Basic Email and Web Security

IT Security Training
October 12, 2010

Harvard Townsend
Chief Information Security Officer
harv@ksu.edu
 Agenda
“The Internet is a bad neighborhood.”
Why people are so easily tricked
Characteristics of scam emails – things to look for and
tools to help
Can I open this attachment?
Can I click on this link?
Helpful security features built into web browsers
Tools you can add to your web browsers
The value and limitations of anti-virus software (Trend
Micro is still your friend)
Misc. cautions/tips/tricks
Q&A
2
Real K-State Federal Credit Union Fake K-State Federal Credit Union
web site web site used in spear phishing scam

3
 Spear phishing scam received by K-Staters in January 2010
“Phishing” scams try to trick you into providing private
Information, like a password or bank acct info. “Spear phishing”
Targets a specific population – in this case, K-State email users.
4
 The malicious link in the email took you to an exact replica
of K-State’s single sign-on web page hosted on a server in the Netherlands
which will steal your eID and password if you enter it and “Sign in”.
Note the URL highlighted in red – “flushandfloose.nl”, which is obviously
not k-state.edu 5
Fake SSO
web page

Real SSO
web page

6
 Fake SSO
web page –
site not
secure (http,
not https) and
hosted in the
Netherlands
(.nl)

Real SSO
web page –
note “https”

7
Fake SSO
web page

Real SSO
web page –
Use the eID
verification
badge to
validate

8
Result of clicking on eID verification badge on a legitimate K-State
web site that uses the eID and password for authentication

9
Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam

10
Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam

11
Most
Effective
Spear
Phishing
Scam

12
 Most effective spear
phishing scam
 At least 62 replied with password, 53 of which were
used to send spam from K-State’s Webmail
 Arrived at a time when newly admitted freshmen
were getting familiar with their K-State email – 37 of
the 62 victims were newly-admitted freshmen
 Note characteristics that make it appear legitimate:
 “From:” header realistic:
"Help Desk" <helpdesk@k-state.edu>”
 Subject uses familiar terms:
“KSU.EDU WEBMAIL ACCOUNT UPDATE”
 Message body also references realistic terms:
 “IT Help Desk”, “Webmail”, “KSU.EDU”, “K-State”
 Asks for “K-State eID” and password
 Plausible story (accounts compromised by spammers!!)
13
 Another effective spear
phishing scam

This one
also tricked
62 K-
Staters into
giving away
their eID
password

14
 Another effective spear
phishing scam

Actually did
come from a
K-State email
account…
one that was
compromised
because the
user gave
away her eID
password in
another
phishing
scam!
15
How to identify a scam
 General principles:
 Neither IT support staff nor any legitimate
business will EVER ask for your
password in an email!!!
 Use common sense and logic – if it’s too
good to be true, it probably is.
 Think before you click – many have fallen
victim due to a hasty reply
 Be mistrustful
 Don’t be shy about asking for help from your
IT support person or the IT Help Desk
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How to identify a scam
 Characteristics of scam email
 Poor grammar and spelling
 The “Reply-to:” or “From:” address is unfamiliar,
or is not a ksu.edu or k-state.edu address
 Uses unfamiliar or inappropriate terms (like “send your
account information to the MAIL CONTROL UNIT”)
 It asks for private information like a password or
account number
 The message contains a link where the displayed
address differs from the actual web address
 It is unexpected (you weren’t expecting Joe to send
you an attachment)
 Does not provide explicit contact information (name,
address, phone #) for you to verify the communication.
Good example is spear phishing scam that tries to
steal your eID password is signed “Webmail
administrator” 17
How to identify a scam
 Beware of scams following major news events or natural
disasters (e.g., after Hurricane Katrina asking for
donations and mimicking a Red Cross web site)
 Seasonal scams like special Christmas offers, or IRS
scams in the spring during tax season
 They take advantage of epidemics or health scares, like
H1N1 scam last year
 Often pose as legitimate entity – PayPal, banks, FBI, IRS,
Wal*Mart, Microsoft, etc.
 If unsure, call the company to see if they sent it (we did
this with recent email from Manhattan Mercury)
 Hackers very good at imitating legitimate email – will use
official logos, some links in the email will work properly, but
one link is malicious
 Many make sensational claims; remember to apply the
common sense filter – if it sounds too good to be true,
it probably is 18
From the “too good to be
true” class of scams
 Three K-State students fell for this one in August.
Fortunately none lost money, although two might have if
alert bank tellers didn’t catch the counterfeit checks

19
From the “too good to be
true” class of scams

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 Useful sources of information
 Google – search for unique phrase in the suspected scam
to see what others are reporting about it
 Web sites of organization targeted by scams often have
information, like the IRS
www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html?portlet=1
 Snopes to debunk/confirm hoaxes, rumors, and other
“urban legends” – snopes.com
 Teach yourself with Sonicwall’s “Phishing and Spam
IQ Quiz” – www.sonicwall.com/phishing/
 K-State’s IT security web site updated regularly
SecureIT.k-state.edu
 Current threats and spear phishing scams posted on K-
State’s IT threats blog threats.itsecurity.k-state.edu/

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 Evaluating attachments
 Don’t open email attachments you were not expecting
 From someone you do not know
 From someone you know, but weren’t expecting them to
send you a file (infected computers can send malicious
emails from the owner of the computer to everyone in their
email addressbook)
 This is especially true if the content of the email message is
brief, vague, and/or unusual

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 Evaluating attachments
 Should I trust this email?

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 Evaluating attachments
 Should I trust this email?
}

I don’t know
the sender
} Very brief, vague
instructions

Unexpected
attachment PDF files can carry malicious
w/ unknown code; do not trust PDF files unless
content validated with sender

24
 Evaluating attachments
 Ignore or delete it if it’s not expected or important; not
worth the risk of opening it and infecting your
computer
 Beware of executable files embedded in .zip
attachments – is a common way for hackers to
send .exe files that would normally be deleted by
email systems
 If there’s any reason to believe it might be legitimate,
validate the attachment before opening it
 Contact the sender and ask if it is legit
 Ask your IT support person or the IT Help Desk
 Test it with antivirus software to see if it is a known malicious
program

25
 Evaluating attachments
 Saving it to your desktop without opening it or
executing it is usually safe
 If Trend Micro OfficeScan recognizes it as malicious, it will
prevent you from saving it to the desktop (a function of the
“real time scan”)
 If not detected, is either OK or a new variant of malware
 Manually update Trend Micro OfficeScan (point to the
OfficeScan icon in the system tray, right click, select
“Update Now”), then scan the file (point to the file,
right click, select “Scan with OfficeScan client”)
 If OfficeScan still says “No security risk was found”,
submit the file to www.virustotal.com to be evaluated
by 43 anti-virus products, including Trend Micro;
here’s an example:
virustotal.com/analisis/b299e2ac8871cd3e511db312d3f3e55d 26
 Example of malicious
email attachments
 Four different emails with the following subjects received by
many K-Staters in July 2009 and again in November:
 Shipping update for your Amazon.com order 254-78546325-
658742
 You have received A Hallmark E-Card!
 Jessica would like to be your friend on hi5!
 Your friend invited you to twitter!
 Three (somewhat) different attachments:
 Shipping documents.zip
 Postcard.zip
 Invitation card.zip
 130+ computers infected in July, 100+ in November; all
had to be reformatted and reinstalled from scratch – all
because users opened malicious attachments
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Malicious
Hallmark
E-Card

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Legitimate
Hallmark
E-Card

29
Malicious
Amazon
Shipping
Notice

30
Legitimate
Amazon
Shipping
Notice

31
 Why was it so effective?
 Used familiar services
 Amazon.com
 Hallmark eCard greeting
 Twitter
 Sensual invitation (“Jessica would like to be your friend on hi5!”)
 Somewhat believable replicas of legitimate emails
 Sent it to lots of people (bound to hit someone who just ordered
something from amazon.com or is having a birthday)
 Effectively masked the name of the .exe file in the .zip attachment
by padding the name with lots of spaces
 New variant that spread quickly so initial infections missed by
antivirus protection
 Been a long time since attack came by email attachment so people
caught off-guard

32
 What can we do?
 Remember - Hallmark, amazon.com,
Twitter, etc. do not send information or
instructions in attachments
 Don’t open attachment unless you are
expecting it and have verified with sender
 Analyze attachments before opening them
 Think before you click
 Be paranoid!

33
Web Browsing Threats

 Malicious links/sites – to click or not to

click, that is the question.
 Malicious advertisements
 Drive-by Download (don’t even have to
click!)
 Search engines tricked to present
malicious/bogus result near the top of
your search results (aka Blackhat Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) Poisoning)
34
 Can I click on this?
 Watch for displayed URL (web address) that does
not match the actual
displayed: http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate
actual: http://64.208.28.197/ldr.exe
 Beware of link that executes a program (like ldr.exe
above)
 Avoid numeric IP addresses in the URL
http://168.234.153.90/include/index.html
 Watch for legitimate domain names embedded in
an illegitimate one
http://leogarciamusic.com/servicing.capitalone.com/c1/login.aspx/

35
 Can I click on this?
 Beware of email evidently from US
companies with URLs that point to a non-US
domain (Kyrgyzstan in example below)
From: Capital One bank <cservice@capitalone.com>
URL in msg body: http://towernet.capitalonebank.com.mj.org.kg/onlineform/
 IE8 highlights the actual domain name to help
you identify the true source. Here’s a web
address from an IRS scam email that’s
actually hosted in Pakistan:

36
 Can I click on this?
 Beware of domains from unexpected foreign
countries
Kyrgyzstan: http://towernet.capitalonebank.com.mj.org.kg/onlineform/
Pakistan: http://static-host202-61-52-42.link.net.pk/IRS.gov/refunds.php
Lithuania: http://kateka.lt/~galaxy/card.exe
Hungary: http://mail.grosz.hu/walmart/survey/
Romania: http://www.hostinglinux.ro/
Russia: http://mpo3do.chat.ru/thanks.html
 MANY scams originate in China
(country code = .cn)
 Country code definitions available at:
www.iana.org/domains/root/db/index.html
37
 Can I click on this?
 Watch for malicious URLs masked by URL
shortening services like:
 TinyURL.com
 Bit.ly
 CloakedLink.com

38
 Can I click on this?
 TinyURL has a nice “preview” feature that
allows you to see the real URL before going to
the site. See tinyurl.com/preview.php to enable
it in your browser (it sets a cookie)
 Bit.ly has a Firefox add-on to preview shortened
links:
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10297
It also warns you if the site appears to be
malicious:
39
Can I click on this?

40
Malicious Advertisements
 Major ad networks (aka “ad
aggregators”) affiliated with Google
(e.g. Doubleclick.com), Yahoo
(yieldmanager.com), Fox and others,
covering more than 50% of online ads,
have been infiltrated with “poisoned
ads” containing malicious code
(Source: Avast!)
 Happened to the New York Times
website last fall 41
 NY Times incident
 Ad placed via phone call from person posing as
Vonage, an intl phone company and regular
advertiser on NY Times web site
 Since Vonage well known, they allowed ads to
be served by remote 3rd party host (i.e., not
the NY Times web server)
 Legitimate Vonage ads displayed all week
 During the weekend, legitimate
ad switched to a malicious one
that served up fake antivirus
scareware which tried to get
people to buy bogus security
software with a credit card 42
Malicious Advertisements
 Isn’t just NY Times…
 ratemyprofessors.com (!!)
 msnbc.msn.com
 health.msn.com
 music.msn.com
 astrology.msn.com
 realestate.msn.com
 usatoday.com
 cnbc.com
 digg.com
 mail.live.com
 addictinggames.com
 foxsports.com
 hollywoodreporter.com
 These legitimate sites are not in cahoots with the criminals,
they’re just not careful enough in screening ads from third
party ad networks 43
 Drive-by Downloads
 The scary thing is you don’t even have to click on
anything – just visiting a site with malicious code
can initiate a download that installs malware on your
computer without you knowing it.
 Symantec claims every one of the top 100 websites
in the world have served up malicious code at some
point
 JavaScript in the ad executes when the page is
loaded and tries to exploit a vulnerability in Adobe
PDF reader, Java, or Flash… or all three; this is why
a tool like NoScript or something that blocks ads is
effective 44
 Drive-by Downloads
 Commonly used to promote fake antivirus software (aka
“scareware” or “extortionware”) – make you believe your
computer is infected with lots of malware, enticing the
nervous user to “Click Here” to buy fake security
software for $30-$100, plus they steal your credit card
information
 Can be used to infect your computer with any malware –
keyloggers, Trojans, Torpig, …
 Malware changes at a very rapid rate to escape
detection by AV software; hackers test their malware
against 43 popular AV products at virustotal.com before
launching
 Prevention is by keeping Adobe Reader, Flash, and
Java updated with latest security patches 45
Search Engine
Poisoning
 Search engines, like Google, are tricked into
presenting a malicious link in the top 10
results for popular searches
 Known as “Blackhat Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) Poisoning”
 13% of Google searches for popular or trendy
topics yield malicious links
 Currently used mostly for fake antivirus scams
 Exploit current events, popular topics
 January 2010 an all-time high with hackers
capitalizing on Haitian earthquake, release of
movie Avatar, and announcement of the iPad
46
 Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
Search for
“Oscars 2010
winners”

Malicious pages
that infect with
FakeAV scareware

47
Source: Sophos security blog March 8, 2010
 Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
 Examples of exploited topics in 2010:
 Tiger Woods car wreck, affairs
 Death of Patrick Swayze
 Affair of Sandra Bullock’s husband with Michelle “Bombshell”
McGee
 Rumored death of Bill Cosby (pretty common to make up a
sensational hoax)
 Chilean earthquake
 Moscow subway explosions
 Plane crashing into IRS building in Austin, TX
 Sea World killer whale attack
 Sentencing of TJX hacker
 Oscars
 Kids’ Choice Awards
 Olympics (esp. death of Georigian luge athlete)
 March Madness basketball tournament 48

 April Fools Day (a natural…)

 Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
 How do I prevent it?
 Be paranoid – think before you click!
 Pay attention to the link – only visit reputable sites;
think before you click
 Pay attention to warnings from anti-phishing filters,
Trend Micro WRS, and
other tools you might use
to detect malicious links
(see later slides)
 If you click on a search
result and security warnings
like this pop-up, do NOT
click on anything – contact
your IT support person
49
Blackhat SEO
Poisoning
 How do I prevent it?
 Run antivirus software and keep it up-to-date
(required to use Trend Micro on campus)
 Keep ALL software patched, including the
web browsers and plug-ins, Adobe products,
Flash, and Java
 VERY challenging for IT staff, let alone your
average user
 Recent study found that average home user would
have to patch 75 times per year (once every 5
days!) using 22 different patching mechanisms
50
What’s a feller to do?

If you’re not scared by

now, then I’m worried
about you and I pity
your IT support person

51
Browser features – IE8
 Domain highlighting

 SmartScreen filtering – block access to

malicious sites and file downloads

52
 Browser features – IE8
 Pop-up blocker- if it
causes a problem
with an application,
add a specific
exception; don’t turn
off the pop-up
blocker
 If you don’t see a
malicious pop-up
message, you won’t
be duped by it.
53
 Browser features – IE8
 InPrivate Browsing – good if using a
public computer in a lab or Internet Café
since it leaves no trace of your browsing
activity. The cache (“temporary Internet
files” which are local copies of content
from web sites you visited recently),
cookies, and browser history (web
address of sites you visited recently) are
not stored.
54
Browser features - Firefox
 Anti-phishing and anti-malware
protection – detects and blocks access
to known malicious sites and
downloads

55
Browser features - Firefox
 Pop-up Blocker
 Similar to IE; add exceptions at
Tools->Options->Content
 Private browsing – cache, cookies, and
history not saved, just like “InPrivate
Browsing” in IE
 Instant Website ID – provides detailed identity
information, if available, about the site:

56
Browser add-ons
Web of Trust from www.mywot.com
 Available for Firefox,
IE, Google Chrome
 Rates web sites on
 Trustworthiness
 Vendor reliability
 Privacy
 Child safety
 Warns you if about to visit a poorly rated site
 Tags ratings in Google search results, which is really
helpful for detecting Blackhat SEO Poisoning
 Also tags links in web-based email like K-State’s Zimbra
Webmail and Gmail
 Provides user comments about the site and its rating
57
Browser add-ons
NoScript from noscript.net
 Extension for Firefox (not available for IE)
 Prevents execution of JavaScript, Java, and
Flash – the most common culprits for web-based
attacks
 Can selectively allow trusted sites
 Often able to view content of interest without
enabling all scripts – you don’t need to see the
ads or that cute Flash animation!
 Takes some getting used to and it takes a while
to build up the exceptions for trusted sites so it’s
not always getting in the way of your productive
use of the web
58
Browser add-ons

Adblock Plus from adblockplus.org

 Again, only for Firefox (IE is not nearly as
extensible as Firefox!)
 I haven’t used this tool but others have
recommended it for blocking
advertisements
 Some have argued against blocking ads
since they provide the revenue that
allows so much free content on the web 59
Help from Trend Micro
 Web Reputation Services (WRS)
 Blocks access to known disreputable
sites
 Enabled in both Windows and Mac
versions
 K-State IT security team regularly reports
new malicious links to Trend to add to the
block list
 Also provides traditional “antivirus”
malware protection 60
Trend Micro WRS is
your friend

61
 Recognizing Fake
Antivirus Alerts
Actual pop-up alert from Trend Micro OfficeScan:

62
 Recognizing Fake
Antivirus Alerts
Example of a Fake AV “scareware” alert that tries trick you into
buying worthless software to fix a non-existent infections:

63
 Misc. Tips/Tricks
 Use a Mac 
 Firefox vs. Internet Explorer (IE)?
 Both have vulnerabilities
 Both have helpful security features
 ActiveX in IE historically been a security concern but is less of a
target these days
 If you use IE6 or IE7, upgrade to IE8 because of significant
security improvements plus application compatibility
 Stay away from questionable sites
 Pornography
 Gambling
 Some gaming sites
 Peer-to-peer file sharing applications are dangerous since
they too have been infiltrated with malware; the movie you
download may also have malware attached to it that will infect
64

your computer when you try to run the movie.

 Misc. Tips/Tricks
“… because that’s where the money is.” Willie Sutton, famous 19th century
bank robber on why he robs banks
Beware of where you do your online banking – cybercriminals
are actively hunting you online and targeting your computer
because “that’s where the money is”
66 instances of Torpig malware at K-State thus far in 2010, 34 in
2009 – steals username/passwords and banking info
The American Bankers Association recommends using a
dedicated computer for online banking since malware typically gets
on a computer via web surfing or email
A low-end $500 PC or netbook good for this, or re-purpose the old
computer when you upgrade
Make sure your banking computer is protected with a strong
password
At the very least, don’t do online banking on the same home
computer your children (and their friends) use!
Create a separate regular user account for your children on
65
your home computer(s)!!
Misc. Tips/Tricks
 Don’t let your browser store/remember
important passwords like:
 eID
 Financial accounts
 38% of bank account or
username/password information stolen
by Torpig malware came from the
browser’s password store on the
compromised computer
 Password-protect the browser password 66

store
 Misc. Tips/Tricks
 Don’t keep yourself logged into
important accounts
 Similar to letting the browser
store username/password;
effect is the same – anyone
with access to the computer
has access to those accounts
 Never do either on a public computer
67
Conclusion
 There’s no way to be 100% secure surfing the
web these days
 Use multi-faceted approach to reduce your
risk (browser security features, browser add-
ons, Trend Micro security software, educate
yourself)
 These tools and techniques make your
browsing experience less convenient and may
frustrate you at times, but they are necessary
in today’s hostile online climate
 Think before you click!
68
What’s on your mind?

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