The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Koobface server pops up in China after HK takedown

Whack-a-mole

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

Security experts in Hong Kong last week succeeded in taking down a key component of the Koobface botnet, only to witness the system popping up in China.

The Koobface FTP grabber component uploaded stolen FTP user names and passwords to the remote server, which was under the control of cybercrooks. These stolen login credentials gave a pass into corporate networks and valuable data before the server was taken down last week, largely thanks to the efforts of the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT).

In response, the Koobface gang moved their server to a hosting firm in China. Last month the command and control servers associated with Koobface underwent a complete refresh.

Koobface spread via messages on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Cybercrooks behind the sophisticated malware make their money by distributing scareware packages onto compromised machines, and by other cyberscams, including information harvesting. The worm gets less press than the malware associated with the Google China attacks or the high-profile Conficker worm, though experts consider it both more sophisticated and a bigger security threat.

A blog post by Trend Micro with more details on the FTP grabber and the Hong Kong takedown operation can be found here. ®

Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra’s Agentless Software

Latest Comments

errr

meassive bonnet?

0
0
Anonymous Coward

Did this post come through a time machine?

Did this post get written in the 80s and only just published?

I'm looking forward to exciting news about the future of ARCHIE and gopher.

(Although I know some important financial systems that are still using FTP)

0
0

Your spell check still doesn't accept "botnet", then...

So there's a meassive Chinese-built criminal bonnet, that's fine.

Also: so they can break into your FTP server, am I missing a point here? Did FTP suddenly get secure and important and I didn't notice?

0
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
NSA PRISM-gate: Relax, GCHQ spooks 'keep us safe', says Cameron
Whatever they are up to, it's all above board, we're told
PRISM snitch claims NSA hacked Chinese targets since 2009
Snowden suddenly looks safer in Hong Kong after revelations
 breaking news
US chief spook: Look, we only want to spy on 6.66 BEELLLION of you
Americans assured they are not in the NSA's sights
Speech-to-text drives motorists to distraction
Will talking to you mean I crash into that car up ahead, Siri?
DHS warns of vulns in hospital medical equipment
Has your doctor's anasthesia machine been hacked?
 breaking news
Yes, maybe we should keep hackers in the clink for YEARS, mulls EU
Watch out black hats, they just might throw away the key
Microsoft borks botnet takedown in Citadel snafu
Stupid Redmond kicked over our honeypots, wail white hats
Critical Java SE update due Tuesday fixes 40 flaws
And yes, most are remotely exploitable
NSA accused of new crimes ... against slideware
They may take our information but they cannot take our REFINED AESTHETICS