Monster.com Malware Tags Another Site

bl8n8r writes "The first wave of problems for Monster.com came in the form of malware as recruiters cluelessly pointed trojaned Windows systems into Monster's database. The incident reportedly gleaned more than 1.6 million records from the job search site's database. The second incident followed two days later in the form of an infected Monster.com server pharming out malware by way of advertisements hosted on its websites. The latest incident now shows jobseekers using USAJobs are also at risk from the pharmed Monster trojan. The worst part is Monster.com seems to shrug it off with: 'As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Monster is from time to time subject to illegal attempts to extract information from its database. Despite ongoing analysis, the scope of this illegal activity is impossible to pinpoint.'"

NEVER use Windows as a server OS.

If there's one thing we've been shown over and over and over and over and over and over again, it's that Windows is just not a suitable OS to use in a server environment.

The main problem is, as illustrated here, an insufficient level of security and quality. This isn't just a problem with the Windows itself. This is a problem with the other Microsoft products that are commonly used on Windows, including IIS and SQL Server. They're far too easily compromised, and fixes never come rapidly enough.

When high-quality products like Linux, Apache and PostgreSQL are available for free, there's really no reason to be using anything from Microsoft in a server environment. Hell, there are many reputable companies offering very affordable, and worthwhile, support for those products. And when the rare security issue does arise, a patch is usually available within the same day, if not within an hour or less.

Maybe someday IT managers and executives will realize that Windows is clearly not the optimal way to go. There are alternatives, and they are far better when it comes to security, quality, reliability, efficiency, and most importantly, cost.

Here, I'll pinpoint the scope for them:

SELECT * FROM customers;
I'm curious to know how they could screw up a simple thing like database security to the point where some windows laptop on their network can just connect and do the above.

Re:Here, I'll pinpoint the scope for them:

Except that that is exactly NOT how the trojan works. I won't comment on the malware via ads issue, because I'm not familiar with the details (something you should try).

Here's how the trojan actually works.

A monster.com affiliated recruiter is someone who pays monster.com to have access to the section of the site where they can search the database of resumes and profiles with some fairly powerful search tools, and find candidates that might be qualified for open positions at their company. This trojan finds one of these people's computers and infects it. It sniffs out account and password information, which it then uses to log into the recruiting site. The trojan then makes a very broad search-- one that should make available all of the resume information. It then aggregates all of this information and uploads it to an external server, where presumably badies will parse it, and attempt to either make a spam mailing list probably.

The thing is, this information is all basically PUBLIC information. I mean, yes, it is supposed to be public only to companies that pay monster.com to show it to them, but it is your resume for goodness' sake. You know, that document that you send all over creation, hoping people will read it? Yeah.

So basically, I think the people whose accounts were comprised will noticed a slight increase in their spam traffic from having their email address crawled yet one more time.

They're not shrugging it off

It's called desperation.  Or whistling in the dark. 

Trollish submitter

The worst part is Monster.com seems to shrug it off with: 'As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information Funny how they shrugged it off:

Earlier this month, Monster discovered [a] a malicious code that attempted to harvest stolen email addresses from its database and transfer them to a server in Ukraine. The hackers then sent out phishing emails that claimed to be prospective employers offering a work-from-home job that asked for access to the user's bank account. Monster responded by notifying these job seekers that their contact records had been downloaded illegally and is now working with law enforcement officials and the appropriate regulatory agencies [b]. Monster also revealed that this incident was not the first time the company's database had been the target of criminal activity.

The company says that to boost its security measures it is implementing new robust capabilities for worldwide monitoring and surveillance of site traffic, reviewing and tightening all site access policies and controls and launching a series of targeted initiatives to protect job seeker contact information.

Source [thewhir.com]

[a] Monster discovered: Did you note that Monster themselves noticed the infiltration. Wasn't posted to a full disclosure list which means they caught it on their own for a change. Give them that credit

[b] Monster initiated contacting those affected and working with LEA's. This didn't come to light in the same fashion as say with what happened at LinkedIn. Linkedin spurns bug bounty hunter [theregister.co.uk]. So why post such a trollish statement as "monster shrugged it off". There should be a mechanism to moderate those who post articles.

Re:Trollish submitter

Beyond everything that you nicely outline, when it comes to the USAJobs site they won't be able to "shrug it off" because of the connection to the government.

USAJobs was built under federal contract, and the government was slowly moving to requiring every federal position be applied for through USAJobs. That includes internal promotions, executives, new-hires...basically everyone who is not elected or an appointee. A lot of fairly high ranking career civil servants are in that database.

I'm guessing the government is going to be very harsh on this, as they typically are when a contractor screws up IT security.

BTW, most federal employees and managers hate USAJobs, since you are not allowed to interview anyone unless the computer ranks them highly when it runs it's resume search algorithm. I can't interview someone unless the computer spits it out. Potential hires (and internal promotions) have to figure out how to "fake out" the search algorithm so their resume gets through. I'd love to see it go away.

pee in the pool

Information on the internet with disseminate. Everyone here who cries "information wants to be free" when the topic of the RIAA comes up needs to recognize that the same goes with your information when it gets on the internet. "Online" and "secure information" are oil and water.

See?

This is the shit we have to deal with. This is why even if you go only to trusted websites, you need to be careful. Use an alternative browser (that's not IE) or OS. Don't open email attachments, install toolbars, or anything that you haven't checked to make sure is ok.

All it takes is one 'yes' to have your computer pulled out from under you and put to work by some bastard that's probably not even in the business anymore.

Text of the email Monster sent out

Below is an email Monster sent out to account holders. I was expecting a sincere apology with perhaps an offer for free credit monitoring. Instead, when they have a security issue, they invite their users to be more savvy about the internet.

Note their directions on "HOW TO BE A SAFE INTERNET USER". If perhaps they had taken their own advice, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation?

--

Dear Valued Monster Customer,

Protecting the job seekers who use our website is a top priority, and we value the trust you place in Monster. Regrettably, opportunistic criminals are increasingly using the Internet for illegitimate purposes. As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Monster is from time to time subject to attempts to illegally extract information from its database.

As you may be aware, the Monster resume database was recently the target of malicious activity that involved the illegal downloading of information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for some of our job seekers with resumes posted on Monster sites. Monster responded to this specific incident by conducting a comprehensive review of internal processes and procedures, notified those job seekers that their contact records had been downloaded illegally, and shut down a rogue server that was hosting these records.

The Company has determined that this incident is not the first time Monster's database has been the target of criminal activity. Due to the significant amount of uncertainty in determining which individual job seekers may have been impacted, Monster felt that it was in your best interest to take the precautionary steps of reaching out to you and all Monster job seekers regarding this issue. Monster believes illegally downloaded contact information may be used to lure job seekers into opening a "phishing" email that attempts to acquire financial information or lure job seekers into fraudulent financial transactions. This has been the case in similar attacks on other websites.

We want to inform you about preventive measures you can take to protect yourself from online fraud. While no company can completely prevent unauthorized access to data, we believe that by reaching out to job seekers like you, the Company can help users better defend themselves against those who have attacked Monster as well as other databases.

We are committed to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with all of our job seekers about Internet security and the steps Monster is taking to protect its job seekers. The Company has placed a security alert on Monster sites offering information to educate you about online fraud. This information can be found at http://help.monster.com/besafe/ [monster.com]. We have also included information on Internet safety and examples of fraudulent "phishing" emails at the bottom of this letter.

Monster has launched a series of initiatives to enhance and to protect the information you have entrusted to us. Some of these steps are being immediately implemented, while others will be put into place as appropriate.

We believe these actions are the responsible steps to protect the trust you place in Monster. We are also working with Monster's hundreds of thousands of employer customers to ensure a safe and effective online job search. We will continue to share information with you about the enhancements we are making as we serve as your online career resource partner. We invite you to keep reading to learn more about how to use the Internet safely.

Sincerely,

Signature
Sal Iannuzzi

Chairman and CEO

Monster Worldwide

HOW TO BE A SAFE INTERNET USER

Every Internet site in the world is facing the growing issue of fraudulent usage of information, and we want to work with users around the world to stop this practice - please keep reading to

pass the buck

Monster really did shrug off this attack. They haven't responded to my email about whether my data was comprimised. All I got was an email saying that their databases had been breeched, followed by instructions on how *I* should surf the web safely. One of their recommendations was to contact companies by telephone instead of the web.

but was it an accident?

I have a friend who once worked for monster.ca and he explained in plain terms that it was little more than a front for harvesting their users' personal information for their own purposes.

It wouldn't shock me in the least to discover that monster played an active part in this shenanigan.

db

big deal

Oh gee, the h4x0rs got my resume. What are they gonna do? SPREAD IT AROUND?

Ah, fun with Windows!

A lot of people think Bill Gates is a computer genius, but he's actually a marketting genius. These people are going to pick up the pieces of their shattered OS, flush-n-fill, and start over. Some people just don' learn!

If we had, say, cars that had to have $5000 of repair done every month, we'd be good friends with several lawyers. Microsoft does nothing about viruses for two decades and such calamity is considered a 'way of life'. ...and people wonder why I'm such a hardcore Linux fan. Sheesh.

Guess I need to take my SSN out of my Resume

I suppose it was a bad idea to include my mother's maiden name, first pets name, original hometown, SSN, major banking and credit card numbers complete with routing and Security numbers in my resume. Who knew?