How does Meme hack work?
According to reports, the hacker has been using “What if I told you” meme to secretly tell a Windows-based malware when to require screenshots from infected systems. The malware quietly infects a vulnerable computer, takes screenshots and send it back to the malware’s command and control server.
What technology hacker used for Meme hack?
According to experts, the hacker has used steganography techniques to cover the command “/print” within the image, which told the malware when to require a screenshot of a system. The malware then obtains the address where its command and control server is found and send the screenshots back to the server.
Other hidden commands the hacker could’ve sent through the memes include “/clip” to capture clipboard copied content, and “/processors” to retrieve an inventory of running processes over the PC.
What cyber security experts are saying about Meme hack?
Attackers are always trying to find new methods to work around detection systems such as anti-viruses, intrusion detection systems and anomaly detection systems, all of which are trained to detect certain quite pattern/anomalies suggesting malware activity, consistent with Ankush Johar, Director at Infosec Ventures.
“As seen within the past, hackers are using use popular service like Google Drive, Dropbox etc to cover malware snippets and commands as these are websites that are generally not considered suspicious and that’s an equivalent reason why hacker has chosen Twitter during this case,” said Johar.
“This goes on to show that even having the best detection and prevention system is not enough. Protecting from an infection in the first place is what is most important. Such malware mostly spread via pirated websites and phishing attacks. Humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity and hence that’s the easiest link for hackers to exploit. The security of users lies in their own hands and therefore the only thanks to be secure is to be vigilant and suspicious naturally ,” added Johar.
Agreeing with the view of Johar, Farrhad Acidwalla, founding father of CYBERNETIV DIGITA said that the quantum of worldwide hacks has Internet consumers unquestionably more cognizant of security and privacy issues than they were a year or two ago. Twitter knows user trust is critical and notified users as a measure of transparency.
“While this took a hit on their stock price, consumers need platforms to be on top of incidents where global attacks could be distributed through them. While core Twitter wasn't hacked, the malicious attackers used it as a distribution platform to send commands to their malware on infected devices,” said Acidwalla.
“Twitter didn't rule out the likelihood of a state-sponsored background to the present suspicious activity. The security community knows it has to stay ahead of the curve with the growing sophistication of attacks world over. The bright side here is that this has come to light before reaching any known mass exploitation,” said Acidwalla.
How to avoid cyber attack like Meme hack?
Johar said that user should completely avoid pirated content based websites and stay extremely cautious with emails with attachments, links or asking to download a file. He suggests that having an honest antivirus always helps but less than having an eye fixed for detecting phishing attacks.
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