P A R T 1 P A R T 2 P A R T 3 2 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Contents Introduction 3 Executive Summary 4 2013 Security Timeline 5 - 7 2013 in Numbers 8 Breaches 9 Web 10 Targeted Attacks 11 Spear-Phishing 12 Web based 13 - 14 Spear-Phishing (cont) 15 - 17 Watering-holes 18 - 20 Network Discovery and Data Capture 21 Data Breaches 23 E-Crime & Malware Delivery Tactics 24 - 26 Threat Delivery Tactics 27 Web Attacks Blocked 30 Classification of Most Frequently Exploited Websites in 2013 29 Threat Delivery Tactics (cont) 30 - 31 Proportion of Email Traffic 32 Social Media 33 - 36 Spam and Phishing 37 - 39 Compromised Sites 40 Keep your business secure with Symantec 41 About Symantec 42 3 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Introduction Symantec has the most comprehensive source of Internet threat data in the world through the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, which is made up of more than 41.5 million attack sensors and records thousands of events per second. This network monitors threat activity in over 157 countries and territories through a combination of Symantec products and services such as Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System, Symantec Managed Security Services, Norton products, Symantec Website Security Solutions and other 3rd party data sources. Symantec also maintains one of the worlds most comprehensive vulnerability databases, made of over 60,000 recorded vulnerabilities from over 19,000 vendors representing over 54,000 products. Spam, phishing, and malware data is captured through sources including the Symantec Probe Network, a system of more than 5 million decoy accounts, Symantec.cloud, Symantec Website Security Solutions Malware and Vulnerability products and a number of other Symantec security technologies. Skeptic, the Symantec.cloud proprietary heuristic technology, is able to detect new and sophisticated targeted threats before they reach customers networks. Over 8.4 billion email messages are processed each month and more than 1.7 billion web requests filtered each day across 14 data centres. Symantec also gathers phishing information through an extensive anti-fraud community of enterprises, security vendors, and more than 50 million consumers. Symantec Website Security Solutions provides 100 percent availability and processes over 6 billion Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) look-ups per day, which are used for obtaining the revocation status of X.509 digital certificates around the world. These resources give Symantec analysts unparalleled sources of data with which to identify, analyse, and provide informed commentary on emerging trends in attacks, malicious code activity, phishing, and spam. The result is the third Symantec Website Security Threat Report (based on Symantecs ISTR Volume 19), which gives enterprises, small businesses, and consumers essential information to secure their systems effectively now and into the future. 4 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Executive Summary In 2013 attention was focused on cyber-espionage, threats to privacy and the acts of malicious insiders. However, the end of 2013 provided a painful reminder that cybercrime remains prevalent and that damaging threats from cybercriminals continue to cast a shadow over businesses and consumers. Eight breaches in 2013 each exposed more than 10 million identities and targeted attacks increased. This years WSTR covers the wide-ranging threat landscape, with data collected and analysed by Symantecs security experts. In this summary, we highlight the key areas. The key trends in 2013 were: 2013 The Year of the Mega Breach The 2011 Internet Security Threat Report called out 2011 as the Year of the Data Breach. 2013 can best be described as the Year of the Mega Breach. The total number of breaches in 2013 was 62 percent greater than in 2012 with 253 total breaches. It was also larger than the 208 breaches in 2011. But even a 62 percent increase does not truly reflect the scale of the breaches in 2013. Eight of the breaches in 2013 exposed more than 10 million identities each. In 2012 only one breach exposed over 10 million identities. In 2011, only five were of that size. In total over 552 million identities were breached in 2013, putting consumers personal information (credit cards, passwords, address details etc) at risk. Targeted Attacks Grow and Evolve As first reported in last years report, attackers added watering-hole attacks to their arsenal. The reports of the death of spear-phishing are greatly exaggerated. While the total number of emails used per campaign has decreased and the number of those targeted has also decreased, the number of spear-phishing campaigns themselves saw a dramatic 91 percent rise in 2013. Zero-day Vulnerabilities and Unpatched Websites Facilitated Watering-Hole Attacks More zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered in 2013 than any other year Symantec has tracked. The 23 zero-day vulnerabilities discovered represent a 61 percent increase over 2012 and are more than the two previous years combined. Zero-day vulnerabilities are so valued because they give attackers the means to infect their victim without resorting to social engineering. By applying these exploits to a watering-hole attack they avoid the possibility of anti-phishing technology stopping them. Unfortunately legitimate web sites with poor patch management practices have facilitated the adoption of watering-hole attacks. 78 percent of legitimate websites had exploitable vulnerabilities and 1-in-8 of all websites had a critical vulnerability. This gives attackers plenty of choices in websites to place their malware and entrap their victims. Generally speaking cutting-edge attackers stop using a vulnerability once it is made public. But this does not bring an end to their use. Common cybercriminals rapidly incorporate these vulnerabilities to threaten us all. Even though the top five zero-day vulnerabilities were patched on average within four days, Symantec detected a total of 174,651 attacks within 30 days of these top five becoming known. Prevalence of Scams Fail to Change User Behaviour on Social Media We all continue to fall for scams on social media sites. Fake offers such as free mobile phone minutes accounted for the largest number of attacks of Facebook users in 2013 81 percent in 2013 compared to 56 percent in 2012. And while twelve percent of social media users say someone has hacked into their social network account and pretended to be them, a quarter continue to shared their social media passwords with others and a third connect with people they dont know. Attackers are turning to the Internet of Things Baby monitors, security cameras and routers, were famously hacked in 2013. Additionally, researchers demonstrated attacks against smart TVs, cars and medical equipment. This gives us a preview of the security challenge presented by the rapid adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT). Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 2013 Security Timeline 6 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19
01 January 02 February 03 March 04 April 05 May 06 June Elderwood Project found using new Internet Explorer Zero-Day Vulnerability (CVE-2012-4792) Java Zero-Day found in Cool Exploit Kit (CVE-2013-0422) Android.Exprespam potentially infects thousands of devices Backdoor.Barkiofork used to target Aerospace and Defence industries Bamital botnet taken down Adobe zero-day used in LadyBoyle attack (CVE-2013-0634) Cross-platform toolkit for creating the remote access tool (RAT) Frutas discovered Fake Adobe Flash update discovered installing ransomware and performing click fraud Bit9 suffers security breach, code signing SSL certificates stolen Android Malware spams victims contacts Facebook Black scam spreads on Facebook Blackhole Exploit Kit takes advantage of financial crisis in Cyprus Several South Korean banks and local broadcasting organisations impacted by cyber-attack #OpIsrael hacktivism campaign targets Israeli websites NPR, Associated Press, and various Twitter accounts hacked by Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) Distributed Denial of Service attacks hit Reddit and European banks WordPress plugin vulnerability discovered, allowing PHP injection LivingSocial resets passwords for 50 million accounts after data breach A US Department of Labor website becomes victim of a watering-hole attack Cybercriminals steal more than $1 million from a Washington state hospital SEA hacks twitter accounts of The Onion, E! Online, The Financial Times, and Sky New Internet Explorer 8 Zero-Day Vulnerability used in watering-hole attack (CVE-2012-4792) #OpUSA hacktivism campaign launches against US websites Seven men were arrested in New York in connection with their role in international cyber-attacks which resulted in theft of $45 million across 26 different countries Microsoft and FBI disrupt Citadel botnets A surveillance scandal emerges in the United States, as a former Government security contractor releases classified documents Zero-day vulnerability found in most browsers across PC, Mac, mobile, and game consoles Anonymous launches #OpPetrol attack on international oil and gas companies 65 websites compromised to host malicious ads with ZeroAccess Trojan FakeAV discovered on Android Phones 2013 Security Timeline 7 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 2013 Security Timeline 07 July 08 August 09 September 10 October Ubisoft hacked: user account information stolen France caught up in PRISM scandal as data snooping allegations emerge New exploit kit targets flaws in Internet Explorer, Java, and Adobe Reader FBI-style ransomware discovered targeting OSX computers Android Master Key vulnerability used in the wild Viber and Thomson Reuters latest victims of SEA attacks Channel 4 blog, New York Post, SocialFlow, Washington Post, New York Times, impacted by SEA DNS hijack caused thousands of sites to redirect users to exploit kit Two new ransomware scams found: One that changes Windows login credentials on Chinese systems, another that takes advantage of the NSA PRISM controversy Fake Instagram for PC leads to survey scam Attackers targeted banks wire payment switch to steal millions Francophoned social engineering ushers in a new era of targeted attacks Syrian Electronic Army compromises US Marine Corps website, Fox Twitter accounts, supposedly using Mac Trojan ATMs discovered that dispense cash to criminals Ransomware called Cryptolocker surfaces that encrypts victims files and demands payment to decrypt them Symantec lifts lid on professional hackers-for-hire group Hidden Lynx Belgian telecom compromised in alleged cyber espionage campaign Symantec Security Response sinkholes ZeroAccess botnet The Silk Road marketplace taken offline, resurfaces by end of month SEA attacks GlobalPost and Qatar websites, US Presidential staff emails Adobe confirms security breach, 150 million identities exposed Blackhole and Cool Exploit Kit author arrested WhatsApp, AVG, Avira defaced by hacker group KDMS New ransomware demands Bitcoins for decryption key 11 November Second Android master key vulnerability discovered Microsoft zero-day vulnerability being used in targeted attacks and e-crime scams (CVE-2013-3906) SEA hacks VICE.com in retaliation for article that supposedly names members Anonymous claims to have hacked UK Parliament Wi-Fi during London protest Linux worm that targets Internet of Things discovered Target confirms data breach leading to the exposure of 110 million identities 12 December Data of 20 million Chinese hotel guests leaked Cross-site scripting vulnerability found in wind turbine control application Imitation versions of Cryptolocker discovered, attempt to capitalize on originals success 105 million South Korean accounts exposed in credit card security breach Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 2013 in Numbers Mega Breaches are data breach incidents that resulted in the personal details of at least 10 million identities being exposed in an individual incident. There were eight in 2013, compared with only one in 2012. Breaches Breaches With More Than 10 Million Identities Exposed Top-Ten Types of Information Breached +700 % 01 Real Names 02 Birth Dates 03 Government ID Numbers (Social Security) 04 Home Address 05 Medical Records 06 Phone Numbers 07 Financial Information 08 Email Addresses 09 User Names & Passwords 10 Insurance In 2013 Hacking continued to be the primary cause of data breaches. Hacking can undermine institutional confidence in a company, exposing its attitude to security and the loss of personal data in a highly public way can result in damage to an organisations reputation. Hacking accounted for 34 percent of data breaches in 2013. In 2013, there were eight data breaches that netted hackers 10 million or more identities, the largest of which was a massive breach of 150 million identities. In contrast, 2012 saw only one breach larger than 10 million identities. Total Breaches Total Identities Exposed 156 2012 253 2013 552Million 2013 93Million 2012 +62 % +493 % 9 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 10 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Approximately 67 percent of websites used to distribute malware were identified as legitimate, compromised websites. Web New Unique Malicious Web Domains 2011 2012 2013 74,001
55,000
56,158 -24 % Web Attacks Blocked Per Day 2011 2012 2013 464,100
190,000
568,700
+23 % 10 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Targeted Attacks Targeted Attacks - Spear-Phishing Spear-Phishing Attacks by Business Size Risk of Being Targeted 31 % 19 % 50 % 2012 Small Business (SMB) 1 to 250 Medium Business 251 to 2,500 Large Enterprises 2,501+ Employees TARGETED ATTACKS SPEAR PHISHING 1 IN 2.3 1 IN 5.2 30 % 31 % 39 % 2013 Targeted attacks aimed at Small Businesses (1-250) accounted for 30 percent of targeted spear-phishing attacks. 1 in 5 small business organisations was targeted with at least one spear-phishing email in 2013. 39 percent of targeted spear-phishing attacks were sent to Large Enterprises comprising over 2,500+ employees. 1 in 2 of which were targeted with at least one such attack. The frontline in these attacks is moving along the supply chain and large enterprises may be targeted through web-based watering-hole attacks should email- based spear-phishing attacks fail to yield the desired results. 12 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Targeted Attacks - Web-based Attackers generally have to find and exploit a vulnerability in a legitimate website in order to gain control and plant their malicious payload within the site. Compromising a legitimate website may seem to be a challenge for many, but vulnerability scans of public websites carried out in 2013 by Symantecs Website Vulnerability Assessment Services found that 78 percent of sites contained vulnerabilities. Of this, 16 percent were classified as critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to access sensitive data, alter the websites content, or compromise visitors computers. This means that when an attacker looks for a site to compromise, one in eight sites makes it relatively easy to gain access. At a Glance Targeted attacks have become more focused as attackers have streamlined their attack methods.
The global average number of spear-phishing attacks per day in 2013 was 83. Zero-day vulnerabilities, often used in watering-hole attacks, reached their highest levels since Symantec began tracking them. Hackers were once again responsible for more data breaches than any other source. However, accidental exposure, as well as theft or loss, grew significantly in 2013.
There were over 552 million identities exposed in data breaches during 2013. Scanned Websites With Vulnerabilities ... ... % of Which Were Critical WEB VULNERABILITIES WEB-BASED +25 % pts 53 % 2012 -8 % pts 24 % 2012 78 % 2013 16 % 2013 1 IN 8 sites had critical unpatched vulnerabilities 13 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Targeted Attacks - Web-based Malware was found on 1 in 566 websites scanned by Symantecs Website malware scanning service. Zero-day vulnerabilities are frequently used in watering-hole web-based targeted attacks. 97 percent of attacks using exploits for vulnerabilities initially identified as zero-days were Java-based. The total cumulated time between a zero-day vulnerability being published and the required patch being published was 19 days for the top-five most-exploited zero day vulnerabilities. The average time between publication and patch was four days. Websites Found With Malware Zero-day Vulnerabilities 1 IN 532 2012 1 IN 566 2013 +64 % 14 2012 23 2013 NUMBER OF DAYS AFTER VULNERABILITY PUBLICATION N U M B E R
O F
A T T A C K S
D E T E C T E D
T H O U S A N D S 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 90 Oracle Java SE CVE-2013-1493 54% Oracle Java Runtime Environment CVE-2013-2423 27% Oracle Java Runtime Environment CVE-2013-0422 16% Microsoft Internet Explorer CVE-2013-1347 1% Microsoft Internet Explorer CVE-2013-3893 <1% Top-5 zero-day vulnerabilities 4 days Average time to patch 19 days Total cumulated of exposure for top 5 zero-days 23 software vulnerabilities were zero-day, 5 of which were for Java 97 % of attacks using exploits for vulnerabilities identified as zero-day were Java-based However, the average number of attacks per campaign has dropped, down 76 percent when compared to 2012 and 62 percent from 2011. This indicates that while each attack campaign is smaller, there have been more of them in 2013. Changes in 2013 Its worth looking back at the last few years to see how previous attack trends compare to the ones in 2013. A 42 percent increase in the targeted-attack rate when compared to 2012 In 2013 the attack rate appears to have dropped 28 percent, returning to similar levels seen in 2011. Attacks appear to have become more focused as the attackers have solidified and streamlined their attack methods. Looking at email-based attack campaigns, 1 the number of distinct campaigns identified by Symantec is up by 91 percent from 2012, and almost six times higher compared to 2011 1 An attack campaign is defined as a series of emails that: A.) Show clear evidence that the subject and target has been deliberately selected. B.) Contain at least 3 or 4 strong correlations to other emails such as the topic, sender address, recipient domain, source IP address, etc. C.) Are sent on the same day or across multiple days. 14 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 15 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Spear-phishing attacks rely heavily on social engineering to improve their chances of success. The emails are tailored by the attackers to spark the interest of the individual being targeted, with the hope that they will open them. For example, an attacker may send someone working in the financial services a spear-phishing email that appears to cover some new financial rules. In one aggressive example of spear-phishing the attacker sent an email and then followed up with a phone call directly to the target. The attacker impersonating a senior employee, requested that the target open an attachment immediately. For example, in 2013, 1 in 54 Symantec.cloud customers were targeted with at least one spear-phishing email. The seriousness of attempted spear-phishing attacks is even clearer, using the same methodology, when comparing these numbers to the annual risk of an office fire. The odds of a building catching fire are, at worst, around one in 161. Spear-Phishing (cont) In 2013, 1 in 54 Symantec.cloud customers were targeted with at least one spear-phishing email. The seriousness of attempted spear-phishing attacks is even clearer, using the same methodology, when comparing these numbers to the annual risk of an office fire. The odds of a building catching fire are, at worst, around one in 161. Theft in the Middle of the Night On occasion, evidence of a cybercrime comes from an unexpected source. A financial services company noticed an unusual early morning money transfer on a particular day, and from a particular computer. The company checked CCTV footage and discovered that there was no one sitting at the computer at the time of the transaction. A back door Trojan was found during the examination of the computer. The threat was removed, but not before the attackers made off with more than 60,000. Spear-Phishing (cont) TARGETED ATTACK KEY STAGES Source: Symantec 01 INCURSION The attacker gains entry to the targeted organisation. This is often preceded by reconnaissance activities where the attacker is looking for a suitable social engineering tactic. 02 DISCOVERY Once the attacker has gained entry, they will seek to maintain that access as well as discover what data and other valuable resources they may wish to access. 03 CAPTURE Once the valuable data has been discovered and identified, the attacker will find a way to collect and gather that data before trying to exfiltrate it. 04 EXFILTRATION The attacker will find a mechanism to steal the data from the targeted organisation. This may be by uploading it to a remote server or website the attackers have access to. More covert methods may involve encryption and steganography, to further obfuscate the exfiltration process, such as hiding data inside DNS request packets. 16 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 17 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Spear-Phishing (cont) Executable type 2013 2012 .exe 31.3% 39% .scr 18.4% 2% .doc 7.9% 34% .pdf 5.3% 11% .class 4.7% <1% .jpg 3.8% <1% .dmp 2.7% 1% .dll 1.8% 1% .au3 1.7% <1% .xls 1.2% 5% The larger the company, the greater the risk of receiving a spear-phishing email. More than 50 percent of email attachments used in spear-phishing attacks contained executable files in 2013. Microsoft Word and PDF documents were both used regularly, making up 7.9 and 5.3 percent of attachments respectively. However, these percentages are both down from 2012. One in 2.3 organisations with 2500+ employees were targeted in at least one or more spear-phishing attacks, while 1 in 5 small or medium businesses were targeted this way. Java .class files also made up 4.7 percent of email attachments used in spear-phishing attacks.
Analysis of Spear-Phishing emails used in targeted attacks Source: Symantec Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Watering-holes 19 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 To set up a watering-hole, attackers generally have to find and exploit a vulnerability in a legitimate website in order to gain control and place their malware in the site. Compromising a legitimate website may seem to be a challenge for many, but vulnerability scans of public websites carried out in 2013 by Symantecs Website Security Solutions division 3 found that 77 percent of sites contained vulnerabilities. Of these, 16 percent were classified as critical vulnerabilities that allow attackers to either access sensitive data, alter website content, or compromise a visitors computers. This means that when an attacker looked for a site to compromise, one in eight sites made it relatively easy to gain access. When a website is compromised, the attackers are able to monitor the logs of the compromised site in order to see who is visiting the website. For instance, if they are targeting organisations in the defence industry, they may look for IP addresses of known defence contractors. If these IP addresses are found in the traffic logs, they may then use the website as a watering-hole. Watering-holes In 2013, the most sophisticated form of targeted attacks made use of watering-holes. This attack technique requires the attackers to infiltrate a legitimate site visited by their target, plant malicious code, and then lie in wait until they visit. For example, the Hidden Lynx 2 attacks infected approximately 4,000 users in one month alone. In some cases other visitors to a watering-hole site may not be the intended target, and are therefore either served with other forms of malware or no malware at all, rather than being subjected to the attack reserved for the primary target. This illustrates that while effective, watering-holes may be used as a longer-term tactic, requiring a degree of patience on the part of the attackers as they wait for their intended target to visit the site. 2 http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/hidden_lynx.pdf 3 http://www.symantec.com/en/aa/theme.jsp?themeid=ssl-resources The Hidden Lynx 2 attacks infected approximately 4,000 users in one month alone. Watering-holes rely heavily on exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities because the chances of the attack being discovered are low. The number of zero-day vulnerabilities which were used in attacks during 2013 increased, with 23 new ones discovered during the year (14 were discovered in 2012), which is the highest figure since Symantec began tracking in 2006. However, with the number of vulnerabilities increasing in 2013 a zero-day exploit is not always required to set up a watering-hole attack. One reason why watering-hole attacks are becoming more popular is that users arent instinctively suspicious of legitimate websites that they know and trust. In general such attacks are set up on legitimate websites that contain specific content of interest to the individual or group being targeted. The use of zero-day vulnerabilities on legitimate websites made watering-holes a very attractive method for attackers with the resources to orchestrate such an attack. The number of zero-day vulnerabilities which were used in attacks during 2013 increased, with 23 new ones discovered during the year. Watering-holes Zero-Day Vulnerabilities, 2013 Source: Symantec 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 D N O S A J J M A M F J 2 7 0 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 20 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 21 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Once on the network, an attackers goal is generally to traverse it further and gain access to various systems. Info-stealing Trojans are one of the more common payloads that an attacker will deliver. These Trojans quietly sit on compromised computers collecting account details. Password-dumping tools are used as well, especially when encountering an encrypted cache of passwords. These tools allow an attacker to copy encrypted (or hashed) passwords and attempt to pass the hash, as it is known, to exploit potentially vulnerable systems on the network. The goal for the attacker is to gain elevated privileges on systems on the network that appeal to them, such as FTP access, email servers, domain controllers, and so on. Attackers can use these details to log into these systems, continue to traverse the network, or use them to exfiltrate data. Network Discovery and Data Capture If attackers successfully compromise an organisation they may traverse the network, attempt to gain access to the domain controller, find documents of interest, and exfiltrate the data. In 2013 downloaders were popular tools used to gain further control within an organisations network. Often referred to as stage-one back doors, these highly versatile forms of malicious code allow the download of other different malware, depending on what may be needed to carry out their objectives. The main reason that attackers use downloaders is that theyre lightweight and easy to propagate. Once a downloader enters a network it will, by definition, download more traditional payloads such as Trojan horses to scan the network, keyloggers to steal information typed into compromised computers, and back doors that can send stolen data back to the attacker. 22 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Consequences of a Data Breach Data theft is not a victimless crime. Data breaches pose major consequences for both the corporations that experience them and the consumers who are victims of them. Risks for Companies If a company suffers a major data breach, it can face repercussions that could severely impact its business. First, there are the reputational damages that come with a data breach. The incident could cause consumers to lose trust in the company and move to their competitors businesses. If the company suffered a large data breach its likely to receive extensive media coverage, further damaging the companys reputation. For example, in the United States, a class action lawsuit is being taken against a health insurer over the theft of two unencrypted laptop computers which held data belonging to 840,000 of its members. One US medical records company was driven to bankruptcy after a break-in which led to the exposure of addresses, social security numbers, and medical diagnoses of 14,000 people. When explaining its decision to file for bankruptcy protection, the company said that the cost of dealing with the data breach was prohibitive. And finally the chief executive of US based retailer Target resigned, signalling the damage done by the extensive breach of customer information in 2013. Risks for the Consumers Consumers are the real victims of data breaches, as they face many serious risks as a result of this cybercrime. One risk for consumers whose data was stolen in this way is that their other online accounts could be compromised. Attackers use a victims personal details to try to gain access to other accounts of more value, for example, through password reset features on websites. Depending on the stolen information, attackers could use the data to authorise bank account transfers to accounts under their control. They could also use victims financial details to create fraudulent credit or debit cards and steal their money. Consumers own lax password habits could also cause several of their accounts to be compromised as the result of a data breach. If an attacker manages to obtain email addresses and passwords for one service as a result of a data breach, they could use this data to access other online services. Digital Privacy Concerns If there ever was any question that governments are monitoring Internet traffic, a spotlight was cast on the subject in 2013. A variety of leaks showed that there are agencies in the world who are largely gathering anything and everything they can. From June 2013, news reports were released containing new information on the US National Security Agencys (NSA) data surveillance programs. More are yet to come, considering the sheer magnitude of documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who released the data. The documents claimed that over the course of several years the NSA collected metadata from phone calls and major online services, accessed the fibre-optic networks that connected global data centres, attempted to circumvent widely-used Internet encryption technologies, and stored vast amounts of metadata gathered as part of these programs. Symantec uncovered a professional hackers-for-hire group with advanced capabilities known as Hidden Lynx. The group may have worked for nation states, as the information that they targeted includes knowledge and technologies that would benefit other countries. Russias intelligence forces were also accused of gaining access to corporate networks in the US, Asia, and Europe. Unlike external attackers, insiders may already possess privileged access to sensitive customer information, meaning they dont have to go to the trouble of stealing login credentials from someone else. They also have knowledge of the inner workings of a company, so if they know that their organisation has lax security practices they may believe that they could get away with data theft unscathed. Symantec research conducted with the Ponemon Institute says that 51 percent of employees claim that its acceptable to transfer corporate data to their personal computers, as their organisations dont strictly enforce data security policies. Insiders could earn a lot of money for selling customer details, which may be motivation enough to risk their careers. Data Breaches There was a shift in 2013 in the causes of data breaches. Hacking was the leading source for reported identities exposed in 2013. Hackers were also responsible for the largest number of identities exposed, responsible for 35 percent of the incidents and 76 percent of the identities exposed in data breach incidents during 2013. The average number of identities exposed per data breach for hacking incidents was approximately 4.7 million. Theft or loss of a device was ranked third, and accounted for 27 percent of data breach incidents. According to the 2013 Cost of a Data Breach study, published by Symantec and the Ponemon Institute, the cost of the average consolidated data breach incident increased from US$130 to US$136. However, this number can vary depending on the country, where German (US$199) and US (US$188) companies experienced much higher costs. Data Breaches Top Causes of Data Breach, 2013 Source: Symantec Fraud Unknown Insider Theft Theft or Loss of Computer or Drive Accidentally Made Public Hackers 35 % 27 % 29 % 6 % 2 % 2 % Number of Incidents 87 72 69 15 6 4 253 TOTAL The average number of identities exposed per data breach for hacking incidents was approximately 4.7 million 23 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 E-Crime & Malware Delivery Tactics 25 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 E-crime and Cyber Security The use of computers and electronic communications equipment in an attempt to commit criminal activities, often to generate money, is generally referred to as e-crime and it continues to play a pivotal role in the threat landscape. The criminals behind e-crime have set up sophisticated malicious distribution networks. The monthly volume of ransomware has increased by over six times since the beginning of 2013. Web attack toolkits continue to be a primary method for compromising computers, even with the arrest of the alleged creator of the Blackhole exploit kit in 2013. The number of vulnerabilities disclosed reached record levels in 2013. Botnets and the Rental Market Cybercriminals involved in e-crime generally start out by working to get malware onto computers, turning them into zombies with the aim of adding them to larger networks of similarly compromised computers, called botnets, or robot networks. Botnets are an extremely potent asset for criminals because they can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as sending spam emails, stealing banking information, conducting a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against a website, or a variety of other malicious activities. They have also become a core tool for administering compromised computers that are rented to yet another third party for malicious purposes. Banking Trojans and Heists Banking Trojans are a lucrative prospect for attackers. Todays threats continue to focus on modifying banking sessions and injecting extra fields in the hope of either stealing sensitive banking details or hijacking the session. Symantecs State of Financial Trojans 2013 whitepaper 4 concluded that in the first three quarters of 2013, the number of banking Trojans tripled. More than half of these attacks were aimed at the top 15 financial institutions, though over 1,400 institutions have been targeted in 88 countries. The most common form of attack continues to be financial Trojans which perform a Man-In-The- Browser (MITB) attack on the clients computer during an online banking session. In addition to those attacks, Symantec observed an increase in hardware-supported attacks in 2013. Besides the still popular skimming attacks, a new piece of malware was discovered named Backdoor.Ploutus which targeted ATMs. The malware allows criminals to effectively empty infected ATMs of cash. The malware is applied to the ATM by physically inserting a malicious CD-ROM and causing the machine to boot from it. While booting, the malware is installed onto the system. The attacker can then use specific key combinations on the keypad to interact with the malware and initiate the ultimate goal to dispense all available cash. Later variants allow cash to be dispensed by sending an SMS to an installed GSM modem at the ATM. These examples highlight the trend that attackers are increasingly targeting physical systems directly at financial institutions. E-Crime and Malware Delivery Tactics 4 http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/the_state_of_financial_trojans_2013.pdf 26 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Monetisation: Malware as a Commodity E-crime in 2013 can be summed up as follows: attackers are trying to extract every last drop of cash available, using every option at their disposal with the compromised computers they control. Compromised computers have essentially become just another commodity, where attackers work to maximise the ways they make money from them. Attackers will generally monitor the compromised computers, often through a back door connection. They may start with a banking Trojan and then wait to see if they can gather any banking details entered into the compromised computer. If nothing is captured by the banking Trojan, they may try ransomware with a pornographic theme, in the hope that they can extort money from the user through the ransom attempt. E-Crime and Malware Delivery Tactics Rank Name % Overall 1 W32.Ramnit 15.4% 2 W32.Sality 7.4% 3 W32.Downadup 4.5% 4 W32.Virut 3.4% 5 W32.Almanahe 3.3% 6 W32.SillyFDC 2.9% 7 W32.Chir 1.4% 8 W32.Mabezat 1.2% 9 W32.Changeup 0.4% 10 W32.Xpaj 0.2% Source: Symantec Top-Ten Malware, 2013 Toolkits A shift in the realm of toolkits happened in October 2013 with the arrest of the Blackhole and Cool Exploit Kit author, Paunch. The Blackhole exploit kit dominated the web attack toolkit charts for the last few years and looked poised to do so again, based on the numbers leading up to and including October. Business Model Years ago, web-attack toolkits were sold on underground forums, where one person would sell it for a set amount to an associate, who would sell it on to another associate, and so on. The distribution worked in a black market sense, but the developer of the attack toolkit would miss a large percentage of revenue, where someone who simply possessed the code could profit without doing much work. In the last few years, the Blackhole toolkit changed all that by introducing a service model that has grown to become the dominant way toolkits operate. In this service-style model, the web-attack toolkit developer maintains control of the code and administers the toolkit. Web Attacks Blocked per Day This sort of setup has allowed toolkit owners to experiment with different service offerings. This ranges from end-to-end coverage where the toolkit administrator sets everything up, to a less hands-on approach where tech support services are available to help the purchaser if they encounter configuration issues. Threat Delivery Tactics Top Web Attack Toolkits by Percent, 2013 Source: Symantec 5 10 15 20 25 30% COOL KIT STYX SAKURA BLACK HOLE G01 PACK OTHERS 23% 27% 19% 14% 10% 8% The dominance of the Blackhole toolkit had all but disappeared by the end of 2013 when the person allegedly responsible for it was arrested in October. Blackhole was ranked first in 2012 with 44.3 percent of total attacks blocked; however, The G01Pack Exploit Kit was ranked first in 2013 with 23 percent of attacks blocked. Many of the more common attack toolkits were updated in 2013 to include exploits for the Java Runtime Environment, including CVE-2013-0422, CVE-2013- 2465 and CVE-2013-1493 and the Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerability CVE-2013-2551. 27 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Web Attacks Blocked The lowest rate of malicious activity was 135,450 blocks per day in October 2013; this is likely to have been connected to the arrest in Russia of Paunch, the alleged author of the Blackhole and Cool Exploit web attack toolkits. Blackhole operated as a software-as-a-service toolkit, which was maintained in the cloud. With no one around to update it, Blackhole quickly became less effective, leaving a space for other operators to move in. The average number of malicious websites blocked each day rose by approximately 22.5 percent from approximately 464,100 in 2012 to 568,700 in 2013. The highest level of activity was in July, with approximately 799,500 blocks per day. Web Attacks Blocked Per Day, 2013 Source: Symantec T H O U S A N D S 2012 2013 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 D N O S A J J M A M F J 28 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 29 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 The malicious URLs identified by the Norton Safe Web technology were classified by category using the Symantec Rulespace 23 technology, and the most frequently abused sites for malicious code were listed in the table below. Approximately 67 percent of websites used to distribute malware were identified as legitimate, compromised websites that could be classified, compared with 61 percent in 2012. This figure excludes URLs that contained just an IP address and did not include general domain parking and pay-per- click websites. Most Frequently Exploited Websites, 2013 Source: Symantec The Technology category accounted for 9.9 percent of malicious Website activity identified. The Illegal category is for sites that fall into the following sub-categories: Activist Groups, Cyberbullying, Malware Accomplice, Password Cracking, Potentially Malicious Software and Unwanted Programs, Remote Access Programs, and several other phishing and spam-related content. Analysis of websites that were used to deliver drive-by fake antivirus attacks revealed that four percent of threats found on compromised Art and Museum sites were related to fake antivirus software. Moreover, 50 percent of fake antivirus attacks were found on compromised Art and Museum sites. Additionally, 42 percent of attacks found on compromised shopping sites were fake antivirus software. Finally, 17 percent of attacks used on social networking sites were related to malware hosted on compromised blogging sites. This is where a URL hyperlink for a compromised website is shared on a social network. Of course, the Achilles heel for this system is the locked-down software-as-a-service model. This is exactly what led to the colossal disruption that the Blackhole toolkit experienced when Paunch was arrested. Since the toolkit was run and administered by a small group of developers, the toolkit collapsed when they were arrested. The Technology category accounted for 9.9 percent of malicious website activity identified Classification of Most Frequently Exploited Websites in 2013 Rank Top 10 Most Frequently Exploited Categories of Websites % of Total Number of infected Websites 1 Technology 9.9% 2 Business 6.7% 3 Hosting 5.3% 4 Blogging 5.0% 5 Illegal 3.8% 6 Shopping 3.3% 7 Entertainment 2.9% 8 Automotive 1.8% 9 Educational 1.7% 10 Virtual Community 1.7% 30 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Social Engineering Toolkits: From Remote Access Tool to Creepware While web-attack toolkits tend to dominate the discussion in the threat landscape, they are not the only type of toolkits out there. There are also toolkits designed for penetration testing and detecting vulnerabilities that are open to exploits. Probably the second most commonly known type of toolkit is the remote administration tool (Remote Access Tool). These toolkits have been around for many years, and are often used to create payload Trojans with various features as well as to obfuscate the binaries in an attempt to evade antivirus detection. Social Engineering toolkits can be used to create phishing sites such as fake Facebook login pages. These are essentially web-design tools but with added features for hacking. Creepware is a type of threat that uses toolkits. These threats are usually installed through social engineering and allow attackers to spy on the victims. Vulnerabilities: The Path to Exploitation Vulnerabilities continue to be one of the core choices for the delivery of malicious code. Vulnerabilities are being exploited to serve up all sorts of threats such as ransomware, Trojans, backdoors, and botnets. The total number of vulnerabilities disclosed in 2013 supports this - at 6787 vulnerabilities disclosed, the number is higher than any year previously reported. The number of vulnerabilities being exploited in zero-day attacks was up in 2013, often used in watering-hole attacks. Once a zero-day is disclosed, further exploits are developed and incorporated into toolkits within a matter of days, as attackers take advantage of the window of exploitation between disclosure, the patch release, and the time it takes organisations and individuals to patch their computers. For the top-five zero-day vulnerabilities disclosed in 2013, the top 3 accounted for 97 percent of all attacks against zero-day vulnerabilities in 2013. Threat Delivery Tactic (cont) At 6787 vulnerabilities disclosed, the number is higher than any year previously reported. Total Number of Vulnerabilities, 2006 2013 Source: Symantec 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 TREND 6,787 5,291 4,989 6,253 5,562 4,842 4,644 4,814 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities, 2013 Source: Symantec 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 D N O S A J J M A M F J 2 7 0 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 There were 6,787 vulnerabilities disclosed in 2013, compared with 5,291in 2012. A zero-day vulnerability is one that is reported to have been exploited in the wild before the vulnerability is public knowledge and prior to a patch being publicly available. The total number of zero-day vulnerabilities reported in 2013 was 23, compared with 14 in 2012. 31 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Email Malware Windows executable files still dominate the realm of malicious email attachments, and Java attachments have grown in number. In fact, attackers have found these attachments so successful that theyre no longer trying to mask them within web attack toolkits. Malware sent through email increased in 2013, where 1 in 196 emails contained a malicious attachment. This is up from 1 in 290.7 in 2012. December saw the largest ratio for the year, at 1 in 112.7, generally during a time of year when the virus rate is in decline. Proportion of Email Traffic Containing URL Malware, 2013 vs 2012 Source: Symantec 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45% D N O S A J J M A M F J 2012 2013 Proportion of Email Traffic The proportion of email traffic that contains a malicious URL increased in 2013 from 23 to 25 percent. There were two spikes in 2013 where more than 40 percent of malicious emails contained URL links to malicious websites, rather than attachments, resulting in a higher rate for 2013 overall. 32 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Social Media 34 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Social Media Social media continued to work its way deeper into our lives in 2013.
Many of the recent entrants into social media have grown by narrowing their focus in comparison with better-established platforms, fulfilling an apparent desire for straightforward, simple-to-use social media apps, such as time-limited photos, short videos, micro blogging, or free alternatives to text messaging. The sites are often designed specifically for mobile use and the target audience is generally younger. It is these early adopters - the cool kids - who often start new trends, quickly bringing more users with them.
The central goal of the scammer is profit. While they arent making such large amounts of money as the hackers behind threats such as ransomware, a scammer in the world of social media can still make thousands of dollars in a month. At a Glance Fake offers lead the types of scams on social media again this year, accounting for 81 percent of scams identified in 2013. Click-through campaigns that lead to online surveys are a common tactic used by scammers. Techniques Phishing and spam is evolving, moving further away from email and into the social media landscape. These social media campaigns include the same lures that are seen in phishing and spam email. Social Media Social Media, 2013 Source: Symantec 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90% Manual Sharing Fake Apps Fake Plug-in Like Jacking Fake Offering 56% 81% 10% 7% 5% 6% 3% 2% 2% 18% 2012 2013 Fake Offers These scams invite social network users to join a fake event or group with incentives such as free gift cards. Joining often requires the user to share credentials with the attacker or send a text to a premium rate number. Manual Sharing Scams These rely on victims to actually do the work of sharing the scam by presenting them with intriguing videos, fake offers or messages that they share with their friends. Likejacking Using fake Like buttons, attackers trick users into clicking website buttons that install malware and may post updates on a users newsfeed, spreading the attack. Fake Plug-in Scams Users are tricked into downloading fake browser extensions on their machines. Rogue browser extensions can pose like legitimate extensions, but when installed steal sensitive information from the infected machine. Fake App Users are invited to subscribe to an application that appears to be integrated for use with a social network, but is not as described and may be used to steal credentials or harvest other personal data. 35 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 In addition to stealing credentials, phishing sites encouraged victims to spam information about supposed phishing apps. This appeared to work well as a propagation technique for the scam, allowing it to spread from the original victim to their friends. These were often coupled with supposed incentives, like credits or points to be given to the users within the fake app. Social media scams are generally delivered through posts in the social networks feed, though if the service offers it they may also spread through private messages. Scammers dont limit their messages to the latest posts either, often replying to posts across the users history sometimes months, if not years earlier. The messages generally linked to resources outside of the social network, such as compromised websites that the scam is being promoted upon. In the overall threat landscape, social networking scammers were low on the food chain. Their margins were much less, but so was their risk. They made money by doing what they do in large volumes: spam run through compromised accounts, URL comment scams, fake profiles with the same details, along with other methodologies. 36 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Social Media Dating scam, where scammers send racy photos if the user agrees to install apps of their choosing. Social media scams are generally delivered through posts in the social networks feed. Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Spam and Phishing Phishing and Spam In the mid-to-late 2000s, most phishing attempts were carried out through email for financial gain. Over time, phishing attacks have expanded in the scope of their targets from not only banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, to a variety of other organisations. The social engineering involved has also grown more sophisticated in recent years and recent examples include phishing for online accounts of customers of domestic energy companies and loyalty card programs. More energy utility companies are encouraging their customers to move to paperless billing, enabling an attacker to retrieve utility bills. They can potentially use these bills in the money laundering process such as in creating a bank account in someone elses name and using the online bill as proof of identity. Phishing Rate, 2013 vs 2012 Source: Symantec 1 in 100 1 in 200 1 in 300 1 in 400 1 in 500 1 in 600 1 in 700 1 in 800 1 in 900 2012 2013 TREND D N O S A J J M A M F J The global average phishing rate has increased from 2012 from 1 in 414 to 1 in 392. 38 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Spam and Phishing Phishers also began exploring new up-and-coming social networks. During the past five years, the number of social media sites that phishers have used in their attempts to gather sensitive information has increased roughly three times. Phishers also continued to spoof webmail accounts during 2013. One popular attack method played off the idea that a mailbox has exceeded its quota. A victim is directed to a site where they are asked to confirm email, user name and password. However, no further information is provided about the quota issue and the account is compromised, leaving it open to be used to send spam. For instance, a utility bill is often a requirement as a proof of address. With many people using paperless billing, if phishers gain access to a utility account they could feasibly change the account address and use it to fraudulently obtain goods and services in the victims name. Global Spam Volume Per Day, 2013 Source: Symantec B I L L I O N S 10 20 30 40 50 D N O S A J J M A M F J TREND The estimated projection of global spam volumes for spam in business email traffic decreased marginally by 3 percent, from 30 billion spam emails per day in 2012, to 29 billion in 2013. 39 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 40 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 Compromised Sites Many ordinary users and small businesses are comfortable managing their own web servers, whether internally or externally hosted, since its now easier to do and relatively inexpensive. However, many new administrators are perhaps not familiar with how to secure their servers against attacks from the latest web attack toolkits. Nor are they diligent about keeping their sites secure and patched with the latest software updates. Updating popular applications such as content management systems or blogging software on the web server is a necessity. These services have become major targets for abuse by hackers, and a single vulnerability may be used across thousands of sites. Scammers are also attacking web hosting sites that provide hosting platforms as a service. If an attacker can figure out a way to successfully breach a company that provides such services, they can gain access to multiple sites hosted by the compromised company. Its possible for thousands of sites to be impacted in such breaches. Hackers can also use popular search engines to quickly discover potentially vulnerable websites that they may be able to compromise. In this way, a website may be easily hijacked if any software vulnerabilities can be exploited by the attackers.
However, many new administrators are perhaps not familiar with how to secure their servers against attacks from the latest web attack toolkits. 41 I Symantec Corporation Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 More information Symantec Worldwide: http://www.symantec.com/ ISTR and Symantec Intelligence Resources: http://www.symantec.com/threatreport/ Symantec Security Response: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/ Norton Threat Explorer: http://us.norton.com/security_response/threatexplorer/ Norton Cybercrime Index: http://us.norton.com/cybercrimeindex/ About Symantec Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is an information protection expert that helps people, businesses and governments seeking the freedom to unlock the opportunities technology brings anytime, anywhere. Founded in April 1982, Symantec, a Fortune 500 company, operating one of the largest global data-intelligence networks, has provided leading security, backup and availability solutions for where vital information is stored, accessed and shared. The companys more than 20,000 employees reside in more than 50 countries. Ninety-nine percent of Fortune 500 companies are Symantec customers. In fiscal 2013, it recorded revenues of $6.9 billion. To learn more go to www.symantec.com or connect with Symantec at: go.symantec.com/socialmedia. Website Security Threat Report 2014 I Volume 19 For specific country offices and contact numbers, please visit our website. For product information in the AsiaPacific region, call: Australia: +61 3 9674 5500 New Zealand: +64 9 9127 201 Singapore: +65 6622 1638 Hong Kong: +852 30 114 683 Taiwan: +886 2 2162 1992 Or email: ssl_sales_au@symantec.com ssl_sales_asia@symantec.com Symantec Symantec Website Security Solutions Pty Ltd 3/437 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 3004, ABN: 88 088 021 603 www.symantec.com/en/aa/ssl-certificates No part of the contents of this white paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Copyright 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec Logo, the Checkmark Circle Logo and the Norton Secured Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.