Timo hirvonen f secure software#
Timo hirvonen f secure code#

Timo hirvonen f secure software#

Hirvonen developed an open-source tool called Sulo to help security researchers analyze potentially malicious Flash files, and helped Adobe discover an unpatched Flash vulnerability last January.** According to Hirvonen, one way for people to defend themselves against exploits is to make sure their software stays up to date, thereby eliminating many of the vulnerabilities that expose computers to exploit-based attacks. F-Secure Security Advisor Sean SullivanВ recently highlighted how the Angler exploit kit has preyed on Flash vulnerabilities, and characterized the plug-in as a 'low hanging fruit' to illustrate the popularity of the software as a target.* While previous exploit kits have focused on vulnerabilities in Java and older versions of Microsoft Windows, the past 6 months have seen a surge in exploits kits targeting Adobe's popular Flash plug-in. The Angler exploit kit, which is a toolkit that gives criminals a simple set of software tools to help them create malware campaigns, was identified as the top digital threat in North America in F-Secure's most recent threat report, and included in the top 5 threats facing Europe and Oceania.

According to F-Secure Labs, exploits accounted for 40% of the top detections from crimeware campaigns during the latter half of 2014. Recent research from F-Secure highlights the significance of exploits in the digital threat landscape. The criminals reverse engineer the patches to find vulnerabilities, and then they target those vulnerabilities with exploits they develop.'

'It's become a whole business model for these criminals, because the security patches that companies release basically expose the vulnerabilities in software. 'Pieces of software will always have vulnerabilities, and there will always be criminals creating exploits for those vulnerabilities,' says F-Secure Senior Researcher Timo Hirvonen. Researchers from the security firm say that exploit kits are a constant threat due to a steady supply of vulnerabilities in popular software, creating a stable framework for criminals to use in the creation of digital threats. Helsinki, Finland вЂ“ May 28, 2015: F-Secure warns of the ongoing risks associated with exploits, which are attacks that take advantage of software vulnerabilities to compromise systems and provide criminals with an entry point for crimeware. Image credit: billiondigital/ depositphotos.F-Secure security researchers highlight the risks that exploits pose to people running outdated or unpatched software. You can find out more about the research on the F-Secure site, HP has a security advisory with information firmware patching, and there's also a best practice guide for securing FutureSmart products. F-Secure advises users to take other steps including limiting physical access to MFPs and segregating them in a separate, firewalled VLAN. HP has now published firmware updates and security advisories for the affected devices. Experienced threat actors see unsecured devices as opportunities, so organizations that don't prioritize securing their MFPs like other endpoints leave themselves exposed to attacks like the ones documented in our research,' says F-Secure security consultant Timo Hirvonen. And just like other endpoints, attackers can leverage a compromised device to damage an organizations infrastructure and operations. 'It's easy to forget that modern MFPs are fully-functional computers that threat actors can compromise just like other workstations and endpoints. Attackers could also then use compromised MFPs as a beachhead to penetrate further into an organization's network. This includes not only documents that are printed, scanned, or faxed, but also information like passwords and login credentials that connect the device to the rest of the network.

This would allow attackers to steal any information going through the MFP.

Timo hirvonen f secure code#

The website would, automatically, remotely print a document containing a maliciously-crafted font on the vulnerable MFP, giving the attacker code execution rights on the device. Attackers could trick a user from a targeted organization into visiting a malicious website, exposing the organization's vulnerable MFP to what's known as a cross-site printing attack.