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Researchers expect surge of rootkits targeting 64-bit PCs

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  Researchers expect surge of rootkits targeting 64-bit PCs Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-06-26 06:19 +0000
    Re: Researchers expect surge of rootkits targeting 64-bit PCs RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-06-26 07:09 +0000

#3875 — Researchers expect surge of rootkits targeting 64-bit PCs

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2367400/researchers-expect-large-wave-of-rootkits-targeting-64bit-systems.html

  "Following a downward trend during the past two years, the number of new
   rootkit samples rose in the first quarter of this year to a level not
   seen since 2011, according to statistics from security vendor McAfee."

  "The sudden spike in rootkit infections during the first three months of
   the year was caused primarily by a single rootkit family that targeted
   32-bit Windows systems. However, new rootkits designed for 64-bit
   systems will likely lead to a rise in this type of attack in the
   future, researchers from McAfee said in a report published Tuesday."

   ...

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#3876

On 2014-06-26 06:19:05 +0000, Rich said:

> http://www.pcworld.com/article/2367400/researchers-expect-large-wave-of-rootkits-targeting-64bit-systems.html 
> 
> 
>   "Following a downward trend during the past two years, the number of new
>    rootkit samples rose in the first quarter of this year to a level not
>    seen since 2011, according to statistics from security vendor McAfee."
> 
>   "The sudden spike in rootkit infections during the first three months of
>    the year was caused primarily by a single rootkit family that targeted
>    32-bit Windows systems. However, new rootkits designed for 64-bit
>    systems will likely lead to a rise in this type of attack in the
>    future, researchers from McAfee said in a report published Tuesday."
> 
>    ...


Wow, that PCWorld journalist seems to be really struggling to connect 
dots, and the "skull and crossbones over Matrix" graphic made me laugh, 
as though they'd just recycled an old article from - when was The 
Matrix? 1998? -and added the expression 64-bit.

This was the closest as I came to a reasonable explanation of what led 
them to this conclusion:

//-- clip
“Researchers are developing targeted tools such as ‘double fetch’ race 
conditions to find flaws in kernel code,” the McAfee researchers said. 
“History tells us that once such work happens in the research 
community, we will soon see its impact in the threat landscape as well.”
//-- clip


Also, this little scare:

//-- clip
The Secure Boot feature of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface 
(UEFI)—the BIOS replacement in newer computers—was designed 
specifically to prevent the installation of bootkits. It works by 
checking that the boot code inside the MBR is on a pre-approved 
whitelist and is digitally signed before executing it.
However, over the past year security researchers have found several 
vulnerabilities in UEFI implementations used by many computer 
manufacturers that can be exploited from inside the OS to disable 
Secure Boot.
//-- clip

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