Using Media Player Software as Stealth Attack Vectors for Manipulating Human Mind and Behavior

Abstract

Advanced malware detection mechanism and technologies being used in anti-virus software solutions, firewalls and many other malware detection technologies had been able to restrict the spread, infection and exploitation of the vulnerabilities within information systems to mitigate the risks to the information assets that these particular systems possess. As human factor being the weakest link in any security chain, exploiting the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in humans tend to be more effective than resource and time-consuming system breaches and network penetrations. Manipulating the mind of people is found to be more effective by proven outcomes of famous social engineering and phishing attacks. Social engineering and phishing exploit the vulnerabilities of the conscious mind which is about 5% of the human mind. But a deeper "penetration" into the hidden 95% of human subconscious mind will open the doors to new opportunities which will be devastating. This research paper will introduce a new malware type known as "mindware" which focus on how a malware can be infected from an electronic media device to the subconscious mind of a human and manipulate that human being as a "bot" in an advanced cybercrime chain. Furthermore, the elaboration of the capabilities of mindware, potential threat areas, stealth mechanisms, good uses, misuses, proofs about the reliability and the future development areas of mindware are also discussed concisely in this research paper.