Over the past seven months, Unit 42 has been investigating a series of attacks we attribute to a group we have code named "Scarlet Mimic." The attacks began over four years ago and their targeting pattern suggests that this adversary's primary mission is to gather information about minority rights activists. We do not have evidence directly linking these attacks to a government source, but the information derived from these activities supports an assessment that a group or groups with motivations similar to the stated position of the Chinese government in relation to these targets is involved.
The goal of this report is to expose the tools, tactics and infrastructure deployed by Scarlet Mimic in order to increase awareness of this threat and decrease its operational success through deployment of prevention and detection countermeasures. From our vantage point, we are not able to identify which attacks have been successful against which organizations. But the fact that the tools Scarlet Mimic deploys have been under development for years suggests an active adversary that has been successful in some percentage of its operations. Based on our analysis, we are also seeing Scarlet Mimic start to expand its espionage efforts from PCs to mobile devices, marking an evolution in its tactics.
Individuals and groups of all different types may become the target of cyber espionage campaigns. The most well known victims of cyber espionage are typically government organizations or high-tech companies, but it's important to recognize that espionage-focused adversaries are tasked to collect information from many sources.
The attacks we attribute to Scarlet Mimic have primarily targeted Uyghur and Tibetan activists as well as those who are interested in their causes. Both the Tibetan community and the Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim minority residing primarily in northwest China, have been targets of multiple sophisticated attacks in the past decade. Both also have history of strained relationships with the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), though we do not have evidence that links Scarlet Mimic attacks to the PRC.
Scarlet Mimic attacks have also been identified against government organizations in Russia and India, who are responsible for tracking activist and terrorist activities. While we do not know the precise target of each of the Scarlet Mimic attacks, many of them align to the patterns described above.
The Scarlet Mimic attacks primarily center around the use of a Windows backdoor named "FakeM." It was first described by Trend Micro in 2013 and was named FakeM because its primary command and control traffic mimicked Windows Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger network traffic to evade detection. We have identified two subsequent variants of the FakeM family, which has undergone significant changes since it was exposed in 2013. We have also identified nine distinct "loader" malware families, which Scarlet Mimic appears to use to avoid detection when infecting a system.
In addition to the FakeM variants, Scarlet Mimic has deployed Trojans that target the Mac OS X and Android operating systems. We have linked these attacks to Scarlet Mimic through analysis of their command and control (C2) infrastructure.
To infect individuals with access to the data the actors desire, Scarlet Mimic deploys both spear-phishing and watering hole (strategic web compromise) attacks. Using these tactics they can directly target previously identified individuals (spear phishing) as well as unidentified individuals who are interested in a specific subject (watering hole). In their spear phishing attacks, Scarlet Mimic has exploited five separate vulnerabilities. However, in many cases they chose to forgo exploiting a software vulnerability and used self-extracting (SFX) RAR archives that use the Right-to-Left Override character to mask the true file extension, tricking victims into opening executable files.
As with many other attackers who use spear-phishing to infect victims, Scarlet Mimic makes heavy use of "decoy" files. These are legitimate documents that contain content relevant to the subject of the spear phishing e-mail. After the system is infected, the malware displays the decoy document to trick the user into believing nothing harmful has occurred. These decoy documents allow us to identify the theme of the spear phishing e-mail and in some cases the target of the attack.
The most recent Scarlet Mimic attacks we have identified were conducted in 2015 and suggest the group has a significant interest in both Muslim activists and those interested in critiques of the Russian government and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Based on their previous targets we suspect these individuals may be targeted based on the information they posses on activist groups.
The better we can understand the threats to our networks and systems, the more effective we will be at preventing those threats. The goal of this report is to help network defenders better understand attacks from a group we have named Scarlet Mimic. This group has been conducting attacks for at least four years using a backdoor Trojan that has been under active development. The group primarily deploys spear-phishing e-mails to infect its targets, but was also responsible for a watering hole (strategic web compromise) attack in 2013.
Attacks from this group have been reported publicly in the past, but mostly as disparate, unconnected incidents. Based on analysis of the data and malware samples we have collected, Unit 42 believes the attacks described herein are the work of a group or set of cooperating groups who have a single mission, collecting information on minority groups who reside in and around northwestern China. In the past, Scarlet Mimic has primarily targeted individuals who belong to these minority groups as well as their supporters, but we've recently found evidence to indicate the group also targets individuals working inside government anti-terrorist organizations. We suspect these targets are selected based on their access to information about the targeted minority groups.
In the following sections we will describe selected attacks we have identified and who their likely targets are. We will also provide detailed analysis of the latest variants of the malware they deploy (known as FakeM) as well as other associated tools that allow Scarlet Mimic to target Android and OS X devices.
Attacks launched by this group were publicly exposed on 2013 in a Trend Micro report about the FakeM Trojan. Since that reports release, Scarlet Mimic has deployed two additional versions of the malware. They have also deployed nine separate "loader" Trojans they use to infect systems with their backdoor.
The majority of attacks we associate with Scarlet Mimic follow the pattern shown in Figure 1.
The attacker sends a spear-phishing e-mail with a subject and body content that appeal to the targeted user. This e-mail carries an attachment, which is typically a document that exploits a Microsoft Office vulnerability. The attachment uses a file name that is related to the e-mail content to trick the user into opening it. If the user opens the file and the exploitation is successful, a backdoor Trojan is installed on the system that gives the attacker access and a decoy document is displayed to the victim. Decoy documents are typically non-malicious versions of the content the user expected to see when opening the attachment.
Many of the targets and spoofed or compromised sending e-mail addresses have contact information on the Internet. The apparent sender email usually appears to be someone associated with the accompanying text, when appropriate, while the target emails are usually also available online tied to target organizations. A small subset of the decoys could not be found online and may be from previous compromises by Scarlet Mimic.
Many attackers deploy this particular pattern, as it is often successful at infecting a user without alerting the user of the infection. This is the exact same pattern, for example, deployed by the attackers in Operation Lotus Blossom.
We have identified spear phishing documents from Scarlet Mimic exploiting the following vulnerabilities.
We also know Scarlet Mimic uses a number of toolkits to create documents that contain exploit code to install the FakeM payload on a compromised system. Unit 42 tracks the toolkits delivering FakeM under the names MNKit, WingD and Tran Duy Linh. These kits appear to be used by many attack groups, and they alone are not a good indication of Scarlet Mimic activity.
Even when no software vulnerability is exploited, the attacks still typically include a decoy document. The content of most of the decoy documents appear to be available on the open Internet, and the attackers typically made small modifications to them.
Many of the targets and spoofed or compromised sending accounts have contact information on the Internet. The apparent sender email usually appears to be someone associated with the accompanying text, when appropriate, while the target emails are usually also available online tied to target organizations. A small subset of the decoys could not be found online and may be from previous compromises by Scarlet Mimic. The overarching decoy themes were Uyghur-related, anti-Putin, or Al-Qaeda-related. The decoys are often copied from think tanks or reputable news sources the targets would likely frequent.
In one instance, the threat actors used content from a New York Times article (Figure 2) on the same day it was published.
Figure 3 shows one of the more common themes used to target Uyghurs and those interested in their cause. Multiple attacks used press releases or other content related to the World Uyghur Congress.
In July of 2015, we identified a full e-mail uploaded to an antivirus scanning service that carried a Scarlet Mimic exploit document. In this case (Figure 4) the recipient of the e-mail was an individual working for the Russian Federal Security Service (fsb.ru). The e-mail body requests help dealing with threatening phone calls from an international gang.
Another attack, sent to an unknown target carried a decoy image (Figure 5) that compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.
In yet another case, the threat actors used a conference notification from one organization (Figure 6a) and modified it to appear as thought it was for an "Islamic Country Muslim Religion Conference" (Figure 6b). This document was particularly poorly altered, as the registration form still contained multiple hints to indicate the document was fraudulent (Figure 6c).
In total we have collected over 40 individual decoy documents used in these attacks, far more than we can detail here.
We are aware of one case where Scarlet Mimic broke from the spear-phishing pattern described above. In 2013, the group deployed a watering hole attack, also known as a strategic web compromise to infect victims with their backdoor. The watering hole is an attack vector that involves compromising a website that targeted victims are likely to visit in order to infect and gain access to their systems. According to a blog by Websense, threat actors compromised the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago's website to host malicious code that exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer (CVE-2012-4969.) Microsoft patched this vulnerability in September 2012, suggesting that this watering hole attack used an older vulnerability, which aligns with the threat groups continued use of older vulnerabilities in their spear-phishing efforts.
First discussed in January 2013 in a Trend Micro whitepaper, FakeM is a Trojan that uses separate modules to perform its functionality. FakeM's functional code is shellcode-based and requires another Trojan to load it into memory and execute it. There are a variety of different Trojans used to load FakeM, some of which are more interesting than others. In this section, we will explore the loader Trojans followed by an analysis of the evolution of FakeM itself. We end this section with a discussion on tools related to FakeM and used by Scarlet Mimic.
It appears that the threat actors include the loader Trojans in some sort of builder application that allows actors to quickly create, configure and deploy payloads to execute FakeM. We believe this because many samples that execute FakeM have the same exact compilation time but different C2 servers, as seen in the example in Table 1. This suggests the actors compile a single sample and use a builder tool to configure individual samples on demand.
We used the loader Trojans to provide a general timeline for the development of FakeM samples, as FakeM is shellcode-based and does not contain any usable timestamps. The timestamps in the loader Trojans does not necessarily correspond to the usage of FakeM, but plotting the compile times of the loaders on a timeline shows an interesting trend. The scatter plot timeline in Figure 7 shows the known compilation times of the loader Trojans and the FakeM variant that it executed.
Based on the timeline, it appears that the actors were actively developing several of the loaders at the same time from 2009 until the early months of 2014. After the first quarter of 2014, it appears that the actors abandoned development of the older loaders in favor of FakeFish, BrutishCommand and SubtractThis. This does not mean that actors will not continue to use the older loaders, but it does suggest that the actors will continue including the newer or freshly developed loaders in updated builder applications.
The timeline also presents the possibility that the FakeM developers reacted to the release of Trend Micro's FakeM blog and whitepaper. Trend Micro published their analysis of the FakeM Trojan on January 17, 2013 (marked in Figure 7 by a red line) that discussed the original variant of FakeM. Shortly after, the original variant of FakeM drops off the timeline in favor of the SSL and Custom SSL variants. It is possible that the FakeM developers saw their tool was exposed and adapted it to avoid detection for continued use as a payload in attacks. We cannot be certain if the developers reacted specifically to Trend Micro's content, as it is possible that they were reacting to the increased antivirus detection rate of their tool that resulted from the exposure of the tool. Regardless of the specific stimulus, the reaction shows that the FakeM threat actors evolved to avoid detection/attribution and to continue their attack campaigns.
The timeline does have one noticeable outlier, specifically the FakeHighFive sample compiled in September 2009 that loaded a FakeM SSL sample. We believe this compile time is incorrect, as the C2 domain for this sample, specifically press.ufoneconference[.]com, was registered by the threat actor in February 2013. The registration of the C2 domain in February 2013 aligns with other compilation times of FakeM SSL, which leads us to the conclusion that the September 2009 compilation timestamp was modified and/or inaccurate.
Most of the related loader Trojans, such as CrypticConvo, PiggyBack, FullThrottle, FakeHighFive, FakeFish and RaidBase do little more than load encrypted FakeM shellcode (either from a PE resource or embedded data), decrypt it, and execute the resulting shellcode. Other related loading Trojans, such as SubtractThis, BrutishCommand and SkiBoot employ clever techniques worth discussing.
Calls TranslateAcceleratorA to check Windows message received is VK_SUBTRACT "-".
Calls the callback function set up in the SetTimer function if the user enters the minus "-" key.
This technique requires user interaction, which makes analysis in sandboxes more difficult.
The BrutishCommand loader uses a very interesting method to decrypt the FakeM functional code. The main function in this loader checks the command line arguments passed to it, and if there are none present it will obtain a random number between 0-9 and create a new process using the same executable with this random number as a command line argument.
If the executable has a command line argument, the Trojan subjects the value to a hashing algorithm and compares the hash to 0x20E3EEBA. If the value matches the static hash, the executable will subject the command line argument to a second algorithm that will produce a value that the Trojan will use as the decryption key to decrypt the embedded FakeM shellcode. It essentially brute forces its own decryption key by rerunning itself over and over until it runs with the correct value is provided on the command line. Unit 42 had not seen this technique used by other malware families and it introduces a challenging hurdle when attempting to analyze or debug the loader Trojan.
SkiBoot reads the master boot record (MBR) of the system to determine the XOR key that it will use to decrypt the FakeM shellcode. It carries out this functionality by calling the ReadFile function to read 512-bytes from "\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0" and specifically uses the last byte of the MBR as the encryption key. The last byte of the MBR is "\xAA", or the second byte of "\x55\xAA", which is the boot signature portion of the MBR.
Instead of using ReadFile, one variant of this loader reads the MBR using DeviceIOControl using the ID_CMD control code, and accesses a specific offset to obtain the value that it will rotate each byte in the ciphertext within the decryption algorithm. The significance of using DeviceIOControl is that the VMware hypervisor responds to this API call with a blank buffer instead of the MBR, whereas the Virtualbox hypervisor returns the MBR correctly. It appears that this loader is specifically using the DeviceIOControl API function as a VMware detection technique, suggesting that the developers are well versed in the nuances of the VMware hypervisor and virtual machine evasion.
Since being originally exposed in 2013, authors of FakeM have continuously made changes to the FakeM codebase, resulting in multiple variants. Before elaborating on the different variants of FakeM, there are many similarities that remain throughout the various iterations. The architecture has not changed during the evolution of FakeM, as a modular framework exists in each variant, as seen in Figure 8. The FakeM main module is responsible for launching embedded modules, such as a keylogger or for gathering sensitive files. The main module is also responsible for communicating with its C2 servers and handling commands issued by the C2 server.
All FakeM variants initiate communications with its C2 server and check the C2's response for a command. Also, all FakeM variants share a common command handler with the same capabilities, as seen in Table 2. The limited command set suggests that FakeM's functionality is obtained by additional assembly code provided by the C2 server with the 0x211 command. According to Trend Micro's initial analysis on FakeM, threat actors delivered and ran additional code that provided further capabilities to the Trojan, such as the ability to run shell commands, steal passwords, capture the screen and upload files.
0x211 Run assembly code directly from the C2.
0x212 Idle. Attempts to receive another command immediately instead of sleeping for 30 seconds.
0x213 Sets a flag to end the session with the C2. This will force the Trojan to reestablish a session with the C2.
Now that we have covered the commonalities between FakeM variants, the following sections will dive into the specific variants of FakeM. Unit 42 categorizes the different variations of FakeM based on the method used to communicate with the C2 server, which has changed dramatically over the years.
The original variant of FakeM generates network beacons to its C2 server that begin with a 32-byte header that in most cases is meant to blend into network traffic generated by legitimate applications. Following this 32-byte header, the original variant of FakeM includes data encrypted using a custom encryption cipher that uses an XOR key of "YHCRA" and bit rotation between each XOR operation.
The original variant includes the FakeM discovered and published by Trend Micro in 2013, in which the authors of FakeM first attempted to evade detection of its C2 communications by pretending to be generated by legitimate messenger applications, such as MSN and Yahoo! messengers. Figures 9 and 10 show FakeM attempting to resemble MSN or Yahoo! Messenger traffic, as the first 32-bytes contain data that resemble legitimate traffic generated by these chat programs.
In addition to emulating chat programs, FakeM has also included HTML code within the 32-byte header. As you can see in Figure 11, the overall structure of the beacon did not change, rather the only differences is the data in the header contains HTML tags. The HTML data in the header led Unit 42 to a whitepaper published by Malware.lu that suggested the MSN, Yahoo, and HTML versions of the original variant of FakeM all share a common server application that the threat actors use to build samples and control infected systems.
In October 2013, FireEye published a blog about a sample of FakeM that did not use fake messenger or HTML data in the first 32 bytes of the C2 traffic, but instead used four repeating bytes to fill this portion of the packet, as seen in Figure 12. Unit 42 tracks this under the original variant, as it uses the same algorithm to encrypt the data and otherwise shares a common structure to the MSN, Yahoo, and HTML versions with the exception of the modification to the first 32 bytes.
While performing infrastructure analysis on FakeM original variants, we came across shared infrastructure with domains that hosted C2 servers for malware samples that did not match the known FakeM communication protocols. Palo Alto Networks WildFire had analyzed many samples associated with these related C2 domains, all of which communicated with the C2 server using secure sockets layer (SSL). To determine the malware family that was generating this traffic, Unit 42 analyzed these samples and found that the functional code was the same as the original FakeM variant.
This discovery indicates the authors of FakeM introduced new code to the Trojan in order to use SSL to communicate with its C2 server. The drastic change in C2 channel warranted a new variant name, and we dubbed it "FakeM SSL". During the analysis of these samples we did not find any operational C2 servers to complete a handshake to establish a SSL session. During the handshake, the FakeM SSL samples will tell the server it supports 36 different cipher suites even though the samples appear to only support one. Unit 42 believes the cipher suite within the FakeM SSL variants uses Diffie-Hellman for key exchange and the RC4 cipher to encrypt the C2 communications.
This new variant of FakeM shared the same functional code as its predecessors, but again the communications with the C2 dramatically differed from the other variants. Communications between this variant and the C2 server leverage what Unit 42 believes is modified SSL code, as the code is very similar to the FakeM SSL variant. The code appears to use Diffie-Hellman for key exchange and the RC4 algorithm like FakeM SSL; however, the initial packet sent to the C2 server did not contain a "client hello" message, which is required to initiate an SSL handshake. Instead, the initial packet sent data as seen in Figure 13.
This variant of FakeM skips the traditional SSL handshake, which involves an agreement on a cipher suite to use to encrypt communications. The FakeM code only supports one cipher suite, which makes the cipher suite agreement portion of the SSL handshake irrelevant. Instead, FakeM creates a session with its C2 server by exchanging keys. The lack of a valid handshake makes detection of this C2 stream difficult, as the packets sent between the Trojan and the C2 to establish this session contain random binary data. Network devices will also be unable to perform any SSL decryption due to the lack of detection and the inability to determine the cipher suite used to encrypt the data. Figure 14 below provides a visual depiction of the handshake procedure and the subsequent beacon and command messages.
The handshake starts with a key exchange, which the Trojan initiates by creating a 2048-byte buffer that it will store its key (128-bytes, followed by null values as seen in Figure 13) and sending its key to the C2 server. The C2 will respond with its own key (also 128-bytes, followed by null values) that the Trojan will store and use to encrypt future communications.
Once this key exchange is complete, the Trojan acknowledges the receipt of the server's key by sending another 2048-byte packet to the server. To build the acknowledgement packet, the Trojan creates a 2048-byte buffer filled with null values and copies the string "ws32.dll" to offset 8 and encrypts the buffer with the server's key.
The Trojan will encrypt this data using the key provided by the C2 and send it to the server. The Trojan will then wait for the C2 to respond, which it will decrypt and parse for FakeM commands. Unit 42 has been unable extract any plug-ins from C2 network traffic; however, several FakeM custom SSL samples contain embedded plug-ins that run without interaction with the C2 server. Also, Unit 42 was able to extract several modules from the original FakeM server application, as seen in Table 3. All of these modules are shellcode-based plug-ins that would work with the custom SSL variant of FakeM with little to no modification.
CallMe is a Trojan designed to run on the Apple OSX operating system. This Trojan was delivered in targeted attacks on Uyghur activists in 2013 and used infrastructure associated with FakeM.
In February 2013, AlienVault performed analysis on the CallMe Trojan and found that it is based on a tool called Tiny SHell, an OSX shell tool whose source code is available on the Internet. The Trojan uses AES to encrypt the communication channel its C2 server, which will provide one of three commands to carry out activities on the compromised system, as seen in Table 4.
1 Get a file from the system and upload it to the C2 server.
2 Put a file on the system from the C2 server. File is saved to a specified filename in <HOME directory>/downloads/.
3 Create a reverse shell to interact with the compromised system.
The infrastructure overlap between FakeM and CallMe involves the fully qualified domain name (FDQN) of "googmail.org", which was used by both FakeM and CallMe samples. This suggests that not only do these threat actors have the ability to compromise victims running the Microsoft Windows operating system, but they can also target individuals running Apple's OSX as well.
During infrastructure analysis of FakeM Custom SSL variants, Unit 42 found infrastructure overlaps between FakeM and another new, previously unreported Trojan that we named "Psylo". Psylo is a tool that allows threat actors to upload and download files to and from a compromised system, as well as execute commands and applications on the system. The name Psylo is an anagram from the mutex created when initially running this payload, which is 'hnxlopsyxt'.
Psylo is similar to FakeM in that they are both shellcode-based, and they have similar configurations and C2 communication channels. As you can see from the following two configuration structures, Psylo and FakeM have similar configurations with only the array length of the C2 locations being different.
Both use SSL to communicate with their C2 servers, and it appears they share common code to carry out the Diffie Hellman key exchange. We compared the Diffie Hellman code from Psylo with FakeM custom SSL variant and found that they were very similar, but the FakeM samples had some of the functionality within sub-functions, which rendered binary diffing between the two Trojans impossible.
Another slight difference involves how Psylo and FakeM generate random numbers for SSL. FakeM uses QueryPerformanceCounter to create a random number, whereas Psylo uses CryptGenRandom, both of which generate random numbers 68 bytes long. Interesting enough is that CryptGenRandom calls RtlGenRandom, which uses QueryPerformanceCounter along with other system attributes to generate a random number.
Unit 42 does not consider Psylo another variant of FakeM because Psylo has a command handler that differs dramatically from FakeM. Table 5 shows the Psylo command handler, which suggests it is less modular and supports more embedded functionality when compared to FakeM. It is possible that the threat actors created this Trojan as a standalone alternative to FakeM.
0 Idles for 10 seconds.
2 Enumerate all storage devices.
3 Find all files that starts with a particular string (%s*.*).
5 Creates a file to write to, deleting it if it already exists. Combined with 'E' command to download a file to the system.
E Writes data from C2 to a file opened using the '5' command. Combined with '5' command to download a file to the system.
6 Reads a file, which effectively uploads the file to the C2.
7 Delete a specified file.
8 Execute a command using WinExec. Responds to C2 with 's' if successful or 'r' if unsuccessful.
9 Timestomps. Sets a specified file's timestamps to match that of a system file in the System32 directory.
Another discovery we made while researching this blog is an overlap between Psylo infrastructure and a Trojan focused on compromising Android mobile devices. Unit 42 tracks this mobile Trojan as MobileOrder, as the authors specifically refer to commands within the app as orders. The connection between FakeM, Psylo, and MobileOrder suggest that Scarlet Mimic is now expanding their espionage efforts from PCs to mobile devices, which marks a major shift in tactics.
An Android geographical location SDK provided by AMAP.
Actor developed code that carries out Trojan's functionality.
The malware uses the AMAP SDK to get accurate location of infected devices by GPS, mobile network (such as base stations), WiFi and other information. MobileOrder acts on instructions provided by its C2 server, which it communicates with over TCP port 3728. All C2 communications are encrypted with the AES algorithm using a key generated by computing five MD5 hashes starting with the key "1qazxcvbnm", and adding a salt value of ".)1/" in each iteration.
The C2 server will respond to requests from MobileOrder with commands that the Trojan refers to as "orders". MobileOrder contains a command handler with functionality that provides a fairly robust set of commands, as seen in Table 6. The first byte of data provided by the C2 server is order number, which is followed by the encrypted data that needed to carry out the specific order.
24 Order_HostInfo Upload device information including IMEI, IMSI, SIM card serial number, phone number, Android version, device manufacturer, device model, SD card size, network type, device locking status, country, carrier, time zone, language, install app list, browser bookmarks, etc.
27 Order_DownLoad Download specified file to SD card's Android/data/tmp/ directory.
59 Order_GetLoc Upload information about network operator, MCC, MNC, network type, GSM cell location, CID, LAS, BSSS, etc. This information can be used to locate the device.
60 Order_GetGps Upload GPS location by AMAP SDK.
There is some infrastructure overlap in the C2 servers used by almost all of the FakeM variants, as well other Trojans such as MobileOrder, Psylo, and CallMe. There are also infrastructure ties between some FakeM variants and older activity using Trojans such as Elirks, Poison Ivy, and BiFrost, which were used in attacks as old as 2009. The domain names used to host C2 servers are a mix of actor-registered and Dynamic DNS (DDNS,) though most are DDNS. The DDNS domains in turn are linked to a small grouping of ASNs, with one ASN often largely tied to one FakeM variant. Most of the FakeM MSN C2s resolve to IP addresses associated with ASN 22781 (RBLHST – Reliablehosting.com). However, we found one MSN sample that shared infrastructure with some FakeM Custom SSL variants.
There is a similar overlap between FakeM MSN, FakeM HTML, and FakeM SSL. The registrant email xsldmt@xj163[.]cn was used to register several domains used as C2s: yourturbe[.]org, websurprisemail[.]com and googmail[.]org. One of these domains was also used in the 2013 CallMe activity at the same time it was being used for FakeM MSN samples. The targeting and decoy style also matches with the FakeM activity.
The overlap between Elirks, FakeM SSL, Psylo, and MobileOrder exists entirely in their command and control infrastructure, through domain names and/or IP resolution. Samples of these three used some of the same C2 domains, notably lenovositegroup[.]com, ufoneconference[.]com, and websurprisemail[.]com, while some resolution overlap includes 118.193.212[.]12, 210.206.219[.]241, and 59.188.239[.]117. Similarly, some FakeM Yahoo C2 domains and FakeM Custom SSL C2 domains also have overlapping IP resolutions, notably 95.154.204[.]198.
This error message suggests that the HTRAN application running on 59.188.239.117 was unable to connect to the real C2 server hosted at 68.71.35.135.
Throughout this report, we have referenced multiple previous blogs and white papers, from Unit 42 and others, that have documented elements of this threat in the past. In addition to those documents readers may also find the following publications interesting.
In 2014, Citizen Lab released a paper on threats against civil society that referenced some of these attacks as the "Domain Name Family" or DNF.
Kaspersky Lab has produced excellent research on attacks against Uyghur and Tibetan activists. In 2013, they identified an Android Trojan that was also targeting these groups. Our analysis indicates this malware is different from the MobileOrder Trojan described above, but they serve very similar purposes.
On January 12, 2016, Cylance published a blog linking an exploit document to the group Mandiant refers to as APT2 and CrowdStrike as "Putter Panda." While there does appear to be a small overlap between IP addresses used in attacks from this group and those of Scarlet Mimic, our team has not concluded that these groups are one in the same.
The information discovered by Unit 42 and shared here indicates Scarlet Mimic is likely a well-funded and skillfully resourced cyber adversary. Scarlet Mimic has carried out attacks using both spear-phishing and watering holes since at least 2009 with increasingly advanced malware, and has deployed malware to attack multiple operating systems and platforms. Despite the apparent technical acumen, their decoy documents are typically not well crafted regardless of the use of the target's language, though they do use timely subject lures.
Palo Alto Networks customers are protected from Scarlet Mimic attacks through many components of our platform.
Threat Prevention signatures for the software vulnerabilities listed in this report are available to detect the exploit files during delivery.
Traps, our advanced endpoint solution, can prevent the software vulnerabilities listed in this report from being exploited on a Windows host.
WildFire classified all of the Android and Windows malware described in this report as malicious.
We have released anti-malware signatures for the files listed in this report.
The domain names used for command and control have been classified as malicious in PANDB.


text:
Q: Probability of drawing all red balls before any green ball Question:
Suppose that a box contains $r$ red balls, $g$ green balls,
and $b$ blue balls. Suppose also that balls are drawn from
the box one at a time, at random, without replacement.
What is the probability that all $r$ red balls will be obtained
before any green balls are obtained?
Solution(Partial):
I know this solution for $1$ red, $1$ green and $1$ blue balls:
$$\begin{array}{c|l|c}
\color{red}{red} & \color{green}{green} & \color{blue}{blue}  \\
\hline \\
\color{blue}{blue} & \color{red}{red} & \color{green}{green}  \\
\hline \\
\color{red}{red} & \color{green}{green} & \color{blue}{blue}   \\\hline \\
\color{green}{green} & \color{red}{red} & \color{blue}{blue}    \\\hline \\\color{green}{green} & \color{blue}{blue}  &  \color{red}{red} \\\hline \\ \color{blue}{blue}  & \color{green}{green} & \color{red}{red} \\
\end{array}$$
This means,that there are $3$ outcomes for this event with the sample space of $6$.So, probability is $\frac{1}{2}$.
But I don't know how to generalize this.
Please help.Thank you.

A: To count the sequences of $r+b+g$ draws in which all of the red balls precede all of the green balls, note that they are obtained by starting with the sequence
$$\underbrace{RR\ldots RR}_r\underbrace{GG\ldots GG}_g$$
and inserting the $b$ blue balls arbitrarily into the sequence. This is a straightforward stars-and-bars problem; the link has both a formula and a pretty decent explanation of it, but if you have questions, leave a comment. Bear in mind that in any given sequence the $r$ red balls can actually be arranged in $r!$ orders, the blue balls in $b!$, and the green balls in $g!$, so that a given sequence of colors actually corresponds to $r!b!g!$ different sequences of balls drawn. However, since this is the same for each sequence of colors, it does no harm to count sequences of colors instead of sequences of balls.
Once you have that, you need only count the possible sequences of colors. You have to choose $r$ positions for the red balls, $b$ for the blue balls, ...

A: The presence of blues is not relevant to the probability. Imagine that the reds and greens are all distinct, and lined up in a row at random.  We remove them one at a time, starting on the left.
There are $(r+g)!$ equally likely ways that the balls can be arranged. There are $r!g!$ ways to arrange them so that the reds are all before the greens. Thus the required probability is $\dfrac{r!g!}{(r+g)!}$.
This can be rewritten more compactly as $\dfrac{1}{\binom{r+g}{r}}$.

A: Here is a variation on Brian's answer. The ball colors can occur in ${(r+g+b)!\over r!g!b!}$ distinct orders, all of which are equally likely to occur.
We now count the number of "good" orders. Start with $r+g+b$ blank spaces and choose $b$ of them to be filled with blue balls. The remaining spaces can only be filled in one "good" way, so the number of good orders is $r+g+b\choose b$.
The required probability is $${{r+g+b\choose b} \over {(r+g+b)!\over r!g!b!}},$$ which  simplifies to the expression in André's answer.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Brandi Glanville calls Piper Perabo "horrible" over alleged Eddie Cibrian affair.
By Jawad Hussain
Brandi Glanville alleges that Eddie Cibrian "f–ked" Piper Perabo on the set of "The Cave" in 2005.
@credit socialmedia
"They made a movie together and [my son] Mason was 1 year old and I went to the set and it was in another country, Romania, I think," the 50-year-old "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" alum told The gyan in an exclusive interview.
"And [Perabo] was a horrible c—t to me," the "Unfiltered" host says.
Glanville says she felt uneasy seeing Perabo and Cibrian connect.
She alleges she was flirting with Eddie in front of her. "Am I here? Am I alone? What's happening?
Glanville, who married Cibrian in May 2001, says she made friends with "The Cave" crew members, who kept her updated on set.
"I made acquaintances on set and heard a lot," she says.
Glanville says she heard "that Piper and Eddie were f—king."
Glanville allegedly confronted Cibrian about the affair when he returned to Los Angeles after filming.
She recalls saying, "I'm leaving, blah blah, I'm out," when he got home.
Glanville ultimately made the decision, though, that she wouldn't give up—at least not yet.
King Charles is getting ready to give his first Christmas speech, and he says he will feel pressure to do it well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Today, Apple announced the arrival of the main app made utilizing CareKit, an open programming stage that gives designers a chance to make iPhone applications that can individuals oversee different medicinal conditions and impart data to their specialists. Among the four applications released today is one that helps clients deal with their diabetes, and one that individuals can use to track side effects of gloom.
Another Smartwatch is coming in the market in the end of April 2016. Motorola has reported that the Moto 360 Sport will be dispatching in India on April 27. The waterproof smartwatch made its presentation last September, offering an Any Light show that gives you a chance to see the screen under splendid conditions, alongside an implicit GPS that can gauge speed, separation, and pace, and in addition a heart rate sensor.


If anyone was unsure what Iran's supreme leader thought of President Trump's offer to hold talks after the USA reimposed "the most biting sanctions" on Iran last week, all doubt has been removed, per Reuters.
The U.S. government last week reinstated a raft of economic sanctions that had been waived as part of the Iran JCPOA nuclear deal of 2015.
Iran's supreme leader has ordered a purge of banking and finance officials in response to its economic crisis after the head of the judiciary said that the country was facing "economic war". The sanctions target Iran's trade in gold and other precious metals, its purchases of USA dollars and its vehicle industry. "More than the sanctions, economic mismanagement [by the government] is putting pressure on ordinary Iranians", he noted.
But Khamenei criticised conservatives who called for Rouhani's resignation, saying they were inadvertently "playing into the hands of the enemy".
"With better management and more efficient planning we can resist the sanctions and overcome them", Khamenei said, in an apparent effort to deflect public anger over the deteriorating economy toward Rouhani's government.
Harvick was the dominating force in the Consumers Energy 400 as he proved to the be the most consistent driver the entire day. Keelan got the checkered flag and then got a special lift into the "passenger" side of the auto for the ride to Victory Lane.
A fortnight ago, Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari told Rouhani to take "revolutionary actions to control prices and prevent the enormous increase in the price of foreign currency and gold", in an open letter published by the conservative Tasnim news agency.
"The corrupt people (officials) should be punished firmly", Khamenei said on Monday.
As Middle East Eye reported last month, the govenrment's attempt to unify the dollar's official and black market exchange rates completely backfired.
Thousands of Iranians have protested in recent weeks against sharp rises in the prices of some food items, a lack of jobs and state corruption. Trump has also threatened to penalize companies that continue to operate in Iran. They also ban purchases of U.S. dollars by Iran and sanction its automotive sector.
He spent much of last season on the treatment table, watching Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold flourish in his position. Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll will look to net a goal or two against his former club on his return to Anfield .
Scientists have also moved to save J-50, another whale in the endangered pod. "Orcas. are charismatic megafauna", she said. Researchers had hoped to perform a necropsy on J35's dead calf but that is likely not possible now.
Trump in new Omarosa tape: "Nobody even told me about it"
You know , they run a big operation, but I didn't know it. "I'm not going to get into the tick-tock of who knew what and when". Manigault Newman questioned who holds power in the White House . "I would rarely see her but heard".
But he reiterated his threat that tariffs on auto imports could be in store for the USA neighbor to the north: "Canada must wait". President Donald Trump is renewing his attack on Canada over trade. "Canada must wait.
He also took higher interest rates off the table and said Turkey wouldn't accept an worldwide bailout. On Sunday, Germany's Economy Minister Peter Altmaier criticized the USA sanctions against Turkey .


text:
Q: Concurrency Issue in ISORequestListener I am using jpos library for transaction management(Spring boot project). I am implementing ISORequestListener as below.
@Component
public class MyRequestListner implements ISORequestListener, Configurable {

    protected String var1;
    protected String var2;

    @Override
    public void setConfiguration(Configuration cfg) throws ConfigurationException {
        var1 = cfg.get("var1");
        var2 = cfg.get("var2");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean process(ISOSource source, ISOMsg m) {
        Context ctx = new Context();
        ctx.put("ctx1", var1);
        ctx.put("ctx2", var2);
        return true;
    }
}

On running SonarQube (code analyzing tool), I got the error message as:

Annotate global variables with "@Autowired", "@Resource", "@Inject", or "@Value", or don't use on Spring @Component, @Controller, @Service, and @Repository classes.
Spring @Component, @Controller, @Service, and @Repository classes are singletons by default, meaning only one instance of the class is ever instantiated in the application.
Such a class might have a few static members, such as a logger, but all non-static members should be managed by Spring. That is, they should have one of these annotations: @Resource, @Inject, @Autowired or @Value.

Does this cause any concurrency issue(or thread issue) or internally handled by jpos? What could be the correct implementation if it really causes the problem?

A: Not a problem if you run jPOS within its own Q2 micro-kernel. If that's not the case, I'm afraid you're mostly on your own. Running inside Q2 is extremely simple, it's a one liner: new Q2().start(); that you can run from any other framework, and then let Q2 configure your jPOS components.


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Herbal Treasures from the Amazon Part 1
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Native America: Reigniting the Rainforest Fires
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Undiscovered Riches by Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D
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Plants Properties and Actions
Genus: Cynara
Species: scolymus
Synonyms: None
Common Names: Globe artichoke, alcachofra, alcachofera, artichaut, tyosen-azami
Price: £22.50 – 1lb / 454 gm Bag
Part Used: Leaves, flowers
From The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs:
HERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS
Main Actions Other Actions Standard Dosage
dries secretions
supports heart
Infusion: 1-3 cups daily
stimulates bile
cleanses blood
Liquid Extract: 2-3 ml with
supports liver
increases urination
each meal
supports gallbladder
Capsules: 2-3 g 3 times daily
enhances digestion
Standardized Extracts:
fights free radicals
follow label directions
detoxifies
Alcachofra is the Brazilian name for the globe artichoke. A member of the milk thistle family, it grows to a height of about 2 m and produces a large, violet-green flower head. The flower petals and fleshy flower bottoms are eaten as a vegetable throughout the world, which has led to its commercial cultivation in many parts of South and North America (chiefly California) as well as in Europe. The artichoke was used as a food and medicine by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; in Rome, the artichoke was an important menu item at feasts. It wasn't until the fifteenth century, however, that it made its appearance throughout Europe.
Tribal & Herbal Medicine Uses
Artichoke has been used in traditional medicine for centuries as a specific liver and gallbladder remedy. In Brazilian herbal medicine systems, leaf preparations are used for liver and gallbladder problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, anemia, diarrhea (and elimination in general), fevers, ulcers, and gout. In Europe, it is also used for liver and gallbladder disorders; in several countries, standardized herbal drugs are manufactured and sold as prescription drugs for high cholesterol and digestive and liver disorders. Other uses around the world include treatment for dyspepsia and chronic albuminuria. In France, a patent has been filed that describes an artichoke extract for treating liver disease, high cholesterol levels, and kidney insufficiency. In all herbal medicine systems where it is employed, artichoke is used to increase bile production in the liver, increase the flow of bile from the gallbladder, and to increases the contractive power of the bile duct. These bile actions are beneficial in many digestive, gallbladder, and liver disorders. Artichoke is also often used to mobilize fatty stores in the liver and detoxify it, and as a natural aid to lower cholesterol.
Plant Chemicals
The artichoke is popular for its pleasant bitter taste, which is attributed mostly to a plant chemical called cynarin found in the green parts of the plant. Cynarin is considered one of artichoke's main biologically active chemicals. It occurs in the highest concentration in the leaves of the plant, which is why leaf extracts are most commonly employed in herbal medicine. Other documented "active" chemicals include flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, polyphenols and caffeoylquinic acids.
In the 1970s, European scientists first documented cynarin's ability to lower cholesterol in humans. Over the years, other researchers have continued to document artichoke's or cynarin's effect in this area. One of the more recent studies, published in 2000, was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study that used an artichoke leaf extract that was standardized to its cynarin content. For six weeks, 143 patients with high cholesterol were given the extract; at the end of the test, results showed a decrease of 10%-15% in total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), and ratio of LDL to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Scientists now report that the cholesterol-lowering effect of artichoke can be attributed to chemicals other than just cynarin, including several newly discovered ones.
The liver detoxifying and protective properties of artichoke first came to the attention of researchers in 1966 (in a study that supported its effect on liver regeneration in rats). A 1987 study that focused on the effects of rat liver cells subjected to harmful chemical agents found both cynarin and caffeic acids (both in artichoke) to have significant protective effects.
Artichoke's main plant chemicals are caffeic acid, caffeoylquinic acids, caryophyllene, chlorogenic acid, cyanidol glucosides, cynaragenin, cynarapicrin, cynaratriol, cynarin, cynarolide, decanal, eugenol, ferulic acid, flavonoids, folacin, glyceric acid, glycolic acid, heteroside-B, inulin, isoamerboin, lauric acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, luteolin glucosides, myristic acid, neochlorogenic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, phenylacetaldehyde, pseudotaraxasterol, scolymoside, silymarin, sitosterol, stearic acid, stigmasterol, and taraxasterol.
Biological Activities & Clinical Research
Investigations are still being conducted on artichoke's beneficial effects on liver and gallbladder functions. The most recently documented finding, in 2002, noted that an artichoke leaf extract reversed damage done by harmful chemicals in rat liver cells and, in doing so, enhanced bile production.
A portion of artichoke's liver protective properties is thought to be attributed to its documented antioxidant actions. A 2002 study focused on the antioxidant effects of artichoke extract in cultured blood vessel cells and reported that the extract demonstrated "marked protective properties against oxidative stress induced by inflammatory mediators . . ." Artichoke's antioxidant properties were also confirmed in an earlier (2000) study that focused on human white blood cells under various induced oxidative stresses.
A 1999 clinical investigation focused on gallbladder function. It "showed the efficacy and safety of artichoke extracts (Cynara scolymus L.) in the treatment of hepatobiliary dysfunction and digestive complaints, such as sensation of fullness, loss of appetite, nausea and abdominal pain." A 2000 study took this notion a step further. It was known that artichoke extract was indicated for dyspepsia, a digestive disorder involving the esophagus, duodenum, and upper gastrointestinal tract, but there are many symptom overlaps between dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A subgroup of patients with IBS was distilled from the dyspepsia study group and was monitored for 6 weeks after the original study had ended. Of the IBS patients, 96% rated artichoke leaf extract as better than or at least equal to previous therapies administered for their IBS symptoms.
Current Practical Uses
The history of artichoke is a perfect example of science finally catching up to the longstanding traditional uses of a medicinal plant. While scientists still argue today over which specific chemical or group of chemicals is responsible for each documented beneficial action, the traditional uses for high cholesterol, as well as for liver, gallbladder, and digestive disorders, are being validated. While many Europeans still have to see their doctors for an artichoke extract prescription, concentrated natural leaf extracts and standardized extracts are widely available in the United States at health food stores. With the growing American trend to find more natural and healthy alternatives, these products will probably gain in popularity as consumers learn more of the most recent research studies. However, the most effective method to control cholesterol is with a sensible diet. Unfortunately, there are no magic bullets.
ARTICHOKE PLANT SUMMARY
Main Actions (in order): liver and gallbladder bile stimulant, hepatoprotective (liver protector), antihepatotoxic (liver detoxifier), hypocholesterolemic (lowers cholesterol)Main Uses:
for gallstones and as a liver and gallbladder bile stimulant
for high cholesterol
for digestive disorders
for irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, and other bowel problems
to support liver function
Properties/Actions Documented by Research: antihepatotoxic (clears toxins in liver), antioxidant, liver and gallbladder bile stimulator, hepatoprotective (liver protector), hepatotonic (tones, balances, strengthens the liver), hypocholesterolemic (lowers cholesterol)Other Properties/Actions Documented by Traditional Use: astringent, blood cleanser, cardiotonic (tones, balances, strengthens the heart), detoxifier, digestive stimulant, diuretic, hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), stimulant, tonic (tones, balances, strengthens) Cautions: none
Traditional Preparation: Traditionally, 1 to 3 cups of a standard leaf infusion are taken daily after meals; 3-4 ml of a concentrated 4:1 liquid extract, or 3-5 g daily of dried herb in capsules, or tablets can be substituted, if desired. With standardized extract products, follow the instructions on the product label.
Contraindications: None reported for internal use. Dermatitis following contact with the fresh plant and leaves has been reported.
Artichoke has been documented in traditional uses to be hypoglycemic; however, no clinical studies have been published to confirm this action. Diabetics and people with hypoglycemia should use this plant product with caution and monitor their blood sugar levels closely in anticipation of these possible effects.
Drug Interactions: Artichoke extracts have been documented to lower blood cholesterol in human and animal studies and, as such, may potentiate the effects of cholesterol-lowering and statin drugs.
WORLDWIDE ETHNOMEDICAL USES
Brazil for acne, anemia, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, asthma, bile insufficiency, blood cleansing, bronchitis, diabetes, diarrhea, dyspepsia, digestive disorders, dandruff, fever, flatulence, gallbladder disorders, gallstones, gout, heart function, hemorrhage, hemorrhoids, high cholesterol, hypertension, hyperglycemia, inflammation, kidney insufficiency, liver disorders, nephritis, obesity, prostatitis, rheumatism, seborriasis, ulcers, urethritis, urinary disorders, and as an astringent and vasoconstrictor
Dominican Republic for bile insufficiency, digestive problems, gallbladder disorders
Europe for bile insufficiency, cancer, detoxification, dyspepsia, gallbladder disorders, high cholesterol, hyperglycemia, jaundice, liver disorders, nausea
Haiti for edema, hypertension, kidney disorders, liver problems, urinary insufficiency
Mexico for cystitis, gallstones, hypertension, liver disorders
Elsewhere for diabetes, edema, rheumatism, urinary insufficiency
The above text has been printed from The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs by Leslie Taylor, copyrighted © 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, including websites, without written permission. † The statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information contained in this plant database file is intended for education, entertainment and information purposes only. This information is not intended to be used to diagnose, prescribe or replace proper medical care. The plant described herein is not intended to treat, cure, diagnose, mitigate or prevent any disease. Please refer to our Conditions of Use for using this plant database file and web site.
Referenced Quotes on Artichoke
1. "Alcachofra is Brazilian artichoke. It effectively flushes uric acid from the system and is used as a diuretic. It increases gall bladder secretions and is used as an auxiliary remedy for digestive disorders. Liver disorders, especially those associated with alcoholism and malaria benefit from Alcachofra. It is thought to have a cleansing and healing effect on both the liver and gall bladder. Alcachofra's high content of iron nourishes the blood. It has also been found to decrease cholesterol and blood pressure. Caution: Avoid if breast-feeding. Alcachofra may decrease milk production."
2. "Artichoke leaf has a reputation as a choleretic (stimulates bile), diuretic and general stimulant. It helps to neutralize excessive acid in the body. It has been used for jaundice and dropsy."
3. "ACTIONS: Aids elimination of uric acid, Fortifies liver and gallbladder, Nourishes blood. TRADITIONAL USE: Alcachofra (Brazilian Artichoke) has a cleansing and healing effect on the liver and gallbladder. Also know to neutralize acidity in the system. High in nutrients known to have diuretic effects. Flushes uric acid from the system. Augments the secretion of bile. Used as an auxiliary in the treatment of liver and digestive disorders. Nourishes the blood and relieves arterial pressure. Helpful in treating rheumatoid arthritis. MERIDIAN INDICATIONS: Clears liver congestion, Nourishes liver blood, Increases Kidney Yang EAV POINTS: Liver, Gallbladder, Spleen."
14. "Artichoke extract and/or cynarin, the main active consituent, has cholagogue [increases bile production by the liver]/ choleretic [increases flow of bile from the gallbladder] / choliokinetic action [ increases the contractive power of the bile duct].
Research has shown that caffeic acid, a component of cynarin, is almost as effective as pure cynarin, suggesting that caffeic acid is the substance responsible for the choleretic action.
Artichoke has been shown to increase the production and volume of bile flow by as much as four times normal in a 12-hour period.
Artichoke protects liver from poisonous effects of toxins in a manner similar to silymarin from milk thistle. It is able to prevent liver damage from the same wide range of poisons as milk thistle. Artichoke extract is also able to stimulate the regeneration of liver cells in much the same manner as does silymayin. The usefulness of artichoke for preventing blood and liver cholesterol elevation in the presence of toxins such as alcohol is also of note. Application in today's world would also include the prevention of liver damage due to air-, water- and food-borne toxins. A French patent describes an artichoke extract for treating liver disease, high cholesterol levels and kidney insufficiency. Cynarin, and not pure caffeic acid, appears to be the component most responsible for this action.
Artichoke has lipid-producing and anticholesterolemic action. Artichoke reduces blood fats. It reduces cholesterol and cholinesterase levels. In simplest terms, the net effect of artichoke extract appears to be the result of both an activation of and an interference with cholesterol metabolism. That is, it mobilizes fat stores from the liver and other tissues such as white adipose tissue, and these fats pour into the blood from which they are subsequently excreted from the body. Cynarin decreases the rate of cholesterol synthesis in the liver, enchances biliary excretion of cholesterol, and increases conversion towards the bile acids. Not only cholesterol but other blood fats such as triglycerides can be reduced through the use of artichoke."
15. "Scientific evidence supports the use of artichoke as a liver remedy. Cynarin is the active ingredient contained in the plant, and its highest concentration is in the leaves. According to reports, cynara (artichoke leaves) extract has demonstrated significant liver regenerating and protecting effects."
Third-Party Published Research on Artichoke
All available third-party research on artichoke can be found at PubMed. A partial listing of the published research on artichoke is shown below:
Anti-cholesterol Actions:
Bundy, R. et al. "Artichoke leaf extract (Cynara scolymus) reduces plasma cholesterol in otherwise healthy hypercholesterolemic adults: a randomized, double blind placebo controlled trial." Phytomedicine. 2008; 15(9): 668-75.
Lupattelli, G., et al. "Artichoke juice improves endothelial function in hyperlipemia." Life Sci. 2004 Dec; 76(7):775-82.
Thompson Coon, J. S., et al. "Herbs for serum cholesterol reduction: a systematic view." J. Fam. Pract. 2003; 52(6): 468-78.
Shimoda, H., et al. "Anti-hyperlipidemic sesquiterpenes and new sesquiterpene glycosides from the leaves of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.): structure requirement and mode of action." Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2003; 13(2): 223–28.
Gebhardt, R. "Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis in HepG2 cells by artichoke extracts is reinforced by glucosidase pretreatment." Phytother. Res. 2002; 16(4): 368–72.
Wegener, T. "The status of herbal antilipemic agents." Wien. Med. Wochenschr. 2002; 152(15-16): 412-7.
Englisch, W., et al. "Efficacy of artichoke dry extract in patients with hyperlipoproteinemia." Arzneimittelforschung 2000; 40(3): 260–65.
Gebhardt, R. "Anticholestatic activity of flavonoids from artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and of their metabolites." Med. Sci. Monit. 2001 May; 7 Suppl 1:316-20.
Gebhardt, R. "Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis in primary cultured rat hepatocytes by artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) extracts." J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1998; 286(3): 1122–28.
Brown, J. E., et al. "Luteolin-rich artichoke extract protects low density lipoprotein from oxidation in vitro." Free Radic. Res. 1990; 29(3): 247–55.
Wojcicki, J., et al. "Cynarin and hyperlipidemia" Wiad. Lek. 1977 Oct; 30(19): 1539-41
Pristautz, H., et al. "Cynarin in the modern management of hyperlipemia." Wien. Med. Wochenschr. 1975; 125(49): 705–9.
Montini, M., et al. "Controlled application of cynarin in the treatment of hyperlipemic syndrome. Observations in 60 cases." Arzneimittelforschung 1975; 25(8): 1311–14.
Bobnis, W., et al. "Case of primary hyperlipemia treated with cynarin." Wiad. Lek. 1973; 26(13): 1267–70.
Grogan, J. L., et al. "Potential hypocholesterolemic agents: dicinnamoyl esters as analogs of cynarin." J. Pharm. Sci. 1972; 61(5): 802–3.
Digestive Actions:
Verspohl, E., et al. "Effect of two artichoke extracts (36_U and 36_EB) on rat ileum (with respect to bowel syndrome) and the peristaltic threshold." Phytomedicine. 2008 Apr 16.
Emendorfer, F., et al. " Antispasmodic activity of fractions and cynaropicrin from Cynara scolymus on guinea-pig ileum." Biol. Pharm. Bull. 2005; 28(5): 902-4.
Emendorfer, F., et al. "Evaluation of the relaxant action of some Brazilian medicinal plants in isolated guinea-pig ileum and rat duodenum." J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci. 2005 Mar; 8(1): 63-8.
Wittemer, S. M., et al. " Bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of caffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids after oral administration of Artichoke leaf extracts in humans." Phytomedicine. 2005; 12(1-2): 28-38.
Bundy, R., et al. "Artichoke leaf extract reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and improves quality of life in otherwise healthy volunteers suffering from concomitant dyspepsia: a subset analysis." J. Altern. Complement. Med. 2004 Aug; 10(4): 667-9.
Holtmann, G., et al. "Efficacy of artichoke leaf extract in the treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia: a six-week placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicentre trial." Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 2003 Dec; 18(11-12): 1099-105.
Walker, A. F., et al. "Artichoke leaf extract reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in a post-marketing surveillance study." Phytother. Res. 2001; 15(1): 58-61.
Wegener, T., et al. "Pharmacological properties and therapeutic profile of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.)" Wien. Med. Wochenschr. 1999; 149(8-10): 241-7.
Actions on Gallstones & the Gallbladder:
Glasl, S., et al. "Choleretic effects of the Mongolian medicinal plant Saussurea amara in the isolated perfused rat liver." Planta Med. 2006 Dec 19;
Benedek, B., et al. "Choleretic effects of yarrow (Achillea millefolium S.L.) in the isolated perfused rat liver." Phytomedicine. 2006 Nov; 13(9-10): 702-6.
Hiner, A. N., et al. " Kinetic study of the effects of calcium ions on cationic artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) peroxidase: calcium binding, steady-state kinetics and reactions with hydrogen peroxide." Biochimie. 2004; 86(9-10): 667-76.
Saenz Rodriguez, T., et al. "Choleretic activity and biliary elimination of lipids and bile acids induced by an artichoke leaf extract in rats." Phytomedicine. 2002 Dec; 9(8): 687-93.
Gebhardt, R. "Anticholestatic activity of flavonoids from artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and of their metabolites." Med. Sci. Monit. 2001; (7) Suppl. 1: 316–20.
Liver Protective Actions:
Huber, R., et al. "Artichoke leave extract for chronic hepatitis C – a pilot study." Phytomedicine. 2009 Sep; 16(9): 801-4.
Tkachenko, E., et al."Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome: equality of pathogenetic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches." Eksp. Klin. Gastroenterol. 2008; (2): 92-6.
Mehmetçik, G., et al. "Effect of pretreatment with artichoke extract on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury and oxidative stress." Exp. Toxicol. Pathol. 2008 Sep; 60(6): 475-80.
Miccadei, S.,et al., "Antioxidative and apoptotic properties of polyphenolic extracts from edible part of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) on cultured rat hepatocytes and on human hepatoma cells." Nutr. Cancer. 2008; 60(2): 276-83.
Speroni, E., et al. "Efficacy of different Cynara scolymus preparations on liver complaints." J. Ethnopharmacol. 2003 Jun; 86(2-3): 203-11.
Betancor-Fernandez, A., et al. "Screening pharmaceutical preparations containing extracts of turmeric rhizome, artichoke leaf, devil's claw root and garlic or salmon oil for antioxidant capacity." J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 2003; 55(7): 981-6.
Gebhardt, R. "Prevention of taurolithate-induced hepatic bile canalicular distortions by HPLC-characterized extracts of artichoke (Cynara scolymus) leaves." Planta Med. 2002; 68(9): 776–79.
Aktay, G., et al. "Hepatoprotective effects of Turkish folk remedies on experimental liver injury." J. Ethnopharmacol. 2000 Nov; 73(1-2): 121-9.
Adzet, T., et al. "Hepatoprotective activity of polyphenolic compounds from Cynara scolymus against CCl4 toxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes." J. Nat. Prod. 1987; 50(4): 612–17.
Maros, T., et al. "Effects of Cynara scolymus extracts on the regeneration of rat liver. 1." Arzneimittelforschung 1966; 16(2): 127–29.
Antioxidant & Cellular Protective Actions:
Küçükgergin, C., et al. "Effect of Artichoke Leaf Extract on Hepatic and Cardiac Oxidative Stress in Rats Fed on High Cholesterol Diet." Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 2009 Aug 4.
Juzyszyn, Z., The effect of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) extract on ROS generation in HUVEC cells. Phytother. Res. 2008; 22(9): 1159-61.
Skarpanska-Stejnborn, A., et al. "The influence of supplementation with artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) extract on selected redox parameters in rowers." Int. J. Sport Nutr. Exerc. Metab. 2008 Jun; 18(3): 313-27.
Juzyszyn, Z., et al. "Effect of artichoke extract (Cynara scolymus L.) on palmitic-1-14C acid oxidation in rats." Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2008; 52(5): 589-94.
Li, H., et al. "Flavonoids from artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) up-regulate endothelial-type nitric-oxide synthase gene expression in human endothelial cells." J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 2004 Sep; 310(3): 926-32.
Stoev, S. D., et al. "Experimental mycotoxicosis in chickens induced by ochratoxin A and penicillic acid and intervention with natural plant extracts." Vet. Res. Commun. 2004 Nov; 28(8): 727-46.
Jimenez-Escrig, A., et al. "In vitro antioxidant activities of edible artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and effect on biomarkers of antioxidants in rats." J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003 Aug; 51(18): 5540-5.
Wang, M., et al. "Analysis of antioxidative phenolic compounds in artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.)." J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003 Jan; 51(3): 601-8.
Llorach, R., et al. "Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) byproducts as a potential source of health-promoting antioxidant phenolics." J. Agric. Food Chem. 2002 Jun; 50(12): 3458-64.
Cervellati, R., et al. "Evaluation of antioxidant activity of some natural polyphenolic compounds using the Briggs-Rauscher reaction method." J. Agric. Food Chem. 2002 Dec; 50(26): 7504-9.
Zapolska-Downar, D., et al. "Protective properties of artichoke (Cynara scolymus) against oxidative stress induced in cultured endothelial cells and monocytes." Life Sci. 2002; 71(24): 2897.
Perez-Garcia, F., et al. "Activity of artichoke leaf extract on reactive oxygen in human leukocytes." Free Rad. Res. 2000; 33(5): 661–65.
Gebhardt, R., et al. "Antioxidative and protective properties of extracts from leaves of the artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) against hydroperoxide-induced oxidative stress in cultured rat hepatocytes." Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 1997; 144(2): 279–86.
Antimicrobial Actions:
Yang, B., et al. "Metabolic profile of 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid in rats, an in vivo and in vitro study." Drug Metab. Dispos. 2005; 33(7): 930-6.
Zhu, X. F., et al. "Antifungal activity of Cynara scolymus L. extracts." Fitoterapia. 2005 ; 76(1): 108-11.
Zhu, X., et al. "Phenolic compounds from the leaf extract of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and their antimicrobial activities." J. Agric. Food Chem. 2004 Dec; 52(24): 7272-8.
ngredients: 100% pure artichoke leaves (Cynara scolymus). No binders, fillers or additives are used. It is organically cultivated in the Brazilian Amazon without any pesticides or fertilizers.
Suggested Use: This plant is best prepared as an infusion (tea): Use one teaspoon of powder for each cup of water. Pour boiling water over herb in cup and allow to steep 10 minutes. Strain tea (or allow settled powder to remain in the bottom of cup) and drink warm. It is traditionally taken 1 cup dosages, 2-3 times daily. For more complete instructions on preparing herbal infusions, see the Methods for Preparing Herbal Remedies Page.
Contraindications: None reported.
Drug Interactions: May enhance the effect of cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Tagged with: A specific liver and gallbladder remedy. In Brazilian herbal medicine systems • Anemia • Chronic Diarrhea • Diabetes • diarrhea and elimination in general • Fevers • high cholesterol • hypertension • leaf preparations are used for liver and gallbladder problems • Ulcers
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Midtown was once the definitive heart of gay Atlanta. As with many gayborhoods, high-priced condos and mainstream businesses have moved in, but for decades the intersection at 10th and Piedmont was the center of LGBTQ life, home to the Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse from 1993 to 2012. Nightlife hot spots like Backstreet and The Armory may have closed years ago, but neighborhood mainstays like Blake's on the Park, The Hideaway, Joe's on Juniper and Burkhart's continue to wave the flag. Smack dab in the center of the city, Midtown is still the best place to let loose on foot for a day or night out of museums, restaurants, bars and parks.


text:
Debunking top myths about the coronavirus
By Mayo Clinic News Network
Dear Mayo Clinic: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, I am hearing things about the virus and treatment options that seem to conflict with information I read early on. I'm not sure what information I can trust. Can you clear up some of the top myths regarding COVID-19?
Answer: The virus now known as COVID-19 is continuing to make headlines worldwide. Chances are that you have heard different theories about the virus, how it spreads and the severity of illness it causes. Information about COVID-19 has been changing rapidly as scientists are learning about the virus.
Below are the facts regarding some of the top myths:
Myth: Spikes in COVID-19 cases are because of increased testing.
Fact: The rise in infections is not related to increased testing. More concerning than the number of tests performed is the increasing percentage of positive results. This means that the virus is spreading quickly in communities.
COVID-19 testing is critical, as it helps people decide whether to self-isolate and guides health care providers' decisions for medical treatment. Widespread testing also allows local health departments to monitor the spread of the virus and make recommendations to schools and businesses.
Myth: Herd immunity can be achieved by letting the virus spread through the population.
Fact: Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community — the herd — becomes immune to a disease. This makes the spread from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.
There are some significant problems with relying on community infection to create herd immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19. First, it isn't yet clear if infection with the COVID-19 virus makes a person immune to future infection. If it does not create immunity, then the herd immunity concept will not work.
Even if COVID-19 infection creates long-lasting immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, a large number of people would have to become infected to reach the herd immunity threshold. Experts estimate that 70% of the U.S. population — more than 200 million people — would have to recover from COVID-19 to halt the epidemic. This amount of infection could lead to serious and potentially long-term complications and millions of deaths. And if many people become sick with COVID-19 at once, the health care system could quickly become overwhelmed.
Myth: Only the elderly or those with underlying health conditions will get very ill and require hospitalization for COVID-19.
Fact: People of all ages, including children, can contract COVID-19 and could be hospitalized due to the severity of their illness. The risk of developing dangerous symptoms from COVID-19 may be greater in people who are older or in people of any age who have other serious health problems, such as heart or lung conditions, weakened immune systems, severe obesity, or diabetes.
Myth: COVID-19 is no worse than the seasonal flu.
Fact: It is likely that you may have heard that COVID-19 is similar to the flu. While people with COVID-19 and the flu may share some common symptoms, after closer comparison, the viruses have been found to affect people differently and they have a number of differences.
Symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu appear at different times. COVID-19 symptoms generally appear two to 14 days after exposure. Flu symptoms usually appear about one to four days after exposure. With COVID-19, you may experience loss of taste or smell.
COVID-19 appears to be more contagious and spread more quickly than the flu. Severe illnesses, such as lung injury, may be more frequent with COVID-19 than with the flu. The death rate also appears to be higher with COVID-19 than the flu.
COVID-19 also can cause different complications from the flu, such as blood clots and multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a new condition that has recently been identified in children and adults.
Myth: Taking an antibiotic may prevent or treat COVID-19.
Fact: Antibiotics treat only bacteria — not viruses. COVID-19 is caused by a virus, so antibiotics should not be used to prevent or treat the virus. Some people who are hospitalized for COVID-19 may receive antibiotics because they have a different bacterial infection at the same time.
Myth: Fabric masks don't protect you or others from COVID-19.
Fact: Simply put, wearing a cloth mask has been shown to help decrease the spread of COVID-19. Research shows that a significant number of people who have COVID-19 do not have any symptoms and are considered asymptomatic. These people may not know they are transmitting the virus to others when they talk, sneeze or cough, or raise their voice, such as with singing or shouting.
You should wear a cloth mask to reduce the chance of transmitting respiratory droplets to others around you. You wear a mask to protect others, and they wear a mask to protect you.
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Home World A real revolution: France bans plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables
A real revolution: France bans plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables
'real revolution'
France bans plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables
France wants to completely eliminate single-use plastic by 2040. With the ban on the sale of many types of fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic, more than one billion packages will be saved as early as 2022. Many consumers have spoken out in favor of this measure.
In France, many types of fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic may not be sold in the future. According to the Ministry of Environment in Paris, the new rule has been in effect since January 1, 2022. Initially, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, peppers, apples, pears and oranges were affected. Exceptions are provided for packages of more than 1.5 kg. By 2026 at the latest, consumers won't be able to buy fruit and vegetables in plastic packaging – not even cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, berries or salads.
The Guardian reported that Emmanuel Macron described the ban as a "real revolution". With the law to gradually ban single-use plastics by 2040, France is taking the global lead in reducing plastic waste. Similar measures are also planned in neighboring Spain from 2023.
According to previous information, 37 percent of vegetables and fruits in France are sold canned so far. With the ban, more than 1 billion plastic packages must be saved annually.
according to Ifop study by WWF France In 2019, about 85 percent of citizens supported a ban on single-use plastic products and packaging. More than two million people also signed a petition calling on the government to stop the plastic waste crisis. On social media, consumers complained about what they considered unreasonable packaging, such as coconuts wrapped in several layers of plastic or individual bananas in plastic bags.
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Golfplatz-Clip geht viral – Donald Trump erklärt sich zum 47. US-Präsidenten – Politik Ausland
Ukraine: Russia's march continues – Biden invites Zelensky
Russia: Alexei Navalny welcomes his wife and daughter to a concentration...
Neo-Nazis want to "track" immigrants at the Polish border
Who wants to receive more refugees? : 10/31/2021, 1:17 pm


The Outer Banks SPCA is always looking for volunteers to be a canine's best friend.
There is a wonderful feeling to the holidays, an understanding that goodwill and generosity exists in all of us.
Then comes the doldrums of winter, and, here on the Outer Banks, a push to get ready for the summer season. Suddenly it's as though that wonderful sense that we're all in this together (and the goodwill and generosity of the holidays) is not so much forgotten as it simply falls by the wayside.
It doesn't have to be that way, though. We can certainly take that holiday feeling and pay it forward throughout the year.
It doesn't take much; sometimes just setting aside an hour or two a month allows us to reach out and be a key part of our caring community.
The Outer Banks has one of the most active and extensive nonprofit group of organizations anywhere, and a great way to pay the holiday spirit forward year round is to volunteer.
Those are just two of the many Outer Banks organizations that serve our community. All of them can use help, and if we find that our holiday spirit has cooled, there is no better place to rekindle it.
Here is a partial (very partial) list of Outer Banks organizations who always need volunteers. We've included their mission statements to help explain what each organization does.
The mission of the Beach Food Pantry is to provide direct nutritional assistance to Dare County residents in a temporary crisis or emergency situation.
Children and Youth Partnership (CYP) for Dare County is a private, non-profit organization that connects kids and their families with resources to help them thrive.
The mission of the Dare Literacy Council is to provide literacy resources and services for all people of Dare County, enabling them to improve their lives and the lives of their families, and to function optimally in society.
Dare County Arts Council's mission is to encourage the arts in Dare County through advocacy, enrichment and opportunity.
The mission of the Outer Banks Relief Foundation, Inc. (OBRF) is to assist citizens in our community who are burdened with financial difficulties due to a debilitating disease or illness, or a personal tragedy or crisis to themselves and/or their family members.
The Dare County Animal Shelter is staffed and managed by the Outer Banks SPCA. The shelter is concerned with the welfare of all animals, domestic, feral or wild.
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Re the video Formaldehyde = Dead Pets, Sick People on this website, had this same thing not happened to my family in our new residence I would have said it was bs. But after my dogs became seriously ill on the new carpets and my son and I lost our health and continue to battle our toxic systems over 2 years later. Its a nightmare you cant wake from.


What Causes Eating Disorders Types Symptoms And Treatment.
One negative idea can be sufficient to thump you down to the starting point and make them feel like poop in case you're not cautious.
It's genuinely baffling to go from losing an unfaltering 1 – 2 lbs for every week to 0 apparently medium-term, yet it occurs.
Similarly that you constantly get yourself unfit to keep including quality in your exercises, a stop in your fat misfortune is a piece of the procedure.
It's awfully basic in the wellness world that individuals figure they can't eat the nourishments they like and still achieve their objectives.
There is a very much settled in thought that it must be a certain something or the other.
Dietary issues influence a huge number of youngsters and youthful grown-ups far and wide. They are most basic in societies that attention on weight and self-perception and can influence individuals all things considered, races, and ethnic foundations.


of the processes are required to run the application ?
This is applicable to Suse Linux Unix.
Press n key and then press enter key.
processes and thus free up more memory available.
What happens to RAM when we kill unwanted processes such as scanner etc.
mechanism of Linux memory architecture.