Security researchers discover malware that infected 90,000 computers worldwide

Agencies
October 8, 2019

Security researchers have discovered that the Smominru malware infected 90,000 machines worldwide during the month of August, with an infection rate of up to 4,700 computers per day.

In its post-infection phase, it steals victim credentials, installs a Trojan module and a cryptominer and propagates inside the network, according to researchers from Guardicore, a data centre and cloud security company.

The botnet uses several methods to propagate, but primarily it infects a system in one of two ways -- either by brute-forcing weak credentials for different Windows services, or more commonly by relying on the infamous EternalBlue exploit, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said in a blog post last week.

Even though Microsoft patched the vulnerability EternalBlue exploits, which made the WannaCry and NotPetya outbreaks possible, many companies are simply ignoring updates, Kaspersky said.

China, Taiwan, Russia, Brazil and the US have seen the most attacks, but that doesn't mean other countries are out of its scope. For example, the largest network Smominru targeted was in Italy, with 65 hosts infected.

The criminals involved are not too particular about their targets, which range from universities to healthcare providers.

However, one detail is very consistent. About 85 per cent of infections occur on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 systems. The rest include Windows Server 2012, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

After compromising the system, Smominru creates a new user, called admin$, with admin privileges on the system and starts to download a whole bunch of malicious payloads.

The most obvious objective is to silently use infected computers for mining cryptocurrency (namely, Monero) at the victim's expense.

The malware also downloads a set of modules used for spying, data exfiltration, and credential theft.

On top of that, once Smominru gains a foothold, it tries to propagate further within the network to infect as many systems as possible.

To protect their network, computers, and data from Smominru, users need to update operating systems and other software regularly, Kaspersky said.

It is also important for users to use strong passwords. A reliable password manager that helps you create, manage, and automatically retrieve and enter passwords may help protect you against brute-force attacks.

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Agencies
May 15,2020

Kolkata, May 15: Veteran Bengali author Debesh Roy, who was conferred the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel 'Teesta Parer Brittanto', died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Thursday, his family members said.

Roy was 84 and he is survived by his son. His wife had died earlier.

He was admitted to the hospital near his residence at Baguihati, in the eastern fringes of the city, on Wednesday after having symptoms like sodium potasium imbalance, sugar problem and breathing problem, his family members said.

He suffered a massive cardiac arrest and died at 10.50 PM.

A regular contributor to a number of Bengali dailies, he was a staunch critic of the attacks on liberals by in the country in recent times and attended protest meetings despite his failing health.

He was born in Pabna in present-day Bangladesh on December 17, 1936. He had five decades of career as a writer.

Besides Teesta Parer Britanta', he will be remembered for books like Borisaler Jogen Mondal , Manush Khun Kore Keno and Samay Asamayer Brittanto . His first book was Jajati.

His last rites will be performed tomorrow.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 13: In the wake of fresh cases of Covid-19 reported in Karnataka, Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty has urged the Karnataka government to take steps to shut malls and theatres, saying the coronavirus multiplies in air-conditioned areas.

In a letter to the government, she said preventive measures should be taken to control the spread of coronovirus before it gets worse.

Murty, who also leads the State government-constituted Karnataka Tourism Task Force, said she has discussed the current situation with Chairman and Executive Director of Narayana Health, Devi Prasad Shetty.

She suggested closure of all schools and colleges with immediate effect, malls, theatres and “all air-conditioned areas where the virus multiplies”, and allow only essential services like pharmacy, grocery and petrol bunks.

“It is not scientifically proven that the virus dies in high temperature,” she said pointing to spread of the virus -- despite heat -- in peak summer in Australia and Singapore, which have “summer all 12 months”.

“I request you to vacate one government hospital with at least 500 - 700 beds for this purpose (to deal with coronavirus cases), which requires oxygen lines and pipes,” she said.

“Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of software major Infosys, would do the civil work and Devi Shetty has agreed to share resources like medical equipment,” she added.

“We would like to work with the government proactively so that we can prevent this as early as possible,” Sudha Murty said.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus positive cases in Karnataka is five, including the 76-year old man from Kalaburagi who died on Tuesday night.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Facebook will introduce a new notification screen on its platform that will warn users if the article they are about to share is over 90 days old, the company announced on Thursday.

“We’re starting to globally roll out a notification screen that will let people know when news articles they are about to share are more than 90 days old,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

The social media platform had previously introduced a context button in 2018 that provides information about the sources of articles in the News Feed. Building upon that, the new feature will inform users about the timeliness of the article.

“To ensure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook, the notification screen will appear when people click the share button on articles older than 90 days, but will allow people to continue sharing if they decide an article is still relevant,” Facebook said.

The social media giant stated that timeliness is important in understanding the context of an article and curbing the spread of misinformation on the platform.

“News publishers, in particular, have expressed concerns about older stories being shared on social media as current news, which can misconstrue the state of current events. Some news publishers have already taken steps to address this on their own websites by prominently labelling older articles to prevent outdated news from being used in misleading ways,” Facebook added.

Apart from this, the platform will also be testing a similar notification screen for information related to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The notification screen will provide information about the source of the link shared in a post if the link is related to information on Covid-19. It will also direct people to its previously introduced Covid-19 information centre for “authoritative” health information, it said.

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