• The 5th CERT-RO Annual International Conference in Bucharest and Latest Cyber Security Trends in Romania Event
    The 5th CERT-RO Annual International Conference in Bucharest and Latest Cyber Security Trends in Romania
    Hello again, it’s Yuka at the Global Coordination Division. Following my recent trip to Malaysia to join APCERT Annual General Meeting and Conference 2015, I had my first travel to Europe – and that was to Bucharest, Romania to attend a conference hosted by CERT-RO, the National CSIRT of Romania. They host a conference annually, and this year it was the 5th time for this event, held from 5th -...

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  • APCERT Annual General Meeting and Conference 2015 in Kuala Lumpur Event
    APCERT Annual General Meeting and Conference 2015 in Kuala Lumpur
    Hi again, it’s Yuka from Global Coordination Division and also serving as APCERT Secretariat. It’s been a while since I wrote here last time. My entry this time is about the biggest event of APCERT which we just recently attended, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6-10 September. This event, hosted by CyberSecurity Malaysia (MyCERT), marked the 12th annual conference for APCERT. What...

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  • VPN Servers Altered by Attacker Leading to Scanbox, a Reconnaissance Framework Incident
    VPN Servers Altered by Attacker Leading to Scanbox, a Reconnaissance Framework
    Hi, it’s Shusei Tomonaga again from the Analysis Center. JPCERT/CC has confirmed several attack cases around May 2015, which attempt to steal information of computers leveraging specific network devices featuring VPN server functions. The target of the reconnaissance varies from installed software to keylogs, and it is presumed that the attacker has aimed to steal such information from computers which attempt to login to VPN servers through altered login pages....

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  • Enhanced Protected Mode in Internet Explorer Security Technology
    Enhanced Protected Mode in Internet Explorer
    Hi, it’s Shusei Tomonaga again from the Analysis Center. My previous post discussed the mitigation effects against damages caused by malware infection by enabling Internet Explorer’s (hereafter “IE”’s) Protected Mode. In this article, I’d like to introduce an even stronger security function called “Enhanced Protected Mode”, which is a feature of IE 10 and 11 - its overview and preventive effects against damages caused by malware infection. OVERVIEW OF ENHANCED...

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  • PoisonIvy adapts to communicate through Authentication Proxies Malware
    PoisonIvy adapts to communicate through Authentication Proxies
    Hi, it’s Shusei Tomonaga again from the Analysis Center. PoisonIvy, a Remote Access Tool/Trojan (RAT) often used in targeted attacks, had been widely seen until around 2013. Since then, the number of cases using PoisonIvy in such attacks decreased, and there was no special variant with expanded features seen in the wild. However, recently, we have observed cases where PoisonIvy with expanded features in its communication function were used for...

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  • The 27th FIRST Annual Conference in Berlin Event
    The 27th FIRST Annual Conference in Berlin
    Hello, Taki here, and its currently rainy season in Japan. Just recently, I attended the 27th FIRST Annual Conference, held on June 14-19 , 2015 in Berlin – a city that I visited for the first time. (Photo by Hiroshi Kobayashi) I would like to go over some activities that JPCERT/CC was involved in during the conference. This year I attended together with 3 colleagues, Yurie Ito, Koichiro (Sparky) Komiyama...

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  • Protected Mode in Internet Explorer Security Technology
    Protected Mode in Internet Explorer
    Hello, this is Shusei Tomonaga again from the Analysis Center. JPCERT/CC has been observing cases where vulnerability in Internet Explorer (“IE” hereafter) is leveraged in targeted attacks, etc., resulting in system takeover or configuration change by a third party. In fact, IE has several functions to prevent such exploits. In this article, I will introduce one of the functions called “Protected Mode” – its overview and effects. OVERVIEW OF PROTECTED...

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  • APWG eCrime 2015 and Phishing Trends in Japan
    APWG eCrime 2015 and Phishing Trends in Japan
    Hola! This is Shoko from Incident Response Team. Last month I attended the APWG eCrime 2015, held from May 26-29 in Barcelona – the cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, defined by quirky art and architecture, imaginative cuisine and siesta. Today, I’d like to share an overview of the APWG eCrime 2015 and my presentation there on “Phishing Trends in Japan.” About APWG and APWG eCrime 2015 You may well...

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  • Fiddler Core's insecure Default flag may lead to Open Proxy Issue Vulnerability
    Fiddler Core's insecure Default flag may lead to Open Proxy Issue
    NOTE: This article, originally published on May 28, 2015, was updated as of June 8, 2015 (See below). Just 2 days ago, we published an advisory (in Japanese) on an open proxy issue of a widely used, open source, web browser game utility app called KanColleViewer. The game, Kantai Collection, has explosive popularity. Its official Twitter account has over 1 million followers, and according to its Tweet, the game has...

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  • Speaking at Australian Cyber Security Centre Conference 2015
    Speaking at Australian Cyber Security Centre Conference 2015
    G’day all – It’s Yuka again here from Global Coordination Division. I would like to quickly update about my recent trip to Canberra, Australia, where I attended the inaugural conference of Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). The event attracted more than 800 people mainly from the Australian Government and IT related businesses but also some delegates from neighbouring countries. ACSC consists of the following cyber security related entities in Australia:...

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