Digitally signed malware can bypass system protection mechanisms that install or launch only programs with valid signatures. It can also evade anti-virus programs, which often forego scanning signed binaries. Known from advanced threats such as Stuxnet and Flame, this type of abuse has not been measured systematically in the broader malware landscape. In particular, the methods, effectiveness window, and security implications of code-signing PKI abuse are not well understood. We propose a threat model that highlights three types of weaknesses in the code-signing PKI.

Source: Signed Malware

Security researchers at the University of Maryland found 72 compromised certificates after analysing field data collected by Symantec on 11 million hosts worldwide. “Most of these cases were not previously known, and two thirds of the malware samples signed with these 72 certificates are still valid, the signature check does not produce any errors,” Tudor Dumitras, one of the researchers, told El Reg.

“Certificate compromise appears to have been common in the wild before Stuxnet, and not restricted to advanced threats developed by nation-states. We also found 27 certificates issued to malicious actors impersonating legitimate companies that do not develop software and have no need for code-signing certificates, like a Korean delivery service.”
Hackers abusing digital certs smuggle malware past security scanners – the Register

The personal information of more than 30 million South Africans has apparently been leaked online. This is according to Australian security researcher and creator of ‘Have I Been Pwned’, Troy Hunt. His website allows people to check if their personal information has been compromised in a data breach.He took to Twitter on Tuesday to say he had “a very large breach titled ‘masterdeeds’”.The title of the data led him and others commentators to speculate that the leak was likely from the deeds office. Identity numbersIf the information Hunt has is legitimate, it may be the biggest breach of Popi (Protection of Personal Information Act) to have ever taken place. Hunt said the database contained names of people, their gender, ethnicity, home ownership and contact information. The data also contained people’s identity numbers and other information like their estimated income and details of their employer. He said the information appeared to be from a government agency.MyBroadband reported that the database was a 27.2GB backup file that Hunt found on Torrent and he gained 31.6 million records before it crashed. He said there could be over 47 million records in the database.

Source: Millions of South Africans’ personal information may have been leaked online | Fin24