Tag Archives: ddos

DDoS attacks get more complex – are networks prepared?

The threat of cyber attacks from both external and internal sources is growing daily. A denial of service, or DoS, attack is one of the most common. DoS have plagued defense, civilian and commercial networks over the years, but the way they are carried out is growing in complexity. If you thought your systems were engineered to defend against a DoS attack, you may want to take another look.   Denial of service attack evolution A denial of service attack is a battle for computing resources between legitimate requests that a network and application infrastructure were designed for and illegitimate requests coming in solely to hinder the service provided or shut down the service altogether.   The first DoS attacks were primarily aimed at Layer 3 or Layer 4 of the OSI model and were designed to consume all available bandwidth, crash the system being attacked, or consume all of the available memory, connections or processing power. Some examples of these types of attacks are the Ping of Death, Teardrop, SYN flood and ICMP flood. As operating system developers, hardware vendors and network architects began to mitigate these attacks, attackers have had to adapt and discover new methods. This has led to an increase in complexity and diversity in the attacks that have been used.   Since DoS attacks require a high volume of traffic — typically more than a single machine can generate — attackers may use a botnet, which is a network of computers that are under the control of the attacker. These devices are likely to have been subverted through malicious means. This type of DoS, called a distributed denial of service (DDoS), is harder to defend against because the traffic likely will be coming from many directions.   While the goal of newer DoS attacks is the same as older attacks, the newer attacks are much more likely to be an application layer attack launched against higher level protocols such as HTTP or the Domain Name System. Application layer attacks are a natural progression for several reasons: 1) lower level attacks were well known and system architects knew how to defend against them; 2) few mechanisms, if any, were available to defend against these types of attacks; and 3) data at a higher layer is much more expensive to process, thus utilizing more computing resources.   As attacks go up the OSI stack and deeper into the application, they generally become harder to detect. This equates to these attacks being more expensive, in terms of computing resources, to defend against. If the attack is more expensive to defend against, it is more likely to cause a denial of service. More recently, attackers have been combining several DDoS attack types. For instance, an L3/L4 attack, in combination with an application layer attack, is referred to as diverse distributed denial of service or 3DoS. Internet and bandwidth growth impact DoS   Back in the mid- to late 1990s, fewer computers existed on the Internet. Connections to the Internet and other networks were smaller and not much existed in the way of security awareness. Attackers generally had less bandwidth to the Internet, but so did organizations.   Fast forward to the present and it’s not uncommon for a home connection to have 100 megabits per second of available bandwidth to the Internet. These faster connections give attackers the ability to send more data during an attack from a single device. The Internet has also become more sensitive to privacy and security, which has lead to encryption technologies such as Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security to encrypt data transmitted across a network. While the data can be transported with confidence, the trade-off is that encrypted traffic requires extra processing power, which means a device encrypting traffic typically will be under a greater load and, therefore, will be unable to process as many requests, leaving the device more susceptible to a DoS attack.   Protection against DoS attacks   As mentioned previously, DoS attacks are not simply a network issue; they are an issue for the entire enterprise. When building or upgrading an infrastructure, architects should consider current traffic and future growth. They should also have resources in place to anticipate having a DoS attack launched against their infrastructure, thereby creating a more resilient infrastructure.   A more resilient infrastructure does not always mean buying bigger iron. Resiliency and higher availability can be achieved by spreading the load across multiple devices using dedicated hardware Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs). Hardware ADCs evenly distribute the load across all types of devices, thus providing a more resilient infrastructure and also offer many offloading capabilities for technologies such as SSL and compression.   When choosing a device, architects should consider whether the device offloads some processing to dedicated hardware. When a typical server is purchased, it has a general purpose processor to handle all computing tasks. More specialized hardware such as firewalls and Active Directory Certificates offer dedicated hardware for protection against SYN floods and SSL offload. This typically allows for such devices to handle exponentially more traffic, which in turn means they are more capable to thwart an attack. Since attacks are spread across multiple levels of the OSI model, tiered protection is needed all the way from the network up to the application design. This typically equates to L3/L4 firewalls being close to the edge that they are protecting against some of the more traditional DoS attacks and more specialized defense mechanism for application layer traffic such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) to protect Web applications. WAFs can be a vital ally in protecting a Web infrastructure by defending against various types of malicious attacks, including DoS. As such, WAFs fill in an important void in Web application intelligence left behind by L3/L4 firewalls.   As demonstrated, many types of DoS attacks are possible and can be generated from many different angles. DoS attacks will continue to evolve at the same — often uncomfortably fast — rate as our use of technology. Understanding how these two evolutions are tied together will help network and application architects be vigilant and better weigh the options at their disposal to protect their infrastructure. Source: http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2013/12/19/DOS-attacks-complexity.aspx?admgarea=DS&Page=3

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DDoS attacks get more complex – are networks prepared?

Mobile devices increasingly used to launch sophisticated DDoS attacks

DDoS attacks still plague businesses worldwide, and cyber criminals are increasingly using mobile devices to launch attacks The threat of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against enterprise users from mobile applications is increasing as more users go mobile, according to DDoS security company Prolexic. Cyber criminals are finding mobile devices can make for a powerful attack tool – and surprisingly easy to use. “Mobile devices add another layer of complexity,” said Stuart Scholly, Prolexic President, in a press statement. “Because mobile networks use super proxies, you cannot simply use a hardware appliance to block source IP addresses as it will also block legitimate traffic. Effective DDoS mitigation requires an additional level of fingerprinting and human expertise so specific blocking signatures can be developed on-the-fly and applied in real-time.”   DDoS attacks can lead to website and server downtime, interruption in day-to-day business operations, and lead to lost revenue and wasted manpower. Prolexic discovered a 26 percent increase in DDoS attacks from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013, with a significant number of advanced DDoS attack weapons. Source: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/34862/mobile-devices-increasingly-used-to-launch-sophisticated-ddos-attacks/index.html

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Mobile devices increasingly used to launch sophisticated DDoS attacks

Dropbox hits by DDoS attack, but user data safe; The 1775 Sec claims responsibility

Dropbox website went offline last night with a hacking collecting calling itself The 1775 Sec claiming responsibility of the attack on the cloud storage company’s website. The 1775 Sec took to twitter just a few moments before Dropbox went down on Friday night claiming that they were responsible. “BREAKING NEWS: We have just compromised the @Dropbox Website http://www.dropbox.com #hacked #compromised” tweeted The 1775 Sec. This tweet was followed by a another one wherein the group claimed that it was giving Dropbox the time to fix their vulnerabilities and if they fail to do so, they should expect a Database leak. The group claimed that the hack was in honour of Aaron Swartz. Dropbox’s status page at the time acknowledged that there was a downtime and that they were ‘experiencing issues’. The hackers then revealed that their claims of a Database leak was a hoax. “Laughing our asses off: We DDoS attacked #DropBox. The site was down how exactly were we suppose to get the Database? Lulz” tweeted The 1775 Sec. The group claimed that they only launched a DDoS attack and didn’t breach Dropbox security and didn’t have access to Dropbox user data. Dropbox claimed that its website was down because of issues during “routine maintenance” rather than a malicious attack. In a statement Dropbox said “We have identified the cause, which was the result of an issue that arose during routine internal maintenance, and are working to fix this as soon as possible… We apologize for any inconvenience.” Just over an hour ago, Dropbox said that its site was back up. “Dropbox site is back up! Claims of leaked user info are a hoax. The outage was caused during internal maintenance. Thanks for your patience!” read the tweet from Dropbox. Source: http://www.techienews.co.uk/974664/dropbox-hits-ddos-user-data-safe-1775-sec-claims-responsibility/

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Dropbox hits by DDoS attack, but user data safe; The 1775 Sec claims responsibility

The 2014 cyber security roadmap

The burgeoning Internet of Things and smart devices 2014 is likely to be the year that many industries start to cash in on the much-hyped benefits of smart connected devices. But as more devices become IP-enabled, they contribute to the pool of things that can be recruited into botnets or other platforms used for distributed attacks – something which most companies are currently not prepared for, warns Mike Foreman, general manager of security software firm AVG Technologies. ‘Distributing attacks via unmanned smart devices helps make it more difficult to trace the source and easier to overwhelm the target,’ says Foreman. In order to meet the challenge of securely managing hundreds of millions of connected devices and securing the data transmitted between them, Jason Hart, VP of cloud solutions at security specialist SafeNet , says that organisations will need public key infrastructure solutions that combine comprehensive security with scalability and reliability. ‘PKIs, simply put, use digital certificates that can be embedded within devices, giving them the authorisation needed to access different networks,’ explains Hart. BYOD convenience vs. security Companies will need to adopt new tactics to tackle the increasing drawbacks of a BYOD environment, changing their focus from the devices themselves. When it comes to effective device management, says Chris Wysopal, co-founder and chief information security officer of application security expert Veracode , apps, not devices, are the real problem. ‘Companies need to look for MDMs that understand what apps are installed across corporate and BYOD devices, and the risk associated with those applications,’ he advises. Jonathan Foulkes of systems management software firm Kaseya thinks businesses will need to shift the focus away from devices and onto securing and managing data. ‘By “containerising” corporate data and only providing access through secure applications, IT is given full control over policies and the ability to decide which users – rather than devices – are allowed to connect to what data and with what application.’ The true security risks of cloud computing beginning to emerge The horse has left the barn for IT teams dealing with the cloud. Business units are demanding it and building apps there if their IT departments will not – and this is a trend that is set to continue in 2014 as adoption of core applications in the cloud grows. ‘This opens up application change errors that can be totally missed by the security team,’ warns Reuven Harrison, CTO of security policy orchestration company Tufin . ‘It also increases silos and puts the business network at great risk by bypassing traditional IT structures.’ Veracode’s Chris Wysopal stresses that cloud apps will need to follow the same application security practices that the organisation requires for internally built apps, while moving towards end-to-end automation of network changes should free up time to concentrate on monitoring all areas of the network. Controlling the privileged user Without a doubt, one of the biggest mistakes that organisations make is having insufficient control and oversight of the actions of ‘privileged users’, says Paul Ayers, VP EMEA of security firm Vormetric . ‘In 2014, after the Snowden leaks and other high-profile insider threats and data breaches, I expect organisations to increasingly put in place the security procedures and tools that allow them to audit and control the actions of these users,’ he comments. The effects of cyber war and cyber espionage Cyber is the new battlefield, and the fifth element of warfare, with states already pouring a huge range of resources into both defensive and offences capabilities. ‘Within the next couple of years, we will experience an increasing number of cyber attacks resulting in militaristic and economic damage,’ says Jarno Limnell, director of cyber security at McAfee Group security vendor Stonesoft . Rik Ferguson, VP of security research at security vendor Trend Micro , notes that the PRISM revelations will increasingly lead cyber criminals to turn to ‘darknets’ – a class of networks, such as The Onion Router (TOR), that guarantee anonymous and untraceable online access. ‘Law enforcement agencies may not have enough knowledge or experience to deal with cyber crime and will have a hard time tracking criminals in the Deep Web, prompting more investment in the fight against cyber crime,’ he says. Strengthened government agenda on cyber security and new compliance standards Over 2013-14, the UK cabinet office will have invested £180 million in cyber security, increasing this amount to £210 million in 2014-15. The government has announced its intention to back a new kite-mark standard for cyber security, with further details promised early this year. Around the same time, the European Commission will unveil a new directive on data privacy. ‘But while these measures are to be welcomed, organisations will have their work cut out preparing themselves to achieve compliance,’ says Alan Calder, founder of cyber security services provider IT Governance . ‘Add to these changes the multiple compliance challenges arising from recent updates of standards, such as ISO 27001 and PCI DSS, and you quickly have a considerable governance task in terms of planning, resourcing and training.’ The security skills gap The world faces an acute shortage of cyber security professionals who are adequately skilled for today’s threat landscape. According to Alan Calder of IT Governance, in 2014 we will feel the effects of this shortfall more than ever, resulting in yet more spectacular data breaches, as it will be several uncomfortable years before supply meets demand. ‘Large accountancy and professional services firms are, at the moment, heavily investing in IT security talent, which means that SMEs will struggle to compete for the best talent, putting the future of their businesses at risk,’ says Christian Toon, risk and security expert at data protection company Iron Mountain . Toon urges that when recruiting IT security professionals, companies should remember that it’s important to get someone who understands not just the technicalities of the job, but also the psychology of both the individuals they are helping to protect and of the cyber criminals who are attempting to steal information from the business. The ever-increasing sophistication of DDoS attacks The transparency shown by RBS in admitting that it failed to invest properly in its IT systems after DDoS attacks in 2013 is a common refrain amongst many enterprises, large and small. But, says Jag Bains, CTO of DDoS attack prevention firm DOSarrest Internet Security , ‘While each organisation may have multiple reasons for failing to invest, they all share the same notion that they won’t be a target – until they get attacked.’ With DDoS tools becoming more advanced and pervasive, Bains warns that all IT operations should work under the premise that they will be attacked, and so plan accordingly. ‘Every stack and layer within their purview should be reviewed, and they should identify cost-effective cloud solutions for their DDoS, which provide much better performance and mitigation than expensive hardware.’ Catherine Pearce, security consultant at mobile security firm Neohapsis , predicts that DDoS attackers will accelerate a move from simple volumetric attacks to those that take advantage of a site’s specific performance, with the spread of tools that profile specific targets and attack based upon certain weaknesses in configuration or implementation. Smarter analytics to combat cyber threats Martin Borrett, director at the IBM Institute for Advanced Security , believes that analytics will become a vital element in countering new threats, aided by advancements in machine learning algorithms that will further improve data and analytics technologies. ‘Security systems will greatly benefit from real-time correlation across massive structured data, such as security device alerts, operating system logs, DNS transactions and network flows, as well as unstructured data, such as emails, social media content, packet info and business transactions,’ says Borrett. ’Organisations can begin along this path by surveying the additional new data sources available and considering which could be used to improve their security analysis outcomes.’ However, each data source may bring its own challenges, such as the volume, velocity, variety and veracity of data, so it will be important for a business to consider also which skills and tools they have available to manage these issues. Challenges regarding authentication technologies such as 2-factor and biometric ‘With companies slowly adopting BYOD programmes, on-premise software still reigning supreme in many IT environments and big hacking attacks occurring every few weeks, there’s no question that the business world still lags in adopting people-centric technologies across workforces,’ says Phil Turner, VP EMEA at identity management company Okta . ‘As a result, in 2014, as businesses have added more applications and the proliferation of devices in the workplace continues to increase, we are likely to see significant growth in cloud-based identity and asset management (IAM) services that can deliver single sign-on across all applications.’ However, looking forward to the end of 2014, we can expect this to start to change. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) – which requires two or more factors to verify the legitimacy of the user – has taken off and evolved pretty substantially in the past decade. And authentication methodologies are becoming as personalised and specific to the individual as the experiences that they’re trying to access. ‘Customers’ expectations for seamless trusted authentication and the continued dominance of smartphones and smart devices will accelerate the move from legacy hardware one-time password tokens to mobile-friendly, embedded security and contextual access controls,’ says SafeNet’s Jason Hart. ‘We can already see early examples such as Apple’s iTouch of biometric authentication, and investments by vendors such as Samsung to bake enterprise-grade security controls into their KNOX platform.’ Cyber resilience, not cyber security In 2014, we will see savvier organisations relinquish futile hopes of ‘cyber security’ for a more pragmatic drive for ‘cyber resilience’. ‘We are living permanently with an irreducible level of cyber threat,’ says IT Governance’s Alan Calder. ‘As this realisation sinks in, organisations must adapt their strategies to avoid unhelpful restrictions on staff mobility and internet access, while ensuring their ability to recover swiftly when attacks take place.’ Jason Hart of SafeNet reiterates that in the coming year we can expect to see companies move away from the traditional strategy of focusing on breach prevention, and towards a ‘secure breach’ approach. ‘This means accepting that breaches happen and using best practice data protection to guarantee that data is effectively useless when it falls into unauthorised hands,’ he says. ‘So, we can expect to see an increase in the use of encryption that renders any data useless to an unauthorised party.’ Source: http://www.information-age.com/technology/security/123457584/the-2014-cyber-security-roadmap

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The 2014 cyber security roadmap

Steam, Blizzard and EA hit by DDoS attacks

There’s something about the new year that gets hackers all excited as the DDoS attacks continue. The last major attack was on 31 December with DERP unleashing their DDoS on World of Tanks, EA, Blizzard, League of Legends and DOTA 2.It looks like the hangovers have worn off as once again they hit EA and Battlefield 4 servers. EA hopped on the case with a response. In what may have been a response to that, we have no idea what’s behind their thinking with all this, another group decided Steam should be the target. We are still seeing reports that Steam is still having issues despite the attack apparently having stopped. And then it was on to BattleNet… All this is being done for shits and giggles but really achieves nothing other than annoy gamers and cause some temporary headaches for server admins. The novelty will probably wear off in a few days but as the individuals involved are being encouraged by Twitter followers expect more outages. Source: http://www.incgamers.com/2014/01/steam-blizzard-ea-hit-ddos-attacks

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Steam, Blizzard and EA hit by DDoS attacks

Slovenian jailed for creating code behind 12 MILLION strong ‘Mariposa’ botnet army

Butterfly flapped its wings and caused internet hurricane A Slovenian virus writer who created an infamous strain of malware used to infect an estimated 12 million computers worldwide has been jailed for almost five years.…

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Slovenian jailed for creating code behind 12 MILLION strong ‘Mariposa’ botnet army

DDoS trojan ferrets SMB data

A new distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) bot has been discovered targeting real estate companies and other small and medium-sized businesses. Arbor Networks researcher Dennis Schwarz found the malware after receiving a tip-off from a Twitter user. A relatively small number of unique samples and command and control servers were uncovered, making it difficult to judge just how dangerous the new threat could be. These samples are written in the Delphi programming language but most likely originate from Russia, said Schwarz, who added that the bot’s self-preservation tools include UPX packing, string obfuscation, anti-virtual machine, anti-bugging measures, self-modifying code and process hollowing. Command and control is done over HTTP. The analyst firm has a ‘fairly complete picture’ of what the bot represents, but admitted concerns on how Trojan.Ferret is being distributed. “Trojan.Ferret is a new Russian DDoS bot.  It stood out to me due to the silly ferret theme and that we have a fairly complete picture of it,” said Schwarz, adding that the company had tracked a sample of bot, the C&C panel view and live C&C traffic. “It is a traditional DDoS bot focusing on the ‘core’ set of DDoS attacks, such as HTTP, UDP and TCP. It lacks the common application layer attacks such as Slowloris, Apache Killer, and RUDY. “A major missing component that we’re unsure of is how this particular Trojan is being distributed–whether by exploit kit, malware-laced spam, or via one of the many ‘dropper/downloader’ networks.” Schwarz said that the Trojan is targeting the UK, the US, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands, as well as Kazakhstan, and said that attacks have hit property companies, an electronics shop, a wedding dress shop and even a politician in Panama. Malwarebytes malware intelligence analyst Adam Kujawa said the information security industry is still coming to grips with the threat posed by the new DDoS bot. “It is likely of Russian origin, uses an array of specialised malware tricks to hide it from detection and of course is used as a DDOS bot,” said Kujawa.  “Ferret will infect as many systems as it can to recruit them into the Botnet and then use each of those systems to attack a single server at the same time,” he added, commenting, “A single system cannot perform a successful DDOS attack but a botnet of thousands can.” Source: http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/368168,ddos-trojan-ferrets-smb-data.aspx

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DDoS trojan ferrets SMB data