IM: An Underestimated Security Threat

Focused on email security, many network managers are overlooking the dangers presented by IM (instant messaging) technology. After all, IMing your sister-in-law an impromptu dinner invitation from your office cubicle seems pretty harmless. But IM in the enterprise is exploding, as 85 percent of organizations in North America report IM use, according to The Radicati Group Inc.

In the past, the security threat from IM was seen as an additional gateway to the enterprise as well as a concern for securing private corporate data. But that’s not the issue anymore. Studies estimate that IM worms and viruses are growing exponentially. In fact, Akonix Systems Inc. tracked 297 malicious code attacks over IM networks in 2007 – a 20 percent increase in IM threats over the previous year. And while 60 percent of organizations monitor and secure email, studies estimate that 90 percent of organizations lack any form of IT sanction or control for IM. That equals exposure to a rash of security threats, data leakages and legal liabilities.

James Quin, a senior research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group said, “The vast majority of companies really aren’t even aware that there’s an issue associated with IM malware. … But when you look at the fact that IM is increasingly being used as a distribution platform for malware – viruses, worms, Trojan horses – and is also a very serious threat in terms of data leakage, organizations simply can’t continue to take the track that IM is not something they need to worry about.”

Flying Under the Radar

Quin said one of the greatest dangers posed by IM is data leakage. Unlike email which is typically logged, tracked and blocked by an organization, IM communications tend to exit an enterprise outside of the watchful gaze of an IT manager. “If I’m sending something through IM on a server that’s not maintained by the company and it goes out through a generic traffic port, as far as the firewall is concerned, it’s plain old Web traffic,” he said. “It’s a bit of a sneaky way to get information out of the enterprise.”

Taking Action

There are steps companies can take, however, to wrest control of enterprise IM and to minimize exposure to security and legal threats. Here are just a handful of precautionary measures:

1. Sure, IM lends itself far more easily to informal conversation than email, rendering it a faster and lighter alternative. But is it really necessary? What business value does it deliver? The first step, said Quin, is “determining if IM is something you feel is an appropriate part of your business communication strategy.”

2. By preventing IM from being sent over public networks, companies can better manage security challenges. “Organizations should look at deploying an internal IM capability rather than using one of the freely available ones outside of the enterprise,” said Quin. Microsoft Corp.’s unified-communications suite, for example, delivers messaging capabilities, which enables companies to manage IM on internal servers and restrict communications to in-house usage.

3. Many public IM networks offer patches to protect against the latest program vulnerabilities. Network administrators need to install and update these IM patches regularly.

4. Turn to a third-party provider for high-level security protection. Symantec Corp., for example, offers an IM-management tool that secures, logs and archives corporate IM traffic on both public and enterprise IM networks.

5. “No technology should ever be deployed without a policy,” said Quin. IM is certainly no exception. Companies must establish best practices for the uses of IM and any restrictions that apply. In addition, organizations should educate employees on the dangers of IM and inform them of important precautionary measures such as storing IM passwords, communicating with unauthorized sources and refusing file transfers and attachments.

IRS Warns of New E-Mail and Telephone Scams Using the IRS Name; Advance Payment Scams Starting

Updated April 21, 2008 Some people have received phone calls about the economic stimulus payments, in which the caller impersonates an IRS employee. The caller asks the taxpayer for their Social Security and bank account numbers, claiming that the IRS needs the information to complete the processing of the taxayer’s payment. In reality, the IRS uses the information contained on the taxpayer’s tax return to process stimulus payments, rather than contacting taxpayers by phone or e-mail. An e-mail claiming to come from the IRS about the “2008 Economic Stimulus Refund” tells recipients to click on a link to fill out a form, apparently for direct deposit of the payment into their bank account. This appears to be an identity theft scheme to obtain recipients’ personal and financial information so the scammers can clean out their victims’ financial accounts. In reality, taxpayers do not have to fill out a separate form to get a stimulus payment or have it directly deposited; all they had to do was file a tax return and provide direct deposit information on the return. IR-2008-11, Jan. 30, 2008 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned taxpayers to beware of several current e-mail and telephone scams that use the IRS name as a lure. The IRS expects such scams to continue through the end of tax return filing season and beyond. The IRS cautioned taxpayers to be on the lookout for scams involving proposed advance payment checks. Although the government has not yet enacted an economic stimulus package in which the IRS would provide advance payments, known informally as rebates to many Americans, a scam which uses the proposed rebates as bait has already cropped up. The goal of the scams is to trick people into revealing personal and financial information, such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, which the scammers can use to commit identity theft. Typically, identity thieves use a victim’s personal and financial data to empty the victim’s financial accounts, run up charges on the victim’s existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim’s name, file fraudulent tax returns or even commit crimes. Most of these fraudulent activities can be committed electronically from a remote location, including overseas. Committing these activities in cyberspace allows scamsters to act quickly and cover their tracks before the victim becomes aware of the theft. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years — and their hard-earned money — cleaning up the mess thieves have made of their reputations and credit records. In the meantime, victims may lose job opportunities, may be refused loans, education, housing or cars, or even get arrested for crimes they didn’t commit. The most recent scams brought to IRS attention are described below. Rebate Phone Call At least one scheme using the word “rebate” as part of the lure has been identified. In that scam, consumers receive a phone call from someone identifying himself as an IRS employee. The caller tells the targeted victim that he is eligible for a sizable rebate for filing his taxes early. The caller then states that he needs the target’s bank account information for the direct deposit of the rebate. If the target refuses, he is told that he cannot receive the rebate. This phone call is a scam. No legislation has yet been enacted that would allow the IRS to provide advance payments to taxpayers or that determines the details of those payments. Moreover, the IRS does not force taxpayers to use direct deposit. Those who opt for direct deposit do so by completing the appropriate section of their tax return, with bank routing and account information, when they file; the IRS does not gather the information by telephone. Refund e-Mail The IRS has seen several variations of a refund-related bogus e-mail which falsely claims to come from the IRS, tells the recipient that he or she is eligible for a tax refund for a specific amount, and instructs the recipient to click on a link in the e-mail to access a refund claim form. The form asks the recipient to enter personal information that the scamsters can then use to access the e-mail recipient’s bank or credit card account. In a new wrinkle, the current version of the refund scam includes two paragraphs that appear to be directed toward tax-exempt organizations that distribute funds to other organizations or individuals. The e-mail contains the name and supposed signature of the Director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations business division. This e-mail is a phony. The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers. Filing a tax return is the only way to apply for a tax refund; there is no separate application form. Taxpayers who wish to find out if they are due a refund from their last annual tax return filing may use the “Where’s My Refund?” interactive application on this Web site, IRS.gov. The only official IRS Web site is located here at www.irs.gov. Audit e-Mail Another new scam brought to IRS attention contains features not seen before by the IRS. Using a technique calculated to get almost anyone’s attention, the e-mail notifies the recipient that his or her tax return will be audited. This is the first scam of which the IRS is aware that uses this to get the victim to respond. Unusual for a scam e-mail, it may contain a salutation in the body addressed to the specific recipient by name. Most scam e-mails seen by the IRS are sent using the same technique used by spammers, in which hundreds of thousands of messages are sent to potential victims based on Internet address. Because of the volume, the typical scam e-mail is not personalized. This e-mail instructs the recipient to click on links to complete forms with personal and account information, which the scammers will use to commit identity theft. This e-mail is a phony. The IRS does not send unsolicited, tax-account related e-mails to taxpayers. Changes to Tax Law e-Mail This bogus e-mail is addressed to businesses, accountants and “Treasury” managers. It instructs them to download information on tax law changes by clicking on a series of links to publications on businesses, estate taxes, excise taxes, exempt organizations and IRAs and other retirement plans. The IRS believes that clicking on a link downloads malware onto the recipient’s computer. Malware is malicious code that can take over the victim’s computer hard drive, giving someone remote access to the computer, or it could look for passwords and other information and send them to the scamster. There are other types of malware, as well. The urls contained in the link are not legitimate IRS Web addresses. All IRS.gov Web page addresses begin with http://www.irs.gov/. Paper Check Phone Call In a current telephone scam, a caller claims to be an IRS employee who is calling because the IRS sent a check to the individual being called. The caller states that because the check has not been cashed, the IRS wants to verify the individual’s bank account number. The caller may have a foreign accent. In reality, the IRS leaves it entirely up to the individual to choose to cash or not cash a paper check. The IRS has no business need to know, and does not ask for, bank account or similar information, except when taxpayers indicate on their tax return that they are opting for the direct electronic deposit of their refund. In that case, however, it is the individual’s responsibility to provide the IRS with the correct bank routing and account numbers on the tax return; the IRS does not contact taxpayers to verify the information. What to Do Anyone wishing to access the IRS Web site should initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into their Internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail or opening an attachment. Those who have received a questionable e-mail claiming to come from the IRS may forward it to a mailbox the IRS has established to receive such e-mails, phishing@irs.gov, using instructions contained in an article titled “How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes.” Following the instructions will help the IRS track the suspicious e-mail to its origins and shut down the scam. Find the article by visiting IRS.gov and entering the words “suspicious e-mails” into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page. Those who have received a questionable telephone call that claims to come from the IRS may also use the phishing@irs.gov mailbox to notify the IRS of the scam. The IRS has issued previous warnings on scams that use the IRS to lure victims into believing the scam is legitimate. More information on identity theft, phishing and telephone scams using the IRS name, logo or spoofed (copied) Web site is available on this Web site. Enter the terms “phishing,” “identity theft” or “e-mail scams” into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page. Related Items: FS-2008-9, Identity Theft E-Mails Scams a Growing Problem IR-2007-109, IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft Subscribe to IRS Newswire

IRS Email Scam

I recently sent an email about this to my friends. Here’s the post:

If you receive the below email (Get 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund – $1800), delete it! This is a scam!!!! Please be perceptive enough to check into things before you blindly believe these technological lies. Apparently, a half-witted computer tech without morals is trying to capitalize on the stimulus refund from the government. He/she will be phishing for your bank account information & SSN, and will ultimately rob you of your identity.

Email is never the primary way governments, banking institutions and major businesses communicate with you. Remember, email is like a postcard, it’s not secure unless you use encryption (to answer everyone’s question, “Am I using email encryption?” I guarantee you that you would know if you’re using email encryption because you have to install it-or login to a secure webmail server, and it only works if the other person you’re communicating with uses the same type of encryption or has a private or public encryption key).

All it takes is a few tools and in five minutes I can intercept email as it travels across the internet. Again, email is simply a postcard. As it travels anyone with the right tools can intercept and read it. Never send banking information, passwords, or Personal Identifiable Information (PII) via unencrypted email.

Here are a few free email encryption solutions:

1. Hushmail (free secure webmail solution)

2. Google Gmail Encryption with FireFox: FireGPG (You have to login to https://gmail.com when using this encryption with Gmail.) Here’s the instruction on how to setup and use FireGPG encryption with Gmail: http://www.linux.com/articles/62369

3. Greasemonkey Encryption: Firefox Extension

If you have any questions, please visit my IT Security blog at: www.itsecurityadmin.wordpress.com or email me.

Here’s the email:

---

From: service@irs.gov [mailto:service@irs.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:58 AM
Subject: Get 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund ( $1800 )
Importance: High

Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as
part of President Bush program to jumpstart the economy.

Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the
2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.

The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by
direct deposit to your checking/savings account.

Please click on the link and fill out the form and submit
before May 13th, 2008 to ensure that your refund will be
processed as soon as possible.

Submitting your form on May 13th, 2008 or later means that
your refund will be delayed due to the volume of requests we
anticipate for the Economic Stimulus Refund.

To access Economic Stimulus Refund, please click here.

© Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Identity Breaches are everywhere

Commercial businesses, colleges and universities, government offices, and medical facilities of varying sizes share the common label of being hit by identity thieves.

167 breaches revealing over 8.3 million records happened or became public in the first three months of 2008, according to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. Targets of attacks ranged from a Vermont ski resort to the University of Georgia, and plenty of points in between.

Some of the breaches happened due to internal misuse of customer data. At Bank of the West in Washington state, a loan officer used applications from customers to steal identities. Cassidy Janosky and her mother rang up $16,000 grand in purchases like plasma TVs and electronics from a local Sears store.

Other breaches happened due to laptop theft, like that of the Florida Department of Children and Families. Five laptops stoled from their Orlando office forced them to alert 1,200 staffers that their Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other information was at risk.

Then there was the old standby, the lost backup tape. In one particularly embarrassing case, secure storage business Iron Mountain lost one with credit card information on 650,000 customers. Names, addresses, and Social Security numbers were on it as well.

Oh, there were network breaches as well. One can essentially envision an attack vector, and something probably happened along those lines, since reported incidents for Q1 2008 more than doubled what ITRC picked up on for the same period last year.

Nick Cavalancia of ScriptLogic said in commenting on the report that security pros need near-real time notification of sensitive file system events, especially in environments where regulatory compliance like Sarbanes-Oxley is a reality.

“Businesses must be able to provide reports indicating permission changes, highlighting what changes were made, who made them and when they were made,” he said. Cavalancia also recommended administrators be able to lock down the myriad devices like iPods people bring into workplaces, to mitigate data theft.

Proposed Cyber Security Bill will pressure Department of Homeland Security

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-RI, introduced a bill on Wednesday that aims to hold the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responsible for investigating every cyber attack and for shoring up its network security.

The bill would better define the roles and responsibilities of the agency’s chief information officer, require that the department reduce the number of successful attacks against its networks and mandate that the DHS investigate the state of contractors’ network security before signing a contract with them. The bill comes after more than a year of investigations by the House of Representative’s Committee for Homeland Security into cybersecurity breaches at numerous government agencies. Rep. Langevin heads up the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science & Technology, which has held most of the hearings on the issues.

“The security of our federal and critical infrastructure networks is an issue of national security,” Rep. Langevin said in a statement. “Through my many cyber hearings it has become clear that an organization is only as strong as the integrity and reliability of the information that it keeps. Therefore we must make cybersecurity a national priority.”

While U.S. government agencies have shown slow improvement, they have continued to score low grades in the annual report on their compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002. Most federal agencies are behind an aggressive timetable for switching over all government desktop systems to a set of standard configurations designed to be more secure. Know as the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), the initiative is part of a broader program known as the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), embarked upon by the Bush Administration in January.

The bill has been designated the Homeland Security Network Defense and Accountability Act of 2008 (H.R. 5983).