Security Blog

[Press released on 20 Jan 2016] Enterprises and Internet users should strengthen their guard against an anticipated surge in cyber attacks targeting web servers, point of sale (POS) systems, and mobile devices; urged information security experts at the Hong Kong Productivity Council (...

Hong Kong-based toy maker VTech reportedly encountered data breach in November.  More than five million names, email addresses, passwords, and home addresses of parent customers, and around 200,000 first names, genders and birthdays of kids were reported to be...

  Favourite Security Reads of the Week (22 Jan 2016)   "Favourite Security Reads of the Week". Each week we share five news or articles that we like. We hope you will love this column and we welcome your comment via email to hkcert@hkcert....

 Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT) Coordination Centre cooperates with the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team of China (CNCERT) for detecting malicious and suspicious behaviors of Apps from the Google Play Store, in order to study the security risk of apps in the Google Play Store in Hong Kong area. CNCERT provides us analyzed result, and we collate the detection result and publish security alerts to the public.   In the report of January, we have downloaded 188 apps from Play Store, where 5 apps have been identified as high risk. None of them were removed from Play Store (on or before 22-Jan). The detail of report is shown as follow.   Target scope Top 50 Free Applications in Hong Kong area Top 50 New Free Applications in Hong Kong area Top 50 Free Games in Hong Kong area Top 50 New Free Games in Hong Kong area   Scanned Apps Successful downloaded and scanned: 188 apps Unable to download via the system: 12 apps Downloaded date: 5-January 2016 List of the downloaded apps: "Appendix 1" [download]   Analysis Overview   In this analysis, 188 apps were scanned for bad behaviors. 5 apps were identified as security high risk. Based on the level of security threat, the following apps listed below are defined as high risk apps, which refers to apps having behavior, which could cause direct harm to systems and users' interests.   1. Scanning Result   List of security high risk apps   Application High risk behavior description Malware detection ratio by VirusTotal Status # 1) 三國！這麼玩-神將降臨    (v1.5) Category: New Free App, New Free Game Installs: 5,000+ obtain SIM operator name, obtain SIM serial number, obtain SIM status, obtain geo-...

  Favourite Security Reads of the Week (15 Jan 2016)   "Favourite Security Reads of the Week". Each week we share five news or articles that we like. We hope you will love this column and we welcome your comment via email to hkcert@hkcert...

In 2015, HKCERT has handled 1,931 cases on phishing site hosting, accounting for 40% of all security incidents handled. Compared with 594 similar cases handled in the same period last year, the increase is 233%. The surge was caused by a phishing...

  Favourite Security Reads of the Week (8 Jan 2016)   "Favourite Security Reads of the Week". Each week we share five news or articles that we like. We hope you will love this column and we welcome your comment via email to hkcert@hkcert....

  Cover Story Security Risks of Networked Industrial Control System  (ICS). Hot Topic Hong Kong Google Play Store's Apps Security Risk Report (December 2015)   Want the newsletter delivered to your mailbox every month? Subscribe it here.

  Favourite Security Reads of the Week (31 Dec 2015)   "Favourite Security Reads of the Week". Each week we share five news or articles that we like. We hope you will love this column and we welcome your comment via email to hkcert@hkcert....

 Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT) Coordination Centre cooperates with the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team of China (CNCERT) for detecting malicious and suspicious behaviors of Apps from the Google Play Store, in order to study the security risk of apps in the Google Play Store in Hong Kong area. CNCERT provides us analyzed result, and we collate the detection result and publish security alerts to the public.   In the report of December, we have downloaded 195 apps from Play Store, where 6 apps have been identified as high risk. None of them were removed from Play Store (on or before 22-Dec). The detail of report is shown as follow.   Target scope Top 50 Free Applications in Hong Kong areaTop 50 New Free Applications in Hong Kong areaTop 50 Free Games in Hong Kong areaTop 50 New Free Games in Hong Kong area   Scanned Apps Successful downloaded and scanned: 195 appsUnable to download via the system: 5 appsDownloaded date: 5-December 2015List of the downloaded apps: "Appendix 1" [download]   Analysis Overview   In this analysis, 195 apps were scanned for bad behaviors. Based on the level of security threat, the apps were divided into 2 categories: apps with malicious and apps with suspicious behaviors. Malicious behavior refers to apps having malicious purpose explicitly, which could cause direct harm to systems and users' interests. Suspicious behavior refers to apps having behavior, which could cause direct harm to systems and users' interests, but no malicious behavior can be explicitly identified.   1. Scanning Result   Among the 195 scanned apps, 6 apps were identified as security high risk. These 6 Apps were identified with the following high risk behavior signatures Trojan.Android.Rootnik.dzbmfp, AndroidOS/Igexin.A, Trojan.Android.Agent.domnnt, ADWARE/ANDR.Airpush.O.Gen, AndroidOS/GenPua.5588F45F!Olympus, Android.SmsSpy.16.origin, etc.   List of security high risk apps   Application High risk behavior signature / Ad plug-in Malware detection ratio by VirusTotal Status # 1) SelfieCity    (v1.4.9.1) Category: Top Free App Installs: 500,000+ High risk behavior description: obtain SIM operator name, obtain SIM serial number, obtain geo-location information, obtain WiFi configuration, and connect to the Internet. Trojan.Android.Rootnik.dzbmfp 2 / 54 [Link] Available on play store 2) 萌幻修仙    (v5.5) Category: Top Free App, New Free App, Top Free Game, New Free Game Installs: 100,000+ High risk behavior description: obtain SIM operator name, obtain geo-location information, ...