The ongoing DDoS attack on GitHub, which has made the social coding site intermittently unresponsive since March 25, is essentially a side effect of an older operation from the Chinese government against a site run by the anti-censorship project GreatFire.org. Officials at GreatFire said that the attack on their infrastructure began on March 17 and involved […]
Tag Archives: Government
U.S. Government Requests for Yahoo User Data Drop
Yahoo received nearly 5,000 requests for user data from the United States government in the last six months of 2014 and disclosed some content in nearly 25 percent of those cases. The company said in its new transparency report that it received between 0-999 National Security Letters from the U.S. government, too. The latest report from […]
Tech Companies, Privacy Advocates Call for NSA Reform
A group of technology companies, non-profits and privacy and human rights organizations have sent a letter to President Barack Obama, the director of national intelligence and a wide range of Congressional leaders, calling for an end to the bulk collection of phone metadata under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The letter, sent by […]
Regin: Is Government Malware Stoppable After All?
What is Regin?
According to Virus Bulletin, we are looking at a multi-staged threat (like Stuxnet) that uses a modular approach (like Flame), a combination that makes it one of the most advanced threats ever detected. Researches show that Regin has been used in espionage campaigns for the last 6 years. This sophisticated backdoor Trojan affects Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 and it is able to take control of input devices, capture credentials, monitor network traffic, and gather information on processes and memory utilization.
Regin mainly affects companies, research institutes, governmental organizations, and individuals who have access to networks of special interest. This is why Avira has worked together with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) to add new Regin detection routines to the widely implemented and proven tool Avira PC Cleaner.
How can the Avira PC Cleaner help me?
The tool can now detect the identifiable elements of Regin and remove them from the infected system. “PC Cleaner came about as a result of the German anti-botnet “botfrei.de” initiative which is backed by the BSI. The software was also further developed with the support and know-how of the BSI. Users now have an easy-to-use tool available to them which can track down Regin malware”, explains Dr. Dirk Häger, head of operational network defense at the BSI. If PC Cleaner detects Regin, the affected system can be cleansed and the relevant files quarantined. Even after a successful system cleanup, it is worthwhile running further scans to make absolutely sure that Regin has not infiltrated other areas of the network. This also makes PC Cleaner an early warning tool. If Regin is detected, affected organizations should definitely think about taking further steps to protect their IT infrastructure.
The really unique feature about Avira PC Cleaner is that it doesn’t need to be installed. This means there are no conflicts with other vendors’ antivirus solutions installed on the computer. As such, PC Cleaner gives users the chance to get a second opinion. This is why it is also called a 2nd opinion scanner, although it isn’t a replacement for a fully-fledged antivirus solution. As a result, PC Cleaner is ideal for detecting Regin and for checking the computer for any other malicious software. It is based on the proven malware detection capabilities of Avira antivirus solutions of which there are millions of installs.
The post Regin: Is Government Malware Stoppable After All? appeared first on Avira Blog.
Obama Administration Seeks More Legal Power to Disrupt Botnets
The federal government is seeking more legal power to step in and shut down botnets through an amendment to the existing criminal law, which would allow the Department of Justice to obtain injunctions to disrupt these malicious networks. The Obama administration has proposed an amendment to existing United Stated federal law that would give it […]
Equation APT Group Attack Platform A Study in Stealth
The EquationDrug cyberespionage platform is a complicated system that is used selectively against only certain target machines, one that can be extended via a collection of 116 malware plug-ins, researchers at Kaspersky Lab said.
Confusion Reigns Over FBI’s Plans for National Security Letter Gag Orders
The way that National Security Letters are approved and used is one of the government’s more opaque processes. Now, you can add some more confusion into the mix, courtesy of some new comments from the FBI about when recipients are able to disclose the fact that they have received an NSL. More than a year […]
New FREAK Attack Threatens Many SSL Clients
For the nth time in the last couple of years, security experts are warning about a new Internet-scale vulnerability, this time in some popular SSL clients. The flaw allows an attacker to force clients to downgrade to weakened ciphers and break their supposedly encrypted communications through a man-in-the-middle attack. Researchers recently discovered that some SSL […]
India blocks third party email services to government officials
The Indian government has changed the way in which its officials are allowed to operate when working, it has been announced.
The post India blocks third party email services to government officials appeared first on We Live Security.
Gemalto: ‘SIM Products Are Secure’
Gemalto officials say that while they are still in the process of investigating whether the company was compromised by the NSA and GCHQ to access the encryption keys for its SIM cards, they say they believe their products and platforms are secure. In a statement issued Monday, Gemalto officials said they are still trying to […]