Tag Archive for: hell

Cisco’s Talos security bods predict new wave of Excel Hell • The Register

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It took a few years and one temporary halt, but in July Microsoft finally began blocking certain macros by default in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, cutting off a popular attack vector for those who target users of Microsoft’s Windows OS and Office suite.

While recent versions of Office block Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default, older versions of the suite and its component programs remain enormously prevalent.

Blocking macros therefore won’t deter cybercriminals from targeting Microsoft’s signature productivity applications. They’ll just have to find other options.

A report released on Tuesday by researchers from Cisco’s Talos threat intelligence group dissected one: XLL files in Excel.

Microsoft describes XLL files as “a type of dynamic link library (DLL) file that can only be opened by Excel”. They exist to let third-party apps add extra functionality to the spreadsheet.

Miscreants have used XLLs in attacks for several years, with the first malicious samples submitted to VirusTotal in mid-2017.

“For quite some time after that, the usage of XLL files is only sporadic and it does not increase significantly until the end of 2021, when commodity malware families such as Dridex and Formbook started using it,” Vanja Svajcer, outreach researcher for Talos, wrote in the report.

“Currently a significant number of advanced persistent threat actors and commodity malware families are using XLLs as an infection vector and this number continues to grow.”

Those high-profile groups include APT10, a China-linked gang also known as Chessmaster, Potassium, and menuPass that has used XLLs to inject the Anel Backdoor malware. TA410, a cyberespionage group also known as Cicada or Stone Panda, is another user. DoNot, another APT group, and Fin7, a Russia-based organization are also admirers. Fin7 earlier this year began using XLLs sent…

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Scots athlete Eilish McColgan and partner in private video hack hell as they call in cops

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SCOTS athlete Eilish McColgan and her partner have called in cops after hackers stole one of their private videos.

The track star, 30, and boyfriend Michael Rimmer, 34, were left distraught after an iCloud account was raided and personal footage posted online.

Middle-distance runner Eilish, from Dundee, is also thought to have informed Scottish Athletics bosses of the theft.

Crooks broke into the web library, which backs up Apple devices’ data, to view the pair’s films.

Eilish McColgan slams body shamers saying it’s why women get ‘big plastic ars*s’

A source said: “The couple are absolutely devastated by this. They feel completely violated that not only has someone accessed them but that one was made public.

“Eilish called in the police when she found out.”

And cyber security expert Professor Anthony Glees warned that using internet storage services made people more likely to become victims of hacking.

Middle-distance runner Eilish
Middle-distance runner EilishCredit: PA:Press Association

He said: “It is barmy to post pictures or video of yourself anywhere.

“Anything written online or any uploaded images can be hacked. People are extremely skilled at doing it now.

“If your password is memorable to you it’s probably memorable to anyone else. All our information is out there.”

We told how Olympic 5000m hopeful Eilish and English 800m ace Michael were caught up in a horror taxi pile-up in Delhi, India last year.

 

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It Will Take A Hell Of A Lot More Than Whatsapp Tweaks To Fix Our Global Disinformation Problem

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With increased regulatory pressure surrounding the platform’s ability to help distribute disinformation (often to bloody and disastrous effect), Facebook owned Whatsapp this week announced it would be more tightly restricting how app messages can be forwarded. Under the new system, if a user receives a “highly forwarded” message – one which has been forwarded more than five times – that user will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. Previously, users could forward these messages on to five people at a time, a limit that was implemented last year.

It doesn’t block all message forwarding (you can still smash the forward button individually as many times as you like), but it does implement a little “friction” in a bid to slow mass forwarding in general. Over at the Whatsapp blog, the company explains its thinking:

“Is all forwarding bad? Certainly not. We know many users forward helpful information, as well as funny videos, memes, and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organize public moments of support for frontline health workers. However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”

Last year, Whatsapp says it introduced double arrow labels to indicate that forwarded messages were not from a “close contact,” trying to make it clearer which messages were effectively from someone you trust, versus mass forwarded memes or spam. It’s not entirely clear yet how impactful this will be in places like India, where, for several years, misinformation has helped fuel violence against religious minorities.

But as we’ve noted previously, these problems often go well beyond just Whatsapp, making it illogical to place the entire onus for fixing the problems squarely on Whatsapp’s shoulders. There’s also a mountain of cultural and technical issues (like managing what’s sent inside of encrypted messages) that makes the assumption that Whatsapp can “just fix this” overly simplistic. Still, with the app now being used to spread bogus Coronavirus information, the stakes have grown higher, and the calls from regulators and governments to “do more” have grown exponentially.

But again, there’s numerous factors at play, and it has long been clear that any solution is likely complicated and multi-faceted.

In many countries, social media applications have been conflated with the internet itself, creating a walled garden “internet” that consists of just a few apps and sources, creating a less open echosphere where it’s easier than ever to spread disinformation. Often that’s by design as we saw with Facebook’s “Zero Basics” program, which attempted to help the company corner developing nation ad markets by offering free access to a Facebook “curated” selection of content — but not access to the full internet. Add in government censorship, and it gets even more complicated.

That’s not to say Whatsapp shouldn’t continue to experiment with ideas to slow the spread of mis and disinformation. The company has helped promote a World Health Organization bot aimed at providing more accurate information, and it recently donated $ 1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network.

But because of the scope and complexity of the problem, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than just Whatsapp tweaks to fix a global, surging disinformation problem. It’s going to require a cooperative, global shift in media literacy and critical thinking — combined with mass collaboration between governments, platforms, academics, and users — with nary a single silver bullet anywhere in sight.

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Houston Police Chief Says He’ll Prosecute People For False Statements About COVID-19 Response; Won’t Debate 1st Amendment

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We already went over this with Newark, NJ, but now Houston’s top law enforcement officer is falsely claiming he can and will prosecute people for making false statements about Houston’s COVID-19 response. It started with rumors on social media that the city was going to go into lockdown — which is not a crazy rumor given that plenty of other places in the country (and the world) have more or less done this exact thing already (including the entire state of California). But Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted that this was false information and he was asking law enforcement to investigate:

That says:

There is a video on social media of a person saying she was in a meeting with government officials confirming that there will be a city lockdown this weekend or Monday. All of this is false. I am asking HPD and Harris County DAs Office to investigate for possible prosecution.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo then responded to the mayor on Twitter, saying that the police “have launched an investigation” and something about “nation actors intentionally spreading misinformation.”

Now, it should be noted that we’ve written about Art Acevedo a few times now, including his ridiculously bad response to his officers completely botched a no knock raid that killed two innocent people. Acevedo, who came to Texas (first to Austin, then to Houston) promising “reform” and cleaning up police departments hasn’t always done such a great job of that — but you’d at least expect him to know how the 1st Amendment works.

But, no, that’s too much apparently. Also, when confronted on this… he trotted out the very wrong “fire in a crowded theater” line:

As a reminder, that line is not good law, and is the excuse most commonly used by bumbling idiots to defend unconstitutional censorship.

Even once a bunch of experts in this space piled on to point out to Acevedo he was wrong, he kept it up, with a ridiculous press conference in which he said that he had no time to debate 1st Amendment lawyers:

We have opened a multi-jurisdictional investigation. I had a 1st Amendment lawyer arguing with me on Twitter, and the mayor on his tweet. We’re not gonna debate the law. I’ll just say that the US Attorney’s Office is now involved in this investigation. Our federal partners are now involved in this investigation and we will prosecute anyone to the fullest extent of the law. I’ve been in touch with the DA’s office. I’ve been in touch with our federal partners. And the bottom line is that we have investigations ongoing.

Yeah, except (1) you can’t prosecute people for mere rumors on social media, and (2) saying that you are going to prosecute false information is incredibly dangerous because it stops people from sharing valuable and useful information if they’re afraid that it might not be fully verified. We saw this in China, where police went after the doctor who was trying to raise the alarm about COVID-19 and it silenced him and probably slowed worldwide (and local) attention to the risks of COVID-19.

Even more ridiculous, right before saying that he was going to prosecute people for false statements, Acevedo said (and I kid you not) that you shouldn’t listen to anyone on social media, but you should listen to the President — the very same President who has been a veritable fire hose of misinformation regarding COVID-19. Meanwhile, much of the good and useful information has been spreading by experts on social media, just as Acevedo is saying not to listen to any of it.

As it relates to the individuals who continue to spread false information: you should be ONLY listening to your elected officials, or to your appointed officials, for information on what is happening or is about to happen. If there’s a change, only believe it when you hear it from the Mayor, the judge, the Governor, the President or the people that they appoint for these type of responses.

Now, sure, you should listen to officials to get specifics on the official response, but mentioning the President at a time when he’s spewing so much disinformation and then immediately insisting that disinformation is criminal, is just crazy. Oh, and then he also insists that the misinformation is coming from foreign sources:

Secondly, the majority of this information, a lot of, it’s not just coming from individuals, but from nation states. I’m gonna repeat: nation states, that are purposefully putting out information that try to cause pandemonium. That try to get a reaction from the public.

Citation needed, chief. Yes, I’m sure that some information on social media is being put out by nation state trolls trying to wreak havoc. But “the majority” of it? Come on. Also, again, importantly, there’s been a ton of incredibly useful information and details on social media talking about how to best respond to this, from how to “flatten the curve,” how to stay safe, how to wash your hands, how to practice social distancing, even to the point of how to help make medical equipment to help protect medical professionals. Telling everyone not to listen to any of it and that you’ll prosecute people for posting that info is downright dangerous by itself.

I don’t expect everyone to understand the ins-and-outs of the 1st Amendment, but a police chief of a major city, certainly should.

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