[slamako]

Hello OT,

I know that there are some cyber sleuths out there. See link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/te...espionage.html

I would like thoughts from OT on this topic.

I believe that I have been a victim of corporate espionage from China. I'm not sure if I was compromised on recent business trip there or from opening up an email attachment in my email that contained the malware.

Since discovering that somebody was impersonating me (in Hong Kong), I have changed my corporate computer and tried to minimize my digital presence.

I work at a small manufacturing company and thus, do not have a big IT department to investigate these matters. So my questions are:

a) how easy is it really to hack a cell phone? How about a Blackberry (which I have)..but not on BES? If my phone was the source, if I switch the SIM card, would I be OK?

b) are there malware that 'calls home' with information that even the best commercial virus scanners can't detect?

I understand the irony of asking these questions on a public car forum, however, I have found OT sometimes useful and always entertaining.

Thanks in advance.
Slamako

[Arben72]

"Digital espionage" or a more common term hacking is easy to do. Changing your sim won't help you because it's stored in the phones hard drive. It is possible that both of those (sim card and black berry) are compromised. It also is quite possible that the virus isn't detected by your anti virus. I hope you don't have a key logger.

[slamako]

If "hacking" is easy to do, why haven't the big anti-virus companies found effective countermeasures to it?

Since the breach, I have changed my computer completely. The only files migrated were my .pst files from Outlook. Do any key loggers embed themselves inside Outlook?

If anti virus can't detect virus or key loggers, what defence is there?

[Augenbrauezug]

Originally Posted by slamako

If "hacking" is easy to do, why haven't the big anti-virus companies found effective countermeasures to it?

Since the breach, I have changed my computer completely. The only files migrated were my .pst files from Outlook. Do any key loggers embed themselves inside Outlook?

If anti virus can't detect virus or key loggers, what defence is there?

I think you're over simplifying things. We aren't just talking about viruses, but all sorts of ways for people to invade the privacy of all your wireless devices through different means. This seems to be a big problem in China, but will likely migrate to the US before long.

[Blayne]

From my understanding of this, "hacking" a phone without someone actually taking the phone and installing the program is very uncommon and most likely not the case. Once a program is installed though, they can drop in on your calls, take video from the camera, track you, turn on the mic...ext....anything. In most cases resting the phone gets rid of the "bug", but once again would not take the chance, and just get a new phone. As for the computer, just get another one as well, as you really never no exactly what you have been infected with, most likely possible to clean it out but once again is it worth taking the chance.

[johanness]

Welcome to Android hell

[ttam]

Originally Posted by slamako

a) how easy is it really to hack a cell phone? How about a Blackberry (which I have)..but not on BES? If my phone was the source, if I switch the SIM card, would I be OK?

Any phone can be hacked. Sometimes you have to profile yourself and see how "valued" you are. The information stored on your phone can reveal a lot about you and your company (esp if you keep proprietary documents on your phone).

Switching out the SIM wont do shit (assuming your phone was truly hacked). It is the contact info they are after and the possible accounts you have on the phone would be the first targets. Any other relevant information (email accounts, google accounts, etc) might also be retrieved by the attacker.

Originally Posted by slamako

b) are there malware that 'calls home' with information that even the best commercial virus scanners can't detect?

There are a lot of crafted malware that 'calls home'. Most are classified as an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). And yes, if they are specifically crafted for a certain victim, most (if not all) commercial virus scanners cannot detect it.

As a general rule of thumb, you should use something like virustotal.com to scan any attachments that look malicious. Hell, scan all the attachments sent to you through their services (as long as you know there isnt any propitiatory information on there that is sensitive to public eyes)


Good luck to ya. Depending on the original device that was infected, you should probably wipe it (just in case)

[Kroy]

Originally Posted by slamako

If "hacking" is easy to do, why haven't the big anti-virus companies found effective countermeasures to it?

Since the breach, I have changed my computer completely. The only files migrated were my .pst files from Outlook. Do any key loggers embed themselves inside Outlook?

If anti virus can't detect virus or key loggers, what defence is there?

it's not easy to find a countermeasure to human error. you can't stop people from opening/clicking things ignorantly.

[slamako]

Originally Posted by ttam

Any phone can be hacked. Sometimes you have to profile yourself and see how "valued" you are. The information stored on your phone can reveal a lot about you and your company (esp if you keep proprietary documents on your phone).

I believe they hackers were after company information. Sadly, I keep a very extensive contact list with lots of information. I know this was compromised (as the hackers made phone calls to people who know me in HK. They called multiple people on their cell phone impersonating me asking for money--which was stored in my outlook/phone)

Originally Posted by ttam

Switching out the SIM wont do shit (assuming your phone was truly hacked). It is the contact info they are after and the possible accounts you have on the phone would be the first targets. Any other relevant information (email accounts, google accounts, etc) might also be retrieved by the attacker.

Thanks for the advice. Good excuse to get a new phone!

Originally Posted by ttam

There are a lot of crafted malware that 'calls home'. Most are classified as an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). And yes, if they are specifically crafted for a certain victim, most (if not all) commercial virus scanners cannot detect it.

As a general rule of thumb, you should use something like virustotal.com to scan any attachments that look malicious. Hell, scan all the attachments sent to you through their services (as long as you know there isnt any propitiatory information on there that is sensitive to public eyes)


Good luck to ya. Depending on the original device that was infected, you should probably wipe it (just in case)

Given that our company does have a fair bit of interaction with other manufacturers in China, I will seriously consider changing our company's policy with respect to this issue.