written). The notion of using public key cryptography for data kidnapping attacks was introduced in 1996 by Adam L. Young and Moti Yung . Young and Yung critiqued the failed AIDS Information Trojan that relied on symmetric cryptography alone,
12432-446: Was detected. Using a 1024-bit RSA key, it was believed large enough to be computationally infeasible to break without a concerted distributed effort. Encrypting ransomware returned to prominence in late 2013 with the propagation of CryptoLocker —using the Bitcoin digital currency platform to collect ransom money. In December 2013, ZDNet estimated based on Bitcoin transaction information that between 15 October and 18 December,
12544-565: Was possible to exploit vulnerabilities in the protocol to infect target camera(s) with ransomware (or execute any arbitrary code). This attack was presented at the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas as a proof of concept attack (not as actual armed malware). The first attacks were on random users, typically infected through email attachments sent by small groups of criminals, demanding a few hundred dollars in cryptocurrency to unlock files (typically
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