22-year-old Christopher Weatherhead from Northampton, U.K., has been convicted on Thursday on one count of conspiracy to impair the operation of computers for his involvement in the DDoS campaign agai…
Follow this link:
U.K. hacker convicted for taking part in Anonymous attacks
The hackers behind the Gameover variant of the popular Zeus banking Trojan have rented the massive Cutwail botnet in order to send out millions of fake emails carrying the malware, warns Dell SecureWo…
See more here:
Gameover gang uses Cutwail botnet to swell its own
Whether motivated by an extreme form of free expression or criminal intent, distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks) are increasingly commonplace worldwide. Yet there remains a universal m…
Original post:
Most Americans uninformed about DDoS attacks
The distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) from hacktivist Anonymous has cost PayPal more than €4.3 million . The attack which was named Operation Payback were initially aimed at companies that opposed internet piracy, but switched to companies like Mastercard, Visa and PayPal after they refused to process payments to WikiLeaks . After that attack PayPal -the global leader in online money transfer and payments has paid around £3.5 million defend and arm itself against such kind distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In a report BBC said that more than one hundred skilled employees from eBay, PayPal’s parent company, spent almost three weeks working on DDoS-attack-related issues and that PayPal had bought software and hardware to defend itself against further attacks. In all, the total cost of this work came to £3.5 million. This details have been revealed in a court case at Southwark Crown Court where a defendant, Christopher Weatherhead (studying at Northampton University when who allegedly took part in the campaign), is facing charges of conspiring to impair the operation of computers. He has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to impair the operation of computers between 1 August 2010 and 22 January 2011. Sandip Patel , prosecuting, said the group caused PayPal “enormous economic harm” . Mr Patel said they used distributed denial of service, or DDoS, which flooded the targets computers with enormous amounts of online requests. Target websites would crash and users would be directed to a page displaying the message: “You’ve tried to bite the Anonymous hand. You angered the hive and now you are being stung.” Mr Patel said: “This case, simply put, is about hackers who used the internet to attack and disable computer systems – colloquially described as cyber-attackers or vandals.” He said Mr Weatherhead, who used the online name Nerdo, posted plans on an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel encouraging an attack on PayPal. He said PayPal was the victim of a series of attacks “which caused considerable damage to its reputation and loss of trade”. Source: http://www.voiceofgreyhat.com/2012/11/DDoS-Attack-From-Anonymous-Cost-PayPal-3.5-Million.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=identica
Continue Reading:
Distributed Denial of Service ‘DDoS’ Attacks From Anonymous Cost PayPal £3.5 Million of Damage
What will you do if your organization is the next target of a distributed denial of service attack? Hacktivists recently launched DDoS attacks that caused online outages at several major U.S. banks. Each institution was warned in advance; none were able to prevent disruptions. And while banks are the current targets, any organization could be next. Join this panel for expert insight on: Why these recent DDoS attacks elude traditional defenses; New security solutions to help detect and respond to DDoS attacks; How to respond if you are attacked – from ramping up fraud prevention in other channels to what to tell customers about the attacks. Background Beginning in mid-September, hacktivists initiated a series of sophisticated DDoS attacks against major U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo. The attackers claim to be waging a cyber war against top-tier banking institutions because of outrage over a YouTube movie trailer believed by the hacktivists to be anti-Islam. In each instance, the group has given at least 24 hours notice before launching the DDoS attacks. But no institution so far has successfully avoided online outages resulting from the attacks. These incidents send two clear messages to security leaders: The sophistication and strength of the DDoS attacks are greater than organizations have seen before. One industry expert measured the DDoS traffic flow at one institution to be 65 gigabytes per second – roughly 65 times heavier than previous DDoS attacks. Any organization is susceptible. Banks are today’s DDoS target, but tomorrow it could be a government agency, merchant or healthcare entity that offends a hacktivist group with the resources to launch an attack. If banks, with their mature security programs and state-of-the-art defenses, cannot ward off these attacks, then what other organization can? In this panel webinar, industry leaders with expertise in DDoS defense will present the unique qualities of these latest attacks, why no organization should feel immune, then discuss successful solutions that can empower organizations to detect, prevent and respond to attacks. Leading the discussion is Matthew Speare, SVP of IT at M&T Bancorp. He will set the stage by discussing how his institution responded to the attacks against other banks, including preparation, security controls and customer communication strategies. Speare then will be joined by thought-leaders from Akamai, Fortinet and Neustar, who will discuss a range of DDoS-related topics, including: Sophistication of Attacks – In the past, DDoS meant brute-force network attacks. Now, experts say, they are not only stronger, but also morphing into application layer attack, which makes them harder to detect and block. What have we learned from these attacks, and which new solutions are best for identifying and rerouting the DDoS traffic? A Cover for Fraud? – Sometimes DDoS attacks are meant as a distraction – to keep security personnel focused online while the fraudsters turn to other channels, such as the call center, to commit fraud. What are the account anomalies you need to be equipped to detect? Incident Response – Not only does your organization need to be prepared to respond internally to DDoS attacks, but you also need to know how to communicate externally to customers. What’s your message, and how can you take this opportunity to better explain your security posture? Source: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/webinars/new-wave-ddos-attacks-how-to-prepare-respond-w-308
Read the article:
The New Wave of Distributed Denial of Service ‘DDoS’ attacks: How to Prepare and Respond
Despite the increasing sophistication and severity of cyber attacks, a survey of more than 700 senior IT professionals reveals that organizations are surprisingly unarmed to deal with today’s threat landscape. In a new report titled “Cyber Security on the Offense: A Study of IT Security Experts,” the Ponemon Institute and Radware®, (NASDAQ: RDWR), a leading provider of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers, found that while 65% of organizations experienced an average of three distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the past 12 months, less than half reported being vigilant in monitoring for attacks – much less putting into practice proactive and preventative measures to protect their organizations. “The reality is that cyber threats are outpacing security professionals, leaving most organizations vulnerable and unprepared,” said Avi Chesla, chief technology officer, Radware. “From hacktivists to cyber criminals, companies live under the constant threat of assaults that contribute to lost revenue and serious reputational damage. It’s critical that organizations take immediate action after reading this report. IT managers have to advocate for a multi-layered approach that also takes in account countermeasures to prevent threats before they inflict significant damage.” Key findings from the report include: Availability is the top cyber security priority for organizations today. Gone are the days where companies could solely concern themselves with data leakage and integrity based attacks. Unlike the past few years, where many organizations focused on confidentiality and integrity-based attacks, respondents noted a major shift in their security objectives, ranking denial-of-service (DoS) and DDoS as two of the top three threats their organizations face today. DDoS attacks cost companies 3.5 million dollars every year. Although respondents cited a lack of budget as one of the major impediments to shoring up cyber security, it’s clear that organizations will pay a much higher price for their lack of preparedness. 65% reported experiencing an average of three DDoS attacks in the past 12 months, with an average downtime of 54 minutes per attack. With the cost for each minute of downtime amounting to as much as $100,000 per minute – including lost traffic, diminished end-user productivity and lost revenues – it is no surprise that respondents ranked availability as their top cyber security priority. 63% rate their organization’s offensive countermeasure capabilities as below average. While 60% say they want technology that slows down or even halts an attacker’s computer, the majority of respondents give their organizations an average or below average rating when it comes to their ability to launch counter measures. With 75% of organizations still relying on anti-virus and anti-malware to protect themselves from attacks, it’s clear that the old adage, “the best defense is a good offense” is not being practiced by most firms. Organizations are more vulnerable than ever before. With respondents ranking lack of system visibility (34 percent), mobile/remote employees (32 percent) and negligent insiders (31 percent) as their top three areas of greatest cyber security risk, it’s clear that threats can come from a number of new sources including the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement. Even more frightening, today’s threats are multi-layered, targeting not only networks but the data and application levels as well. “There is a frightening gap that exists between the increasing severity of cyber attacks and the level of preparedness that exists in the industry,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. “The report’s findings make clear that now is the time for organizations to begin making critical changes to their security approaches in order to stave off the potentially devastating costs associated with a lack of preparedness and adequate defenses.” To access a complete version of the report, please visit www.ddoswarriors.com, Radware’s in-depth resource for information security professionals. In addition, Radware will host a webinar on November 14 to discuss the report’s findings and provide actionable insights to help any organization properly mitigate attacks in an increasingly hostile threat landscape. Sign up here. About Cyber Security on the Offense: A Study of IT Security Experts The research for Cyber Security on the Offense: A Study of IT Security Experts was co-authored by the Ponemon Institute and Radware. The report surveyed 705 U.S. based IT and IT security practitioners responsible for managing their organization’s cyber security activities. 62% of the respondents surveyed were at the supervisor level or higher with an average of more than 11 years of experience. 65% of respondents were from organizations with a global headcount of more than one thousand and the primary industry segments for the report included financial services and the public sector as well as healthcare and pharmaceuticals. The survey consisted of 35 questions on respondents’ perceptions of and experiences with their organization’s cyber security infrastructure and the types of threats they now face. In addition to the report’s key findings, Cyber Security on the Offense includes: The top ranked negative consequences of cyber attacks Barriers to achieving a strong cyber security posture The technologies most favored by IT security professionals Top methods for performing counter techniques A comparison of attacks across the financial services, healthcare and public sectors About the Ponemon Institute The Ponemon Institute is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries. Source: http://www.darkreading.com/insider-threat/167801100/security/news/240124966/65-of-organizations-experience-three-ddos-attacks-a-year.html
Follow this link:
65% Of Organizations Experience Three Distributed Denial of Service ‘DDoS’ Attacks A Year
Despite the increasing sophistication and severity of cyber attacks, a survey of more than 700 senior IT professionals reveals that organizations are surprisingly unarmed to deal with today’s threat l…
More:
65% of organizations experience three DDoS attacks a year
A MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED on suspicion of launching and promoting a denial of service attack on the website of UK Home Secretary Theresa May. The man is unnamed, but is said to be 41 years old and from Stoke on Trent, He is accused of mounting an attack on May’s website and others, and of inciting other people to participate. “The activity this morning demonstrates the commitment of the PCeU (Police Central e-Crime Unit) and our colleagues to combat cyber criminality anywhere within the UK and take action against those responsible,” said detective inspector Jason Tunn of the Metropolitan Police. “Assisting and encouraging cyber crime is a serious matter and I would advise all persons to consider their actions and any possible future consequences prior to posting any material online.” May’s website was attacked earlier this year as part of Operation Trial At Home, an Anonymous backed effort to raise awareness about ongoing extradition controversies, including those affecting Richard O’Dwyer and Gary McKinnon. Optrial At Home, as it was called on Twitter, was announced by an account called AnonopUK. “#OpTrialAtHome We will be firing our Laz0rs at GCHQ.gov.uk 8pm GMT 14th April, We invite all #Anons again to join,” it said in a tweeted message that has now apparently been deleted. That account was still sending out messages late last night. Whoever was arrested was nicked on suspicion of assisting or encouraging crime contrary to the Serious Crime Act 2007. The man has been bailed until mid-December. Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2222942/man-arrested-for-denial-of-service-attack-on-theresa-may
Follow this link:
Man arrested for Distributed Denial of Service ‘DDoS’ attack on Theresa May
As the process of owning systems and dragging them into botnets becomes ever more commercialized, exploit kits have emerged as a favorite of attackers. Their point-click-own nature means even non-tech…
See the original article here:
Life cycle and detection of an exploit kit
Here is a great post from Joey Muniz at www.thesecurityblogger.com Press around the DDoS attack Operation Ababil has caught the attention of many of our customers. This sophisticated cyber strike used a combination of three separate rootkits targeting webservers, which produced a very high upstream attack method on multiple companies simultaneously. The scary part about Operation Ababil was it was designed to bypass standard DDoS defense methods. This clearly demonstrates there isn’t a silver bullet for addressing advanced DDoS attacks. Distributed Denial of Service DDoS, web application and DNS infrastructure attacks represent some of the most critical threats to enterprises today. Here is some suggestions for a reference architecture to defend against these an other advanced threats. The best approach for defending against advanced DDoS as well as other cyber attacks is having multiple security solutions using different methods to detect malicious activity for both internal and external threats. For internal threats, it’s critical to have a well-designed and mature security infrastructure that includes components such as firewalls, IPS/IDS, email and content / application security solutions. Similar security standards need to be applied to endpoints as well as in the datacenter such as proper patch management, anti-virus and anti-malware. It’s important to enable DDoS defense features for these tools. For example, some best practices are leveraging ACLs for ingress and egress filtering, rate limiting ICMP and SYN packets as well as verifying if the source IP of packets have a route from where they arrived. Standard internal security solutions are important however will not completely protect you from advanced DDoS and other cyber threats. Security administrators need full network visibility to quickly identify anomalies regardless of their location or form of communication. Best practice to identify malicious activity inside your network is monitoring the wire using a Netflow or Packet capture approach (more can be found HERE and HERE). It’s also important to match identity to devices found. An example is how Cisco offers integration with its flagship access control solution, Identity Services Engine ISE, to network forensic tools such as LanCope, NetWitness and most major SIEMs. Having a tuned monitoring solution will dramatically improve reaction time to internal cyber threats. Most administrators associate DDoS as an outsider attack. We hear customers claim their service provider is responsible for providing DDoS defense however a service providers mission of delivering service will always outweigh concerns for security. For this reason, it’s critical to invest in an external DDoS defense solution as well as verify what security tools are included with your service provider contract. The two large players for external DDoS defense are Akamai and Arbor networks. Akamai’s Kona Site Defender provides DDoS mitigation and Application Layer Protection for most service providers. If your service provider uses Akamai, verify if they invested in the additional Kona suite. The leader for enterprise DDoS defense is Arbor (more can be found HERE). Arbor’s Peakflow, Prevail and cloud subscription services are the defacto standard for DDoS defense at the vast majority of our Tier-1 and Tier 2 ISPs as well as enterprise customers. Online DDoS monitoring services are also an option offered by companies such as Prolexic which are an alternative to purchasing equipment. To summarize the DDoS defense architecture, an enterprise should focus on both internal and external defense. The internal network should have a solid security foundation, monitor the wire for devices that access the network and match identity to those devices to distinguish what is permitted from rouge devices. Investments should be made in external defenses that offer the ability deflect DDoS traffic such as SYN Floods or UDP Floods as well as authenticating valid traffic at the network edge. Best practice is using DDoS solutions that leverage a large customer base via cloud services to improve reaction time as a community. Its also wise to question your service provider for what security solutions are included with your service package. Having this blend of internal and external security solutions will dramatically improve your chances against todays advanced persistent threats such as Operation Ababil. For DDoS protection for your eCommerce site click here to learn more. Source: http://www.cloudcentrics.com/?p=2293
Read the original:
Defending Against The Next Generation Distributed Denial of Service DDoS Attacks