Malicious Cryptography, part two

Source: Security Focus - Posted by Ankit Patel

In part one of this article series, the concepts behind crytovirology were discussed. Two examples of malicious cryptography were used, involving weaknesses in the SuckIt rootkit and the potential for someone to design an effective SSH worm. The concept of armored viruses were also introduced.

Now in part two, a continued discussion of armored viruses (using polymorphism and metamorphism) will be followed by the concept of a Bradley worm - a worm that uses cryptography so that it cannot be analyzed. The reader will then look at Skype (now owned by eBay) as an example of an application with embedded cryptography and a closed protocol that can be manipulated by an attacker for malicious purposes, making a virus using this approach very difficult for administrators and anti-virus companies to detect.

Read this full article at Security Focus

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