Tag Archives: ddos

FastMail the latest victim of a sustained DDoS offensive

FastMail has been subjected to a number of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the premium email provider has revealed. The Australian-based company said that the cyber offensive first took place in the early hours of November 8th, which took some of its services offline. In response it immediately “enabled mitigation strategies”, which proved successful in bringing the DDoS attack to an end. However, the following day, at around the same time, the cybercriminal once again launched another onslaught. This second-round of attacks came with a ransom demand, which threatened FastMail with more chaos if it didn’t hand over 20 Bitcoins (worth approximately £7,500). The company said that it does not respond to attempts of extortion and will not bow to pressure from the cybercriminal. “Over the last week, several email providers, including Runbox, Zoho, Hushmail and ProtonMail have been hit by large scale DDoS attacks, accompanied by an extortion demand from the attacker to stop,” FastMail outlined. “The goal of the attacker is clearly to extort money in the hope that the services will not be prepared to deal with the disruption. “With one exception, where ProtonMail paid the criminals and was still attacked, we do not believe the extortion attempts have been successful, and we fully intend to stand up to such criminal behaviour ourselves.” The company says that it is actively working to keep its services running as best as possible and that it has utilized knowledge gained from past DDoS attacks to help it react to numerous situations. The attack on ProtonMail is one of the most high-profile cases of 2015, which the encrypted email provider has described as the “largest and most extensive cyberattack in Switzerland”. A DDoS attack is when numerous computers make repeated requests for information to one computer or device. This has the effect of ‘overwhelming’ a computer or device’s ability to deal with the requests, resulting in it slowing down or crashing. Source: http://www.welivesecurity.com/2015/11/12/fastmail-latest-victim-sustained-ddos-offensive/

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FastMail the latest victim of a sustained DDoS offensive

ProtonMail comes back online, shores up DDoS defenses

ProtonMail, the Switzerland-based encrypted email service, has found its footing again after a wild ride over the past week. The free service has said it was hit by two different groups using distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) that took it offline. Now it has partnered with Radware, which offered its DDoS mitigation service for a “reasonable price,” allowing service to resume, ProtonMail wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. “The attackers hoped to destroy our community, but this attack has only served to bring us all together, united by a common cause and vision for the future,” the company wrote. The first group of attackers, which call themselves the Armada Collective, asked ProtonMail for a ransom in bitcoin before launching attacks early on Nov. 4. The Swiss Governmental Computer Emergency Response Team warned in September about blackmail attempts by the Armada Collective. They tend to launch a demo attack while demanding 10 or 20 bitcoins, and larger attacks follow if the ransom isn’t paid. Controversially, ProtonMail paid the ransom. The company wrote in a blog post that it was under pressure from other companies to pay it in order to stop the attacks. However, ProtonMail later edited the blog post, writing that paying “was clearly a wrong decision so let us be clear to all future attackers – ProtonMail will never pay another ransom.” The second group’s attack on ProtonMail had wide-ranging effects on its service providers and other companies, which also were knocked offline. The 100Gbps-attack brought down ProtonMail’s ISP, including the ISP’s routers and data center. ProtonMail suspected that the second group might be state-sponsored hackers because of the severe damage inflicted. Bizarrely, the Armada Collective told ProtonMail it wasn’t responsible for the second set of attacks. By Sunday, ProtonMail began recovering. An ISP, IP-Max, set up a direct link from ProtonMail’s data center to a major Internet connection point in Zurich in less than a day, it wrote. Level 3 Communications lent a hand with IP transit. An appeal for donations to put in better protections against DDoS has netted $50,000 so far as well. ProtonMail’s service is free, but eventually it plans to introduce paid-for premium options. ProtonMail is now using Radware’s DefensePipe, a cloud-based service. Other companies, ProtonMail said, offered their services but “attempted to charge us exorbitant amounts.” ProtonMail offers a full, end-to-end encrypted email service and has more than 500,000 users. Although it has been possible to encrypt email for decades, interest has increased since documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showed massive data-collection operations by western spy agencies. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3004157/protonmail-comes-back-online-shores-up-ddos-defenses.html

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ProtonMail comes back online, shores up DDoS defenses

ProtonMail ‘mitigates’ DDoS attacks, says security not breached

Launch of ProtonMail 3.0 now knocked back ProtonMail has announced that it has successfully mitigated the DDoS attacks which had hobbled it since last week, while also confirming security systems had not been breached.…

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ProtonMail ‘mitigates’ DDoS attacks, says security not breached

ProtonMail restores services after epic DDoS attacks

After several days of intense work, Switzerland-based end-to-end encrypted e-mail provider ProtonMail has largely mitigated the DDoS attacks that made it unavailable for hours on end in the last week.

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ProtonMail restores services after epic DDoS attacks

ProtonMail DDoS wipeout: Day 6. Yes, we’re still under attack

Maybe if you hadn’t paid the ransom to the wrong attackers it would be over Encrypted email provider ProtonMail is still being hit by a DDoS attack from what appears to be a nation state, as well as a secondary and separate lower-level assault from an identified assailant. However, the service is now operating normally, it seems.…

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ProtonMail DDoS wipeout: Day 6. Yes, we’re still under attack

Crypto e-mail provider ProtonMail pays ransom to stop DDoS attack, attack continues

Switzerland-based end-to-end encrypted e-mail provider ProtonMail has been on the receiving end of a heavy DDoS attack since Tuesday, November 3, and unavailable to its users for hours on end. Pro…

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Crypto e-mail provider ProtonMail pays ransom to stop DDoS attack, attack continues

A server was DDoS-ed for 320 hours straight

Kaspersky Lab has released a new report on the evolution of distributed denial of service (DDoS) and it shows some interesting figures, including the fact that a server was targeted for 320 hours straight. The Kaspersky DDoS Intelligence Report Q3 2015 is based on the constant monitoring of botnets and observing new techniques utilised by cybercriminals. It shows that DDoS attacks remain highly localised, with 91.6 per cent of the victims’ resources are located in only ten countries around the world, although Kaspersky Lab has recorded DDoS attacks targeting servers in 79 countries total. DDoS attacks are highly likely to originate from the same countries, the security firm understands, adding that China, USA and South Korea are the highest rating countries in both sources of attack and sources of targets. According to the report, more than 90 per cent of all attacks observed in the third quarter lasted less than 24 hours, but the number of attacks lasting over 150 hours has grown significantly. At the same time, there was this one server that was hit extremely hard – 22 times. It is located in The Netherlands. Kaspersky says that even cyber-crooks go on vacation, after realising that August is the quietest month of the quarter. Linux-based botnets are significant, and account for up to 45.6 per cent of all attacks recorded by Kaspersky Lab. The main reasons for this include poor protection and higher bandwidth capacity. Looking at who the most frequent victims are, banks stand out the most, being frequent targets for complex attacks and ransom demands. Source: http://www.itproportal.com/2015/11/04/a-server-was-ddos-ed-for-320-hours-straight/

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A server was DDoS-ed for 320 hours straight

IPv6 And The Growing DDoS Danger

IPv6 and the Internet of Things have arrived — and with them an enormous potential expansion for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The number of connected devices is growing exponentially, with one billion new IoT devices expected to ship this year alone. As such, IPv4 addresses have been exhausted, but IPv6 is on deck to address this concern. The new system allows for 2^128 IP addresses (in comparison, IPv4 only carried 2^32 possible IP addresses). So everything is fine, right? Sadly, no. While IPv6 will certainly aid in accommodating the growth of new connected phenomena, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), adoption at the moment is slow. And because IPv6 occupies such a relatively small space, Internet security implementations that take it into full consideration are also lagging. This leaves a lot of networks vulnerable to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS attacks occur when Internet hackers use infected hosts to control connected devices remotely and make unwilling devices (bots) send malicious traffic to their target of choice. The target organizations are flooded with traffic, thus restricting or disabling service for legitimate traffic, or crashing the victim network. The most recent Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report noted: “Distributed denial-of-service attacks got worse again this year with our reporting partners logging double the number of incidents from last year…We saw a significant jump in…attacks [that] rely on improperly secured services, such as Network Time Protocol (NTP), Domain Name System (DNS), and Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP), which make it possible for attackers to spoof source IP addresses, send out a bazillion tiny request packets, and have the services inundate an unwitting target with the equivalent number of much larger payload replies.” While most DDoS attacks do not, at present, involve IPv6, both the number and size of these attacks are rising, and IPv6 brings with it particular vulnerabilities. According to a recent CNET article: “First, with the relatively immature network infrastructure, many network operators don’t have the ability to scrutinize network traffic well enough to distinguish DDoS attacks from benign traffic. Second, gateways that link IPv4 and IPv6 must store lots of ‘state’ information about the network traffic they handle, and that essentially makes them more brittle.” The Internet of Things is also adding to the threat, according to an InfoSec Institute report “Internet of Things: How Much are We Exposed to Cyber Threats? The report, published earlier this year, cited the possibility of cyber criminals stealing sensitive information by hacking or compromising IoT devices to run cyberattacks against third-party entities using routers, SOHO devices or SmartTVs. “IoT devices manage a huge quantity of information, they are capillary distributed in every industry,” the report noted, “and, unfortunately, their current level of security is still low.” And therein lies the nightmare scenario. We now have IPv6, accompanied by immature visibility tools; gateways between IPv4 and IPv6 that are brittle and precarious; and the unprecedented proliferation of relatively unsecure IoT devices, replete with those brand-spanking-new IPv6 vulnerabilities, all creating ubiquitous potential fuel for botnets. The reality is precisely as desperate as it sounds. The best course of action to prepare for an onslaught of DDoS attacks exploiting IoT and IPv6 adoption is to ensure that your enterprise network security system can support the many connections from so many more connected devices. Also ensure the IPv6 support is on par with the IPv4-based feature set. Most attacks are carried out over IPv4, and by shifting over to IPv6, the attacker could bypass the defenses that only inspect IPv4 traffic. Meanwhile, IPv6-specific attack vectors have been reported IPv6 and the IoT have arrived, and with them comes an enormous expansion in DDoS attack potential. Source: http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ipv6-and-the-growing-ddos-danger/a/d-id/1322942

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IPv6 And The Growing DDoS Danger

Hackers infect MySQL servers with malware for DDoS attacks

Hackers are exploiting SQL injection flaws to infect MySQL database servers with a malware program that’s used to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Security researchers from Symantec found MySQL servers in different countries infected with a malware program dubbed Chikdos that has variants for both Windows and Linux. Don’t count on your ‘plain vanilla’ resume to get you noticed – your resume needs a personal flavor to This Trojan is not new and was first documented in 2013 by incident responders from the Polish Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.PL). At that time the malware was being installed on servers after using brute-force dictionary attacks to guess SSH (Secure Shell) login credentials. However, the new attacks observed by Symantec abuse the user-defined function (UDF) capability of the MySQL database engine. UDF allows developers to extend the functionality of MySQL with compiled code. Symantec believes that attackers exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities in order to inject malicious UDF code in databases. They then use the DUMP SQL command to save the injected code as a library file that is later executed by the MySQL process. The malicious UDF code downloads and installs the Chikdos Trojan, which allows attackers to abuse the server’s bandwidth for DDoS attacks. The Symantec researchers found MySQL servers infected with Chikdos in many countries, including India, China, Brazil, Netherlands, the U.S., South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, Nigeria and Turkey. The largest concentrations were in India and China, 25 and 15 percent respectively. During their analysis the researchers saw the servers being used to launch DDoS attacks against a U.S. hosting provider and a Chinese IP address. The reason for targeting MySQL servers is likely because their bandwidth is considerably larger than that of regular PCs, making them more suitable for large DDoS campaigns, the Symantec researchers said in a blog post. To prevent such attacks, website owners should avoid running SQL servers with administrative privileges and should follow best programming practices for mitigating SQL injection vulnerabilities, they said. Source: http://social-media-news.com/link/907984_hackers-infect-mysql-servers-with-malware-for-ddos-attacks

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Hackers infect MySQL servers with malware for DDoS attacks

TalkTalk hack: 15-year-old boy arrested in Northern Ireland over DDoS attack

News stunned security experts who had assumed that Isis terrorists or major country had been behind the breach A boy of 15 has been arrested and questioned on suspicion of being the mastermind behind the TalkTalk data theft cyber attack. A team from Scotland Yard’s Cyber Crime Unit joined Police Service of Northern Ireland officers as they raided the teenager’s home in County Antrim. The boy was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences and taken to a nearby police station. News of the suspect’s age stunned security experts who had assumed that a group of Isis terrorists or a country such as Russia had been behind the massive breach. IT insiders said it would be a “gamechanger” if proven that a teenager operating from his bedroom could bring a global company to its knees. The Met said the property was being searched and inquiries by CCU detectives, the PSNI’s Cyber Crime Centre and the National Crime Agency are continuing. A spokesman said on Monday night: “An arrest has been made in connection with the investigation into alleged data theft from the TalkTalk website. At approximately 4.20pm, officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), working with detectives from the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit, executed a search warrant at an address in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The phone and broadband provider, which has four million customers, initially said last week that the “sustained” attack was a DDoS, a distributed denial of service attack where a website is bombarded with waves of traffic. When experts pointed out a DDoS attack would not explain the loss of data TalkTalk later indicated it had been hit by an attack known as an SQL injection – a technique where hackers gain access to a database by entering instructions in a web form. IT security experts had already expressed surprise at how a company the size of TalkTalk was still vulnerable to the method, as it is a well-known type of attack and there are relatively simple ways of defending against it. The company has been heavily criticised for its handling of the cyber attack – the third it has suffered in the last eight months, with incidents in August and February resulting in customers’ data being stolen. Following last week’s breach TalkTalk admitted that customers’ bank account and sort code details may have been accessed as some customers said money has gone missing from their accounts. TalkTalk said there is currently no evidence that customers’ bank accounts have been affected but it does not know how much customer information was encrypted. The company said it would contact all current customers and that an unknown number of previous customers may also be at risk. TalkTalk’s chief executive Dido Harding said last week the firm had received a ransom demand from someone claiming to be behind the cyber attack. Jesse Norman, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is leading an inquiry into the alleged data breach. Cyber Security Minister Ed Vaizey had earlier told MPs that companies could face bigger fines for failing to protect customer data from such attacks. He said the Information Commissioner’s Office can already levy “significant fines” but told the Commons he was “open to suggestions” about how the situation could be “improved”. TalkTalk is facing a maximum fine of £500,000 but the SNP’s John Nicolson said the prospect was “clearly not terrifying” for a company with an annual revenue of £1.8 billion a year. Shares in the telecoms company fell more than 12 per cent on Monday extending its losses from last week when news of the attack first emerged. A statement from Talk Talk said: “We know this has been a worrying time for customers and we are grateful for the swift response and hard work of the police. We will continue to assist with the ongoing investigation. “In the meantime, we advise customers to visit [our website] for updates and information regarding this incident.” Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/talktalk-hack-boy-15-arrested-in-northern-ireland-over-attack-a6709831.html

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TalkTalk hack: 15-year-old boy arrested in Northern Ireland over DDoS attack