Tag: Cybercrime
Some startups see security as a nice-to-have that can be added months or years after launch. The smart ones realize that dependable security from the beginning means solid performance, satisfied customers, and no precious startup dollars wasted on fraud or incidents. F5 Labs decided to peek under the hood of one of these smart startups: Wanderlust…
Read MoreWe also analyzed the primary root causes of the breaches, how that varied in breach remediation costs by industry, and the impact of these breaches on each data type breached on the global scale. The purpose of our analysis was to identify where organizations are most likely to be attacked in a way that…
Read MoreOn Dec 8, 2017, 4iQ reported the discovery of a database on the dark web containing 1.4 billion credentials—in clear text.1 The fine writers of the aforementioned article note that they’ve “tested a subset of these passwords and most of them have been verified to be true.” 1.4 billion. A standard calculator (like the one…
Read MoreF5 threat researchers have discovered a new Apache Struts campaign. This new campaign is a sophisticated multi-staged attack targeting internal networks with the NSA-attributed EternalBlue and EternalSynergy exploits. We have dubbed the campaign “Zealot” based on the name of the zip file containing the python scripts with the NSA-attributed exploits. As we continue to research…
Read MoreEighty-six percent of Internet hosts prefer forward secrecy; all modern browsers do, too. The Bleichenbacher attack only affects RSA sessions not protected with the ephemeral keys offered by forward secrecy. All modern browsers and mobile clients have preferred ephemeral keys for several years. Google has been preferring them with their servers and software since 2012.6…
Read MoreInternet of Things (IoT) devices gained infamy almost overnight for their lack of security. This led to their participation in a Thingbot (a botnet built out of IoT devices) named Mirai1 that launched massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against a handful of victims, including Dyn, OVH, KrebsOnSecurity, and Rutgers University2 in late 2016. As a result of…
Read MoreAnything we put online must swim in a sea of enemies. The F5 Labs report, Lessons Learned from a Decade of Data Breaches, revealed that an average breach leaked 35 million records. Nearly 90% of the US population’s social security numbers have been breached to cyber criminals. When confronted by staggering statistics like these, it is…
Read MoreFigure 2: Alternative C&C server address hosted on Pastebin.com One of the challenges that adversaries need to deal with is how to maintain a sustainable C&C infrastructure without being quickly denylisted by enterprise security solutions, or being frequently shut down by ISPs and hosting services following law enforcement and security vendors’ abuse reports. Many…
Read MoreSure, the C&C list is a small sample size, and C&C hosts come and go quickly. This list is in no way exhaustive—it’s just a snapshot in time from last quarter. But for a breakdown of the domain hosting services, see the end of this article. “Yes, I really am a C&C server.” A…
Read More“The digital economy is firmly entrenched, and has an appearance that promises prosperity; but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and vulnerabilities.” With many apologies to Benjamin Franklin, to whom the original, unaltered quote on which this one relies is typically attributed. Unlike the forecasts for snow in…
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