New Born Malware

My today's blog is about the newly born malware. Before getting to that newly born malware let me firstly tell you what is the malware.
Malware is malicious software, is any software used to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems. It can appear in the form of executable code. 

How to Encrypt and Hide Your Personal Files Inside of a Photo

We always want to save our data or any personal files in a place that no one can check it out or misuse it. Because the data are very important to us and no one can put it into any kind of risk. So the new technique has always come forward to make us relax i.e. Encryption. It is best way to keep your valuable data safe whether you transmit over the internet or backing it on a server or anything else can be done, it’s totally safe.

But again if you want to move a step further there is another technique that is on the way is that to encrypt our personal data and hide it inside a photo. That’s something new for me but don’t know may be you all know about this technique before, as all you are very intelligent. So in this technique we can encrypt our precious data with a custom password and disguise them as an ordinary image.

So to start with this you have to download the software. You can download it from the given link http://www.myportablesoftware.com/freefilecamouflage.aspx.

                                                                          Fig: 1

Once the download has completed, extract it.

                                                                           Fig: 2

After that, start the application and the donation screen will appear. Click on the Skip donation button to launch the application.

 Fig: 3

The application will asks for the file which you want to hide, an image in which to hide the file, as well as the path where the new image will be stored. On the right hand side check the box that will allow you to choose a custom password to encrypt your files and type a password you want to keep.

                                                                            Fig: 4

Then click the Camouflage button, to start hiding your files.

                                                                             Fig: 5

After that you can see the size of the new image in which the files are being hidden is more than that of the original image but still the new file will open as an ordinary image without conveying that there are some hidden files inside it. The size of the new file will obviously vary depending on what you are hiding.

                                                                            Fig: 6

To get your files back, switch to the de-camouflage tab, select your image and check the box and input the same password you had used to encrypt your files. If you put the wrong password it will show the error message. However if you give the right password, your files will be extracted to the directory that you have specified. And then click the De-Camouflage button to decrypt your personal files.

                                                                 Fig: 7

Besides the obvious increase in file size there is no other way that anyone would be able to tell that there is any hidden contents in the image.

ENCRYPT YOUR IMPORTANT FILES BEFORE SYNCING TO THE CLOUD

As we all know how cloud storage services have become an integrated part of our everyday computer use. Cloud storage gives us flexibility to store our data and to access them from anywhere in the world and also gives many other advantages too. But the main concern raises over here is the security of the data. We always wish that our data must be secured and does not get changed or hacked by others, as we all know how important our data is. So this can be deal with using the Secured Cloud Drive, which encrypts the files using military-grade 256-bit AES encryption prior to sending them your selected cloud drive. This will make your data unreadable to others. It supports almost all your cloud storage services like SkyDrive, Dropbox etc.

Secured Cloud Drive lets you synchronize a shared folder on your computer with the exchange folder on your cloud. The files will be encrypted with the 256-bit encryption layer, so that no one can have access to your files except you. So for this, the software of Secured Cloud Drive is required to download. You can do this by clicking the following link http://www.secured-cloud-drive.com/download/. Once installed, now you have to follow some of the configuration steps that show how the service works.

Select Next and Next option to proceed and in the fifth step you can see the Select Folder option. This option let’s you allow to give the path where your folder is present that you want to share and then click to next to proceed.

Similarly in the sixth step, the application will ask you for your exchange folder. This folder should be present on your cloud drive.

Next you have to specify a password for the encrypted files. The application uses the same password when you download your files to your computer.

Secured Cloud Drive uses a license code for each shared folder. You get a single license for free, but additional licenses have to be purchased for sharing more than one folder. As you receive the license code, enter it to the application and click Next to proceed.

 

Now all you need to do is to store files on the shared folder and they will get automatically encrypted and synced to the exchange folder. This application creates a foldername.exchange directory on the cloud to which the encrypted files are actually moved.

                                                         

The additional folders can be shared by clicking ‘New share’ from the application’s right-click context menu in the system tray. You have also many other options to select such as pause synchronization, exit etc.

                         

This application will keep all your important files safe on your cloud drive.

Using Encryption in Linux with GNU Privacy Guard(GPG)

GNU Privacy Guard

To protect messages that you send by email, most Linux distributions provide GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) encryption and authentication (gnupg.org). GnuPG is the GNU open source software that works much like PGP encryption. It is the OpenPGP encryption and signing tool (OpenPGP is the open source version of PGP). With GnuPG, you can both encrypt your messages and digitally sign them—protecting the message and authenticating that it is from you. Currently, Evolution and KMail both support GnuPG encryption and authentication, along with Thunderbird with added GPG extensions. On Evolution, you can select PGP encryption and signatures from the Security menu to use GnuPG (the PGP options use GnuPG). On KMail, you can select the encryption to use on the Security panel in the Options window. For Thunderbird, you can use the enigmail extension to support OpenGPG and PGP encryption (enigmail.mozdev.org).

GnuPG operations are carried out with the gpg command, which uses both commands and options to perform tasks.

The first time you use gpg, a .gnugpg directory is created in your home directory with a file named options. The .gnugpg/gpg.conf file contains commented default options for GPG operations. You can edit this file and uncomment or change any default options you want implemented for GPG. You can use a different options file by specifying it with the --options parameter when invoking gpg. Helpful options include keyserver entries. The .gnugpg directory will also hold encryption files such as secring.gpg for your secret keys (secret keyring), pubring.gpg for your public keys (public keyring), and trustdb.gpg, which is a database for trusted keys.

GnuPG Setup: gpg

Before you can use GnuPG, you will have to generate your private and public keys. On the command line (terminal window), enter the gpg command with the --gen-key command. The gpg program will then prompt with different options for creating your private and public keys. You can check the gpg Man page for information on using the gpg program.

gpg --gen-key

Creating Your Key

You are first asked to select the kind of key you want. Normally, you just select the default entry, which you can do by pressing the ENTER key. Then you choose the key size, usually the default, 1024. You then specify how long the key is to be valid—usually, there is no expiration. You will be asked to enter a user ID, a comment, and an email address. Press ENTER to be prompted for each in turn. These elements, any of which can be used as the key’s name, identify the key. You use the key name when performing certain GPG tasks such as signing a key or creating a revocation certificate. For example, the following elements create a key for the user rahul with the comment “hi rahul this is gpg key” and the email address rahul.mahale123@gmail.com:

"rahul (hi rahul this is gpg key) <rahul.mahale123@gmail.com>"

You can use any unique part of a key’s identity to reference that key. For example, the string “rahul” would reference the preceding key, provided there are no other keys that have the string “rahul” in them. The string “rahul” would also reference the key, as would “hi rahul this is gpg key”. Where a string matches more than one key, all those  matched would be referenced.



Generating key with gpg

Protecting Your Key

The gpg program will then ask you to enter a passphrase, used to protect your private key. Be sure to use a real phrase, including spaces, not just a password. gpg then generates your public and private keys and places them in the .gnupg directory. The private keys are kept in a file called secring.gpg in your .gnupg directory. The public key is placed in the pubring.gpg file, to which you can add the public keys of other users. You can list these keys with the --list-keys command.

In case you later need to change your keys, you can create a revocation certificate to notify others that the public key is no longer valid. For example, if you forget your password or someone else discovers it, you can use the revocation certificate to tell others that your public key should no longer be used. In the next example, the user creates a revocation certificate for the key rahul and places it in the file myrevoke.asc:

gpg --output myrevoke.asc --gen-revoke rahul

Making Your Public Key Available

For other users to decrypt your messages, you have to make your public key available to them. They, in turn, have to send you their public keys so that you can decrypt any messages you receive from them. In effect, enabling encrypted communications between users involves all of them exchanging their public keys. The public keys then have to be verified and signed by each user that receives them. The public keys can then be trusted to safely decrypt messages. If you are sending messages to just a few users, you can manually email them your public key. For general public use, you can post your public key on a keyserver, which anyone can then download and use to decrypt any message they receive from you. A keyserver can accessed using email, LDAP, or the HTTP Horwitz Keyserver Protocol (HKP). The OpenPGP Public Keyserver project is located at pks.sourceforge.net. Several public keyservers are available.   kp://subkeys.pgp.net is listed in your .gnupg/gpg.conf file, though commented out. You can send directly to the keyserver with the –keyserver option and --send-key command. The --send-key command takes as its argument your email address. You need to send to only one keyserver, as it will share your key with other keyservers automatically.

gpg --keyserver search.keyserver.net --send-key example@redifmail.com

If you want to send your key directly to another user, you should generate an armored text version of the key that you can then email. You do this with the --armor and –export options, using the --output option to specify a file to place the key in. The --armor option will generate an ASCII text version of the encrypted file so that it can be emailed directly, instead of as an attached binary. Files that hold an ASCII-encoded version of the encryption normally have the extension .asc, by convention. Binary encrypted files normally use the extension .gpg. You can then email the file to users you want to send encrypted messages to.

# gpg --armor --export rahul.mahale123@gmail.com --output rahul.mahale123.asc

# mail -s 'mypubkey' rahulrmahale@yahoo.com < rahul.mahale123.asc

Many companies and institutions post their public key files on their websites, where they can be downloaded and used to verify encrypted software downloads or official announcements.

Obtaining Public Keys

To decode messages from other users, you will need to have their public keys. Either  they can send them to you or you can download them from a keyserver. Save the message or web page containing the public key to a file. You will then need to import, verify, and sign the key. Use the file you received to import the public key to your pubring file. In the following example, the user imports rahulrmahale’s public key, which he has received as the file rahulrmahalekey.asc.

gpg --import rahulrmahale.asc

All Linux distribution sites have their own public keys available for download. You should, for example, download the Red Hat public key, which can be accessed from the Red Hat site on its security resources page (redhat.com). Click the Public Encryption Key link. From there, you can access a page that displays just the public key. You can save this page as a file and use that file to import the Red Hat public key to your keyring. (A Red Hat distribution also places the Red Hat public key in the /usr/share/doc/rpm4-1 directory with versions for both GPG and PGP encryption, RPM-GPG-KEY and RPM-PGP-KEY files.) In the following example, the user saved the page showing just the Red Hat public key as myredhat.asc, and then imported that file:

gpg --import myredhat.asc

Validating Keys

To manually check that a public key file was not modified in transit, you can check its fingerprint. This is a hash value generated from the contents of the key, much like a modification digest. Using the --fingerprint option, you can generate a hash value from  the key you installed, and then contact the sender and ask them what the hash value should really be. If they are not the same, you know the key was tampered with in transit.

gpg --fingerprint rahulrmahale@yahoo

You do not have to check the fingerprint to have gpg operate. This is just an advisable precaution you can perform on your own. The point is that you need to be confident  that the key you received is valid. Normally you can accept most keys from public servers or known sites as valid, though it is easy to check their posted fingerprints. Once assured of the key’s validity, you can then sign it with your private key. Signing a key notifies gpg that you officially accept the key. To sign a key, you use the gpg command with the --sign-key command and the key’s name.

gpg --sign-key rahulrmahale@yahoo

Alternatively, you can edit the key with the --edit-key command to start an interactive session in which you can enter the command sign to sign the key and save to save the change. Signing a key involves accessing your private key, so you will be prompted for your passphrase. When you are finished, leave the interactive session with the quit command. Normally, you will want to post a version of your public key that has been signed by one or more users. You can do the same for other users. Signing a public key provides a way to vouch for the validity of a key. It indicates that someone has already checked it out. Many different users can sign the same public key. Once you have received and verified a key from another user, you can sign and return the signed version to that user. After you sign the key, you can generate a file containing the signed public version. You can then send this file to the user. This process builds a Web of Trust, where many users vouch for the validity of public keys.

gpg -a --export rahulrmahale@yahoo –output  rahulrmahalesig.asc

The user then imports the signed key and exports it to a keyserver.

Using GnuPG

GnuPG encryption is currently supported by most mail clients, including Kmail, Thunderbird, and Evolution. You can also use the GNU Privacy Assistant (GPA), a graphical user interface (GUI) front end, to manage GPG tasks, or you can use the gpg command to manually encode and decode messages, including digital signatures, if you wish. As you perform GPG tasks, you will need to reference the keys you have using their key names. Bear in mind that you need only a unique identifying substring to select the key you want. GPG performs a pattern search on the string you specify as the key name in any given command. If the string matches more than one key, all those matching will be selected. In the following example, the “Sendmail” string selects matches on the identities of two keys.

# gpg --list-keys "Sendmail"

pub 1024R/CC374F2D 2000-12-14

Sendmail Signing Key/2001 <sendmail@Sendmail.ORG>

pub 1024R/E35C5635 1999-12-13

Sendmail Signing Key/2000 <sendmail@Sendmail.ORG>

Encrypting Messages

The gpg command provides several options for managing secure messages. The e option encrypts messages, the a option generates an armored text version, and the s option adds a digital signature. You will need to specify the recipient’s public key, which you should already have imported into your pubring file. It is this key that is used to encrypt the message. The recipient will then be able to decode the message with their private key. Use the --recipient or -r option to specify the name of the recipient key. You can use any unique substring in the user’s public key name. The email address usually suffices. You use the d option to decode received messages. In the following example, the user encrypts (e) and signs (s) a file generated in armored text format (a). The -r option indicates the recipient for the message (whose public key is used to encrypt the message).

gpg -e -s -a -o myfile.asc -r rahulrmahale@yahoo.com myfile

# mail rahulrmahale@yahoo.com < myfile.asc

You can leave out the ASCII armor option if you want to send or transfer the file as a binary attachment. Without the --armor or -a option, gpg generates an encoded binary 0file, not an encoded text file. A binary file can be transmitted through email only as an attachment. As noted previously, ASCII armored versions usually have an extension of .asc, whereas binary version use .gpg.

Decrypting Messages

When the other user receives the file, they can save it to a file named something like myfile.asc and then decode the file with the -d option. The -o option will specify a file to save the decoded version in. GPG will automatically determine if it is a binary file or an ASCII armored version.

gpg -d -o myfile.txt myfile.asc  

To check the digital signature of the file, you use the gpg command with the –verify option. This assumes that the sender has signed the file.

gpg --verify myfile.asc