Dino espionage malware

Doing forensics on this malware (link below). I'm trained in Human Analysis, where Technical Forensics I did learn from my dad who managed Seagate & Quantum; as well as some classes in college (but there is always more to learn). What I'm best at, is seeing who people really are, inside.

Which normal people love - everyone wants to be seen clearly.
Operators, they hate it.

Analysis extends to hired criminals who breach. Based on their tools, their patterns, you can see their schedule, their preferences, who they are, their strengths & weaknesses. When you see or meet them in person, so much more can be assessed, including their DNA (which has transparent physical markers: I studied this 2014-2018). Certain components of their neurology you can observe through clinical reputable sciences. Other aspects, can be written down for follow-up, based on targeted non-western sciences.

They're ALL over-confident, a feature that is on the anti-social spectrum. (If someone is over-confident, say NO & move in the other direction - it's NEVER worth it. All P&L models prove significant losses; it's just a matter of time. THINK: Enron, Mortgage Crisis, more.)

They're either Glib (NPD) or Specialized (experienced or hyper-focused, often part of an ASD spectrum, with low awareness that what they're doing is wrong).

Often, but not always, there are addiction issues. If we change the term to include both substances + obsession, then yes, all.

2000-2010 I worked with corporations, to scale, and prevent bad hires. All corporate problems are people problems. (I believe that it's a combination of factors, where the problem employee(s) are generally on a NPD scale, and/or have criminal records which weren't seen due to name changes. This, I've been digging deeply into.

The trojan used, is interesting behaviorally, as some Actors, are slow to change. I spoke to a man who claimed former Army, in Tahoe. He said he was a famous local actor from Seattle, and professor in SLT. He had been in the Bay Area before WA, had worked for Yahoo, IS a hired Threat Actor. He maliciously accesses machines, for financial fraud. He was scheming for PPP fraud. He admitted to me, over time, his courier business. I believe, he is also involved in Modern Day Slavery. He spoke of female victims, how men in his group targeted them. To keep them quiet, by dating them, or causing problems in their lives. His strategy, sounds similar to Keith Raniere's, where KR, kept Bronfman's in a constant state of distress, with troubled investments.

Actors are trained to target, trained to look good or look non-existent, are archetypes that CREATE problems (a) to end up being "the hero" (insecure attachment w/insatiable need for validation & to look good), or because (b) they seek to destroy (anti-social with no emotions or angry/hostile/vindictive). Either way, they're in it for the pay-off.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/researchers-expose-dino-espionage-malware-with-a-french-connection/

"If it's free, we're the product." ChatGPT

"If it's free, we're the product."

James McQuiggan• 2ndSecurity Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4, College Professor, (080); (ISC)2 Chapter President - working to make everyone cyber Safe & Secure online. Podcast Producer of Security Masterminds

1d • 1 day ago

As much fun as it is with posting questions and queries into ChatGPT, we have to remember if it's free, we're the product.
Using it to upload your organization's strategy to get the AI to create a PowerPoint slide deck or a patient's records to write a letter to the insurance company, could end up in a result for someone else, or for training of future data.
ChatGPT is fun to use, but remember not to upload confidential, or sensitive information of yourselves or organizations. #PreachingToTheChoir #ShareWithFriendsAndFamily

#AI #ChatGPT #InsiderThreat

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/employees-feeding-sensitive-business-data-chatgpt-raising-security-fears

Types of Cryptography

 

CAPTCHA Trojan & V-NSA (NASA)

BitDefender discovered this, in this article dated September 8, 2015, yet this technology is presently being used today. Attackers keep using what works, even if they have to re-brand.

This app, the Actor's appear to be utilizing Web3 & Browser Extensions that Impersonate "Google Drive Docs". NOT Google when you do forensics on what the package contains. This means, that it is also illegal trademark infringement, as it's not counterfeit, it's just stealing Google's name and presentation, which they've labeled over their Trojan.

The Threat Actors I've met, which have come up to me ever since The Attorney General approved my report, wear NASA T-Shirts. They're smug. They instigate. They seem to want me to give them my attention. I take a photograph and keep my head down, refusing to feed into their misplaced narcissistic glory. They're criminals. They steal from others through their computer crimes.

They're NOT activists (which I'm also not into, but some activists abide by the law). They're Violent Non State Actors; malicious organized ransomware group, that is involved in trafficking.

They steal from others through their computer crimes.  I actually interviewed one, last year in April, Eleven Before Twelve.  He told me horrible stories about his childhood, and how he felt being in a gang was his only option, and how he admired the tech stolen from the ransomware group calling themselves NASA (from the technology stolen from NSA, and adapted to their purposes). He lied to me about several things, but I traced his comments that stood out to me, and found out who he really is, from his YouTube channel. He teaches hackers, how to exploit with Xbox. He said they're in the gang for life. He mentioned profit sharing pools. There was a sexual component to their crimes beyond the tech. They all seemed to have been sexually exploited, and sought targets, to steal from financially, and sexually exploit as well. 

I asked him if he thought what he was doing was wrong. He said "no". That means, that he is anti-social and out-of-touch with reality, with the millions of people his gang hurts, and with how his actions affect others, as well as himself. 

No one can do this type of work, and have healthy self-esteem nor integrity. Self-worth, comes from alignment, and doing the right thing, because it's the right thing.

"The Trojan relies on a Command and Control (C&C) infrastructure to receive configuration settings about desired subscription services and relay received SMS messages. The subscription procedure involves the following steps:"

• Loading a target website received from the C&C server;
• Extracting CAPTCHA image and sending it for image-to-text recognition;
• Loading the CATPCHA code on the targeted website;
• Parsing SMS code for code or activation link;
• Loading activation link;
• Sending confirmation SMS;
• Loading website with SMS code.

https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/hotforsecurity/sophisticated-capcha-bypassing-malware-found-in-google-play-according-to-bitdefender-researchers/

Joseph, a Social Engineering Threat Actor, Impersonating Tech Support + Calculator App Malware

I spoke with a representative named Joseph, from tech support, this week. He never gained access to my computer, nor asked for remote troubleshooting capacities (which I would have denied him). Even though I was just asking general questions for confirmation, he asked for my computer's serial number, which I declined. He asked out of the blue. When I said "no", he said "hum". With my serial number, he can enroll my device in Google Workspace access.

Because he did that, I asked him a different question, that I wasn't planning on, it wasn't on my list, but I asked anyways, because he triggered a Social Engineering flag: his question combined with two other factors at play, that seemed off from what I would expect. When digging, (a) always trust your intuition, and (b) clinically and diagnostically, specific flags lead to clusters which lead to what may be going on, and where to probe.

The different question, was about malware in Calculator Apps.

He was smug. He did his best not to laugh at me. He said they don't exist, and he'd never heard of them. BINGO. I caught him.

Being overconfident, and rude to others, is an anti-social feature. This man, either was attempting to illegally steal information from his company's clients, which would be against his contract, or he was an impersonator. I called the company, got a weird recording, then he called me back. I did a little digging, and found a US company that has an API, which predicts user actions, and uploads the victim's data to their B2B client's custom app. This data, can tell the developer which website to copy, and where to set-up his impersonation trap, for profit.

You can read the Forbes article about Calculator App below, and FTC's Impersonation Reports, here: FTC Imposter Scams

Forbes Calculator App Malware

Dino Espionage

Doing forensics on this malware (link below). I'm trained in Human Analysis, where Technical Forensics I did learn from my dad who managed Seagate & Quantum; as well as some classes in college (but there is always more to learn). What I'm best at, is seeing who people really are, inside.

Which normal people love - everyone wants to be seen clearly.

Operators, they hate it.

Analysis extends to hired criminals who breach. Based on their tools, their patterns, you can see their schedule, their preferences, who they are, their strengths & weaknesses. When you see or meet them in person, so much more can be assessed, including their DNA (which has transparent physical markers: I studied this 2014-2018). Certain components of their neurology you can observe through clinical reputable sciences. Other aspects, can be written down for follow-up, based on targeted non-western sciences.

They're ALL over-confident, a feature that is on the anti-social spectrum. (If someone is over-confident, say NO & move in the other direction - it's NEVER worth it. All P&L models prove significant losses; it's just a matter of time. THINK: Enron, Mortgage Crisis, more.)

They're either Glib (NPD) or Specialized (experienced or hyper-focused, often part of an ASD spectrum, with low awareness that what they're doing is wrong).

Often, but not always, there are addiction issues. If we change the term to include both substances + obsession, then yes, all.

2000-2010 I worked with corporations, to scale, and prevent bad hires. All corporate problems are people problems. (I believe that it's a combination of factors, where the problem employee(s) are generally on a NPD scale, and/or have criminal records which weren't seen due to name changes. This, I've been digging deeply into.

The trojan used, is interesting behaviorally, as some Actors, are slow to change. I spoke to a man who claimed former Army, in Tahoe. He said he was a famous local actor from Seattle, and professor in SLT. He had been in the Bay Area before WA, had worked for Yahoo, IS a hired Threat Actor. He maliciously accesses machines, for financial fraud. He was scheming for PPP fraud. He admitted to me, over time, his courier business. I believe, he is also involved in Modern Day Slavery. He spoke of female victims, how men in his group targeted them. To keep them quiet, by dating them, or causing problems in their lives. His strategy, sounds similar to Keith Raniere's, where KR, kept Bronfman's in a constant state of distress, with troubled investments.

Actors are trained to target, trained to look good or look non-existent, are archetypes that CREATE problems (a) to end up being "the hero" (insecure attachment w/insatiable need for validation & to look good), or because (b) they seek to destroy (anti-social with no emotions or angry/hostile/vindictive). Either way, they're in it for the pay-off.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/researchers-expose-dino-espionage-malware-with-a-french-connection/

Spot and avoid imposter scams

 

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/03/ncpw-lets-talk-about-impersonation-scams

National Consumer Protection Week

 

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/03/ncpw-lets-talk-about-impersonation-scams

FTC's Top Scams of 2022

My favorite conversation related to fraud was last month during a short business call. I can't even remember what the task item was about, specifically, unless I looked through my notes, but I remember the woman's voice, her comments, and the feeling I had.

It was interesting to me, as she was about to ask for a piece of identifying information, for her due-diligence, and she almost made a mistake. She paused, and stopped, and asked a different question, which I answered.

I caught her mistake though, and commented on it. I told her I was glad she had switched gear.

She said "I know, the other thing, well there are higher risks in that."

I said: "I know!" Plus something about high need for privacy due to my work.

She then shared a story, about her female friend who worked in Government. The branch she was a part of, she could not even give out her work email, as all information, creates a risk, a vulnerability.

I thanked her for sharing that story and JOKED with her in appreciation: "I have never felt so heard, seen, nor understood in my life." Obviously, that's a huge exaggeration, of the small feeling that I had.

She got it though. She knows about security, risks, vulnerabilities, safety.

We all can improve in these areas. Here is FTC's fraud stats from last year.

FTC's Top Scams of 2022

The top scams of 2022

Interview with Criminal Contractor, Washington DC June 2021

This article, a fine example of organized crime & retaliation.In DC June 2021, a man from Maryland approached me, asking me who I worked for. He seemed to be referring to the crime report I turned in to AG, that was accepted. I told him I had ID's with two gov offices, but was non specific, as those are related to my work re: victims of crime. I did not give him the answer he wanted, nor was detailed enough for him. (If he was anyone in government or important, he'd already have known.)

There were social dynamics at play. If I was alone, I never would have let that man come physically close to me. But I was with a group of individuals; he came up to one of them, in order to talk to me. He looked at me, said even though I didn't answer him, it didn't matter who I did or did not work for, as "They" have connections in all places. When he said this, it made me curious enough to bite. I asked him what he did. He said he was a contractor. He said he "cleaned" things up for wealthy people.

What he was talking about, is what I believe to be organized crime for hire & public corruption. Including "cleaning things up", where murders are made to look like suicides.

Victims & Journalists murdered for doing the right thing & speaking out.

I interviewed Actors in Texas & DC, when I turned in a report to The Attorney General. Some of the mentally ill members, were more open about their tech & chemicals they use to make it look like suicide, like an rx that if injected, will stop the heart and not register on a chemical test (MD confirmed this). Some seemed to not know what they were getting into when they signed their contract & NDA, and assumed, I didn't have a foundation in what they meant, so didn't think the reference they used, would give it away.

A small handful of the white collar criminals (engineers) did explain processes to me in a way that was pointed enough & clear, for me to understand. Others were non-verbal, their actions displaying what they were doing: pointing to a piece of tech, or to a bag of "herbs" (not herbs) or rx where the label explained it. A few, used synonyms, thinking they were getting one over on me.

Ultimately, they communicated with me as a part of them liked me enough or rapport built was enough. More than that, I think it was about THEM, LIKING what they did + their narcissistic need for glory. There are also language structures, which can trigger answers based on the criminal's disorder.

I've been researching Threat Actors who financially traffic since they committed a crime in SF in 2012 & recurring crimes since.

They are connected to drug trafficking, sex trafficking, murder-for-hire, where I didn't find out about all of that until TX/DC.

They hate the press & their victims who lived, or spoke out against them.

"Nearly half of the journalists who were killed last year were not on assignment when they were targeted, the U.N. said, and were slain in their homes, while traveling or in various public places."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/killings-of-journalists-and-media-workers-surged-50-percent-in-2022-un-says/

HONESTY v SHORT-CUT v CHEATING

In one of the documentaries about NXIVM (I watched related to forensics investigation into tech used to commit crime, as one Anthem Data Breach Actor worked for Bronfman), Raniere talks about cheating, and I believe he is coming from his experience in Poker. He stated that cheaters always win, unless/until they're caught.

What do you think? True, untrue, something in between, something different?

Would you ever cheat?

AND, let's dig into cheating a little bit, by defining it. What is your definition?

CHEATING RE: LAW / INTEGRITY
For example, I would never cheat and have never cheated (never with people, relationships, neither childhood board games). I'm honest to a fault.

I have had to learn to withhold that which is not immediately relevant; which has proven to be a necessary strategy in work & socially.

(Unless it's a legal requirement to withhold, where it's easy to refrain since it's data & protecting IP; it otherwise can be difficult but necessary, to omit, as it feels like lying by omission to me. I'm a whole brain thinker, knowing the inter-connected parts & how they relate. This type of data, is generally too much for most people, unless they're science minded or a whole brain thinker too.)

I view cheating as breaking the rules in any way that would be illegal, threaten the safety of a person, or integrity of an entity/structure. How would you state it?

CHEAT, SHORT-CUT, OR HACK?
If you change the dynamic to be cheating regarding process steps, then you enter a different zone, which is not black-and-white, and I'm curious what it is, for you.

For example, in physical fitness sports training, it's important to follow the routine; i.e. leg/back, arms/core. If you skip steps or "cheat" when it comes to nutrition, water, work-out, repair, your body suffers. Anyone who trains, knows this. In this world, there is a huge difference between skipping steps, cheating, and actual chemistry + fitness hacks that work to help you get too & maintain, your edge.

NEXT LEVEL HACKS, INVALIDATION OF RESULTS OR CRIMINALITY?
In work, there are various hacks. For example, in accounting, there are usually 3-4 ways to get to the same result in QuickBooks. In Tax Law, there are generally 2-4 ways to do something, legal when planned in advance, but illegal if done after the fact.

In work, "hacks", for productivity, performance, end-result, could be viewed as "beneficial". But if work is a science experiment, there are strict regulations, and all hacks and deviation from process steps, if found out, would be viewed as illegal, invalidating the experiment, therefore project, therefore funding, corporate integrity, relationships with others. Certain hacks, in certain industries, are always illegal, and carry a huge weight for the person who commits them, all people they're connected to. (All people who cheat, I hope corporations let them go.)

Where do you draw the line?

What would and wouldn't you do?

Is it simple for you? Or is it complicated?

US DOJ Disrupts Hive Ransomware Variant

Thank god! A take-down! (Positive for Business & Victims).

A core group of Hive Actors were operating out of co-working hubs in SF & Costa Rica '14, bragging about Tor + methods of attack.

Their collective, was generally brilliant. Not all, but most.
Alternative. Druggie hackers (outside looking in).
Not all were bad; some desired to disrupt in a good way.

Overall I felt uncomfortable at their space. They were also generally more organized & more nice, than other co-working.

I met Jered Kenna (brief intro; I don't know him). I liked his presence. I have a sense, that he is working on something, for good (Don't know, just a feeling whether true or untrue.)

(SIDEBAR: I personally have been against BitCoin ever since HIVE. Recently I watched a documentary - Kenna wasn't in it - and got an entirely different sense about what it was, than before. It improved my perception. I though, am still Gen-X, Brick & Mortar & against all things needing to be hidden (different from protecting your IP).)

His partners; R was abusing his gf. It was the awfulest thing. I was upset by it; not understanding how others there, saw it too & said, did, or felt nothing.
He bragged of Wall Street Riot. (He was engaging in terrorist activities, which is VERY BAD.)

Kenna's other partner S, I inititally appreciated how he carried himself; but he was up & down: a red-flag. He talked about "Acting Troup" (shell company; crime for hire), hacking code, gaming, + referenced laundering through condominiums & farms.
He liked farms best, as he could defraud the gov't by receiving grant funding from non-real numbers.

(I told him he was corrupt & contacted FBI '14 about him. He was hurting women + stealing from others.)
(I did not report his cohorts as they said nothing to me beyond bragging at a party. I saw the writing on the wall & walked away.)

Please know, 2000-13, I reported finances & fraud. '12, Det Gomez said "go deeper" when I wanted to get to bottom of BREACHES. Primary goal was to explore HEALTHY co-living & co-working. Other goal to learn more about Safety, Security, Prevention.

I like to listen. I'm not law enforcement. I absolutely report fraud for my career when it comes up & report crime as a Good Samaritan when able.

My experience at the space the "inner-circle" called "The Hive" was out of curiosity for what made live/work work vs what damaged. I hated most time spent at their location.

I also had Gomez's words in the back of my head "go deeper". The men I interviewed there, did tell me what I needed to know, but it took many years & research, for me to put it together, as they spoke in code, and there is a whole language maintained, both with linguistics & programming. When men referenced violence openly, I left.

They never told me who committed the breach prompting my investigation in the 1st place. (It wasn't them, it was GG.)

Some reached out to me after, even currently, but the thing with Scorpions, is that if you're a frog: DON'T.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-department-justice-disrupts-hive-ransomware-variant

U.S. Department of Justice Disrupts Hive Ransomware Variant