IE Zero-Day Exploit Used In Attack Targeting Military Intelligence 58
wiredmikey writes "Security researchers from FireEye have discovered a new IE 10 Zero-Day exploit (CVE-2014-0322) being used in a watering hole attack on the US Veterans of Foreign Wars' website. According to FireEye, attackers compromised the VFW website and added an iframe to the site's HTML code that loads the attacker's page in the background. When the malicious code is loaded in the browser, it runs a Flash object that orchestrates the remainder of the exploit. Dubbed 'Operation SnowMan' by FireEye, the attack targets IE 10 with Adobe Flash. According to a recently-released report from CrowdStrike Strategic Web Compromises (SWC), where attackers infect strategic Websites as part of a watering hole attack to target a specific group of users, were a favorite attack method for groups operating out of Russia and China. FireEye believes the attackers behind the campaign, thought to be operating out of China, are associated with two previously identified campaigns: Operation DeputyDog and Operation Ephemeral Hydra. 'A possible objective in the SnowMan attack is targeting military service members to steal military intelligence,' FireEye said."
They use IE (Score:2, Insightful)
And without anykind of Flash blocker? God they're even more stupid than I originally theorized.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Target: Military "Intelligence" (Score:2)
Nothing of value was lost or impaired.
Its not soup yet (Score:4)
Every time I think Microsoft has their browser house in order, and it might be safe to use IE occasionally, stuff like this hits the fan.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
This exploit relies on TWO concurrent vectors: 1) You must be running and using IE10 (which has already been superseded by IE11, which is immune to this attack) and 2) You must have Adobe Flash installed.
BOTH of these conditions are necessary for this attack to work. Anyone who has kept their updates up (and therefore has IE11), doesn't use Flash or has installed the EMET ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/jj653751 [microsoft.com]) is immune to this attack which is, obviously, actually just ANOTHER Flash-based vu
Re: Its not soup yet (Score:5, Insightful)
IE, as of about version 9, is on par with other major browsers in terms of security. It only gets more publicity because, let's face it, it's IE, and still the most widely used browser.
It depends on who you ask.
http://gs.statcounter.com/ [statcounter.com] shows Chrome clearly in the lead.
http://www.w3counter.com/globa... [w3counter.com] also shows chrome leading.
Wikimedia says Chrome leads http://stats.wikimedia.org/wik... [wikimedia.org]
Just because its common doesn't mean its used. And you don't see these stories about Firefox or Chrome, at least not many. And given the market share that Chrome enjoys you would expect to see many more stories.
You've fallen for the old Microsoft lie:
They insist We are attacked because we are popular.
The real story is they are attacked because they are easy targets.
Re: (Score:2)
They should still let administrators override them, but I say MS puts WSUS clients on a clock to decline the update centrally. But let's face it... too many shops slack in ensuring their Windows machines are up to date. When it comes to a patch being the difference between "browse the web" and "click this link to turn your computer into a
Re: (Score:2)
No, IE doesn't have a larger active user base. That is what these statistics are showing you.
IE may be more available, because its on almost every computer shipped. But it is not the most used browser. People avoid it. They don't USE it. They refuse to be among the "user base".
The page views measure usage, not availability, and clearly Chrome wins the page-views. And that is all that matters.
Re: (Score:2)
Chrome has had 3 emergency updates since version 32 came out in December due to security issues!
Stop the IE bashing as it is old. Infact, Firefox is less secure than modern IE is as it is not sanboxed or runs in lowrights mode which means it has access to the file system.
There have been thousands of exploits of all 3 browsers since their infancy.
Re: (Score:3)
IE Zero-Day Exploit Used In Attack Targeting Military Intelligence
IE... Military Intelligence...
Now I understand why those last two words are considered a blatant contradiction. :p
Re: (Score:2)
Since when has the VFW been a military intelligence agency? That's like saying the President keeps his confidential information off a link on the WhiteHouse.org public site or the FBI provides a link to their confidential information on their public site.
Re: (Score:2)
Since when has the VFW been a military intelligence agency?
I didn't RTFA (and so had no idea the VFW were involved), but... have you ever met those guys?? Fact is, if you're a Rambo-type, you've gotta be able to do it all yourself; strategy, combat, procurement/logistics... and intel.
Re: (Score:2)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is a non-profit support organization for veterans who have served in every war since 1899. It lobbies for veteran benefits while also organizing and participating in community service initiatives with military veterans. They were instrumental in creating the GI Bill of Rights in 1944. I have never forgotten what my grandfather once told me when I was 10 years old. We were driving past a VFW sign and I made the kind of joke a 10 year old makes and said "oh look it's the ve
Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)
If military intelligence are using IE 10 with Flash enabled, they really need to drop the last half of their name.
Re: (Score:2)
I run Chrome, but I've set the flash-plugin to be always-ask. That combines the best of both worlds - I still can watch flash videos if I want, at much less risk.
Re: (Score:3)
If military intelligence are using IE 10 with Flash enabled, they really need to drop the last half of their name.
ummm... somebody please explain how "US Veterans of Foreign Wars" equates "military intelligence"
(I mean, in other ways than "they were the one to survive, so they may not be stupid").
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Military intelligence has always been an oxymoron, so this shouldn't surprise anyone.
Here's another Oxymoron (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Not that new.
Its been around since 2009 at least. The term is best explained by the above article.
However the RSA has started slinging this name about in 2012 [rsa.com].
The hallmark is simply planting your malware where your targets often go.
Military intelligence (Score:3, Funny)
Biggest oxymoron since Microsoft works.
VFW? (Score:4, Insightful)
TFA is akin to saying the Commies infiltrated DFW [dfwairport.com] to score information on the U.S. Air Force.
YHBT. HAND.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The VFW is also visited by current military members. Bigger yet are retirees that are now contractors. Those are targets.
Re: (Score:2)
While TFS is a bit overblown, the idea is that currently employed people might go to the VFW website. (vet != retired)
Re: (Score:3)
Uhh... No.
At least, not my post. And our post (and district, and department) are trying really really hard to break this old stereotype. Now, I'm not going to tell you that ethanol isn't ingested in a VFW club. But there's no drinking at a meeting, and many of the posts in our district are finding that those that live by the drinking club, die by the drinking club. Our post doesn't have a club, and we're in a much better financial position to help needy veterans and their families because of it.
And lead
This is not news. (Score:1)
VFW (Score:2)
This is the VFW
Robert H. Jordan VFW Post 7125 [vergavfw.org]
and this is the VFW: Where the V.F.W. Is Both Tough and Feminine [nytimes.com]
IE or Flash? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
It is a flash vulnerability, but they are only tageting IE version 10 sans EMET.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
How's that an IE vulnerability if it uses Flash as a vector? Are they adding the iFrame in a non-standard way that only IE is susceptible to?
More likely that since (squeaky Ballmer voice at anti-trust hearing) "Internet Explorer is an integral part of Microsoft Windows" that the exploit was able to tunnel out of Flash and into IE (acting as the container) and thence into Windows.
FireEye (Score:2)
"They continue to under-promise and over-deliver. And that continues to be their sort of mantra."
FireEye expects a loss of 51-56 cents per share for the quarter.
Cybersecurity firm FireEye sees weak revenue, warns on costs [reuters.com] Feb 11
95% of all networks are compromised. Is yours secure? [fireeye.com]
Intelligence? (Score:1, Insightful)
Really? (Score:3)
'US Veterans of Foreign Wars'
Are there any others alive?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So, while I could join the VFW because of my time in OIF, my uncle can't because he served during peace (80's & 90's) and did not see combat.
So it's been like what... (Score:1)
15 years since Microsoft announced they were going to take Security seriously in Windows? And there's been like what 10 major versions if Internet Explorer? (6 of which were since this big decision) And we're still seeing zero-day exploits coming out?
Bad title (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Not necessarily. A lot of our membership is still in the Reserves or National Guard. If they can get inside the military network, they can have a little bit of fun. When I was in, all of the truly classified stuff was on an internal network that was actually physically separated from the Real World. I can't swear that this is still the case, but I'd be greatly surprised if it wasn't.