EstDomains & Intercage: A Perfect Couple in Crime

If you track malware issues as readily as I do, you're likely aware of the failings of clownpacks like EstDomains and their hosting buddies Atrivo/Intercage. You need only follow Sunbelt's take on the topic, or search Emergingthreats to come up to speed.
Yesterday, EstDomains posted the most inept, ridiculous response ever issued to the endless and worthy criticism, largely leveled by Brian Krebs at the Washington Post.
Not only can't these morons from EstDomains write, they're either so deeply clueless or flagrantly malicious (likely both), it's beyond laughable. This section sums it up best:
"The company also has a reliable ally in its battle against malware in a face of Intercage, Inc which provides company with the hosting services of the highest quality. But the outstanding performance of hosting services is not the sole reason why EstDomains, Inc appreciates this partnership so greatly. Intercage, Inc generously provides EstDomains, Inc specialists with reports regarding discovered malware vehicles. As the main database for additional domain name management services is located in Intercage Data Center, EstDomains, Inc has the perfect opportunity to get notifications of the slightest mark of malware presence in the shortest time and take measures in advance."
What? Really?
Again, aside from the absolute butchery of the language, did they just say "The company also has a reliable ally in its battle against malware in a face of Intercage, Inc which provides company with the hosting services of the highest quality."? SIGH...yes, they did.

Allow me to exemplify just how ridiculous a claim that is.
Following is content from a packet capture I took during a recent Storm worm analysis.

Using the ip2asn module included in NSM-console availabe in HeX, we find:
27595 | 216.255.189.211 | INTERCAGE - InterCage, Inc.

Using Etherape, also included in HeX, we see:



Using Eric Hjelmvik's NetworkMiner, we see:



See the recurring theme? Intercage, EstDomain's "reliable ally in its battle against malware".
Nice work, guys...keep it up.

I'm submitting this to The Daily WTF as we speak.

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Beware the Zangobot!

While this news is likely speculative and unfounded, it has ramifications I couldn't resist. My good friend Steve and I have, for the last couple of years, jokingly inferred that Zango must have some form of bot, be it a crawler or IRC/P2P. Now this was stated entirely in jest, mind you, but I have to throw the phrase open now that to a story from Trendmicro claiming Zango and Storm: Possibly in Cahoots.

How could I pass? This is indeed the prospect of a Zangobot!

From Trend's post: "The presence of these clues means either of two possibilities. One, that Storm is now targeting computers that have Zango adware installed in them, or two, that Storm has now been commissioned to deploy Zango adware. Zango (also ePIPO, 180solutions, HotBar) is an adware company notorious for planting software that runs on startup, displays advertisements, and comes bundled with other software."

Alex Eckelberry rightfully puts a cautionary spin on the story in his post on the Sunbelt blog:
"After years of tracking Zango/180, etc., we have a really hard time believing that Zango would knowingly work with distributors of Storm. While there’s no love between us, they're not complete idiots, and they know that if they got caught they'd be in serious trouble with the FTC."

Nonetheless, let the speculation and research begin.
BEWARE THE ZANGOBOT!

I hereby declare a contest! We need a Zangobot graphic. Get your creative juices flowing and send your Zangobot character/avatar/image to me at holisticinfosec at gmail dot com.
The winner receives mention here, an information security book of my choosing, and a Daily WTF sticker.

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