Browser Security: Most Effective Browsers Against Socially Engineered Malware

NSS Labs recently released the results and analysis from its latest Browser Security Comparative Analysis Report, which evaluated the ability of eight leading browsers -- Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Kingsoft Liebao, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Qihoo 360 Safe Browser, and Sogou Explorer -- to block against socially engineered malware (SEM). The use of social engineering to distribute malware continues to account for the bulk of cyber attacks against both consumers and enterprises, thereby making a browser's ability to protect against these kinds of attacks an important criterion for personal or corporate use.

Microsoft Internet Explorer continues to outperform other browsers. With an average block rate of 99.9 percent, the highest zero-hour block rate, fastest average time to block, and highest consistency of protection over time percentages, Internet Explorer leads in all key test areas.

Google Chrome remained in the top three, but its average block rate fell significantly to 70.7 percent, down from 83.17 percent in the previous test.

Cloud-based endpoint protection (EPP) file scanning provides substantial defenses when integrated with the browser. Kingsoft Liebao browser utilizes the same cloud-based file scanning system used by Kingsoft antivirus and had the second highest overall block rate at 85.1 percent, ahead of Chrome by almost 15 percentage points.

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Google's Safe Browsing API does not provide adequate SEM protection. Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox both utilize the Google Safe Browsing API and were the two lowest performing browsers in this latest test. Both also saw significant drops of around 6 percent in their average block rates -- Safari from 10.15 percent to 4.1 percent and Firefox from 9.92 percent to 4.2 percent.

Chinese browsers tested for the first time prove viable. This year, three browsers from China were included in testing for the first time, and Kingsoft's Liebao browser jumped ahead of Google Chrome with an overall protection rate of 85.1 percent. Sogou Explorer had the fourth highest average block rate at 60.1 percent.

Commentary: NSS Labs Research Director Randy Abrams
"Selecting a browser with robust socially engineered malware protection is one of the most critical choices consumers and enterprises can make to protect themselves. Microsoft's SmartScreen Application Reputation technology continues to provide Internet Explorer the most effective protection against socially engineered malware," said Randy Abrams, Research Director at NSS Labs. "This year NSS added three browsers from China. The Kingsoft Liebao browser displaced Chrome from second place by using a combination of URL filtering with the cloud-based file scanning technology that Kingsoft uses for their antivirus product. Sogou Explorer, another browser from China, was the only other tested browser to exceed 50 percent protection against socially engineered malware. Firefox and Safari failed to achieve five percent effectiveness and leave less technical users at considerable risk."

NSS Labs recommendations
Learn to identify social engineering attacks in order to maximize protection against SEM and other social engineering attacks.
Use caution when sharing links from friends and other trusted contacts, such as banks. Waiting just one day before clicking on a link can significantly reduce risk.
Enterprises should review current security reports when selecting a browser. Do not assume the browser market is static.

Twitter: Attack emails drop from 110 million per day to a few thousand

Adopting protocol called DMARC pays big dividends, says Twitter postmaster

There used to be a whopping 110 million attack messages per day spoofing the Twitter domain name as cyber-criminals blasted out fake Twitter e-mail at intended victims to try and fool them into opening dangerous malware-infested links and other scams. But by adopting a messaging authentication protocol called Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), Twitter has seen that number drop to a few thousand.
Lo and behold, it works!
— Twitter postmaster Josh Aberant about DMARC

“Lo and behold, it works,” says Josh Aberant, Twitter’s postmaster in charge of messaging.

DMARC first started about two years ago as a cooperative effort among Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and eBay’s PayPal unit, among others, to combat the scourge of spoofed e-mail that will mimic the domain names of well-known companies.

DMARC works by checking that e-mail truly originated from where it was supposed to. Organizations that support DMARC can monitor for fake e-mail and quarantine or block it. Aberant said Twitter, working with partners Agari and Message Systems, decided to block the bad e-mail that the DMARC protocol identifies.

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Aberant says he was shocked when he first saw monitoring that showed there were 110 million attack messages per day abusing the Twitter name.

By combining what’s called “DomainKeys Identified Mail” and the “Sender Policy Framework” with the “Authentication Failure Reporting Format,” DMARC represents the most comprehensive approach to preventing email abuse and protecting sender brands that the Internet industry has offered to date, according to Alec Peterson, chief technology officer at Message Systems.

Because DMARC is supported by the major Internet e-mail service providers, including Google, YahooMail, AOL and Microsoft, Twitter estimates about 90% of Twitter’s user base globally is covered under the DMARC filtering umbrella. Several Chinese ISPs have implemented DMARC as well. But Aberant would like to see more European telecommunications firms and those in the private sector join the DMARC effort to see the momentum build.

Twitter’s DMARC project, which took several months, involved working with a number of outside companies, the business partners such as Salesforce.com, to achieve a kind of “identity alignment” in messaging using the DMARC protocol, says Aberant.

Making sure DMARC authentication works properly means you have to “get a hold of the right people that manage the mail infrastructure,” he points out. Because Salesforce also happened to be using Message Systems, it was a fairly simple configuration change. But in other instances with business partners, the conversion to DMARC can be somewhat more demanding.

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