CRIMEWARE

DEFINITION

Crimeware is an overall term that describes software used for financial theft. Crimeware can spread via almost any threat vector - including viruses/Trojan horse programs/worms, spyware/adware, and others - and comprises bots, botnets, and ransomware.

Bots are the threats most commonly associated with crimeware. A bot - short for robot—generally consists of what have become known as “multi-stage” malware components. For example, a botnet may first be “seeded” via a Trojan horse program that takes advantage of any one of the number of vulnerabilities discussed in these pages (such as spam). Once seeded, and the PC has been compromised, any number of other malware code segments may be downloaded to the victimized PC on a whim. An increasing amount of botnet activity is being used by organized crime for malicious purposes. Criminal botmasters can control bots from a central location, waking them on command to perform an extensive range of malicious activities, including spam distribution, phishing, denial of service (DoS) attacks, and extortion. Botnets are networks of bots, and have been identified as a leading cause of phishing - a serious form of spam.

Ransomware is software that, when executed, encrypts word-processing, spreadsheet, and other documents for the purposes of extortion. In other words, documents are held ransom until victims purchase a decryption key—either by sending payment via a third-party processor such as PayPal, or through “buying” an item online (the receipt for which includes the key). Ransomware is most commonly distributed via email or instant messenger (IM).

HOW TO TELL IF YOU’VE BEEN TARGETED BY CRIMEWARE

Crimeware is notoriously difficult to spot; you should never rely solely on your powers of detection to identify an attack. However, in general, the following symptoms may be attributed to a crimeware intrusion:

• General system slowdown.
• Receipt of unsolicited email, instant message, or other electronic communications—especially those with attachments.
• Presence of an unusual number of pop-up ads on your desktop.
• Notification by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) that your computer is sending spam.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PCS AND MOBILE DEVICES FROM CRIMEWARE

• Purchase and install an Internet security package that includes antivirus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) software. Trend Micro offers the following anti-crimeware solution for individual users: Trend Micro Internet Security.
• Keep all email, IM, and browser security patches up to date.
• Follow all additional guidelines to protect against spam, phishing, spyware and adware.
• Check with your ISP to see what level of protection is provided against crimeware.

OTHER RESOURCES

• Threat Advisories