ExploitJava...Dangerous Malware Virus! Laptop infection @ Valley Hospital Medical Center!

Was there any connection?

Yesterday afternoon, while doctors were running a series of medical tests at the Valley Hospital Medical Center, a piercing alarm sounded from a myriad of speakers on the 4th floor all around me.

In tandem with a continuous loop, a recorded voice urgently noted that there was an "Emergency" underway in the Hospital's records department.

The alert continued for about ten minutes.

Then, stopped.

When I asked the Nurse if there was a fire, she hesitated, then informed me that a drill was underway.

Intriguing.

If that was the case, why did all the nurses and hosptial employees scatter this way 'n that?

Then, two other events caused me to sit up and take notice that something may be awry.

For instance, shortly after the "innocent" drill, a dialogue box popped up on my laptop.

VIRUS ALERT!

I clicked on the History files for Microsoft Security Essentials.

Whoa Nellie!

According to the anti-virus software, the laptop suffered a severe attack on Wednesday July 22nd @ 1:07 p.m.

Microsoft labelled it as follows:

ExploitJava/CVE-2008-5353.gg

The intruder, according to Microsoft, is a dangerous virus capable of compromising privacy and  damaging the computers (SEVERE)

Exploit.Java. contains malicious code which exploits vulnerability in java applets.

The attacker inserts malicious code to a web page to exploit this vulnerability, so that the users who visit the web page and load java applets, get their systems infected.


Type: TT_Trojan


Curiously, Microsoft Defender is not able to track the malware.

In contrast, Microsoft Security Essentials will uncover the virus, contain it, and remove it.

In closing, it may be important to note that the malicious ExploitJava Virus  laptop infection gained access through the WiFi Internet Service at the Valley Hospital Center in Las Vegas.

Now, for the intriguing news!

A nurse informed me today (in a casual conversation about the body scan apparatus used  to monitor the liver, the heart, and so forth and so on) that the high-tech equipment relies on Nuclear energy.

"We've been having difficulty securing the nuclear materials to operator the machine in recent months, so the tests have been limited to just two or three a day."

In addition, there were a couple other comments uttered up about the source of the "nuclear materials" that caused my antennae to soar into hyper-drive.

A detailed report on the "Nuclear data" will follow.

It may be explosive!

News at 11!

http://www.julianayrs.com

Chinese Hackers...ghost network used for espionage! Indian Government files cracked...

 

According to researchers in Canada, there is a door to a subterranean “otherworld” on the Internet where Chinese hackers stealth fully roam at whim and indulge in high-stakes espionage.

The complex “ecosystem” has been targeting the Indian government, researchers at the Shadow Server Foundation, have accused.

Through an elaborate clandestine network of social networking hubs, and free web hosting sites, the perpetrators have allegedly gleaned highly-classified documents and other data from the Indian Government, the United Nations, and the even the personal papers of the exiled Dalai Lama.

The criminals are thriving, noted Ron Deiber (Director of the U of T Munk School of Global Affairs).

In the recent past, Citizen Lab (a member of Information Warfare Monitor) - uncovered an espionage network by the name of GhostNet - run by a nefarious band of hackers targeting the Tibetan Government.

The network hacking the Indian government was given the name Shadow.

The hackers make use of a network of computers comprised by malware - software designed to take over, monitor, and harm computers without the owner’s (user’s) knowledge.

I reported on a malicious intruder by the name of the - Soldier Virus - which is currently infecting computers around North American which uses the malware software aforementioned.

Post: 03/31/10

http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/03/soldier-virusscam-extorting-money.html

In the near future, I shall be publishing a post with instructions on how to eradicate the nasty intruder on home computers and laptops.

Researchers have been alarmed to learn that simple networks like the one I encountered with the Soldier virus (using malware software) are fast-becoming complex systems moving from simple criminal exploitations to political, military, and illegal acts motivated by a hunger for highly-sensitive intelligence data.

“We see criminal networks increasingly compromising sensitive targets and stealing sensitive information, in addition to typical things that they’re interested in, like credit card numbers and bank account numbers,” added Dieber.

Although the researchers were able to track the hackers to Chinese soil, they were unable to link the intrusions directly to the Chinese Government.

The hackers rely on the victim acting on information (bait) in order to infect their computer with the malware.

For this reason, enticing e-mails (at-the-ready to infect), are used to prey on human nature.

“They will use either compelling newsworthy themes or in some cases , they’ll use very specific information from a previous ‘attack‘, “noted Nart Villeneuve, a chief security official at the SecDevGroup.

Villeneuve cautioned that PC users should keep their eye out for attachments containing pdf’s, word documents, PowerPoints, and Zip files.

The infected files will compromise the user’s computer bringing it under the attacker’s control.

As was the case, when my own laptop became infected with the “Soldier virus“.

“Then they will be able to send documents from the user’s computer to other locations.

Researchers are scheduling a Global Security Summit at the University of Toronto in the fall in a bold-faced effort to policymakers together from the world community so they may share resources in hopes of building sound practices in a realm currently lacking normal procedures or pervasive policing.

http://www.thetattler.biz/

Journalists...under attack by hackers! Malicious e-mails & a Soldier Virus!

Today, it was a bit of a relief to stumble across an article in the morning  paper - the San Francisco Chronicle - in which was reported that journalists have been under attack by unscrupulous hackers.

For good reason!

It is heartening to know that I have not been the only writer under attack!

Ever since I reported on malicious viruses I uncovered at google a few weeks ago - and the subsequent battle the owners of the leading search engine has been engaged in with the Chinese Government - my own e-mail has been targeted.

However, contrary to the allegations set forth in the Chronicle's informative article, the hackers have not only forwarded e-mail on occasionn (or deleted it) but also used malicious worms  designed to infect and disable the victim's computer.

In fact, I just reported on a malicious intruder - the Soldier Virus - which popped up on my own computer after checking e-mail at Yahoo yesterday afternoon.

Post:  3/31/10

http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/03/soldier-virusscam-extorting-money.html

When I was checking the "registry" of my computer, I also located a user key which stated in the caption "blog this".

I determined that the "virus" was designed to disrupt attempts to access blog sites - post articles - and so forth and so on.

In the article in the Chronicle, a reporter noted that one journalist - Kathleen McLaughlin - was a victim last week when her account was disabled (she's a former Chronicle Foreign Service contributor).

"Someone is clearly targeting journalists," she lamented to a New York Times Beijing correspondence.

"It makes me feel very uncomfortable."

The Chronicle noted that for some inexplicable reason, Yahoo has remained silent over the matter, except for a vague statement issued to the press yesterday.

"We are committed to protecting user security and privacy and we take appropriate action in the event of any kind of breach."

If the FBI is involved - and there is an investigation underway - then that reponse would be understandable.

I intend to report the Soldier Virus incident to that Law Enforcement agency by way of their Cyber Crime unit online since the individuals are not only trying to disable computers but also extort money from the victims.

These allegations were reported in my article yesterday (link above).

http://www.thetattler.biz/

President Obama...appoints Howard Schmidt to head up CyberSecurity @ White House!

Today, I received an e-mail from one of my contacts at the White House, informing me that the President has chosen Howard Schmidt to be the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator.

John O. Brennan - Assistant to the President for Homeland Security & Counterterrorism - prefaced the announcement by noting that protecting the internet is critical to National Security, public safety, and the personal privacy of U.S. Citizens and their civil liberties.

 "It’s also vital to President Obama’s efforts to strengthen our country, from the modernization of our health care system to the high-tech job creation central to our economic recovery," he added matter-of-fact.

Howard Schmidt will have the responsibility of orchestrating the many important cybersecurity activities across the government.

According to White House officials, the appointee is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer security with some forty years of experience in government, business and law enforcement.

Howard will have regular access to the President and serve as a key member of his National Security Staff.

He will also work closely with Obama's economic team to ensure that cybersecurity efforts in the Nation are secure and prosperous.

In closing, Brennan noted that Officials in Washington will use the WhiteHouse.gov e-mail program  (and  other communication tools) to keep concerned citizens such as myself (and others) posted about the progress being made in this area which is of utmost importance to President Obama.

I look forward to those updates, Mr. President!

http://www.julianayrs.com

Twitter...quote of the day! In the wake of the fall-out...

Within twenty-four hours of the initial "fall-out" at Twitter - shortly after the social hub fell down and went boom - Internet Security experts and anti-virus aficionados scrambled to shed a searing penetrating light on the unexpected attack which swept across the blogosphere - like a giant computer tsunami - and crippled a host of web sites in its powerful wake.

Was it a new-fangled worm?

Some speculated that it was all about bragging rights.

Just betcha, it was the invisible hand of a pimply-faced computer nerd out to flex (and draw-attention-to) his potent hacking skills for the mere thrill of it, Dudes.



In a report I penned and posted yesterday afternoon, I noted that individuals at Sophos ( a leading anti-virus expert) were quite emphatic that the cyber attack was instigated by savvy criminals with an agenda in mind (either personal or professional in nature).

Post: 08/07/09

http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2009/08/twittercyber-attack-paralyzes-tweet.html

Meanwhile - in other quarters - investigators directly involved with hands-on security issues on the pervasive world-wide-web, hinted that it was an army of computers (taken hostage unbeknown to their owners) known as "Botnets" that triggered the domino effect which ultimately overwhelmed the Internet.

Today, pieces of the intriguing puzzle are being put into place, with the precious hope that the footprint of the intruder may be tracked to the source.

There will be an update this afternoon on the painstaking investigation underway and a rundown on the findings of the experts.

In the meantime - it should be noted that a posse of pundits, notables in the IT field, and probing media types (for starters) - have tossed in their own two-cents worth on not only the ramifications of the calamitous event - but the profound meaning of it all in a pop culture (& Internet phenomenon) subtext.

A journalist at the McClatchy Newspapers gets a nod for their summary on the Twitter "attack" - and likewise - their astute assessment of the resulting fall-out in the aftermath.

"Twitter's site crashed, leaving approximately 23 million unique visitors without the ability to "tweet" about themselves for several hours."

Devastating!

http://www.julianayrs.com