Have you secured your Google account with two-factor authentication yet?
If you have a smart phone such as Blackberry Android or iPhone you can easily add an extra layer of protection to your Google account including Gmail or Google+.
The authenticator app is available at no charge whatsoever. Google provides instructions on how to install the app based upon your phone.
Once setup you will be asked for a time-sensitive PIN provided by your smartphone when logging into your Google account.
Even if your account password is stolen or guessed your account will be secure!
Read more at Google's 2-step verification page.
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
IE Zero Day and Increase in Global Malware Indicators
A look at the last 30 days of web searches for common malware infection indicators shows that the Internet Explorer Zero Day vulnerability has been in the wild since possibly September 12, 2012, or possibly as far back as September 8.
On September 11, the indicator search volume was at 67 on a sliding scale. As of September 16, 2012 (the last day Google provides search data for at this time), the search volume had increased to 94.
The search volume had peaked on September 2, and was on a fairly steady decline since, with the exception of a brief spike in search activity on September 8.
On September 11, the indicator search volume was at 67 on a sliding scale. As of September 16, 2012 (the last day Google provides search data for at this time), the search volume had increased to 94.
The search volume had peaked on September 2, and was on a fairly steady decline since, with the exception of a brief spike in search activity on September 8.
Using Google Insights to Track Computer Virus Outbreaks
Google.org currently maintains "Google Flu Trends" which works by looking at search keywords as indicators of flu activity.
I've been doing some thinking recently, and why not apply the same to computer virus outbreaks?
I'm still trying to refine the search keywords, but there's a good article on CNet which might provide some starter info.
Based upon the article, I've created the following string for insights. Note that Insights treats + as a logical OR...
"computer virus infection" + "computer slow" + "computer crashes" + "program opens slow" + "annoying popups" + "is symantec.com down" + "is mcafee.com down" + "is trendmicro.com down" + "can't update antivirus"It's important to note however, that using the above search string along will not produce the "global infection map" we're looking for. This only looks at English-language searches, and does not include searches in other languages. We can however use this string to create a nice map showing infection trends in the United States over the past year.
Since most infections result in searches such as "why is my computer slow", here is a multi-lingual search string:
computer slow + ordinateur lent + ordenador lento + bilgisayar yavaş + コンピューターが遅い + 느린 컴퓨터 + 计算机速度慢 + computer langsom + 電腦速度慢 + компьютер медленно + powolny komputer + بطء جهاز الكمبيوتر
If the above string is accurate enough to indicate that the user is infected with a virus, then we can view global infection trends for home users.
We can try to validate this data by looking at October 2008 through February 2009, when Conficker was infecting the most computer systems. Conficker started infecting computers in November, 2008, and in January 2009 reached a peak of possibly 15 million infections.
More importantly, we can use the data for the past 30 days to monitor for spikes in activity, which would indicate a possible malware infection is spreading in the wild.
We can also use this data to create a rather interesting global history of malware infections.
Coming Soon: Android for the Paranoid Article Series
I've decided to write a series of articles titled "Android for the Paranoid".
The articles will be an in-depth look at some of the Android security related applications out there, and how they can be leveraged by you and your organization.
If you have any apps you would like me to specifically look at, please post in the comments section below!
The articles will be an in-depth look at some of the Android security related applications out there, and how they can be leveraged by you and your organization.
If you have any apps you would like me to specifically look at, please post in the comments section below!
Monitoring for Leaked Company Documents through Google Alerts
This article is part of a series on using Google Alerts to protect you, your family, and your company through early notification of data breaches and leaks.
Previous Articles:
Misuse of Your Personal Information and Google Alerts
Monitoring for New Zero Day Exploits through Google Alerts
If you're following good security practices, all of your internal company documents are properly labeled with important labels such as "Company Proprietary", "Company Sensitive" or "Do Not Distribute".
In fact your company has probably established a standardized header for use on all sensitive documents.
So, when's the last time you performed a Google search for this header?
When's the last time you searched to see what documents are being exposed to the web hosted on your domain?
The results might surprise you.
The Google Hacking Database has some excellent information on how to use Google to find sensitive files. It's very easy to use some of the search queries there, add your company name or standard header, and see what happens.
In fact, even if you find no results, it would be a great idea to setup Google Alerts to monitor for documents posted (accidentally or otherwise) which appear to be internal company documents.
Here's an example, which should produce results for (hopefully!) intentionally posted documents:
Beware: Many hackers already know these tricks, and will use them to perform reconnaissance on your company before initiating an attack. Even the most mundane documents, such as a list of email addresses and phone numbers, could be used to assist in launching a spear phishing (targeted phishing) attack against your company.
Previous Articles:
Misuse of Your Personal Information and Google Alerts
Monitoring for New Zero Day Exploits through Google Alerts
If you're following good security practices, all of your internal company documents are properly labeled with important labels such as "Company Proprietary", "Company Sensitive" or "Do Not Distribute".
In fact your company has probably established a standardized header for use on all sensitive documents.
So, when's the last time you performed a Google search for this header?
When's the last time you searched to see what documents are being exposed to the web hosted on your domain?
The results might surprise you.
The Google Hacking Database has some excellent information on how to use Google to find sensitive files. It's very easy to use some of the search queries there, add your company name or standard header, and see what happens.
In fact, even if you find no results, it would be a great idea to setup Google Alerts to monitor for documents posted (accidentally or otherwise) which appear to be internal company documents.
Here's an example, which should produce results for (hopefully!) intentionally posted documents:
site:blogspot.com filetype:doc OR filetype:xls OR filetype:pdfThe above query will return common office documents which are hosted on blogspot.com, or any subdomains. Replace blogspot.com with your main domain, and see what results you find.
Beware: Many hackers already know these tricks, and will use them to perform reconnaissance on your company before initiating an attack. Even the most mundane documents, such as a list of email addresses and phone numbers, could be used to assist in launching a spear phishing (targeted phishing) attack against your company.
Monitoring for New Zero Day Exploits through Google Alerts
In case you haven't read it, I previously posted a how-to for using Google Alerts to monitor for misuse of your personal information...
Misuse of Your Personal Information and Google Alerts
Today I'm going to expand on that post, and show how advanced Google search strings can be used to monitor for other things, such as when new zero day exploits are posted publicly to Pastebin.
For those not familiar with it, Pastebin is a large site which allows anyone to post large amounts of text. One of the common uses for this site is the public disclosure of new vulnerabilities and exploits.
To leverage some of the more powerful features of Google, use advanced search syntax to narrow your search. An excellent quick reference is available at Google Guide.
Using our previous method to create an "As it happens" alert, let's try writing a custom query which monitors for new exploits...
I have provided an example RSS feed for a wide zero day search here.
Of course, this won't give you up-to-the-minute searching of Pastebin, but it's better than not monitoring at all.
Misuse of Your Personal Information and Google Alerts
Today I'm going to expand on that post, and show how advanced Google search strings can be used to monitor for other things, such as when new zero day exploits are posted publicly to Pastebin.
For those not familiar with it, Pastebin is a large site which allows anyone to post large amounts of text. One of the common uses for this site is the public disclosure of new vulnerabilities and exploits.
To leverage some of the more powerful features of Google, use advanced search syntax to narrow your search. An excellent quick reference is available at Google Guide.
Using our previous method to create an "As it happens" alert, let's try writing a custom query which monitors for new exploits...
intext:exploit OR intext:vulnerability OR intext:"zero day" OR intext:"0day" site:pastebin.comFurther tweaking will allow you to target a specific software or manufacturer, such as...
intext:microsoft intext:exploit OR intext:vulnerability OR intext:"zero day" OR intext:"0day" site:pastebin.com
I have provided an example RSS feed for a wide zero day search here.
Of course, this won't give you up-to-the-minute searching of Pastebin, but it's better than not monitoring at all.
Misuse of Your Personal Information and Google Alerts
It's always a good idea to keep tabs on your online presence. This can help prevent embarrassing situations, such as an ex girlfriend posting all your dirty laundry for the world to see, or keep someone from stealing your identity, or using your name or address for fraudulent activities, resulting in the police knocking on YOUR door instead of theirs.
Here is an excellent example...
One of my former co-workers had a rather interesting event happen to him after moving in to his new house... Someone was running a "women's retreat" business from his home address!
He found this out through randomly searching for his own home address using Google.
Apparently someone had setup an entire website for this fake business using the real estate information from his home before purchase.
Luckily, this site did not remain online for long, but things could have become really interesting if someone showed up with suitcases in hand expecting to spend a weekend at the "retreat" they already paid for in full...
A few other situations which could happen...
So how can you protect yourself from these situations?
Here is an excellent example...
One of my former co-workers had a rather interesting event happen to him after moving in to his new house... Someone was running a "women's retreat" business from his home address!
He found this out through randomly searching for his own home address using Google.
Apparently someone had setup an entire website for this fake business using the real estate information from his home before purchase.
Luckily, this site did not remain online for long, but things could have become really interesting if someone showed up with suitcases in hand expecting to spend a weekend at the "retreat" they already paid for in full...
A few other situations which could happen...
- Someone decides to try to rent or sell your house without your knowledge
- Someone posts your address for a "everything for free" event on Craigslist as a cover for looting your house
- A former co-worker or client posts your personal information on an online bulletin board accusing you of something "bad", resulting in harassing phone calls from thousands of complete strangers
- An online group such as Anonymous posts your name and address on bulletin boards to coordinate a "prank SWAT raid"
- Your college or university accidentally publishes a list of student names and social security numbers
So how can you protect yourself from these situations?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)