Q314 saw cyberattacks grow in volume and sophistication: Trend Micro

Source: Trend Micro website.

The third quarter saw a new critical vulnerability, Shellshock threaten more than half a billion servers and devices worldwide. This major development, as well as an uptick in volume and sophistication of cyberattacks, are detailed in Trend Micro's latest quarterly security roundup report, Vulnerabilities Under Attack: Shedding Light on the Growing Attack Surface. 

The report also reveals web platform and mobile app vulnerabilities that have broadened significantly, resulting in high-impact attacks on businesses and consumers alike.

“Our findings confirm that we are battling rapidly moving cybercriminals and evolving vulnerabilities simultaneously,” said Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro. “With this fluidity, it’s time to embrace the fact that compromises will continue, and we shouldn’t be alarmed or surprised when they occur. Preparation is key and as an industry we must better educate organisations and consumers about heightened risks as attacks grow in volume and in sophistication. 

"Understanding that cybercriminals are finding vulnerabilities and potential loopholes in every device and platform possible will help us confront these challenges so technology can be used in a positive way.”

The report dissects vulnerabilities such as Shellshock, which affects popular operating systems, including Linux,UNIX and Mac OS X. The surprising discovery of the Shellshock vulnerability emerged after going unnoticed for more than 20 years, suggesting the likelihood of more long, undiscovered vulnerabilities lurking within with operating systems or applications.

Vulnerabilities in mobile platforms and apps are also proving to be a greater challenge. As in previous quarters, the report cites that significant and critical vulnerabilities were found in mobile platforms, such as Android. Exploit kits were highly utilised in Web platforms and provided cybercriminals with another resource to compromise victim’s systems.

In an effort to steal credit card information and money, the report also reveals that threat actors are targeting large retailers’ Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems to execute massive data breaches. This ongoing practice further indicates that PoS networks are highly accessible and vulnerable. Cyber thieves also utilised updated versions of older versions of popular malware and online banking malware to successfully target victims.

Click here for the complete report, and read the associated blog post here.

Trend Micro rolls out free tools to protect users against Shellshock (the Bash bug)

Trend Micro, a security software and solutions provider, has released license-free tools to help protect web users against the Shellshock or Bash bug across the Mac OSX and Linux platforms. 

Source: Trend Micro infographic.

Broadly publicised the week of 22 September, Shellshock is a vulnerability that can exploit command access to Linux-based systems and adversely impact a majority of the web servers around the world, as well as Internet-connected devices on the Mac OSX platform. The vulnerability has potential to adversely impact a half billion web servers and other Internet-connected devices including mobile phones, routers and medical devices.

"Since this situation has potential to escalate quickly, we are taking immediate preventative steps to help keep the public safe from this unprecedented vulnerability," said Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro. "We believe the most responsible course of action is for technology users to remain calm and apply the resources made available from Trend Micro, and others, to create a strong defensive front. By making our tools accessible free of charge to our customers, and beyond, we are trying to address this 'outbreak' to stop a possible epidemic before it can start."

One of the free tools featured, the on-demand BashLite Malware Scanner, will determine if the BashLite malware is resident on Linux systems.

"Shellshock could be notably more widespread than the infamous Heartbleed from earlier this year," said Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro. "Heartbleed was very different in nature and behaviour. With Shellshock the threats are much more severe."

For those unable to implement the Trend Micro wall of protection against the Shellshock threat, Trend Micro's threat defense experts recommend the following steps to help businesses and end-users mitigate the vulnerability:

• End-users should watch for patches for Mac OSX and implement them immediately.
• Linux system operators should consider virtually patching until a patch is available from their vendor.
• Linux/Apache web server operators using BASH scripts should consider retooling those scripts to use something other than BASH until a patch is available.
• Hosted service customers should contact their service provider to determine if they are vulnerable and find out their remediation plans if they are exposed.

Trend Micro researchers are currently monitoring this vulnerability in the wild to anticipate additional escalations. The company has released a detailed blog post explaining the vulnerability with additional recommendations to stay protected, and created an infographic detailing what the vulnerability is and how it works.