InfoWorld: 7 sneak attacks used by today's most devious hackers

Most malware is mundane, but these innovative techniques are exploiting systems and networks of even the savviest users

By Roger A. Grimes
SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Millions of pieces of malware and thousands of malicious hacker gangs roam today's online world preying on easy dupes. Reusing the same tactics that have worked for years, if not decades, they do nothing new or interesting in exploiting our laziness, lapses in judgment, or plain idiocy.

But each year antimalware researchers come across a few techniques that raise eyebrows. Used by malware or hackers, these inspired techniques stretch the boundaries of malicious hacking. Think of them as innovations in deviance. Like anything innovative, many are a measure of simplicity.

Take the 1990s Microsoft Excel macro virus that silently, randomly replaced zeros with capital O's in spreadsheets, immediately transforming numbers into text labels with a value of zero -- changes that went, for the most part, undetected until well after backup systems contained nothing but bad data.

Today's most ingenious malware and hackers are just as stealthy and conniving. Here are some of the latest techniques of note that have piqued my interest as a security researcher and the lessons learned. Some stand on the shoulders of past malicious innovators, but all are very much in vogue today as ways to rip off even the savviest users.

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