Nationwide DDoS Attack Hits ReputationChanger.com

ReputationChanger.com was the most recent target in a string of high-profile cyber-attacks against U.S. web companies and governmental organizations. Reputation.com, LivingSocial and Name.com have all announced recently that they have been the targets of successful attacks by hackers. Tens of millions of consumers have been asked to change passwords in the wake of these attacks with large numbers of the population informed that personal data may have been accessed. A hack of the Associated Press account in Twitter resulted in a temporary loss on U.S. stock markets of $200 billion in late April. The U.S. Defense Department accused Chinese government-backed hackers this week of a sustained cyber campaign which successfully targeted governmental and defense contractor websites. The Chinese later denied these allegations. ReputationChanger.com was indeed targeted by an attack from a Chinese IP address that lasted most of the day. While the company’s public website was taken down for roughly half an hour in a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS), an investigation confirms that the company’s critical information — including client data — remained untouched. “The attack brought down our main website briefly but I think overall it revealed the strength and security of our operation in a way that we are truly proud of,” comments the company’s president, Michael Zammuto. “Because of the system set up, no client data was in danger of being accessed or compromised — and indeed, no client data was accessed or compromised. No action is required of any client although periodic password changes are always recommended.” Even a cyber-attack targeting the company’s Command Center, the firm’s online reputation management platform, could not have led to illicit data access. “The confidentiality of what we do is critical, and we are endlessly devoted to maintaining the complete privacy of our clients,” Zammuto offers. “As such, we have a highly distributed cloud system, response teams and processes in place to prepare for cyber threats.” Though the identity of the cyber assailant is yet unknown, Zammuto says the impetus for the attack is likely the high-profile client list that ReputationChanger.com maintains. “We were surely targeted because of the very important clients that we work with,” he affirms. ReputationChanger.com’s clientele encompasses governments, political figures, educational institutions, celebrities, and major, internationally-recognized businesses and brands. Despite the brief downtime experienced on the ReputationChanger.com website, Zammuto says that he is ultimately thrilled with how well the enterprise held up in the face of a malicious online assault. “I am very pleased with the performance of our network security team and partners,” he remarks. “It is a great reminder of how valuable investments are in these areas. They kept us safe from a vicious online enemy. It is because of their hard work and their expertise that ReputationChanger.com’s clients can rest assured that their confidential data is in the best possible hands.” ReputationChanger.com is the top rated online reputation management firm according to Top SEOs and was announced as a finalist for the Red Herring 100 earlier this week Both organizations citing the firm’s technology and its commitment to serving its clients. For protection against your eCommerce site click here . Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130509-912785.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Nationwide DDoS Attack Hits ReputationChanger.com

Porn-downloading ransomware targets German users

The German Anti-Botnet Advisory Centre is warning (in German) users about a new ransomware / BKA Trojan variant that accuses users of being involved in the reproduction of pornographic material involv…

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Porn-downloading ransomware targets German users

Porn-downloading ransomware targets German users

The German Anti-Botnet Advisory Centre is warning (in German) users about a new ransomware / BKA Trojan variant that accuses users of being involved in the reproduction of pornographic material involv…

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Porn-downloading ransomware targets German users

Anonymous OpUSA: Massive Cyber Attack Planned For Wednesday May 8 Against Government and Banks

The hacktivist collective Anonymous, along with other hacker groups based in the Middle East and North Africa, began an operation, dubbed “OpUSA,” targeting the websites of nine major U.S. government agencies and over 130 banks earlier this morning in a protest against American foreign policy. Targets include the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the FBI and the White House, along with the websites of banks such as Bank of America, Capital One and TD Bank. Calling themselves the “N4m3le55 Cr3w,” the collective of hacker groups said in a statement that it aims to make sure “this May 7th will be a day to remember.” The relatively amorphous Anonymous, a decentralized and loosely associated collective of hackers, grew out of the internet imageboard 4Chan back in the early 2000s. As the very interesting and informative 2012 documentary on the group, “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” highlights, there is no one group called Anonymous with one set of goals or ideals. Rather there are a collection of groups and individuals that operate under the name Anonymous, often with varying agendas ranging from principle social activism to just messing with people because they can. Because of this, their actions can range from the awesome (such as their support for protesters during the Arab uprisings) to the simply mean and unnecessary (such as posting flashing animations on the website of an epilepsy support group). Anonymous is joined by groups including the Izz al-Din Qassam Cyber Fighters, whose sole aim is apparently to get the “Innocence of Muslims” video removed from YouTube. Other groups involved in OpUSA include Mauritania hackers, Muslim liberation army, antisec, and lulzsec. Over the past six months, the Qassam Cyber Fighters have successfully carried out distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against large American banks. The groups have been publicizing their planned operation for weeks now, and in their statement posted on the website Pastebin on April 21 they said that America will pay for the war crimes it has committed: “America you have committed multiple war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and recently you have committed war crimes in your own country. You have killed hundreds of innocent children and families with drones, guns, and now bombs. America you have hit thousands of people where it hurts them, now it is our time for our Lulz. For this you shall pay.” For protection against your eCommerce site click here . Source: http://current.com/technology/94112350_anonymous-opusa-massive-cyber-attack-planned-for-wednesday-against-government-and-banks.htm

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Anonymous OpUSA: Massive Cyber Attack Planned For Wednesday May 8 Against Government and Banks

May 7 2013 – OpUSA hacking spree kicks off early

Islamist element in attacks. A pro-Islamic, anti-American hacking campaign appears to have jumped the gun and started early with hundreds of sites being compromised today. Set to take place on May 7 this month – thought to be US time – and targeting government sites in the US, Israel and India, the campaign is called #OpUSA. It is coordinated mainly through Twitter and postings on sites like Pastebin, with an unknown amount of participants. However, lists of compromised sites are already apppearing, with a group called “X-Blackerz Inc” claiming to have hacked “100 US websites”, posting anti-American messages. iTnews loaded some of the sites listed which have India-related domain names, and found them defaced. Elswhere, a group calling itself Charaf Anons posted a list of 73 defaced sites on Pastebin. The website of the Honolulu, Hawaii Police Department was also claimed to be hacked, but as of writing, it is not defaced and operates normally. However, the hackers say they have captured databases that include the Honolulu Police Department staff logins and passwords. Another one was also posted with names and phone numbers that iTnews was able to verify as belonging to police officers in Honolulu. There is more to come: on May 7, the hackers are threatening to release a trove of “all governments emails of USA” [sic] captured by them. From the Anonghost Twitter account Security researcher Analysis Intelligence believes OpUSA features “self-proclaimed online freedom fighters” such as the Pakistani ZCompany Hacking Crew and Palestinians Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters. These and other groups have hacked thousands of websites in the past, leaked credit card information for American and Israeli individuals and launched denial of service attacks against US banks, according to Analysis Intelligence. The motive for the OpUSA attacks are political, seeking revenge against drone attacks and military action in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and Pakistan, the analysts believe. For DDoS protection click here . Source: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/342192,opusa-hacking-spree-kicks-off-early.aspx

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May 7 2013 – OpUSA hacking spree kicks off early

Government Takes Precautions Over Expected ‘OpUSA’ Cyber Attack

RHONDA SCHWARTZ, PIERRE THOMAS and LEE FERRAN report: The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are cautioning American government and financial institutions that they could be targets of a wave of cyber attacks Tuesday from Anonymous-linked hacktivists in the Middle East and North Africa. “The attacks will likely result in limited disruptions and mostly consistent of nuisance-level attacks against publicly accessible web pages and possibly data exploitation,” says an unclassified memo from the Department of Homeland Security, first obtained by the cyber security blog KrebsOnSecurity.com. In another memo, this one from the FBI’s Cyber Division and obtained by ABC News, 140 banks are listed as potential targets for the potential cyber attack campaign known as “OpUSA.” Threats against the targets were originally made weeks ago and posted publicly online in a rambling missive that also denounced American “war crimes” in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both U.S. government and industry analyses of the OpUSA threats have connected them to OpIsrael, a widespread but reportedly largely ineffective cyber attack targeting Israeli government and private websites last November. As in that attack, OpUSA hackers are expected to use distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to flood target websites with illegitimate traffic, potentially knocking them offline, a Department of Homeland Security official said. One industry analysis says that due to the “hive mindset” of groups like Anonymous, the attack’s effectiveness could be contingent on its popularity and perceived success. “Similarly, if the central actors appear to be largely failing in their efforts, other Anonymous actors may decide not to join in this operation,” the analysis says. Cyber security expert Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure told ABC News he expects that “something’s going to happen,” but likely not more than some websites being defaced or briefly knocked offline by the DDoS attacks. If it proves correct, Hypponen’s prediction would be a far cry from OpUSA’s original promise to wipe the U.S. “off the cyber map.” For protection against your eCommerce site click here . Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/government-takes-precautions-over-expected-opusa-cyber-attack/

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Government Takes Precautions Over Expected ‘OpUSA’ Cyber Attack

May 7th 2013 OpUSA: A Promise of Cyber Events to Come?

What will actually happen in (or to) cyberspace on May 7, 2013? That is the question that many are asking as they prepare for a promised attack from the hacktivist groups this coming week. According to an announcement in an April 24 Pastebin threat to US and Israeli Governments, “We gonna launch a big attack against The USA Network and we gonna make some Damages.” Some sources say that this is a serious threat, and government and banking enterprises need to be prepared. Govinfosecurity.com reported: “Security experts say that OperationUSA, a coordinated online attack against banking and government websites slated for May 7, is a serious threat. As a result, organizations should be upping their  distributed-denial-of-service attack  mitigation strategies to guard against the attacks, which are being coordinated by the hacktivist group Anonymous. Experts advise that call-center staff should be educated about DDoS attacks, in case customers call in about online outages or experience difficulty accessing accounts. And network and security teams should actively monitor Internet traffic on May 7 and take steps to block specific IP addresses.” A look at the Twitter-feed or OpUSA yields some interesting tweets, links to anti-USA videos and more.  Here is one of those tweets from Cisco Security ?@CiscoSecurity:  “Stay informed about the planned # OpUSA cyberattacks against government and banking infrastructure http://cs.co/9001Xc4N #security”   Is the OpUSA Threat Overblown? And yet, Krebs on Security reported that the threat may be “more bark than bite.” Brian Krebs writes: “A confidential alert, produced by DHS on May 1 and obtained by KrebsOnSecurity, predicts that the attacks ‘likely will result in limited disruptions and mostly consist of nuisance-level attacks against publicly accessible webpages and possibly data exploitation. Independent of the success of the attacks, the criminal hackers likely will leverage press coverage and social media to propagate an anti-US message….’ In an interview with Softpedia, representatives of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam said they do indeed plan to lend their firepower to the OpUSA attack campaign.” My Reaction So what is Michigan government doing? While I won’t list every step taken here, I can say that we are hoping for the best, while preparing for potential issues to occur. There are a variety of scenarios, but I believe that governments need to be prepared for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and possibly worse. In my opinion, this is now the new normal in cyber threats, and enterprises must be prepared. I tend to also agree with DHS and Krebs that this may not be as big an issue on Tuesday as some predict. Nevertheless, we must treat this in the way that police regularly investigate other types of serious security threats. Another observation is that this may become the “new normal” regarding cyber threats. Government enterprises need to have procedures in place to react to these cyber threats and potential attacks. There are services that can be purchased from your ISP to address DDoS, and there are also other security steps that enterprises can take regarding people, process and technology improvements. Michigan has experienced a DDoS attack before, and we will likely see similar cyber attacks again. One final thought. The bad guys use these type of announcements to test our cyber defenses. They see what we do to mitigate risks or raise the alert levels on Tuesday. This information could be used in the future for unannounced online attacks. For that reason, I suggest that cyber teams deploy only the defense tool needed, when they are needed. We need to have adaptive cyber defenses that are appropriate for the specific attack situation. Or more simply, don’t openly “show your hand” to the adversary. What are you doing to prepare for Tuesday? Do you think these cyber threat announcements are becoming the new normal around the world? For protection against your eCommerce site click here . Source: http://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/OpUSA-A-Promise-of-050413.html

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May 7th 2013 OpUSA: A Promise of Cyber Events to Come?

May 7 2013 OpUSA: A Promise of Cyber Events to Come?

What will actually happen in (or to) cyberspace on May 7, 2013? That is the question that many are asking as they prepare for a promised attack from the hacktivist groups this coming week. According to an announcement in an April 24 Pastebin threat to US and Israeli Governments, “We gonna launch a big attack against The USA Network and we gonna make some Damages.” Some sources say that this is a serious threat, and government and banking enterprises need to be prepared. Govinfosecurity.com reported: “Security experts say that OperationUSA, a coordinated online attack against banking and government websites slated for May 7, is a serious threat. As a result, organizations should be upping their  distributed-denial-of-service attack  mitigation strategies to guard against the attacks, which are being coordinated by the hacktivist group Anonymous. Experts advise that call-center staff should be educated about DDoS attacks, in case customers call in about online outages or experience difficulty accessing accounts. And network and security teams should actively monitor Internet traffic on May 7 and take steps to block specific IP addresses.” A look at the Twitter-feed or OpUSA yields some interesting tweets, links to anti-USA videos and more.  Here is one of those tweets from Cisco Security ?@CiscoSecurity:  “Stay informed about the planned # OpUSA cyberattacks against government and banking infrastructure http://cs.co/9001Xc4N #security”   Is the OpUSA Threat Overblown? And yet, Krebs on Security reported that the threat may be “more bark than bite.” Brian Krebs writes: “A confidential alert, produced by DHS on May 1 and obtained by KrebsOnSecurity, predicts that the attacks ‘likely will result in limited disruptions and mostly consist of nuisance-level attacks against publicly accessible webpages and possibly data exploitation. Independent of the success of the attacks, the criminal hackers likely will leverage press coverage and social media to propagate an anti-US message….’ In an interview with Softpedia, representatives of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam said they do indeed plan to lend their firepower to the OpUSA attack campaign.” My Reaction So what is Michigan government doing? While I won’t list every step taken here, I can say that we are hoping for the best, while preparing for potential issues to occur. There are a variety of scenarios, but I believe that governments need to be prepared for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and possibly worse. In my opinion, this is now the new normal in cyber threats, and enterprises must be prepared. I tend to also agree with DHS and Krebs that this may not be as big an issue on Tuesday as some predict. Nevertheless, we must treat this in the way that police regularly investigate other types of serious security threats. Another observation is that this may become the “new normal” regarding cyber threats. Government enterprises need to have procedures in place to react to these cyber threats and potential attacks. There are services that can be purchased from your ISP to address DDoS, and there are also other security steps that enterprises can take regarding people, process and technology improvements. Michigan has experienced a DDoS attack before, and we will likely see similar cyber attacks again. One final thought. The bad guys use these type of announcements to test our cyber defenses. They see what we do to mitigate risks or raise the alert levels on Tuesday. This information could be used in the future for unannounced online attacks. For that reason, I suggest that cyber teams deploy only the defense tool needed, when they are needed. We need to have adaptive cyber defenses that are appropriate for the specific attack situation. Or more simply, don’t openly “show your hand” to the adversary. What are you doing to prepare for Tuesday? Do you think these cyber threat announcements are becoming the new normal around the world? For protection against your eCommerce site click here . Source: http://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/OpUSA-A-Promise-of-050413.html

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May 7 2013 OpUSA: A Promise of Cyber Events to Come?

May 7: Mark Your Calendar (or Not) for Credit Union DDoS Attacks

CUNA made headlines with its warning about a planned May 7th DDoS – Distributed Denial of Service – attack that, said the trade group, was sufficiently worrisome that credit unions had to take steps to be ready. CUNA attributed the source of word of the threat to “chatter” that has been detec What chatter? That turns out to be comments not from the al Qassam Cyber Fighters – the group that has claimed the prior DDoS attacks that have knocked big U.S. banks and several credit unions offline in the past year. Sources pointed instead to OpUSA, a shadowy hacktivist group that is affiliated with Anonymous. OpUSA has claimed al-Qassam will be involved in the May 7 attacks, but al Qassam – a group often said to be allied with the Iranian government – has been less committal in its remarks. As for what OpUSA has planned for May 7, the group has offered its commentary on Pastebin, the website of choice for DDoS-related announcements. (Warning: there is substantial off color language here,) Aside from anti-Israel and anti-Obama  commentary, there are no real details of what is planned for May 7. Anonymous, the supposed manpower behind OpUSA, is a group that has had successful takedowns of public websites – recently the Spanish parliament’s website became a victim.  It has documented computer skills at very high levels.  But the exact relationship between OpUSA and Anonymous is not presently known. So, what should a credit union do in the run up to May 7?  Experts consulted by Credit Union Times indicated that at this late date, not much could in fact be done to ward off an unknown attacker unleashing an unknown attack vector in a little over a week. Were budgets unlimited, much could be done, said the experts, but with a typical credit union’s constrained IT budget, many will decide their best course of action is to wait this one out and see exactly what damage transpires on May 7. In the vast majority of cases, DDoS also has not been associated with data breaches. It has been an outage, plain and simple, noted one expert who indicated it was not that different from going down in an electrical storm. “Many – most – will decide to take this route,” he said. For protection against your eCommerce site c lick here . Source: http://www.cutimes.com/2013/04/29/may-7-mark-your-calendar-or-not-for-credit-union-d?ref=hp

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May 7: Mark Your Calendar (or Not) for Credit Union DDoS Attacks