IBM X-Force Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report

2010 Mid-year highlights

The IBM X-Force 2010 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report reveals several key trends that demonstrate how, in the first half of 2010, attackers seeking to steal money or personal data increasingly targeted their victims via the Internet. The IBM X-Force Trend and Risk Report is produced twice per year: once at mid-year and once at year-end. This report provides statistical information about all aspects of threats that affect Internet security, including software vulnerabilities and public exploitation, malware, spam, phishing, web-based threats, and general cyber criminal activity.

Summary

Attackers are increasingly using covert techniques like Javascript obfuscation and other covert techniques which continue to frustrate IT security professionals. Obfuscation is a technique used by software developers and attackers alike to hide or mask the code used to develop their applications.

Reported vulnerabilities are at an all time high, up 36%. 2010 has seen a significant increase in volume of security vulnerability disclosures, due both to significant increases in public exploit releases and to positive efforts by several large software companies to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities.

PDF attacks continue to increase as attackers trick users in new ways. To understand why PDFs are targeted, consider that endpoints are typically the weakest link in an enterprise organization. Attackers understand this fact well. For example, although sensitive data may not be present on a particular endpoint, that endpoint may have access to others that do. Or, that endpoint can be used as a practical bounce point to launch attacks on other computers.

The Zeus botnet toolkit continues to wreak havoc on organizations. Early 2010 saw the release of an updated version of the Zeus botnet kit, dubbed Zeus 2.0. Major new features included in this version provide updated functionality to attackers.

Vulnerabilities and exploitation highlights

=> Advanced persistent threat—What concerns X-Force most about these sophisticated attackers is their ability to successfully penetrate well defended networks in spite of significant advances in network security technology and practices. In particular, we are concerned about increasingly obfuscated exploits and covert malware command-and-control channels that fly under the radar of modern security systems.

=> Obfuscation, obfuscation, obfuscation—Attackers continue to find new ways to disguise their malicious traffic via JavaScript and PDF obfuscation. Obfuscation is a technique used by software developers and attackers alike to hide or mask the code used to develop their applications. Things would be easier if network security products could simply block any JavaScript that was obfuscated,but unfortunately, obfuscation techniques are used by many legitimate websites in an attempt to prevent unsophisticated Web developers from stealing their code. These legitimate websites act as cover for the malicious ones, turning the attacks into needles in a haystack.

=> PDF attacks continue to increase as attackers trick users in new ways. To understand why PDFs are targeted, consider that endpoints are typically the weakest link in an enterprise organization. Attackers understand this fact well. For example, although sensitive data may not be present on a particular endpoint, that endpoint may have access to others that do. Or, that endpoint can be used as a practical bounce point to launch attacks on other computers.

=> Reported vulnerabilities are at an all time high—2010 has seen a significant increase in the volume of security vulnerability disclosures, due both to significant increases in public exploit releases and to positive efforts by several large software companies to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities.

=> Web application vulnerabilities have inched up to the 55 percent mark, accounting for fully half of all vulnerability disclosures in the first part of 2010.

=> Exploit Effort versus Potential Reward—What are attackers really going after? With the number of vulnerability announcements rising and vendors scrambling to provide patches and protection to problem areas, how can enterprises best prioritize the efforts of IT administrators to provide adequate coverage? The Exploit Effort versus Potential Reward Matrix provides a simple model for thinking about vulnerability triage from the perspective of attackers.

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