Mars Rover Software Utilized to Create Cyber-Spying Malware

Over the years gone by, Afghanistan has had trusted business partnership in India because it got India's help in erecting its current Parliament premise, smaller infrastructure, energy and transportation projects as well as its Salma Dam.

The two nations' close collaboration has naturally made other groups with vested interests alternatively countries to desire knowing whatever other things these two countries maybe thinking of doing together.

Thus one malware strain, which contains the code that the Rover robot for exploring planet Mars uses, is being utilized for monitoring the interconnection between the two countries. Rt.com posted this, March 1, 2016.

Threat Intelligence Analysts Kaoru Hayashi and Vicky Ray at Palo Alto Networks blogged that they detected one personalized assault in 2015 just before Christmas wherein an attacker pretending to be Mr. Manohar Parrikar, India's present Defence Minister dispatched one phony electronic mail to the Ambassador of India deputed in Afghanistan.

The analysts explain that the fake e-mail consisted of malevolent code for abusing an Office XP security flaw namely CVE-2010-3333 leading to one file labeled 'file.exe' getting downloaded from a website named newsumbrealla[.]net.

Rover is recognized as unique because it utilizes OpenAL and OpenCV. OpenCV represents software library which is utilized in various things such as driver-less cars, security systems, and the latest -Mars Rover robot that takes images and transmits the same back to earth-, whereas OpenAL represents one audio API across platforms.

The malicious file by using these resources records audio and captures photographs from infected computer's webcam followed with sending them all to its controllers through one CnC server. The malware controllers are equipped with a backdoor which lets them issue the instructions related to the audio/video items to the Rover code.

Additionally, Rover is primarily undetectable with modern anti-virus products, while in spite of not having a lot of capabilities, it manages to remain undetected, just the things cyber surveillance groups require their malicious ware for doing at first.

Meanwhile, Rover's role has been within one personalized assault such as on the Ambassador of India to Afghanistan; therefore, non-professional end-users possibly needn't be afraid of the Rover campaign.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/9/2016