Simple Exploit Allows Attackers to Modify Content Of Email

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Francisco Ribeiro is a lead researcher working at email and cloud security firm called Mimecast. ROPEMAKER allows malicious parties to alter what is displayed in an email, such as editing text or swapping a harmless URL with a link to malware, even after it is delivered to the inbox. A successful exploitation of the Ropemaker attack permits an attacker to remotely modify the content material of an email dispatched by the attacker himself, for instance swapping a URL with the malicious one.

ROPEMAKER works on a specifically designed theory of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). CSS are used in with HTML and describes how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen.  CSS Web technologies are used to give emails visually a more attractive and dynamic look and feel as compared to the old text-based predecessor. This features has also introduced an exploitable attack vector for emails, thereby providing hackers a  remote control over feature over one’s applications or infrastructure. As documented in detail in the ROPEMAKER Security Advisory, this remote-control-ability could enable cyber pundits to direct user to unwanted sites or design and execute other harmful intentions. This technique can bypass common security controls and can go undetected by the most tech savvy users.

Mimecast, which is heavily into research, has not seen ROPEMAKER exploited unethically. Although Mimecast has tested and confirmed that it works on most popular email clients and popular online email services. Mimecast has a current client base of more than 27 thousand organizations and sends billions of emails. Thus with such operations Mimecast would have detected the usage of such exploits by now.  However, this is no guarantee that cybercriminals aren’t currently taking advantage of ROPEMAKER in their targeted attacks. The detailed exploration & analysis of existing threats, whether live or probable, is still a mammoth task at hand.

Tips to Prevent Simple Exploit From Infecting Your System:

1. Enable your popup blocker: Pop-ups and ads in the websites are the most adoptable tactic used by cyber criminals or developers with the core intention to spread malicious programs. So, avoid clicking uncertain sites, software offers, pop-ups etc.
2. Keep your Windows Updated:To avoid such infections, we recommend that you should always keep your system updated through automatic windows update. By doing this you can keep your device free from virus. According to survey, outdated/older versions of windows operating system are an easy target.
3. Third party installation:Try to avoid freeware download websites as they usually install bundled of software with any installer or stub file.
4. Regular Back up: Regular and periodical backup helps you to keep your data safe in case the system is infected by any kind of virus or any other infection. Thus always backup important files regularly on a cloud drive or an external hard drive.
5. Always have an Anti-Virus: Precaution is better than cure. We recommend that you install an antivirus like McAfee or a good Malware Removal Tool like Free Malware RemovalTool. Apart from this we would suggest a regular updating of these software to detect and avoid latest infections.
6. Install a powerful ad-blocker for Chrome, Mozilla and IE.