 The Flubot malware has switched to a new and likely more effective lure to compromise Android devices, now trying to trick its victims into infecting themselves with the help of fake security updates warning them of Flubot infections. As New Zealand's computer emergency response team (CERT NZ) warned earlier today, the message on Flubot's new installation page is only a lure designed to instill a sense of urgency and pushing potential targets to install malicious apps. "Your device is infected with the FluBot® malware. Android has detected that your device has been infected," the new Flubot installation page says. "FluBot is Android spyware that aims to steal financial login and password data from your device. You must install an Android security update to remove FluBot." Potential victims are also instructed to enable the installation of unknown apps if they're warned that the malicious app cannot be installed on their device. "If you are seeing this page, it does not mean you are infected with Flubot however if you follow the false instructions from this page, it WILL infect your device," CERT NZ explained. The SMS messages used to redirect targets to this installation page are about pending or missed parcel deliveries or stolen photos uploaded online. This banking malware (also known as Cabassous and Fedex Banker) has been active since late 2020 and has been used to steal banking credentials, payment information, text messages, and contacts from compromised devices. Until now, Flubot spread to other Android phones by spamming text messages to contacts stolen from already infected devices and instructing the targets to install malware-ridden apps in the form of APKs delivered via attacker-controlled servers. Once deployed via SMS and phishing, the malware will try to trick the victims into giving additional permissions on the phone and grant access to the Android Accessibility service, which allows it to hide and execute malicious tasks in the background. Flubot will effectively take over the infected device, gaining access to the victims' payment and banking info in the process via a downloaded webview phishing page overlayed on top of legitimate mobile banking and cryptocurrency apps' interfaces. It also harvests and exfiltrates the address book to its command-and-control server (with the contacts later sent to other Flubot spambots), monitors system notifications for app activity, reads SMS messages, and makes phone calls. The botnet has mainly targeted Android users from Spain at the beginning. Still, it has expanded to target additional European countries (Germany, Poland, Hungary, UK, Switzerland) and Australia and Japan in recent months, even though the Catalan police reportedly arrested the gang's leaders in March. Since Swiss security outfit PRODAFT said in March that the botnet was controlling roughly 60,000 devices that collected the phone numbers of 25% of all Spanish citizens, the malware will likely spread even quicker now that it uses what looks like an even more effective lure. To learn more stop by OUR FORUM.  The internet connectivity on older tech devices and smart gadgets could stop working on Thursday after a key digital certificate required to access websites safely expires. Let's Encrypt, a nonprofit organization that is the largest issuer of digital certificates — which encrypts and protects the connection between devices and websites on the internet — will be forced to expire one of its most popular digital certificates, the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3, on Sept. 30. This means several phones, computers, video game consoles, smart gadgets, and "Internet of Things" devices bought before 2017 that use the Let’s Encrypt digital certificate in question, and haven't updated their software since then, could face significant issues connecting to the internet. The problem will primarily affect popular devices, such as iPhones running iOS 9 and below, Android phones running below the 2.3.6 software, Windows computers running software prior to XP SP3, Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS. “Certain older devices from 2016 and before and any gadget that has the word ‘smart’ in it that requires internet connectivity, like certain TVs, bulbs, fridges, and home control apps, could be affected by this certificate expiry,” said security researcher and cybersecurity expert Scott Helme. “It’s not clear how big of a problem this will be, but something somewhere will certainly break. There will be a bunch of fires tomorrow, and we’ll just have to put them out." This problem has flown under the radar of many manufacturers, including Big Tech companies Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft — none of which have made announcements to customers about potential issues, Helme said. He added this is one of the first major digital certificates to expire since the advent of the internet in the 1980s. Therefore, there is no precedent for how to solve the problem besides updating the software on devices. “There have been no squeaky wheels, so no one has ever oiled it. It’s a brand-new problem,” Helme said. Planned obsolescence, which makes tech devices stop working properly after a certain number of years, is part of the reason such problems occur. Many tech companies, such as Apple, do not promise users a smooth experience for customers after they have owned a device for several years. “Some companies have been proactive about educating customers about this problem, and some companies got lazy and didn’t do their homework and expect customers to figure it out on their own if issues start occurring on older devices,” said Leonard Grove, CEO of SSL.com, a well-known private commercial provider of digital certificates. Although there is a significant risk of millions of devices not working on Thursday, some internet security experts say it could affect every device in a different fashion. “We just don’t know what exactly will happen, it could be like Y2K in 2000 with a big warning and nothing happens, or you could see a lot of people rushing to fix their devices or getting new ones,” Grove added. Follow this thread on OUR FORUM.  Chinese tech giant Huawei launched openEuler operating system (OS) on Saturday, another self-developed OS after the HarmonyOS, as it tries to "solve the domestic stranglehold problem of lacking its homegrown OS in basic technology," and build a full-scenario covered ecosystem to prepare for more US bans. The openEuler OS can be widely deployed in various forms of equipment such as servers, cloud computing, and edge computing. Its application scenarios cover Information Technology, Communication Technology, and Operational Technology to achieve unifying an operating system with multi-device support, according to the company's introduction. In the ICT field, Huawei provides products and solutions such as servers, storage, cloud services, edge computing, base stations, routers, industrial control among others, all of which need to be equipped with an OS. Huawei has therefore been building capabilities to achieve a unified OS architecture, and meet the demands of different application scenarios, the firm said on Saturday. The openEuler program was initially announced back in 2019 as an open-source operating system. Today's launch is an updated one. Huawei also disclosed that openEuler and HarmonyOS have realized core technology sharing, expecting that "openEuler + HarmonyOS" can jointly serve "the entire digital scene." Huawei will focus on HarmonyOS and openEuler at the same time. Both will also be open-source, in an effort to solve the domestic stranglehold problem of lacking a homegrown OS for basic technology, Huawei's rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhijun told reporters at a roundtable interview on Friday. Xu introduced that while Harmony is used in smart terminals, IoT terminals, and industrial terminals, openEuler will be used in servers, edge computing, and cloud infrastructure. The two operating systems can cover various scenarios to solve the current situation of a lack of operating systems in China. The openEuler OS mainly targets enterprise customers rather than consumers. To reach more enterprises, it still has a long way to go; therefore, Huawei may firstly apply it to its own products, Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst and a close follower of Huawei, told the Global Times on Saturday. "Most firms are still using Windows OS or UNIX, and Huawei may want to compete with them in this area," Xiang said. The openEuler's positioning is to construct the ecological base of the national digital infrastructure and to undertake the historical mission of supporting the construction of a leading, reliable, and secure digital foundation for China, Huawei's founder, and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in an internal talk with company research staff last week. Harmony and openEuler still have a long way to go, Ren said, noting that Harmony has already "begun to move forward, and we still have anxious expectations for it." Meanwhile, openEuler is also making great strides. Since its official launch on June 2, HarmonyOS 2.0 reached another milestone on Thursday: 120 million devices, which formerly ran Google's Android, have been updated to the in-house OS, making it the OS to reach that figure in the shortest amount of time. Huawei's latest move to build its own OS is also part of the Chinese tech giant's efforts to transform from a hardware maker to a software provider as hardware businesses, especially smartphone makers, are seeing increasing barriers due to the US chip ban. "The transformation process is painful since it's a transformation of the business model. But the good news is that we have gradually changed over," Xu said, The senior executive said the US chip cut still poses great challenges for its smartphone businesses, making its 5G handsets unavailable in the market right now, but "we will strive to keep our smartphone businesses afloat, and will not sell the unit for sure." Besides the two OSs, Huawei also laid out an ambitious blueprint for the future digitalization era during its ongoing annual flagship industry event, Huawei Connect 2021. The company's plan ranges from artificial intelligence (AI) to cloud businesses, and it vowed to use its ICT capabilities to empower the transformation of a wide range of industries from finance, mining to the medical field. Further details can be found on OUR FORUM. |
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