In theory, cloud computing should be safer than dealing with on-premise applications, which have to be tested before patching to ensure compatibility with other enterprise software. Cloud providers merely have to patch their own systems.
But as the iCloud celebrity nude photos breach has proven, there are still vulnerabilities. Salesforce has reinforced this by issuing a caution to subscribers that the Dyre malware (also known as Dyreza) may be targeting them.
In a notification to users the SaaS provider said a security partner notified it of the possibility.”This is not a vulnerability within Salesforce,” the statement said. “It is malware that resides on infected computer systems and is designed to steal user log-in credentials and resides on infected customer systems.
So far, it added, it has no evidence yet that any customers have been hit.
Salesforce advises customers and IT departments to
- activate IP Range Restrictions to allow users to access salesforce.com only from your corporate network or VPN;
- use SMS Identity Confirmation to add an extra layer of login protection when salesforce credentials are used from an unknown source
- implement Salesforce#, which provides an additional layer of security with two-step verification. The app is available via the iTunes App Store or via Google Play for Android devices.
- leverage SAML authentication capabilities to require that all authentication attempts be sourced from your network.
According to the CSIS Security Group of Copenhagen, which first discovered the malware in June, Dyreza is based on the ZeuS sourcecode that targets major banks and supports browser hooking. Delivered through spam campaigns, it sweeps up data at any point an infected computer user connects to the targets specified in the malware.
