Author: Lucie Loos

Marketing & Communication Director - Nameshield group

15 websites proposing DDoS attacks closed by the FBI

15 websites proposing DDoS attacks closed by the FBI
Image source: typographyimages via Pixabay

In its last quarterly report, Nexusguard stated that after the FBI closed 15 websites providing cyberattacks services, a decrease of 85% of the DDoS attacks’ scale and 24% of big attacks were observed.

In the same way, these closings would lead to the decrease of 11% of the attacks’ volume comparing to the same period in 2018 and at an international level.

Indeed, it was in December 2018 that the FBI successfully shut down 15 websites proposing DDoS attacks services, called “booters” or “booters services” in the business.

To achieve their goals, these booters use IP stresser, which originally are tools allowing to test the server or the network’s resilience. The cybercriminals hijack these IP stresser and send through them a large volume of requests towards the servers until they are overloaded and unable to respond anymore.

The Nexusguard report also indicates that the 15 websites closed by the FBI would be the technical source of about 11% of the global DDoS attacks of various sizes since 2014. Of course, this decrease might only be temporary, the multiplication of bot networks being the real plague of our decade in terms of cybercriminality.

The .UK soon available to all: .CO.UK’s holders, don’t miss the end of the priority period!

The .UK soon available to all: .CO.UK’s holders, don’t miss the end of the priority period!
Image source: 12019 via Pixabay

Remember, in June 2014, Nominet, the registry of .CO.UK, launched the opening of the .UK registrations. At the time of the extension’s launch, the registry applied a 5 years restriction during which the .UK registration rights were restricted to the holders of the corresponding names in .CO.UK, .ORG.UK, .ME.UK, .NET.UK, .LTD.UK or .PLC.UK.

The 1st of July 2019 will mark the end of the period when .UK extensions were blocked from registration if the .CO.UK was not already registered. The names will then be opened to all! If you are already a .CO.UK domain name’s holder, don’t hesitate to contact your Nameshield’s consultant before the end of the priority period to reserve your corresponding name in .UK and thus prevent a third party to do it on the general availability period.

Attack on the domain name system: the priority is to protect your access

Cyberattack - DNS Hijacking - cyber espionage
Image source : Geralt via Pixabay

Last weekend, the media has widely communicated on the consequences of an unprecedented attack that targeted the domain names.

Indeed, during the night of 22-23 February ICANN reported the large-scale attacks on the domain names: it is DNS hijacking. These attacks consist in “replacing the authorized servers addresses” with “addresses of machines controlled by the attackers”, as explained by the organization, allowing the attackers to examine the data in order to find passwords, email addresses etc., even to completely capture the traffic towards their servers.

A wave of attacks that began in November 2018

Actually, this is not an attack but a wave of attacks that the domain names system has endured for several weeks now.

Since the end of November 2018, an attack has targeted Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates and affected .GOV domain names. In this attack, the cybercriminals have proceeded with DNS hijacking.

At the beginning of January 2019, the company FireEye reported in an article, a wave of DNS hijacking that has affected domain names belonging to government, telecommunications and internet infrastructure entities across the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and North America.

If the attackers were then not identified, the initial research suggested the attacks could be conducted by persons based in Iran.

Important fact regarding the attack of February 22: this time, it struck, sometimes successfully, important actors of the Internet.

What are these attacks?

The method used is the DNS hijacking deployed on a large scale. This is a malicious attack, also called DNS redirection. Its aim: overwrite the TCP/IP parameters of a computer in order to redirect it towards a fraudulent DNS server instead of the configured official DNS server. To do this, the attacker takes control of the targeted machine through different techniques to alter the DNS configurations.

The American government, among others, recently warned about these series of highly sophisticated attacks of which the aim would be to siphon a large volume of passwords. These attacks would target more specifically governments and private companies.

Between DNS hijacking and cyber espionage

According to Talos’ article of November 2018, the attackers behind these attacks would have collected emails and connection information (login credentials – passwords) by hijacking the DNS, so that the traffic of the emails and the VPN (Virtual Private Networking) of the targeted institutions would be redirected to a server controlled by the cybercriminals.

Once the connectors collected, other attacks can be launched for espionage purposes, like the Man-In-The-Middle.

Then how to effectively protect yourself?

You must be aware that if these attacks essentially aim the domain names system, we can never say it enough, the first entry point of your domain names portfolio for an attacker is your access to the management platform.

The first and utmost recommendation is to protect your access

For many years, Nameshield has developed securing measures for the access to the domain names management platform (IP filter, ACL, HTTPS) and in addition proposes the 2 factors authentication and the SSO.

If these complementary solutions are still not implemented, Nameshield strongly recommends to implement them, in particular the 2 factors authentication in order to fight against passwords thefts.

To implement the DNSSEC protocol

The implementation of DNSSEC, if it was more widely deployed, would prevent or at least lessen the impact of these attacks by limiting their consequences.

It’s becoming increasingly urgent that DNSSEC is adopted on a massive scale, for both resolvers and authoritative servers.

To protect your domain names

The implementation of a registry lock on your strategic names will prevent their fraudulent modifications.

Although no perfect solution exists today to fully protect the infrastructures from cyberattacks, it is the implementation of several preventive measures combined that will allow to reduce the vulnerabilities (so) easily exploited by the pirates.

Can Russia disconnect from the global Internet?

Can Russia disconnect from the global Internet?
Image source : bernswaelz via Pixabay

On February 13, 2019, the Duma (lower Chamber of the Russian Parliament) has begun to study a draft legislation with the aim to create a “sovereign Internet” in Russia, meaning an ability to function in total independence if Russia was cut from the major global servers. To achieve this, it will be necessary to create an “infrastructure allowing to ensure the functioning of the Russian Internet resources in case of the impossibility for the Russian operators to connect to the foreign sources Internet servers”.

The Internet providers will have to implement systems allowing a “centralized control of the traffic” on their networks.

The measures proposed would allow the Russian Internet (RuNet) to ensure that the Russian part of the Internet functions efficiently. In other words, the test will allow Russia to ensure that its domestic networks can operate in full autonomy.

A response to the penalty threats? 

If Russia talks about an assurance for a maintained local availability, particularly in case of a large-scale cyberattack, this draft legislation is also and clearly presented as a response to the “aggressive nature of the new American cybersecurity strategy adopted in September 2018” [mentioning Russia as a threat]. Indeed, Russia is the object of many accusations regarding cyberattacks and cyber espionage (disruptions of the American presidential elections in 2016 -exhortation of Stuart Peach, Chief of the UK Defence staff in NATO, to take measures against Russia in December 2017, after the Russian submarines were detected near the Atlantic submarine cables, which carry the communications between Europe and the USA – in January 2018, the Minister of UK Defence, Gavin Williamson, also accuses Russia of spying the critical infrastructure of his country with the aim to create a “total chaos” which could “result in thousands and thousands of deaths”, etc). NATO and its allies have then threatened to punish Russia for these cyberattacks.

It’s in this context that Russia is planning a full-scale test of disconnection of the global Internet network.

A full-scale test

For several years, this test has been prepared by Russian authorities, who planned a DNS local backup (tested in 2014 and in 2018).

Indeed, the law plans the creation of Russia’s internal DNS system, which would ensure the link between web address and IP address of the corresponding web servers, without resting on the root servers of the global Internet.

Validated by president Poutine, the draft legislation has all its chances to be quickly adopted despite the reluctance of some branches of the government because of the potential expenses entailed. On the Russian Internet providers’ side, they seem to agree with the draft legislation, as mentioned in the Russian press, but to this date, they do not validate its technical implementation, which could create important disturbances and other traffic disruptions in Russia.

Of course, it is easy to see that this experience will simultaneously test the Internet providers‘ ability to direct data towards routing points controlled by the Russian government, since a filter would be implemented to stop the flow of data towards foreign servers.

Would Russia move towards a system of traffic filtering, beyond ensuring a national intranet that maintains an operational connection inside the borders even in case of a massive cyberattack? It is reminiscent of the significant Chinese firewall (Internet monitoring and censorship project managed by the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, initiated in 1998 and of which activities began in November 2003).

The Russian test could happen on the 1st of April 2019. To be continued.

DNS Flag Day: Are you ready?

DNS Flag Day - Blog Nameshield

Lately, the DNS keeps being talked about! After the first KSK rollover of October 2018, then the deactivation of the former KSK key on last January 11, here comes the time of the DNS Flag Day!

DNS Flag Day: What is it all about?

The Flag day is an expression used in IT to indicate the deadline and/or radical change.

Let us remember that when it was created, the weight of cybercrime threats affecting the DNS infrastructure didn’t exist. If the security was relegated to the background, the evolution of attacks have made it absolutely necessary: The DNS must be strengthened!

It’s in this context that the EDNS standard has been created in 1999 (updated in 2013 in the RFC6891). EDNS has particularly allowed the implementation of DNSSEC, the DNS’ geolocation and other measures aiming to strengthen the security.

This transition was not without difficulties. Abusive EDNS standard adoptions, lack of updates, bypasses have led to the creation of many patches and accommodations of the recursive servers’ code (particularly, in order to be able to differentiate DNS servers which cannot properly support EDNS from the ones unreachable for other reasons).

Two decades later, the maintenance of all these patched software has become more than difficult and leads to bugs that can compromise the DNS security. Obviously, the weight of these patches affects the speed of the response times.

It’s time for this standard to be implemented by all, or they will no longer be able to efficiently deal with new DNS attacks, like amplification or layer 7 attacks.

That’s why, major IT actors (Google, Cloudfare, Facebook, Cisco..), of which the developers of recursive servers decided as one to no longer support DNS servers that do not respect the EDNS standard as of February 1, 2019. The Flag Day arrives!

And concretely?

From the DNS Flag Day, on February 1, all the DNS servers not in compliance with the EDNS standard (or not functioning because of a firewall incompatible with EDNS), thus not responding to EDNS requests will be considered as unreachable; accommodations and other patches being removed from the new versions of the DNS software.

To simplify, not placed on compatible DNS, your domain name may no longer respond.

How to anticipate?

That is why it is important to ensure that DNS servers hosting your names‘ zones are compatible EDNS, in particular if they are not placed on Nameshield’s DNS infrastructure or if your company maintains its own infrastructure.

The DNS Flag Day website also allows to test the compliance of your name: https://dnsflagday.net/

Of course, our team is at your disposal for any question.