GameOver Zeus botnet seized; Two week window to protect yourself, say authorities
GameOver Zeus botnet seized; Two week window to protect yourself, say authorities
Summary: There's a two-week window to protect your Windows PCs from a botnet aiming to swipe credentials.
By Larry Dignan for Between the Lines |
U.S. authorities---the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice---say they have disrupted the systems of the GameOver Zeus botnet, which allows cybercrooks to steal banking credentials.
The move by authorities means there's a two-week window for enterprises and consumers to protect themselves before a wave of botnets is about to hit. GameOver Zeus (GOZ) operates on a peer-to-peer network that's decentralized and can take over Windows PCs (Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012).
GOZ typically infects a machine via a phishing attack and other bogus emails. Example of a phishing email. Credit: Dell Secureworks U.K.'s National Crime Agency put the botnet in simple terms:
Action taken by the NCA to combat the threat will give the UK public a unique, two-week opportunity to rid and safeguard themselves from two distinct but associated forms of malware known as GOZeuS and CryptoLocker.
Members of the public can protect themselves by making sure security software is installed and updated, by running scans and checking that computer operating systems and applications are up to date.
The NCA’s alert is part of one of the largest industry and law enforcement collaborations attempted to date. Activity in several countries, led by the FBI in the US, has weakened the global network of infected computers, meaning that action taken now to strengthen online safety can be particularly effective.
Meanwhile, the NCA reckons that more than 15,500 computers in the UK are already infected.
According to U.S.-CERT, GOZ infected machines can participate in attacks, send spam and swipe user data. To prepare, U.S.-CERT recommended that antivirus software is used and maintained, passwords are changed and patches are updated.
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A man wanted by the FBI for allegedly possessing explosive materials at his home in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood appears to have posted a suicide note that went out on his social media websites this morning.
The manhunt continues this morning for Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, 42, after a raid at his home Saturday morning that blocked portions of Jackson Street, Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue.
Chamberlain remains at large, is considered armed and dangerous and may have explosives on him, according to the FBI.
He was last seen Saturday south of San Francisco wearing a navy blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He is believed to be driving a white 2008 Nissan Altima with California or Texas license plates with either No. 7FQY085 or BX9M042.
After a search warrant was served at his home Saturday morning, FBI agents, San Francisco police, firefighters and a hazardous materials team entered the building.
Crews wearing hazmat suits were seen coming in and out of the apartment near Polk and Jackson Streets for about two hours that morning.
Alex Clemens, founder of San Francisco-based Barbary Coast Consulting, said he has known Chamberlain for about a decade and worked with him at his firm when Chamberlain was hired as a contractor for about a month in 2009 to work on a public affairs social media effort for a client in North Carolina.
This morning, a timed post was released on Chamberlain’s Facebook page, which Clemens said he has access to as a connected friend.
In the letter, written on an iCloud account, Chamberlain talks about dealing with depression, issues with his family and trouble with his relationships and career.
He details his downward spiral, which came to a head in 2013 when he lost a job with a sports event management company.
“When 2013 came, it did me in. I’ve been fighting and fighting to get out of it. But it wrecked me. And it led to what happened today,” the letter reads.
It appears the note was written after he was contacted by the FBI.
“I got dark. I got real dark. I explored myriad ways I could put an end to what I was going through. I binged-watched dark TV, sometimes didn’t get off the couch for days, and scoured the Internet absorbing fuel for morbid fantasies. Some of that activity seemed to attract the attention of some visitors today…who have made it rather evident that this is the end of the line for me,” his letter states.
Around 10:20 a.m. this morning an update went out on his social media accounts.
A panicked update to my letter that should have posted by now. Nothing they're reporting is true. No "stashes." Not "armed and…
— Ryan Chamberlain (@poliholic) June 2, 2014
Chamberlain posted, “A panicked update to my letter that should have posted by now. Nothing they’re reporting is true. No ‘stashes.’ Not ‘armed and dangerous.’ No car ‘rigged to explode.’ I explored some ugly websites, a year-ish ago. I was depressed. I let Walter White get to me. I thought I was done. That’s it. No one was ever in danger. And recently I was all better. I owe my friends and my girlfriend for that. But I guess I did enough for the damage to be done. I’m so sorry everyone.”
On his social media pages, Chamberlain says he received a degree in journalism and political science at Iowa State University in 1993 and went on to obtain a master’s at the University of Florida in political campaigning in 1997.
He taught a grassroots mobilization course at the University of San Francisco as an adjunct professor for one semester in spring 2011, school spokeswoman Anne-Marie Devine said.
He has since not been affiliated with the university, Devine said.
He was posting links, photos, and short quips on his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media pages up until Friday. His Twitter handle is @poliholic, which on his website he uses to describe himself as a political junkie.
Clemens said Chamberlain is a “familiar face in the world of San Francisco political campaigns. He’s worked on a campaign most every cycle.”
According to Chamberlain’s website and online resume, he worked on Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s San Francisco mayoral campaign and many other city political campaigns in the past 15 years.
Clemens said Chamberlain had slowed down in recent years and Clemens last saw him at an event about a year ago but had been following him on social media.
News of the raid and search this weekend was surprising and the political consulting world is “all collectively quite shocked,” Clemens said.
Clemens clarified that he is not close with Chamberlain, but he was “hoping to see he had turned himself in.”
Chamberlain is described as a white man with brown hair and blue eyes who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 225 pounds.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the FBI at (415) 553-7400 or online at tips.fbi.gov. Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
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GameOver Zeus botnet seized; Two week window to protect yourself, say authorities
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