Dangerous Malware Threatening Italians, Blockchain Could Protect Victims

With cybersecurity still very weak, Danabot, Gootkit, SLoad and Panda (Zeus), are some of the malwares which have been disturbing and threatening people and their computers in Italy, according to Yoroi cybersecurity experts. Sensitive personal data has been lost and it is very hard to be restored. However, if blockchain technology is used, it could help users in to defend and protect their devices from being attacked and threatened by these malevolent malwares.

There are many ways bad actors and malwares can use to infect a device such as a smartphone, a computer, etc., to get into the user’s sensitive data, minus victim seeing. Such ways include spoofing emails, obsolete defenses, system bugs, and others.

Gabriele Porro has detected the 4 most malicious malwares that find their targets in Italy in 2019.

1. SLoad: The malware hit the UK and Canada and later spread to Italy at the end of last year. The malware enables the periodic capture of screenshots as well as the system info from the compromised and attacked devices, sending them to the bad actors that coordinate and initiate the attack.

2. Gootkit: This malware spreads via attack campaigns with legal subjects, even via certified e-mail. The malware is capable to steal data and interrupt the person’s web traffic, and even go ahead to grab encryption keys directly from smart cards and security tokens put in the target computer. The malware was successfully spread in the certified electronic mailboxes belonging to Italian public administrations, targeting to steal sensitive information and to take control of compromised computers. It has also been attacking the banking sector to access the victim’s banking activities.

3. Danabot: The malware has the ability to manipulate user navigation and to interrupt login and web sessions on a series of online services, for instance, from home banking portals, to email providers, to real estate portals as well as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and other cryptocurrency exchanges. The malware also has the ability to resurrect i.e. the malware can run again each time the infected machine (system) is rebooted.

4. Panda (Zeus): The malware has the potential to make man-in-the-browser attacks on Italian home banking portals, then snip and change info or provisions. It has been widely spread via Microsoft Office documents which have extensions such as .doc or .xls. The malware was spread through sending phony invoices with the aim of stealing passwords, cryptocurrencies, cookies and tokens that are related to user sessions of Italian financial institutions such as Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca Passadore, Cedacri, Poste and others.

Blockchain Security can Help Fight Cyberattacks and Malware

The concept is being employed in many innovative ways to improve cybersecurity, and reinforce and safeguard institutions, businesses, organizations and apps against any cyberattacks.

Blockchain-based security is grounded on distributing the evidence among several parties, that makes it difficult to tamper with or manipulate data minus being detected.

“Blockchain has eliminated the need for trusted parties to verify the integrity of data just as in the cryptocurrency example it eliminated the need for a centralized authority to act as a bank,” Matthew Johnson, CTO at Guartime, a data security startup, explains.   

However, users are advised to carry out regular updates of antivirus and operating systems of their devices such that they can easily detect, recognize and eliminate malicious viruses, and also install key patches on any bugs which breach the security of the device. Always be very attentive and ready to defend yourself from spoofing attacks. 

Source text:  https://it.coinidol.com/blockchain-potrebbe-proteggere/