Hackers probe PC security

Cyber criminals are carrying out reconnaissance mission on PCs, so they can tailor their attacks, according to Security Company, when hackers find a computer that is vulnerable to attack, they infect it with a small piece of malicious software called a downloader this will initially “sniff” around the victim’s PC, looking for other vulnerabilities, it can find out which operating system and security software the victim is using, and by identifying the IP address, the software can identify in which country the victim lives and the internet service provider they use.

It will also look for other vulnerabilities in third party application, such as QuickTime, that the criminals can later exploit, other analysis is over, and the information is sent back to the servers used by the criminals controlling the attack, they can then tweak malicious software such as keystroke loggers and download the ones that can get the most information from the compromised PC.

From here the PC belongs to the criminal can used to carry out a variety of attack and if possible shut down the security software, this software us often polymorphic and will continually change its signature as it tries to outwit security software, the personal information, such as bank details, passwords and dates of birth can be used for identify theft and to drain bank account, the original attackers often used this information themselves as well as selling it on to other criminals.

The hijacked PC will also most likely become part of a Botnet, a collection of computer around the world that have been infected and are effectively under the control of the hacker, other criminal can lease the use of a Botnet by the hour for further criminal activities such as attacking web site, sending out spam or distributing more malicious sofrware, the criminal have even developed software that will control a PC’s webcam if it is switched on.