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DDOS attacks: An old nemesis returns to cripple your network

Once considered a cybersecurity threat of the past, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have re-emerged with a vengeance. DDoS attacks are wreaking havoc on enterprises and end users with alarming frequency. Distributed Denial of Service is a cyberattack where multiple systems are compromised, often joined with a Trojan, and used to target a single system to exhaust resources so that legitimate users are denied access to resources. Websites or other online resources become so overloaded with bogus traffic that they become unusable. A well-orchestrated DDoS carried out by automated bots or programs has the power to knock a website offline. These attacks can cripple even the most established and largest organisations. An e-commerce business can no longer conduct online transactions, jeopardising sales. Emergency response services can no longer respond, putting lives in danger. According to the VeriSign Distributed Denial of Service Trends Report, DDoS activity increased by 85 percent in one year. The report also suggested that cyber attackers are beginning to hit targets repeatedly, with some organisations the target of DDoS attacks up to 16 times in just three months. If you think your organisation is obscure and can fly under the cyber attacker radar – forget it. Every industry is vulnerable. If an increase in attacks isn’t troubling enough, the size and the amount of damage DDoS attacks can do is also disturbing. The fastest flood attack detected by Verisign occurred during the fourth quarter of 2015, targeting a telecommunications company by sending 125 million packets per second (Mpps), and driving a volumetric DDoS attack of 65 gigabits per second (Gbps). The end result – the site imploded and was temporarily knocked out of service. Why DDos attacks are back in vogue The reason why DDoS attacks are back is simple – it is relatively easy to launch a sustained attack and cripple any organisation connected to the Internet. Botnets, a group of computers connected for malicious purposes, can actually be acquired as a DDoS for hire service. The ability to acquire destructive assets demonstrates how easy it is for someone with little technical knowledge to attack any organisation. DDoS attacks typically hit in three ways – Application Order, Volumetric, and Hybrid. Application orders cripple networks by potentially creating hundreds of thousands of connections at a time; volumetric attacks seek to overload a site with traffic; hybrid attacks can deliver the double whammy of knocking a business offline. The real danger of DDoS attacks is that they are often an end around. While technicians are pre-occupied with trying to get the website back up, attackers can often plant a backdoor in others areas of the network to eventually steal information. How to prevent DDoS attacks Prevention is nearly impossible, since there is no effective control of hackers in the outside world. A DDoS appliance protecting the Internet connection is the first line of defence. This will help to mitigate an attack. Appliances from vendors such as Fortinet or Radware are placed on customer premise as close to their Internet edge as possible. These devices can help to identify and block most DDoS traffic. However, this solution falls short with a DDoS attack that is attempting to flood Internet circuits. The only way to protect against this type of attack is to have a device at the service provider or in the cloud. A managed security services provider (MSSP) can offer on-demand services that are both cost effective and architected with a cloud focus in mind, in order to effectively protect against each type of attack. A number of companies offer tools to analyse network traffic for signs of malicious activity, which can often weed out unwanted network connections. Infrastructure Access Control Lists (IACLs) can also be installed in routers and switches to detect suspicious traffic patterns and keep unwanted traffic off servers. Many companies believe they can thwart attacks by hiding behind a firewall, but these general purpose tools are typically the first to fall. Firewalls offer some protection, but they can be easily hacked. Organisations expose themselves to attack when they use technology as a crutch. Winning the DDoS war requires organisations to look at their operations as a critical network and seek ways to defend it with talented individuals and technology that stay one step ahead of the attackers. A firewall is important but not a panacea. The major drawback to do-it-yourself solutions is that they are reactive. Attackers can easily modify their methods and come at a business from disparate sources using different vectors. This keeps an organisation always in a defensive position, having to repeatedly deploy additional configurations, while simultaneously attempting to recover from any downtime events. Many organisations have limited expertise and resource bandwidth to deal with the complexities of security and compliance. Managed security services providers with the ability to monitor, manage and protect control systems fill that cybersecurity gap. Detecting a DDoS attack requires specialised hardware capable of sending alerts via email or text. The goal is to report and respond to the incident before the attacker makes resources unavailable. An MSSP who employs both technology and on-site personnel can monitor and act as a full operations team. If a DDoS attack is suspected, it is probably affecting the ISP as well. The security team should immediately contact the ISP to see if they can detect a DDoS attack and re-route traffic. Inquire whether any DDoS protective services are available, and consider a backup ISP as a contingency. DDoS attacks will continue in the future due to the ease of execution. Companies must ensure they are prepared, constantly monitor the network, and have a game plan if an attack is under way. The daily headlines prove that no organisation is immune. With a little foresight it is possible to both thwart an attack and defend against future ones. Source: http://www.itproportal.com/features/ddos-attacks-an-old-nemesis-returns-to-cripple-your-network/

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DDOS attacks: An old nemesis returns to cripple your network

Luabot malware used to launch DDoS attacks

A security researcher discovered a Trojan that infects Linux platforms used in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. According to MalwareMustDie, the security researcher responsible for the discovery, the malware is written in the Lua programming language (version 5.3.0). The malware, dubbed Linux/Luabot, targets the Linux operating system, used often in web servers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The Trojan issues botnet commands to affected systems, MalwareMustDie wrote in a blog post published on Monday. “There are plenty new ELF malware coming & lurking our network recently & hitting out Linux layer IoT and services badly,” MalwareMustDie wrote in the blog post. The researcher advised security professionals to “watch for unusual hazards for the security of our 24/7 running Linux nodes.” Last week, security firm Sucuri disclosed vulnerabilities in IoT home routers that were exploited to launch an application-level DDoS attack. The Strider cyberespionage group disclosed by Symantec last month also used modules written in Lua. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/luabot-malware-used-to-launch-ddos-attacks/article/520814/

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Luabot malware used to launch DDoS attacks

Rio 2016 Olympics Suffered Sustained 540Gbps DDoS Attacks

Arbor security claims Rio was a success in terms of mitigating powerful, prolonged DDoS attacks Public facing websites belonging to organisations affiliated with the 2016 Rio Olympics were targeted by sustained, sophisticated DDoS attacks reaching up to 540Gbps, according to Arbor Networks. Many of these attacks started months before the Olympic Games had begun, but the security company said that attackers increased their efforts significantly during the games, generating the longest-duration sustained 500Gbps+ DDoS attack Arbor has ever seen. “And nobody noticed,” boasted Arbor’s Security Engineering and Response Team (ASERT). Virtual battlegrounds Just like other public services like electricity and water, the ins and outs of keeping websites up and running should be hidden from the general public, allowing them to go about their business without knowing about the virtual warfare being engaged behind server lines. And in ASERT’s opinion, the Rio Olympic Games “set the bar for rapid, professional, effective DDoS attack mitigation under the most intense scrutiny of any major international event to date”. “Over the last several months, several organizations affiliated with the Olympics have come under large-scale volumetric DDoS attacks ranging from the tens of gigabits/sec up into the hundreds of gigabits/sec,” blogged ASERT. “A large proportion of the attack volume consisted of UDP reflection/amplification attack vectors such as DNS, chargen, ntp, and SSDP, along with direct UDP packet-flooding, SYN-flooding, and application-layer attacks targeting Web and DNS services. “The defenders of the Rio Olympics’ online presence knew they’d have their work cut out for them, and prepared accordingly. “A massive amount of work was performed prior to the start of the games; understanding all the various servers, services, applications, their network access policies, tuning anomaly-detection metrics in Arbor SP, selecting and configuring situationally-appropriate Arbor TMS DDoS countermeasures, coordinating with the Arbor Cloud team for overlay ‘cloud’ DDoS mitigation services, setting up virtual teams with the appropriate operational personnel from the relevant organisations, ensuring network infrastructure and DNS BCPs were properly implemented, defining communications channels and operational procedures. “And that’s why the 2016 DDoS Olympics were an unqualified success for the defenders! Most DDoS attacks succeed simply due to the unpreparedness of the defenders – and this most definitely wasn’t the case in Rio.” However, not all defence tactics worked surrounding the Olympic Games. The Brazilian arm of hacking collective Anonymous was successful in targeting websites that included the official website of the federal government for the 2016 games and the Brazilian Ministry of Sports. Anonymous was also able to leak personal and financial data belonging to Brazilian sports domains such as the Brazilian Confederation of Boxing and the Brazilian Triathlon Confederation. “Hello Rio de Janeiro. We know that many have realized how harmful it was (and still is) the Olympic Games in the city. The media sells the illusion that the whole city celebrates and commemorate the reception of tourists from all over the world, many of them attracted by the prostitution network and drugs at a bargain price. This false happiness hides the blood shed in the suburbs of the city, mainly in the favelas thanks to countless police raids and military under the pretext of a fake war,” stated Anonymous. “Therefore, we will continue with our operations to unmask the numerous arbitrary actions of those who are state and therefore its own population enemies.” Source: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/security/rio-olympics-ddos-attacks-196998

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Rio 2016 Olympics Suffered Sustained 540Gbps DDoS Attacks

?The top 5 least-wanted malware in any corporate IT infrastructure

Ask a group of people to define malware, and you’re likely to get a range of different answers. The term has become a catch-all description for a broad collection of different cyber threats that keep IT managers awake at night. Categories falling under the malware banner include viruses and worms, adware, bots, Trojans and root kits. Each category is different but all can cause disruption and loss if not detected and quickly removed. Of the malware types in the wild, the top five are: 1. Remote Access Trojans (RATs) RATS comprise malicious code that usually arrives hidden in an email attachment or as part of a downloaded file such as a game. Once the file is open, the RAT installs itself on the victim’s computer where it can sit unnoticed until being remotely trigged. RATs provide attackers with a back door that gives them administrative control over the target computer. This can then be used to steal data files, access other computers on the network or cause disruption to business processes. One of the first examples, dubbed Beast, first appeared in the early 2000s. It was able to kill running anti-virus software and install a key logger that could monitor for password and credit card details. Sometimes it would even take a photo using the target computer’s web cam and send it back to the attacker. 2. Botnets Some liken botnets to a computerised ‘zombie army’ as they comprise a group of computers that have been infected by a backdoor Trojan. Botnets have similar features to a RAT, however their key difference is that they are a group of computers being controlled at the same time. Botnets have been described as a Swiss Army knife for attackers. Linked to a command-and-control channel, they can be instructed to forward transmissions including spam or viruses to other computers in the internet. They can also be used to initiate distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks similar to the one suspected to have disrupted the Australian census. Some attackers even rent their botnets out to other criminals who want to distribute their own malware or cause problems for legitimate websites or services. 3. Browser-based malware This type of malware targets a user’s web browser and involves the installation of a Trojan capable of modifying web transactions as they occur in real time. The benefit for malware of being in a browser is that it enables it to avoid certain types of security protection such as packet sniffing. Some examples of the malware generate fake pop-up windows when they know a user is visiting a banking web site. The windows request credit card details and passwords which are then sent back to the attacker. Security experts estimate that there have been around 50 million hosts infected by browser-based malware and estimated financial losses have topped $1 billion. 4. Point-of-sale (POS) Malware This is a specialised type of malware that seeks out computers specifically used for taking payments in retail outlets. The malware is designed to infect the computer to which POS terminals are attached and monitor it for credit card details. One example, called Backoff, appeared in late 2013 and managed to infect more than 1000 businesses including the large US-based retailer Dairy Queen. 5. Ransomware This category of malware is designed to take over a computer and make it or the data stored on it unusable. The code usually encrypts data and then the attacker demands payment from the user before providing the encryption key. One of the more prevalent ransomware versions is called Locky and appeared in early 2016. It has already infected a large number of individuals, companies and public facilities such as hospitals. While early examples used poor encryption techniques, ransomware has quickly evolved to the point where many varieties now use industry-standard 256-bit encryption which is effectively impossible to crack without the private key. The best anti-malware steps to take While the impact of a malware infection can be significant for individuals or an organisations, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of infection. They include: General awareness It’s important for users to be aware of the threats that malware brings. Staff should be educated about phishing attacks and to be cautious when downloading files or opening attachments from unfamiliar parties. Regular backups Regular back-ups of critical data are a vital part of any security strategy. In larger organisations, a global share drive can be created in which all important files should be stored. This drive can then be backed up as often as is needed. Copies of backups should also be kept offline as an additional layer of protection. Defence in depth In a complex IT infrastructure, there should be multiple layers of security designed to stop attacks. While no single defence can protect completely, creating a defence in depth strategy will ensure systems and data are as secure as they can be. Layered protection should range from firewalls and anti-virus software through to network intrusion and advanced persistent threat tools. By taking a comprehensive and multi-layered approach to security, organisations can reduce the likelihood they will fall victim to malware attacks and avoid the disruptive and potentially costly problems they can cause. Source: http://www.cso.com.au/article/605901/top-5-least-wanted-malware-any-corporate-it-infrastructure/

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DDoS Attacks Increase 200%; UK Now Second Most Targeted Nation

DDoS attacks have increased by over 200% in the last year, according to new research from Imperva. The uptick in attacks has been attributed to DDoS-for-hire services, the company said. DDoS attacks are now among the most common cyber threats businesses can face, according to Imperva. Between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 it recorded an average of 445 attacks targeting its customers per week. More than 40% of customers affected were targeted more than once, and 16% were hit more than five times. The majority of attacks noted by Imperva targeted the application layer, making up 60% of all DDoS attacks. The remainder targeted the network layer. However, Imperva noted that the number of application layer attacks are trending downwards, dropping by 5% year over year. If that trend continues, network layer attacks could be just as common as application layer ones before too long. The most recent quarter covered by this report shows a big jump in the size of network layer attacks. The biggest recorded attack was 470 Gbps, while many others exceeded 200 Gbps. Imperva now says attacks of this size are a “regular occurrence.” These increases in DDoS attacks have been attributed to DDoS-for-hire services, where anyone can pay as little as $5 to launch a minute-long DDoS attack on a target of their choice. This means attacks can be launched by just about anyone—whether it’s because of a grudge against a particular company or just boredom. These now account for 93% of DDoS attacks, up from 63.8% in Q2 2015. Imperva says this has directly led to the increase in overall DDoS numbers. Another clue to an increase in DDoS-for-hire services and what Imperva calls “casual offenders” is a decrease in attack complexity. Starting in Q2 2015 the company recorded a decrease in multi-vector attacks; attacks using multiple vectors and payloads indicate a more sophisticated, complex attack. However, Q1 2016 saw an increase in the volume of assaults using five or more payloads. “This countertrend reminds us that—in parallel with the increased “hobbyist” activity—more capable cyber-criminals continue to improve their methods. As per the first rule of the DDoS mitigation industry, attacks continue to get larger and more sophisticated on the high-end of the scale,” the report said . The report also examined where DDoS attacks generally emerge from. Once again, China tops the list, with a sharp increase recorded in South Korea. The excellent broadband infrastructure in the country enables attacks to easily launch effective attacks, Imperva said. The UK is now the world’s second most-attacked country, after the United States of America. Most attacks targeted small and medium businesses, but some bigger institutions, including the BBC and HSBC , were hit as well. Source: http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ddos-attacks-increase-200/

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DDoS Attacks Increase 200%; UK Now Second Most Targeted Nation

Teen hacker walks free after carrying out DDoS attacks on bank and e-crime portal

Australian teenager who DDoSed E-crime website, Commonwealth Bank and his own school, walks free This teen did something and got away with it! Seldom do you see anyone walking away free after creating online mayhem through DDoS attacks but this teen did just that. A 15-year-old teenage hacker was sentenced to a “family conference” by a judge at the Christies Beach Youth Court in Adelaide, Australia after he targeted Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) Portal, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and his own school servers in February 2016. In Australian law, a family conference is when the court leaves the punishment to the family and a supervising youth police officer, who must agree with the punishment in order to consider the matter closed. Family conferences may require the teen to apologize publicly, pay compensation to the victims, perform a number of hours of community service, or more. The youth, who cannot be identified under state law, pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorised damage of computer systems related to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. However, the very next day, he walked free as the court ordered mediation between his family and victims rather than facing jail time. The teenager was fortunate for not having to face prison time up to 3 years in youth detention under cyber terrorism laws in Australia, as he is not an adult. “The penalty for orchestrating a DDoS attack is a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. This is found in the Cybercrime Act 2001, section 477.3 ‘unauthorised impairment of electronic communication.’” The teenager started his DDoS spree on February 26 when he first attacked CBA that left the bank and some overseas customers unable to access services for more than three hours. The attack “had the potential to cause serious disruption to our services”, says the bank, even though customer money and information was not put at risk. Later in March, he used his mobile phone in March to disrupt his high school’s information technology systems for “fun” and because he was “bored” in computing studies. Later, the teenager shifted the attacks from the school’s system to its Internet provider. On April 4, 2016, he launched another attack on the ACORN website, which is used by every Australian police force and multiple federal crime fighting agencies, was shut down for up to six minutes but abandoned later. He was arrested at his southern Adelaide home after both state and federal authorities tracked his unique internet protocol (IP) address. His school principal reported his crimes through ACORN. Magistrate Cathy Deland, herself a CBA customer, confessed that she was “making a big step” ordering a “family conference” — a move supported by police — but said the law need to concentrate on rehabilitation, reports Adelaide Now. She believed that he was unlikely to reoffend and had not demanded any “ransom”. Ms Deland said his crimes stopped classmates from learning while his attack on the CBA was “just massive”. She told him: “I don’t know that anyone would be able to put a price on repairing the disruption that you caused. I have no doubt it would have been millions of dollars. “I have no doubt that you would not have thought much about the consequences. I am in the difficult situation having to weigh up your incredible stupidity against … your rehabilitation.” The boy and his family refused to comment outside court. Source: http://www.techworm.net/2016/08/teen-hacker-walks-free-carrying-ddos-attacks-bank-e-crime-portal.html

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Teen hacker walks free after carrying out DDoS attacks on bank and e-crime portal

What You Need to Know about the Evolution of DDoS

In an attempt to define the modern-day DDoS attack, one must understand – there is more than one type of attack. Starting with the simplest first, network level DDoS attacks are the easiest to launch. They are fundamentally designed to crush networks and melt down firewalls. Aimed at filling state tables and consuming the available resources of network gear, today hackers require larger and larger botnets to be successful. As organizations install bigger pipes and improve their router, firewall, and switch capacity, this type of attack is becoming less effective. Also, due to law enforcement taking notice of the larger botnets required to be successful, attackers had to devise a better tactic. Hence, the birth of the reflective/amplified attack. Using open DNS, NTP, and now UPnP devices located all over the Internet, attackers have learned how to amplify their attacks, and today they’re capable of filling large numbers of 10 Gbps pipes; using botnets of only a few-thousand machines. Firewall state tables and network resources are often not consumed in this case. Instead, pipes are filled with more traffic than they can forward. Packets can only travel so fast down a wire and when they backup, outages and latency ensue. It’s not the case of more packets; it’s the case of bigger packets. As a result of the amplification factor achieved, these attacks are now being fragmented as well. Too many fragmented packets are often a death sentence for devices performing deep packet inspection, like next-generation firewalls and IPS. Attackers can flood them with an excessive amount of fragments, consuming vast amounts of CPU, and these devices often melt down in no time at all. Even the highest performing next-generation firewalls and IPS will feel the effects of this type of attack. From an attacker perspective, interweave repetitive application-layer attacks designed to consume resources on servers, and you’ve got a recipe for success. Pound the final nail in the coffin by adding specially crafted packet attacks designed to take advantage of weak coding, and simply put – anyone will go offline without the right defenses. Attackers today use all five categories simultaneously, making it even harder to defeat without blocking vast amounts of good traffic. However, DDoS attacks are not always about bringing organizations offline. Today’s attackers are launching short-duration, partially saturating attacks that are intended to NOT take the victim offline. Instead, they’re designed to consume time, attention, “people” resources, and log storage. If the average enterprise had to choose between suffering from a DDoS attack or a data breach – they’d likely choose a DDoS attack – taking comfort in the fact that their most valuable information would remain intact, and out of the hands of a hacker. However, DDoS is all about hiding other attacks, and your data is the true target. DDoS is a serious threat – one that has vastly evolved from the simple, easily resolved attacks of the past. Often overlooked as a nuisance, any DDoS activity should raise a red flag for IT departments. When an attack lasts for a few hours (or even a few minutes), most organizations believe the attacker got tired, gave up, or the victim’s defenses withstood the onslaught. The misconception here is a sense of invincibility. However, the real reason the DDoS attack may have subsided is because the attacker achieved their objective – access to your data. Often attackers are targeting your data the whole time, while leading many to believe they’re trying to take organizations offline. Frequently, this is not their intention at all. This is emphasized by the recent rise in Dark DDoS attacks that act as a distraction to the IT department – while a damaging hack is enacted and data is stolen. If businesses are too complacent about DDoS protection, they can be financially ruined due to brand damage and the immediate decrease in customer confidence they often experience – as a result of an attack. This leads some to the point of no return. Often hidden by the Dark DDoS attack, the losses associated with the compromise of proprietary data ends up costing more to mitigate, than the attack itself. It is quite the vicious cycle. The most targeted organizations are obviously those who thrive on Internet availability, or gain the attention of hacking groups like Anonymous. Finance, news, social networks, e-retail, hospitality, education, gaming, insurance, government services, etc. are all seriously impacted by an outage. These organizations almost always make the news when downtime occurs, which in turn leads to a loss of customer confidence. In addition, any organization that has sellable data often finds themselves in the cross hairs of a Dark DDoS attack. Remember, attackers in this case want access to your data, and will do just about anything to get it. Attackers also love notoriety. News-making attacks are often like winning a professional game of chess. Their strategies, skills, and perseverance are all tested and honed. Hacker undergrounds take notice of highly skilled attackers. Often job agreements or an offer for “a piece of the action” is the reward for those with notable skills. While all of this activity may be considered illegal in just about every country, the reward seems to outweigh the punishment. As long as that is the case, attackers will continue their activities for the foreseeable future. So, what’s the solution? Put the right defenses in place and eliminate this problem – once and for all. It begins with understanding the importance of cloud-based DDoS defenses. These defenses are designed to defeat pipe-saturating attacks closest to their source. They also reduce latency involved with DDoS mitigation, and help eliminate the needs to backhaul traffic around the globe to be cleansed or null routed. Selecting a cloud provider with the highest number of strategically located DDoS defense centers that they operate themselves, makes the absolute best sense. In addition, selecting a cloud provider who can offer direct connectivity to your organization where applicable is also the recommendation. Diverting incoming traffic to the cloud to be cleansed is normally done via BGP. It’s simple, fast, and effective. However, returning the “clean” traffic back to the customer represents a new set of challenges. Most cloud providers recommend GRE tunnels, but that approach is not always the best. If you can connect “directly” to your cloud provider, it will eliminate the need for GRE and the problems that accompany that approach. The result of a direct connection is quicker mitigation and more efficient traffic reinjection. Are cloud-based DDoS defenses the end-all? Not really. The industry recognizes a better method called the hybrid-approach. The thought process here is that smaller, shorter DDoS attacks are more effectively defeated by on-premises technology, while larger and longer attacks are more efficiently defeated in the cloud. The combination of the two approaches will stop all DDoS attacks in their tracks. In addition, volumetric attacks are easily defeated in the cloud, closest to the source of attack. Low-and-slow attacks are more effectively defeated closer to the devices under attack. This combined approach provides the best of both worlds. Complete visibility is another benefit of the hybrid approach. Cloud-based DDoS defense providers who have no on-premises defense technology are blind to the attacks against their own customers . Many cloud providers attempt to monitor firewall logs and SNMP traps at the customer’s premises to help detect an attack. However, that’s comparable to using a magnifying glass to study the surface of the moon – from earth. The magnifying glass is not powerful enough, nor does it offer enough granularity to detect the subtleties of the moon’s surface. Purpose-built, on-premises DDoS defense technologies are the eyes and ears for the cloud provider. The goal here is to detect the attack before a customer actually knows they’re under attack. This equates to immediate DDoS detection and defense. Detection is actually the hardest part of the DDoS equation. Once an attack is detected, mitigation approaches for the most part are similar from one vendor to another. Using a set of well-defined mechanisms can eliminate nearly every attack. Most defenses are based upon a thorough understanding of the way protocols work and the behaviors of abnormal visitors. Finding a vendor who has the most tools and features in their defensive arsenal is the best practice. The final recommendation is to select a vendor who has both cloud-based and on-premises defenses, especially if those defenses use the same underlying technologies. On-premises hardware manufacturers who also offer cloud-based services are the way to go. The reasoning is simple. If the cloud defenses are quite effective, adding on-premises defenses of the same pedigree will become even more effective. In addition, the integration of the two approaches becomes streamlined when working with a single vendor. Incompatibilities will never be an issue. If the recommendations in this article are followed, DDoS will never be an issue for you again. The vulnerability is addressed, the risk is mitigated, and the network is protected. That’s what IT professionals are looking for – a complete solution. Source: http://virtual-strategy.com/2016/08/15/need-know-evolution-ddos/

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What You Need to Know about the Evolution of DDoS

The Hidden Role of DDoS in Ransomware Attacks

Dave Larson offers advice for organisations wishing to protect themselves from the latest types of cyber-extortion Ransom demands and DDoS attacks are now, more than ever, being used together in inventive new techniques to extract money from victims. This ranges from hackers threatening to launch a DDoS attack unless a ransom is paid, to the recent reports of a multi-layered cyber-attack combining ransomware and DDoS attacks in one. But what is often less understood is the way that sub-saturating DDoS attacks are regularly being used as a precursor to ransomware incursion. Because these attacks are so short – typically less than five minutes in duration – these low-bandwidth DDoS attacks allow hackers to test for vulnerabilities within a network, which can later be exploited through ransomware. Here we outline some of the typical methods of cyber-extortion involving DDoS attacks, and explain why automatic DDoS mitigation is such a key defence in the ongoing battle against ransomware. Extortion is one of the oldest tricks in the criminal’s book, and one of the easiest ways for today’s cyber-criminals to turn a profit. As a result, there are a significant number of techniques that hackers will utilise to try and extract money from victims. One of the most common is DDoS ransom attacks, where attackers threaten to launch a DDoS attack against a victim unless a ransom is paid. These attacks can affect any internet-facing organisation and are often indiscriminate in nature. In May, the City of London Police warned of a new wave of ransom-driven DDoS attacks orchestrated by Lizard Squad, in which UK businesses were told that they would be targeted by a DDoS attack if they refused to pay five bitcoins, equivalent to just over £1,500. According to the results of a recent survey, 80 percent of IT security professionals believe that their organisation will be threatened with a DDoS attack in the next 12 months – and almost half (43 percent) believe their organisation might pay such a demand. But despite the prevalence of DDoS ransom attacks, and its longevity as a technique, nothing elicits the same degree of alarm among security teams as the current threat of ransomware. This type of malware is estimated to have cost US businesses as much as US$ 18 million (£13.7 million) in a single year, and has already claimed a string of high-profile victims including hospitals and public bodies. Earlier this month, European police agency Europol launched a new ransomware advice service aimed at slowing down its exponential rise. But when it comes to protecting your organisation’s data from being encrypted and lost, most advice focuses on recovery, rather than prevention. This includes having a good backup policy, which ideally involves serialising data so that multiple versions of the files are available, in case newer versions have been encrypted. But what about taking a more proactive stance? We know that ransomware is usually delivered via email, inviting respondents to click on a link to download malware. Typically the themes of these emails include shipping notices from delivery companies or an invitation to open other documents that the recipient supposedly needs to review. It’s true that many of these emails are sent opportunistically and on a blanket basis to a wide number of potential victims. But we are also seeing an increase in more targeted attacks, designed to gain access to a specific organisation’s networks. After all, attacking a larger, more high-profile organisation would normally command a higher potential ransom reward, so hackers are investing an increasing amount of time researching specific victims and locating their vulnerabilities – usually through a variety of automated scanning or penetration techniques, many of which are increasingly incorporating the use of sub-saturating, low-bandwidth DDoS vectors. Most people associate the term ‘DDoS’ with system downtime, because the acronym stands for “Distributed Denial of Service”. But DDoS threats are constantly evolving, and many hackers now use them as a sophisticated means of targeting, profiling, and infiltrating networks. Short, sub-saturating DDoS attacks are typically less than five minutes in duration, meaning that they can easily slip under the radar without being detected by some DDoS mitigation systems. Five minutes may seem like an insignificant amount of time – but an appropriately crafted attack may only need a few seconds to take critical security infrastructure, like firewalls and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) offline. While IT teams are distracted by investigating what might be causing these momentary outages on the network, hackers can map the floor plan of their target’s environment, and determine any weak points and vulnerabilities that can later be exploited through other methods, such as ransomware. It is only by deploying an in-line DDoS mitigation system that is always-on, and can detect and mitigate all DDoS attacks as they occur, that security teams can protect themselves from hackers fully understanding all possible vulnerabilities in their networks. While these short DDoS attacks might sound harmless – in that they don’t cause extended periods of downtime – IT teams who choose to ignore them are effectively leaving their doors wide open for ransomware attacks or other more serious intrusions. To keep up with the growing sophistication and organisation of well-equipped and well-funded threat actors, it’s essential that organisations maintain a comprehensive visibility across their networks to spot and resolve any potential incursions as they arise. Source: http://www.scmagazineuk.com/the-hidden-role-of-ddos-in-ransomware-attacks/article/514229/

If two countries waged cyber war on each another, here’s what to expect

Imagine you woke up to discover a massive cyber attack on your country. All government data has been destroyed, taking out healthcare records, birth certificates, social care records and so much more. The transport system isn’t working, traffic lights are blank, immigration is in chaos and all tax records have disappeared. The internet has been reduced to an error message and daily life as you know it has halted. This might sound fanciful but don’t be so sure. When countries declare war on one another in future, this sort of disaster might be the opportunity the enemy is looking for. The internet has brought us many great things but it has made us more vulnerable. Protecting against such futuristic violence is one of the key challenges of the 21st century. Strategists know that the most fragile part of internet infrastructure is the energy supply. The starting point in serious cyber warfare may well be to trip the power stations which power the data centres involved with the core routing elements of the network. Back-up generators and uninterruptible power supplies might offer protection, but they don’t always work and can potentially be hacked. In any case, backup power is usually designed to shut off after a few hours. That is enough time to correct a normal fault, but cyber attacks might require backup for days or even weeks. William Cohen, the former US secretary of defence, recently predicted such a major outage would cause large-scale economic damage and civil unrest throughout a country. In a war situation, this could be enough to bring about defeat. Janet Napolitano, a former secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, believes the American system is not well enough protected to avoid this. Denial of service An attack on the national grid could involve what is called a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. These use multiple computers to flood a system with information from many sources at the same time. This could make it easier for hackers to neutralise the backup power and tripping the system. DDoS attacks are also a major threat in their own right. They could overload the main network gateways of a country and cause major outages. Such attacks are commonplace against the private sector, particularly finance companies. Akamai Technologies, which controls 30% of internet traffic, recently said these are the most worrying kind of attack and becoming ever more sophisticated. Akamai recently monitored a sustained attack against a media outlet of 363 gigabits per second (Gbps) – a scale which few companies, let alone a nation, could cope with for long. Networks specialist Verisign reports a shocking 111% increase in DDoS attacks per year, almost half of them over 10 Gbps in scale – much more powerful than previously. The top sourcesare Vietnam, Brazil and Columbia. Number of attacks Verisign Scale of attacks Verisign Most DDoS attacks swamp an internal network with traffic via the DNS and NTP servers that provide most core services within the network. Without DNS the internet wouldn’t work, but it is weak from a security point of view. Specialists have been trying to come up with a solution, but building security into these servers to recognise DDoS attacks appears to mean re-engineering the entire internet. How to react If a country’s grid were taken down by an attack for any length of time, the ensuing chaos would potentially be enough to win a war outright. If instead its online infrastructure were substantially compromised by a DDoS attack, the response would probably go like this: Phase one: Takeover of network : the country’s security operations centre would need to take control of internet traffic to stop its citizens from crashing the internal infrastructure. We possibly saw this in the failed Turkish coup a few weeks ago, where YouTube and social media went completely offline inside the country. Phase two: Analysis of attack : security analysts would be trying to figure out how to cope with the attack without affecting the internal operation of the network. Phase three: Observation and large-scale control : the authorities would be faced with countless alerts about system crashes and problems. The challenge would be to ensure only key alerts reached the analysts trying to overcome the problems before the infrastructure collapsed. A key focus would be ensuring military, transport, energy, health and law enforcement systems were given the highest priority, along with financial systems. Phase four. Observation and fine control : by this stage there would be some stability and the attention could turn to lesser but important alerts regarding things like financial and commercial interests. Phase five. Coping and restoring : this would be about restoring normality and trying to recover damaged systems. The challenge would be to reach this phase as quickly as possible with the least sustained damage. State of play If even the security-heavy US is concerned about its grid, the same is likely to be true of most countries. I suspect many countries are not well drilled to cope with sustained DDoS, especially given the fundamental weaknesses in DNS servers. Small countries are particularly at risk because they often depend on infrastructure that reaches a central point in a larger country nearby. The UK, it should be said, is probably better placed than some countries to survive cyber warfare. It enjoys an independent grid and GCHQ and the National Crime Agency have helped to encourage some of the best private sector security operations centres in the world. Many countries could probably learn a great deal from it. Estonia, whose infrastructure was disabled for several days in 2007 following a cyber attack, is now looking at moving copies of government data to the UK for protection. Given the current level of international tension and the potential damage from a major cyber attack, this is an area that all countries need to take very seriously. Better to do it now rather than waiting until one country pays the price. For better and worse, the world has never been so connected. Source: http://theconversation.com/if-two-countries-waged-cyber-war-on-each-another-heres-what-to-expect-63544

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If two countries waged cyber war on each another, here’s what to expect

GTA 5 Outage: Why Grand Theft Auto V Was Not Working

PSN was also attacked Poodlecorp launched a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Rockstar Games’ GTA 5 servers to take the game down. This resulted in players being unable to play the online elements of the game with others. The attack lasted for a few hours before service was restored. The hack of GTA 5 resulted in online elements from every version of the game not working. Those that tried to play during this time were met with error messages. Poodlecorp took to social media to claim responsibility for the hack and said more was in store for gamers on Sony Corp (ADR)’s (NYSE: SNE ) PlayStation Network, reports Daily Star . Poodlecorp claimed it was able to cause small outages in the PlayStation Network for PS3 and PS4 users on Thursday morning. However, this doesn’t seem to be all it has planned. It claims that this was only a test before it launches a larger attack. Poodlecorp hasn’t announced plans for any other attacks outside of GTA 5 and the PlayStation Network. While the Grand Theft Auto V servers are back up, there’s a possibility they could go down again throughout the day. The same is also true for the PlayStation Network. One of Poodlecorp’s members recently claimed in an interview that its ranks includes previous members of hacker group Lizard Squad. The group also took responsibility for an attack on Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR)’s (OTCMKTS: NTDOY ) Pokemon Go servers late last month, Express notes. Source: http://investorplace.com/2016/08/gta-5-outage-grand-theft-auto-v-rockstar-games-poodlecorp/#.V6OhaWWgPzI

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GTA 5 Outage: Why Grand Theft Auto V Was Not Working