Criminals Bribe Chinese Security Firm to White-List Malware

The latest about cyber-criminals is that they're bribing security companies for smuggling malicious software and incorporating it into mobile gaming applications' source-codes. Security investigators belonging to Check Point exposed the scam wherein owners of malicious software bribed the staff working at one China-based mobile games firm for embedding malware inside mobile applications.

The bribe was done to make sure Qihoo 360 the largest antivirus software company of China white-listed malware, meaning authorized it for download devoid of scrutiny. Consequently, consumers of Qihoo 360 loaded the malware-contaminated applications they obtained from intermediate application outlets devoid of getting malware alerts, as Qihoo rested faith in the applications that the anonymous manufacturer of games supplied.

According to Feixiang He, the said applications passed Qihoo's scrutiny to subsequently get white-listed letting the same along with the smuggled malicious software for running on devices that the non-chargeable and widespread anti-virus products from Qihoo protected while the apps got utilized on computers/mobiles. On completion of this stage, the cyber-criminals then carried out their actual malevolent operation.

Thus, the crooks pretended to be customers of Taobao.com the widely used eBay counterpart in China. They started the buying via the dispatch of a picture depicting the product they wished for purchasing back to that customer with the aid of one IM application named Aliwanwang. However, there was a white-listed Trojan injected into that picture with the help of steganography tactics. Scmagazineuk.com posted this, April 11, 2016.

Feixiang He explains that incase malware is successfully loaded onto devices that Qihoo's anti-virus products safeguard while it's injected inside its own application outlet then the above instance depicts the importance of eschewing intermediate outlets and for rather at the minimum use outlets having increased trustworthy security.

Malware intelligence examiner Chris Boyd of Malwarebytes says here attention must be paid to the types of safety nets and other checks the gaming firm uses for making sure malicious files/codes aren't distributed to ordinary buyers.

As per Check Point, the above indicates how bribery can allow even archaic malware to infiltrate any "secure" network and that it isn't secure to white-list codes/apps even by trustworthy application outlets.

» SPAMfighter News - 4/18/2016