Cyber specialist calls for increased malware measures

BAE, the UK cyber specialist, has appealed to professionals in the security industry to uncover new methods of thwarting advanced threats. This comes after it revealed that  the ‘Snake’ malware threat has remained all but undetected for close to a decade whilst managing to infiltrate systems with high sensitivity.

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence discussed Snake’s impact in a report it issued earlier this month, which included how it hides in web traffic and its 50 modules that enable it to adjust to a number of cyber attacks.

BAE has evaluated over 100 Snake samples and discovered that it is mainly targeting Eastern Europe, as well as the UK, US and nations in Western Europe. The malware possesses the ability to infiltrate a number of systems, including Windows Vista, 7 and XP.

BAE’s MD for cyber security, David Garfield, said:

“It’s very good at hiding in the actual web browser of the user so if you’re trying to look for abnormal behaviour it’s nigh-on impossible, because it’s literally manipulating the web traffic that that user’s already sending.”

When it appeared between 2008 and 2011, BAE said Snake remained largely undetected. Now, due to the sophistication and stealth of the malware, BAE is asking security professionals to find a new way of combatting not only Snake, but further APT attacks. For organisations that do not have sufficient security measures in place, now is a good time to post information security vacancies and begin building up a defence.