LizaMoon

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LizaMoon is a piece of malware that infected thousands of websites beginning in September, 2010. It is an SQL injection attack that spreads scareware encouraging users to install needless and rogue "anti-virus software". [1] Although it does not use new infection techniques, it was initially thought to be notable based on the scale and speed at which it spread, and that it affected some of Apple's iTunes service. LizaMoon was initially reported to the general public by Websense Security Lab. [2]

Contents

Overview

Initial press statements[ which? ] reported the infection of hundreds of thousands or of millions of sites were infected. McAfee estimated approximately 1.5 million hosts affected between March and April 2011. However, subsequent research has shown a much lower infection rate. Although initial estimates for the infection based on Google search data were thought[ by whom? ] to show hundreds of thousands of infected sites, the true number appears to only be in the thousands: according to Niels Provos, a security researcher at Google, Google's safe browsing database indicates the LizaMoon attacks began around September 2010 and peaked in October 2010, with approximately 5600 infected sites. [3] Cisco researcher Mary Landesman has confirmed that the infection rate appears quite low. [4]

How the web sites spreading the infection were attacked remains a mystery. However, hackers may inject vulnerable and popular websites with malicious code in order to spread the infection once users visit these sites. Users should never permit installs of software of unknown provenance from the Internet under any circumstances – those that follow this policy cannot be infected by LizaMoon. These types of malware, known as rogue antivirus software, come under different names and logos such as "XP Security 2011", "Malware Scanner" or similar. After the initial installation, the software runs a fake scan showing non-existing malware on the system and in many cases requires the user to pay in order to remove the alleged malware.

Effects

As with all malware, LizaMoon is easier for a user to deal with by avoiding it rather than by attempting to repair the damage it causes after the fact. Fortunately, LizaMoon is easy for most users to avoid. The software requires the user to actively participate in downloading and installing itself. Indeed, to become infected, a user must give permission to the software four times. LizaMoon asks the user to install a piece of rogue antivirus software to remove various non-existent "viruses" from the PC. The rogue AV software that is installed is called Windows Stability Center. As of April 1st 2011, the file that is downloaded is currently detected by only 13 of 43 anti-virus engines according to VirusTotal. [5]

Related Research Articles

Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. Researchers tend to classify malware into one or more sub-types.

Spyware is any software with malicious behavior that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's security, or other means. This behavior may be present in malware and in legitimate software. Websites may engage in spyware behaviors like web tracking. Hardware devices may also be affected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antivirus software</span> Computer software to defend against malicious computer viruses

Antivirus software, also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scareware</span> Malware designed to elicit fear, shock, or anxiety

Scareware is a form of malware which uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or the perception of a threat in order to manipulate users into buying unwanted software. Scareware is part of a class of malicious software that includes rogue security software, ransomware and other scam software that tricks users into believing their computer is infected with a virus, then suggests that they download and pay for fake antivirus software to remove it. Usually the virus is fictional and the software is non-functional or malware itself. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of scareware packages in circulation rose from 2,850 to 9,287 in the second half of 2008. In the first half of 2009, the APWG identified a 585% increase in scareware programs.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WinFixer</span> Rogue security software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer virus</span> Computer program that modifies other programs to replicate itself and spread

A computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code into those programs. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a computer virus, a metaphor derived from biological viruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malwarebytes</span> Internet security company

Malwarebytes Inc. is an American Internet security company that specializes in protecting home computers, smartphones, and companies from malware and other threats. It has offices in Santa Clara, California; Clearwater, Florida; Tallinn, Estonia; Bastia Umbra, Italy; and Cork, Ireland.

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The Asprox botnet, also known by its aliases Badsrc and Aseljo, is a botnet mostly involved in phishing scams and performing SQL injections into websites in order to spread malware. It is a highly infectious malware which spreads through an email or through a clone website. It can be used to trace any kind of personal or financial information and activities online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malvertising</span> Use of online advertisement or advertising to spread malware

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Mac Defender is an internet rogue security program that targets computers running macOS. The Mac security firm Intego discovered the fake antivirus software on 2 May 2011, with a patch not being provided by Apple until 31 May. The software has been described as the first major malware threat to the Macintosh platform. However, it is not the first Mac-specific Trojan, and is not self-propagating.

DNSChanger is a DNS hijacking Trojan. The work of an Estonian company known as Rove Digital, the malware infected computers by modifying a computer's DNS entries to point toward its own rogue name servers, which then injected its own advertising into Web pages. At its peak, DNSChanger was estimated to have infected over four million computers, bringing in at least US$14 million in profits to its operator from fraudulent advertising revenue.

Sality is the classification for a family of malicious software (malware), which infects Microsoft Windows systems files. Sality was first discovered in 2003 and has advanced to become a dynamic, enduring and full-featured form of malicious code. Systems infected with Sality may communicate over a peer-to-peer (P2P) network to form a botnet to relay spam, proxying of communications, exfiltrating sensitive data, compromising web servers and/or coordinating distributed computing tasks to process intensive tasks. Since 2010, certain variants of Sality have also incorporated rootkit functions as part of an ongoing evolution of the malware family. Because of its continued development and capabilities, Sality is considered one of the most complex and formidable forms of malware to date.

References

  1. ↑ Stacy Cowley (2011-04-01). "LizaMoon attack infects millions of websites". CNN Money. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  2. ↑ "Malicious Web attack hits a million site addresses". Reuters. Reuters. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  3. ↑ Provos, Niels (3 April 2011). "Lizamoon SQL Injection Campaign Compared" . Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Landesman, Mary. "Lizamoon – Much Ado About Very Little" . Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Langa, Fred. "LizaMoon infection: a blow-by-blow account" . Retrieved 7 April 2011.

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