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😈 DO NOT SCAN IF YOU WANT TO BE A SCAMMER’S VICTIM 😈

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😈 DO NOT SCAN IF YOU WANT TO BE A SCAMMER’S VICTIM 😈

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Something special for a special week by Take De Bait!

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Hi! Thank you for visiting our section! Here the information you need to know regarding:

1) Internet Auction Fraud
2) Internet Pump-and-Dump Fraud
3) Cyber Extortion

We made infographic to summarize and make you understand better. Do click the hyperlink and scan QR code provided to know more information!

At the bottom of this infographic, do scan the QR code as we provided a short and simple quiz to test your understanding. Feel free to join!

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WELL DONE KURAMA FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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WELL DONE KURAMA FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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SIDE NOTES FOR INTERNET PUMP-AND-DUMP FRAUD

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SIDE NOTES FOR INTERNET PUMP-AND-DUMP FRAUD

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Don't understand how Internet Pump-and-Dump Fraud work? Watch this video to understand more! :)

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Investor Education - Learn about pump and dump schemes

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SIDE NOTES FOR INTERNET PUMP-AND-DUMP FRAUD

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SIDE NOTES FOR INTERNET PUMP-AND-DUMP FRAUD

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Don't understand how Internet Pump-and-Dump Fraud work? Visit this website to know more! :)

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A pump and dump scam is the illegal act of an investor or group of investors promoting a stock they hold and selling once the stock price has risen following the surge in interest as a result of the endorsement. Here, we take a closer look at how pump-and-dump schemes work and how to avoid them.

Key Takeaways

The Basics of a Pump-and-Dump

Pump-and-dump schemes were traditionally done through cold calling. But with the advent of the internet, this illegal practice has become even more prevalent. Fraudsters post messages online enticing investors to buy a stock quickly, with claims to have inside information that a development will lead to an upswing in the share's price. Once buyers jump in, the perpetrators sell their shares, causing the price to drop dramatically. New investors then lose their money.

These schemes usually target micro- and small-cap stocks, as they are the easiest to manipulate. Due to the small float of these types of stocks, it does not take a lot of new buyers to push a stock higher.

The stock is usually promoted as a "hot tip" or "the next big thing" with details of an upcoming news announcement that will "send the stock through the roof." The details of each individual pump and dump scam tend to be different but the scheme always boils down to a basic principle: shifting supply and demand. Pump and dump scams tend to only work on small and micro-cap stocks that are traded over the counter. These companies tend to be highly illiquid and can have sharp price movements when volume increases. The group behind the scam increases the demand and trading volume in the stock and this new inflow of investors leads to a sharp rise in its price. Once the price rise has formulated, the group will sell their position to make a large short-term gain.

An Example of a Pump and Dump

During the summer months of the stock below, a pump and dump scheme was initiated by using a "wrong number" scam. A message was left on victims answering machines that talked of a hot stock tip and was constructed so that the victim would think that the message was an accident.

As seen in the above chart, the price rose from around $0.30 to nearly $1.00, a more than 200% increase in a one-week period. This drastic increase was seen along with an equally large increase in volume. The stock had seen an average daily trading volume before the price increase of less than 250,000, but during the scam the stock traded up to nearly one million shares on a number of trading days. The unsuspecting investors would have bought into the stock at around $1.00. As seen above, it fell to around $0.20, an 80% decline in value for those unfortunate investors.

The Bottom Line

Always keep this investment caveat in mind: "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." If someone you don't know gives you a stock tip, stop and think about why they would be so willing to give you such information. Do not think you can make a large and quick investment return because it's unlikely to happen. It's also vital that you do your own research about any investment. This should help you avoid being duped by such pump and dump scams.

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A pump and dump scam is the illegal act of an investor or group of investors promoting a stock they hold and selling once the stock price has risen following the surge in interest as a result of the endorsement. Here, we take a closer look at how pump-and-dump schemes work and how to avoid them.

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Here's one the example of Cyber-extortion

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Salam and hi everyone! Welcome to Kurama section. In conjunction of Fraud Awareness Campaign, we decide to share with you guys some information. In this section we cover;

HACKING ACTIVITIES

1) Internet Auction Fraud
2) Internet Pump-and-Dump Fraud
3) Cyber extortion

SOCIAL ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES

1) Identity theft
2) Pretexting
3) Posing
4) Phishing
5) Pharming
6) Eavesdropping

MALWARE

Spyware

Do scroll down to find out more!
Don't forget to answer the quizzes provided and gives it likes or comments! We appreciate it very much!

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SIDE NOTES FOR CYBER-EXTORTION (RANSOMWARE)

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SIDE NOTES FOR CYBER-EXTORTION (RANSOMWARE)

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How bad can Ransomware attack us? Here is one of the example that ever happen.

Over 200,000 computers in 150 countries had been affected by WannaCry attack?! Is that true?! The attack causes business and hospital's system could not be access. Hospital had to turn away the patient during the attack.

Watch this video to find out more ;)

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Why Was the WannaCry Attack Such a Big Deal?

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Hellow Mellow, peeps!
Have you heard about Social Engineering? If not, you're coming at the right place!

In this episode, we'll be explaining what is Social Engineering and all 6 type of attacks.

Stay tune for next episode to learn more! xoxo
Don't forget to do the quizzes too! You can scan the code or click the "Click Me".

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING EP 2 - HOW DOES IT WORK

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING EP 2 - HOW DOES IT WORK

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Hi, we're back again with EP. 2 !

Here, we'll be sharing about how does these Social Engineering attacks work?

Happy reading!

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BRUTE FORCE ATTACK!

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BRUTE FORCE ATTACK!

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Brute force attacks are increasingly accounting for the majority of cyberattacks across the world as remote work becomes more prevalent.

Clink the infographic below to find out more about brute force attacks. If you’re wondering, “how long would my password take to crack,” you can test passphrase strength at https://password.kaspersky.com. 😄💗

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"The internet is such a scary place! Is there any trusted website where I can check if my password is strong & secure enough?"

Definitely! You can check them here at:-
1) Kaspersky: https://password.kaspersky.com/
2) Password Monster: https://www.passwordmonster.com/

Don't worry, these websites are safe & secure! They will not collect nor store your passwords. Remember, if your password can be brute-forced or found in a database of leaked passwords, it is NOT SAFE! ☠️⛔️

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WAYS USERS CAN STRENGTHEN THEIR PASSWORD AGAINST BRUTE FORCE ATTACK

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WAYS USERS CAN STRENGTHEN THEIR PASSWORD AGAINST BRUTE FORCE ATTACK

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Have you ever wondered if your password is secured and strong enough to prevent unauthorized use of your account?

For your information, according to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, over 80% of breaches caused by hacking involve brute force or the use of lost or stolen credentials. Click the infographic above to find out more on how you can strengthen your password.

Let's fight brute force attack together! 💪🏻💥

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[VIDEO] SECURITY+: BRUTE-FORCE AND DICTIONARY ATTACKS

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[VIDEO] SECURITY+: BRUTE-FORCE AND DICTIONARY ATTACKS

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Here's a short video explaining brute-force and dictionary attacks I found on Youtube! I hope you guys will be able to recognize what is brute-force & dictionary attacks after watching this video. All the best! 😄💗

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Security+: Brute-Force and Dictionary Attacks

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING EP 3 - HOW TO PREVENT

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING EP 3 - HOW TO PREVENT

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Hola!!
EP. 3, to sum it all up!

We have already learned about the definition and how it works. Now, it's time to know how to prevent and defend ourselves from these social engineering attacks.

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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIJACKING!

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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIJACKING!

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I'm sure that all of you have heard of the word "hijacking" at least once in your life but do you know what hijacking really is? 🤔 Are you confident that your devices have never been hijacked before? 🤔 Are you aware of the symptoms of a hijacked device? 🤔 And do you know how to prevent your devices from getting hijacked? 🤔

If your answer(s) is/are no, you may click the infographic above to get the answers to your questions 😄💗

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[NEWS] MASSIVE BRUTE FORCE ATTACK ON ALIBABA AFFECTS MILLIONS!

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[NEWS] MASSIVE BRUTE FORCE ATTACK ON ALIBABA AFFECTS MILLIONS!

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Did you guys know that Alibaba's e-commerce site, Taobao used to be compromised due to a massive brute-force attack back in the year 2016? Yes, you read it right! The hackers in China used a database of 99 million usernames & passwords and it is believed that 20.6 million accounts and passwords were successful, which allowed the hackers to buy products and post fake reviews.

Sounds scary right? Click the article above to read more about it 😄💗

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TaoBao, an online marketplace that could be compared to a version of eBay in China has been the target of a prolonged cyberattack that lasted between mid-October to November in 2015.

The country's Ministry of Public Security revealed that a database of 99 million usernames and passwords were breached, with the attackers managing to compromise some 20.6 million accounts - essentially one in every five user accounts.

With some irony, the hackers used Alibaba's own cloud computing service while targeting and successfully gaining access to some 20 million active accounts.

The hackers used Alibaba's cloud computing platform to input details into Taobao after amassing a database containing nearly 100 million usernames and passwords from a number of varying websites.

The process of entering details into Taobao began in mid-October and was only discovered in November. At this stage, Alibaba had notified the breach to the police and the hackers have since been caught.

The Ministry website further revealed that Alibaba's security systems successfully detected and blocked a significant majority of login attempts. Furthermore, a practice called "brushing" a practice that sees compromised accounts used to raise seller's rankings. It was also revealed that the hackers sold several accounts' credentials for fraudulent purposes.

A spokesperson for Alibaba revealed that the company was able to detect the attack at an early stage or at "the first instance." However, users were asked to change passwords while the company is working closely with law enforcement.

A spokesman for Alibaba also claimed that the hackers had indeed rented its cloud computing service to initiate the attack. However, the spokesman stopped short of detailing the security measures in place which allowed the attack to occur. He added that the malicious attackers could have used any similar cloud computing platform for the attack. Furthermore, he denied the possibility that an attack initiated from Alibaba's own cloud service may have taken advantage of possible loopholes in the interconnected platform.

"Alibaba's system was never breached," the spokesman confirmed.

As things stand, experts note that Chinese companies are having to deal with a significant spike in the number of cyber-attacks. They also added that China has a long road ahead to shore up on its defenses before being able to stand on par with US-based firms.
Image credit: Flickr.

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Brute-Force Attacks Affects Millions of Alibaba Accounts

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TaoBao, an online marketplace that could be compared to a version of eBay in China has been the target of a prolonged cyberattack that lasted between mid-October to November in 2015. The country's Ministry of Public Security revealed that a database of 99 million usernames and passwords were breached, with the attackers managing to compromise some 20.6 million accounts - essentially one in every five user accounts.

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OH NO! I'M ALREADY A VICTIM OF HIJACKING! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

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OH NO! I'M ALREADY A VICTIM OF HIJACKING! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

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If you're a victim of hijacking and you're worried that the hijacker might steal your personal data or any sorts of other unpleasant consequences, you may click the infographic above to find out the ways to remove a browser hijacker.

Make sure to read & follow the steps carefully! 😄💗

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[NEWS] Android Trojan HIJACKS social media in 140 countries hits 10,000 victims

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[NEWS] Android Trojan HIJACKS social media in 140 countries hits 10,000 victims

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Hey guys!! Attached link is an article regarding a huge case related to hijacking that just happened a few months ago.

It's about a malware that hijacks social media accounts by infecting Android devices, allowing attackers to collect information from victims like Facebook ID, location, email address and IP address, as well as cookies and tokens tied to users' Facebook account.

I hope you'll take time to read it 😄💗

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A new Android Trojan has been identified by cybersecurity firm Zimperium, which released a report on Monday explaining how the malware has been able to hit more than 10,000 victims in 144 countries.

The trojan -- named FlyTrap by Zimperium researchers -- has been able to spread through "social media hijacking, third-party app stores, and sideloaded applications" since March.

Zimperium's zLabs mobile threat research teams first identified the malware and figured out that it uses social engineering tricks to compromise Facebook accounts. The malware hijacks social media accounts by infecting Android devices, allowing attackers to collect information from victims like Facebook ID, location, email address and IP address, as well as cookies and tokens tied to your Facebook account.

"These hijacked Facebook sessions can be used to spread the malware by abusing the victim's social credibility through personal messaging with links to the Trojan, as well as propagating propaganda or disinformation campaigns using the victim's geolocation details," the Zimperium researchers wrote.

"These social engineering techniques are highly effective in the digitally connected world and are used often by cybercriminals to spread malware from one victim to another. The threat actors made use of several themes that users would find appealing such as free Netflix coupon codes, Google AdWords coupon codes, and voting for the best football (soccer) team or player."

The researchers attributed the malware to groups based in Vietnam and said they are able to distribute it using Google Play and other app stores. Google was sent a report about the malware, verified it, and removed all the store applications.

But the report notes that three of the applications are still available on "third-party, unsecured app repositories."

Once victims are convinced to download the app through deceptive designs, the app urges users to engage and eventually asks for people to enter their Facebook account information in order to vote on something or collect coupon codes. Once everything is entered, the app takes victims to a screen that says the coupon has already expired.

The researchers explained that the malware uses a technique called "JavaScript injection", which allows the app to open legitimate URLs inside a "WebView configured with the ability to inject JavaScript code." The app then extracts information like cookies, user account details, location, and IP address by injecting malicious JS code.

Zimperium suggests Android users find ways to check if any applications on their device have FlyTrap and noted that these breached accounts could be used as a botnet for other purposes like boosting the popularity of certain pages or sites.

"FlyTrap is just one example of the ongoing, active threats against mobile devices aimed at stealing credentials. Mobile endpoints are often treasure troves of unprotected login information to social media accounts, banking applications, enterprise tools, and more," Zimperium researchers said.

"The tools and techniques used by FlyTrap are not novel but are effective due to the lack of advanced mobile endpoint security on these devices. It would not take much for a malicious party to take FlyTrap or any other Trojan and modify it to target even more critical information."

Setu Kulkarni, vice president at NTT Application Security, said FlyTrap was a "nifty combination" of a handful of vulnerabilities and took advantage of the abundance of meta-data open to access, like location, as well as the implicit trust that can be gained by clever yet dubious associations with companies like Google, Netflix and others.

"This is not even the most concerning bit -- the concerning bit is the network effect this type of trojan can generate by spreading from one user to many. Moreover, as the summary of Zimperium's findings states -- this trojan could be evolved to exfiltrate significantly more critical information like banking credentials," Kulkarni said.

"The what-if scenarios don't end there, unfortunately. What if this type of trojan is now offered as a service, or what if this transforms quickly into ransomware targeting 100s of thousands of users. The bottom line does not change. It all begins with a user who is enticed to click a link. This begs the question -- shouldn't Google and Apple be doing more to address this for their entire customer base?"

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Android Trojan hijacks social media in 140 countries hits 10,000 victims | ZDNet

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A new Android Trojan has been identified by cybersecurity firm Zimperium, which released a report on Monday explaining how the malware has been able to hit more than 10,000 victims in 144 countries. The trojan -- named FlyTrap by Zimperium researchers -- has been able to spread through "social media hijacking, third-party app stores, and sideloaded applications" since March.

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Hello everyone! I found a very short and simple video created by the Federal Trade Commission community on Youtube on what should be done if our computer is being hijacked.

I hope this video will be useful for you guys as it was for me and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. Enjoy! 😄💗

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Hijacked Computer: What to Do | Federal Trade Commission

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One of the biggest factors DDoS attack getting bigger was because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Yes! Cybercriminals had a busy year in 2020. Here I attached to you the article about five most famous DDoS attack ever recorded.

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Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are now everyday occurrences. Whether you're a small non-profit or a huge multinational conglomerate, your online services-email, websites, anything that faces the internet-can be slowed or completely stopped by a DDoS attack. Moreover, DDoS attacks are sometimes used to distract your cybersecurity operations while other criminal activity, such as data theft or network infiltration, is underway.

... we saw an increase of over 12% in the number of potential DDoS weapons available on the internet, with a total of approximately 12.5 million weapons detected. - A10 State of DDoS Weapons Report for H2 2020

DDoS Attacks Getting Bigger, More Frequent

The online threat landscape continues to evolve at an accelerating pace with hackers launching more distributed denial of service attacks than ever before, taking aim at new targets, and creating new botnets. Yes, cybercriminals had a busy year in 2020, with rapidly increasing numbers of DDoS weapons, widespread botnet activity, and some of the largest DDoS attacks ever recorded.

One of the biggest factors in 2020 DDoS attacks was the COVID-19 lockdown, which drove a rapid shift to online for everything from education and healthcare, to consumer shopping and office work, giving hackers more targets than ever before. Because of the haste of this transition, many of these businesses and workers turned out to be significantly under protected from attacks due to the difficulty of maintaining cybersecurity best practices in an emergency scenario.

At the same time, the demand for solutions for a wide range of business needs and the rollout of 5G technologies has accelerated the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) around the world, creating a huge pool unsuspecting and under protected new recruits for botnet armies used to launch attacks on massive scales.

In our ongoing tracking of DDoS attacks, attack methods, and malware activity, A10 Networks has observed a steady increase in the frequency, intensity, and sophistication of these threats, most recently in our State of DDoS Weapons Report for H2 2020.

During this period, we saw an increase of over 12 percent in the number of potential DDoS weapons available on the internet, with a total of approximately 12.5 million weapons detected. The good news is that proven methods of DDoS protection continue to be effective even as threat levels rise.

A Brief History of DDoS Attacks

The first known distributed denial of service attack occurred in 1996 when Panix, now one of the oldest internet service providers, was knocked offline for several days by a SYN flood, a technique that has become a classic DDoS attack. Over the next few years DDoS attacks became common and Cisco predicts that the total number of DDoS attacks will double from the 7.9 million seen in 2018 to something over 15 million by 2023.
Total DDoS Attacks Figure 1. Cisco's analysis of DDoS total attack history and predictions.
However, it's not just the number of DDoS attacks that are increasing. Threat actors are creating ever bigger botnets - the armies of hacked devices that are used to generate DDoS traffic. As the botnets get bigger, the scale of DDoS attacks is also increasing. A distributed denial of service attack of one gigabit per second is enough to knock most organizations off the internet but we're now seeing peak attack sizes in excess of one terabit per second generated by hundreds of thousands or even millions of suborned devices. For more background about what's technically involved in a distributed denial of service attack, see our post What is a DDoS Attack?, and our video WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE of DDoS Attacks.

The Cost of DDoS Attacks

Given that IT services downtime costs companies anywhere from $300,000 to over $1,000,000 per hour, you can see that the financial hit from even a short DDoS attack could seriously damage your bottom line. To understand what impact a distributed denial of service attack could have on your organization and your cybersecurity planning, please see our white paper How to Analyze the Business Impact of DDoS Attacks.

The Top-Five Most Famous DDoS Attacks (for Now)

To provide insight into what these attacks are like "in the wild," we're going to take a look at some of the most notable DDoS attacks to date. Our choices include some DDoS attacks that are famous for their sheer scale, while others are because of their impact and consequences.

1. The Google Attack, 2020

On October 16, 2020, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) posted a blog update concerning how the threats and threat actors are changing their tactics due to the 2020 U.S. election. At the end of the post, the company snuck in a note:

in 2020, our Security Reliability Engineering team measured a record-breaking UDP amplification attack sourced out of several Chinese ISPs (ASNs 4134, 4837, 58453, and 9394), which remains the largest bandwidth attack of which we are aware.

Mounted from three Chinese ISPs, the attack on thousands of Google's IP addresses lasted for six months and peaked at a breath-taking 2.5Tbps! Damian Menscher, a Security Reliability Engineer at Google, wrote:

The attacker used several networks to spoof 167 Mpps (millions of packets per second) to 180,000 exposed CLDAP, DNS, and SMTP servers, which would then send large responses to us. This demonstrates the volumes a well-resourced attacker can achieve: This was four times larger than the record-breaking 623 Gbps attack from the Mirai botnet a year earlier.

2. The AWS DDoS Attack in 2020

Amazon Web Services, the 800-pound gorilla of everything cloud computing, was hit by a gigantic DDoS attack in February 2020. This was the most extreme recent DDoS attack ever and it targeted an unidentified AWS customer using a technique called Connectionless Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (CLDAP) reflection. This technique relies on vulnerable third-party CLDAP servers and amplifies the amount of data sent to the victim's IP address by 56 to 70 times. The attack lasted for three days and peaked at an astounding 2.3 terabytes per second.

Why the AWS Attack Matters

While the disruption caused by the AWS DDoS Attack was far less severe than it could have been, the sheer scale of the attack and the implications for AWS hosting customers potentially losing revenue and suffering brand damage are significant.

3. The Mirai Krebs and OVH DDoS Attacks in 2016

On September 20, 2016, the blog of cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs was assaulted by a DDoS attack in excess of 620 Gbps. Krebs' site had been attacked before. Krebs had recorded 269 DDoS attacks since July 2012, but this attack was almost three times bigger than anything his site or the internet had seen before.

The source of the attack was the Mirai botnet, which, at its peak later that year, consisted of more than 600,000 compromised IoT devices such as IP cameras, home routers, and video players. The Mirai botnet had been discovered in August that same year but the attack on Krebs' blog was its first big outing.

The next Mirai botnet attack on September 19 targeted one of the largest European hosting providers, OVH, which hosts roughly 18 million applications for over one million clients. This attack was on a single undisclosed OVH customer and was driven by an estimated 145,000 bots, generating a traffic load of up to 1.1 terabits per second. It lasted about seven days. But OVH was not to be the last Mirai botnet victim in 2016.

Why the Mirai Krebs and OVH Attacks Matter

The Mirai botnet was a significant step up in how powerful a DDoS attack could be. The size and sophistication of the Mirai network was unprecedented as was the scale of the attacks and their focus.

Video: What is Mirai and How do You Protect Yourself Against it?

4. The Mirai Dyn DDoS Attack in 2016

Before we discuss the third notable Mirai botnet DDoS attack of 2016, there's one related event that should be mentioned. On September 30, someone claiming to be the author of the Mirai software released the source code on various hacker forums and the Mirai DDoS platform has been replicated and mutated scores of times since.
Figure 2. A map of internet outages in Europe and North America caused by the Dyn cyberattack October 2, 2016 / Source: DownDetector (CC BY-SA)
On October 21, 2016, Dyn, a major domain name service (DNS) provider, was assaulted by a one terabit per second traffic flood that then became the new record for a DDoS attack. There's some evidence that the DDoS attack may have actually achieved a rate of 1.5 terabits per second. The traffic tsunami knocked Dyn's services offline rendering a number of high-profile websites including GitHub, HBO, Twitter, Reddit, PayPal, Netflix, and Airbnb, inaccessible. Kyle York, Dyn's chief strategy officer, reported, "We observed 10s of millions of discrete IP addresses associated with the Mirai botnet that were part of the attack."

Why the Mirai Dyn Attack Matters

Mirai supports complex, multi-vector attacks that make mitigation difficult. Even though the Mirai botnet was responsible for the biggest assaults up to that time, the most notable thing about the 2016 Mirai attacks was the release of the Mirai source code enabling anyone with modest information technology skills to create a botnet and mount a distributed denial of service attack without much effort.

5. The GitHub Attack in 2018

On Feb. 28, 2018, GitHub, a platform for software developers, was hit with a DDoS attack that clocked in at 1.35 terabits per second and lasted for roughly 20 minutes. According to GitHub, the traffic was traced back to " over a thousand different autonomous systems (ASNs) across tens of thousands of unique endpoints."

The following chart shows just how much of a difference there was between normal traffic levels and those of the DDoS attack.

Even though GitHub was well prepared for a DDoS attack, their defenses were overwhelmed. They simply had no way of knowing that an attack of this scale would be launched. As GitHub explained in the company's incident report: "Over the past year, we have deployed additional transit to our facilities. We've more than doubled our transit capacity during that time, which has allowed us to withstand certain volumetric attacks without impact to users ... Even still, attacks like this sometimes require the help of partners with larger transit networks to provide blocking and filtering."

Why the GitHub Attack Matters

The GitHub DDoS attack was notable for its scale and the fact that the attack was staged by exploiting a standard command of Memcached, a database caching system for speeding up websites and networks. The Memcached DDoS attack technique is particularly effective as it provides an amplification factor - the ratio of the attacker's request size to the amount of DDoS attack traffic generated - of up to a staggering 51,200 times.

Other Notable Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

6. A European Gambling Company, 2021

In February, Akami announced that they had dealt with " three of the six biggest volumetric DDoS attacks " the company has ever recorded. The DDoS attacks were attempts at extortion. The hackers launch a DDoS attack the target can't help but notice and then demand payment not to do it again and at an even greater scale. In this case the threat attack weighed in at 800Gbps.

Why the Gambling Company Attack Matters

This attack was notable not just for its scale but also for its novelty. The attackers used a previously unseen DDoS attack vector that was based on a networking protocol known as protocol 33, or Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP). This attack was volumetric and by abusing protocol 33, the exploit was designed to bypass defenses focused on traditional Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic flows.

7. Occupy Central, Hong Kong DDoS Attack in 2014

The multi-day PopVote DDoS attack was carried out in 2014 and targeted the Hong Kong-based grassroots movement known as Occupy Central, which was campaigning for a more democratic voting system.

In response to their activities, attackers sent large amounts of traffic to three of Occupy Central's web hosting services, as well as two independent sites, PopVote, an online mock election site, and Apple Daily, a news site, neither of which were owned by Occupy Central but openly supported its cause. Presumably, those responsible were reacting to Occupy Central's pro-democracy message.

The attack barraged the Occupy Central servers with packets disguised as legitimate traffic. It was executed using not one, but five botnets and resulted in peak traffic levels of 500 gigabits per second.

Why the Occupy Central Attack Matters

Although, it was reported that the attackers were probably connected to the Chinese government, there has never been conclusive proof and, perversely, the attack could have been intended to make the Chinese government look bad. The attack may have also provided cover for hackers who managed to extract Occupy Central staff details from a database to mount an extensive subsequent phishing campaign.

8. The CloudFlare DDoS Attack in 2014

In 2014, CloudFlare, a cybersecurity provider and content delivery network, was slammed by a DDoS attack estimated at approximately 400 gigabits per second of traffic. The attack, directed at a single CloudFlare customer and targeted on servers in Europe, was launched using a vulnerability in the Network Time Protocol (NTP) protocol, which is used to ensure computer clocks are accurate. Even though the attack was directed at just one of CloudFlare's customers, it was so powerful it significantly degraded CloudFlare's own network.

Why the CloudFlare Attack Matters

This attack illustrates a technique where attackers use spoofed source addresses to send fake NTP server responses to the attack target's servers. This type of attack is known as a "reflection attack," since the attacker is able to "bounce" bogus requests off of the NTP server, while hiding their own address. Due to a weakness in the NTP protocol, the amplification factor of the attack can be up to 206 times, making NTP servers a very effective DDoS tool. Shortly after the attack, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness team explained NTP amplification attacks are, "especially difficult to block" because "responses are legitimate data coming from valid servers."

9. The Spamhaus DDoS Attack in 2013

In 2013, a huge DDoS attack was launched against Spamhaus, a nonprofit threat intelligence provider. Although Spamhaus, as an anti-spam organization, is regularly attacked and had DDoS protection services already in place, this attack-a reflection attack estimated at 300 gigabits of traffic per second-was large enough to knock its website and part of its email services offline.

Why the Spamhaus Attack Matters

The cyberattack was traced to a member of a Dutch company named Cyberbunker, which had apparently targeted Spamhaus after it blacklisted the company for spamming. This illustrates that companies or rogue employees can mount DDoS attacks with immense brand damaging and serious legal consequences.

10. The Six Banks DDoS Attack in 2012

On March 12, 2012, six U.S. banks were targeted by a wave of DDoS attacks: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and PNC Bank. The attacks were carried out by hundreds of hijacked servers from a botnet called Brobot with each attack generating over 60 gigabits of DDoS attack traffic per second.

At the time, these attacks were unique in their persistence. Rather than trying to execute one attack and then backing down, the perpetrators barraged their targets with a multitude of attack methods in order to find one that worked. So, even if a bank was equipped to deal with a few types of DDoS attacks, they were helpless against other types of attack.

Why the Six Banks Attack Matters

The most remarkable aspect of the bank attacks in 2012 was that the attacks were, allegedly, carried out by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas organization. Moreover, the attacks had a huge impact on the affected banks in terms of revenue, mitigation expenses, customer service issues, and the banks' branding and image.

DDoS Attack Prevention with A10's DDoS Protection Solutions

Even though new types of distributed denial of service attacks appear frequently, A10 Thunder® Threat Protection System (TPS) employs advanced defense strategies that protect against all kinds of cyberattacks including new, novel DDoS attacks that could bring down your online and in-house services. Visit the DDoS protection solution page to learn more.

For additional insight, including the top reflector searches and DDoS research insights performed by attackers, download the complete A10 Networks report, The State of DDoS Weapons.

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Five Most Famous DDoS Attacks and Then Some | A10 Networks

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Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are now everyday occurrences. Whether you're a small non-profit or a huge multinational conglomerate, your online services-email, websites, anything that faces the internet-can be slowed or completely stopped by a DDoS attack. Moreover, DDoS attacks are sometimes used to distract your cybersecurity operations while other criminal activity, such as data theft or network infiltration, is underway.

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Here are the simple explanations. Let's get it!

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WELL DONE THE ACES FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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WELL DONE THE ACES FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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Pastel Pink Periwinkle and White Salons Back to Business Landscape Poster

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take a look of what subtopics we'll be covering about! 🤔

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take a look of what subtopics we'll be covering about! 🤔

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Pastel Pink Periwinkle and White Salons Back to Business Landscape Poster

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WELL DONE TAKE DE BAIT FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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WELL DONE TAKE DE BAIT FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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Have you heard about Trojan Horses? Here is a simple explanation for that😉

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More and more information about Trojan Horse. I hope it may help all of us to understand more on this topic😉

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Scroll down below to know more about:
1. Password Cracking
2. Dictionary Attack
3. Spamming
4. Caller ID Spoofing
5. IP Address Spoofing
6. Click Fraud
7. Software Piracy

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Here are some information on how to remove Trojan😉

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How to Remove Trojan Virus from Windows?

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Here is the video explaining what is Trojan Horse and how does it work😵

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What is a Trojan Horse and How Does It Work?

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See How Hackers Crack Passwords in Real Life | Password Security | F-Secure

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Infographic: How passwords are cracked & How to improve your security system 

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Infographic: How passwords are cracked & How to improve your security system 

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Infographic : Defense Against Password Cracking

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Infographic : Defense Against Password Cracking

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Learn about email threats & how to protect your data from these cyber threats

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WELL DONE BRING IT FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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WELL DONE BRING IT FOR THIS GREAT SHARING!

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We always encounter with scammer tactic through SMS. Do we know how to protect ourselves from this aggressive hackers? Refer to the infographic for more comprehension.

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'Smishing' sounds like fancy word but do it bring good meaning? Let's take a glance !

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What is smishing? How phishing via text message works

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Have you heard of zombies attack on computer previously? Take a look to learn more about zombies and strategy to put a stop on 'ZOMBIES' !!

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How dangerous is the zombie malware attack? Lets listen to expert explanation on this matters.

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One Man's TRASH, can be another Man's IDENTITY!

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One Man's TRASH, can be another Man's IDENTITY!

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ATTENTION!
Dumpsters divers can and will learn anything valuable from your trash. But how? Why?
In the next video, you will learn how social engineering attacks happen --what causes them.

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Hello guys! Bring It Group would like to share with you guys some awareness about fraud in  AIS. Feel free to click at the poster and scan the QR Code below for the information. Thank you! 😊

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Hello guys! Bring It Group would like to share with you guys some awareness about fraud in  AIS. Feel free to click at the poster and scan the QR Code below for the information. Thank you! 😊

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Poster

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Scuba diving is indeed an exciting and fun sport.
However, there is another diving activity that is dangerous and could attack you and your family. It is called 'dumpster diving'.
How dangerous it is? Let's dive right into it!

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Is this your first time meeting the word "scavenging"? Fret not! In this video, we've explained in details about it. Have fun!

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Still got confused between Phishing & Pharming?
Click this link to settle out your confusion!

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The origins of phishing and pharming are rather interesting. Both started from traditional earning sources, fishing and farming, until they were taken in a cyber context and turned into a ploy. In cyber theft, phishing and pharming are two scams that criminals use to manipulate people into disclosing confidential information.

These tactics are two of the biggest threats in cyberspace, and as security systems improve, so do cybercriminal tactics. Phishing and pharming have the same end goal, to acquire sensitive information, but they have a few differences:

Phishing is social engineering that manipulates users into revealing personal and confidential information. Hackers generally send a spoofed email with a legitimate source name to trick the victim into clicking on the malicious link or attachment. When they do, hackers then get access to their target's confidential information.

Scammers use software or security vulnerabilities installed in the user's device to make their ploy work. However, phishing attacks are not only limited to email because cyber thieves also use SMS and voice messaging and act like legitimate sources to target victims. An example of this would be a cybercriminal pretending to be an employee of your bank.

Pharming is when cybercriminals install malicious code in the user's device or a server that unknowingly redirects them to fraudulent websites. These fake websites may look legitimate at first, but they have a hidden motive of stealing confidential information, such as the user's login details, personal data, and banking information.

In addition, authentic links and domains may also get hijacked by hackers and steal user information. Pharming can be more dangerous for online users since the chance of identifying a lurking danger is low, especially that social engineering scams are prevalent. Cyber attackers may also imitate a legitimate website where users will unknowingly hand out their username, password, and other critical information.

Differences Between Phishing and Pharming

Both phishing and pharming have something to do with the domain name system (DNS), or the system that connects web browsers to websites. Pharming scams are executed by misusing the DNS as the primary weapon, while phishing attacks use spoofed websites that seem legitimate to users.

Aside from those, here are the main differences between phishing and pharming:

Phishing uses baits like fake links, while pharming negotiates on the DNS server to redirect users to a simulated website. Once the hacker launches a successful DNS attack in pharming, it diverts the fundamental flow of traffic to the website.

Pharming uses techniques like DNS hijacking, DNS cache poisoning, and DNS spoofing, while phishing uses smishing, fax phishing, and vishing. All these are data theft techniques that caused many organisations to suffer.

Pharming is trickier than phishing since it launches an attack at the DNS level, making it difficult to spot. However, phishing remains the top social engineering scam that lures victims into submitting confidential information.

Avoid falling prey to phishing and pharming scams by investing in an excellent cybersecurity system and solutions to protect your organisation. As both tactics get more complex, threats become more dangerous. The only way to combat this misuse of technology is through even more advanced and high-tech means.

At FraudWatch, we create anti-phishing, anti-pharming, and anti-malware cybersecurity systems to protect organisations from cybercriminals. We are a global online fraud and cybersecurity service provider creating monitoring and brand protection tools so you don't have to worry about criminals lurking on your organisation's system. If you want better cyber protection, get in touch with us today!

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Cyber Threat: Phishing vs Pharming - FraudWatch

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The origins of phishing and pharming are rather interesting. Both started from traditional earning sources, fishing and farming, until they were taken in a cyber context and turned into a ploy. In cyber theft, phishing and pharming are two scams that criminals use to manipulate people into disclosing confidential information.

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Here's we provide a simple infographic about SPYWARE, hope it will give you better understanding and new knowledge.

*Feel free to click the link or scan the QR code for deeper explanation !

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Still confuse on how spyware works?
Watch this video to understand more :)

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What is Spyware and How it Works - Consequences of Spyware | How to avoid or abstain from Spyware

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Want to know more about IP Address Spoofing? Click the video we made below! 

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Want to know more about IP Address Spoofing? Click the video we made below! 

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Among the many risks against which you need to protect your organization, one of the most important to know about is IP spoofing.

This practice is often used as part of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in which the hacker disguises their IP address in an attempt to go unnoticed.

This article will explore everything you need to know about IP spoofing, including what it is, how it works, why it's so dangerous, examples of well-known IP spoofing attacks, and tips for protecting your organization against this type of attack.

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What it is IP Spoofing, How to Protect Against It

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Among the many risks against which you need to protect your organization, one of the most important to know about is IP spoofing. This practice is often used as part of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in which the hacker disguises their IP address in an attempt to go unnoticed.

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Special video regarding "Click Fraud" for you guys! Lets watch it together ♡

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Special video regarding "Click Fraud" for you guys! Lets watch it together ♡

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Here is a simple illustration about software piracy 

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Here is a simple illustration about software piracy 

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Let's explore more about software piracy!

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Let's explore more about software piracy!

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Let's take a look on what should we do if there is software piracy in company?

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Let's take a look on what should we do if there is software piracy in company?

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How to Prevent Software Piracy in Company

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES - Typosquatting/URL Hijacking

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES - Typosquatting/URL Hijacking

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1. Domain = the name of a website

2. URL = Uniform Resource Locator is use to find a website

3. Website = A set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization. In a simple sentence website is what people see and interact with when they get there.

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URL Hijacking - CompTIA Security+ SY0-401: 3.2

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A more detailed explanation on URL Hijacking! Watch the video made by our group until the end for a deeper understanding. Enjoy!

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A more detailed explanation on URL Hijacking! Watch the video made by our group until the end for a deeper understanding. Enjoy!

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Press F for full screen. :)

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Scroll down below to know more about:
1. Cyber Extortion
2. Packet Sniffer

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What is cyberextortion?

Cyberextortion is a crime involving an attack or threat of an attack coupled with a demand for money or some other response in return for stopping or remediating the attack.

Cyberextortion attacks are about gaining access to an organization's systems and identifying points of weakness or targets of value. Cybercriminals demand payment through malicious activity, such as ransomware, which is the most common form of cyberextortion. They also use distributed denial-of-service ( DDoS) attacks and steal confidential corporate data and threaten to expose it.

In a ransomware attack, a blackmailer encrypts the victim's files and offers to decrypt them only after payment is made, usually in the form of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In a DDoS attack, the cybercriminal typically threatens to carry out an attack if payment isn't made. The threat is suspended once the victim pays the attacker, or the DDoS is conducted if the ransom isn't paid.

Ransomware attacks can be automated through malware distributed in emails, infected websites or ad networks. These attacks tend to spread indiscriminately, creating networks of infected computers. However, they may result in only a small percentage of victims paying the cyberextortionists. More targeted attacks can produce less collateral damage but provide more lucrative targets for the extortion attempt.

Types of cyberextortion

Today, businesses are being hit by different types of cyberextortion and cyberthreats, such as the following:

Cyber blackmail occurs when cybercriminals breach a private network, steal valuable data and hold the information hostage. In 2017, hackers shared unreleased episodes of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black when the streaming company did not pay the blackmailer. That same year, a cyberextortionist threatened to release unaired episodes of Game of Thrones if HBO did not pay $5.5 million in bitcoin.

Database ransom attacks involve hackers who identify and hijack databases that use vulnerable versions of MySQL, Hadoop, MongoDB, ElasticSearch and other computer systems. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities If patching isn't up to date or default administrative passwords have not been reset. They will sometimes replace the contents of a breached server with a ransom note requesting a payment in bitcoin to reinstate the data.

Denial-of-service (DoS) or DDoS attacks are a common cyberextortion method, affecting access to servers and data. Attacks are launched, and payment is demanded to stop it. Or an attack is threatened, and payment is demanded to keep it from happening.

Ransomware victims find their devices infected with malware that prevents authorized users from accessing those devices or the data stored on them. To regain access, the victim must pay the hacker a ransom. A user inadvertently downloads the malware by opening infected email attachments, visiting a compromised website or clicking on a pop-up ad.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury dedicated to safeguarding financial systems, issued an advisory in October 2020 with the following list of five types of more sophisticated cyberextortion techniques:

1. Big game hunting. Targeting big enterprises that are more likely to pay bigger amounts.

2. Partnerships. The sharing of resources, such as ransomware exploit kits, among cybercriminals.

3. Double extortion. Schemes where the threat actor copies sensitive data from the victim's network before encrypting the files and demanding ransom. The attacker uses the threat of publishing or selling the stolen data if payment isn't made.

4. Anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies (AECs). A complementary tool of convertible virtual currency, AECs such as Monero and Zcash reduce the transparency of the financial flows involved in an attack.

5. Fileless ransomware. Instead of putting the malicious code into a file on a hard disk drive, the ransomware writes it into the computer's memory.

Effects of cyberextortion

Cyberextortion attacks are often aimed at smaller businesses and tend to be underreported. Some of the statistics include the following:

The National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force said, from 2013 to 2019, at least $144.35 million in bitcoin was paid in response to ransomware attacks.

The average cost of a ransomware attack was $4.44 million, according to the "Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020" that the Ponemon Institute wrote and IBM published.

The number of ransomware attacks increased by 150% and caused an average of 18 days of downtime for affected companies, according to cybersecurity vendor Group-IB's "Ransomware Uncovered 2020-2021" report.

Ten percent of the 5,258 breaches Verizon analyzed involved ransomware, more than double the frequency in the previous year, the vendor said in its "2021 Data Breach Investigations Report."

The average ransom payment increased 43% to $220,298 from $154,108 in the fourth quarter of 2020, incident response vendor Coveware said in a recent report. The median payment in the first quarter was $78,398, up more than 50%.

Companies victimized by cyberextortion schemes suffer the effects of a data breach and loss of sensitive information. These can include damage to their reputation, loss of customers and, consequently, lost money.

If customers can't access their preferred websites, they'll likely move on to other companies that offer the same or similar products or services. In addition, hackers will use the threat of making a victim's trade secrets or intellectual property public or selling it to rival companies. That tactic is great motivation for a victim company to pay ransom.

Customers whose data is made public as the result of a cyberextortion exploit or other type of data breach may be able to recover damages from the company. Under the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, financial and healthcare companies can be held liable for such disclosures, incurring hefty government fines.

Cyberextortionists may also have access to a victim's private information, such as personal photos or videos. Here, too, threat actors will demand payment to stop them from sharing that information to contacts in the victim's email or on social media accounts.

Preventing cyberextortion

Cyberextortionists are constantly searching for new vulnerabilities to exploit and new ways to threaten victims. Consequently, companies must be vigilant in their efforts to combat these exploits.

To reduce the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime, organizations must implement strong cyberdefenses. Some best practices to reduce the risk of cyberextortion include the following:

Back up and encrypt data. Develop strategies to back up and encrypt sensitive data and test recovery procedures regularly.

Authenticate. Use multifactor authentication.

Update systems. Make sure all computer systems are updated and patched, including security systems.

Educate and train. Provide employees with awareness training so they can identify phishing attempts aimed at getting them to click on malicious links, avoid posting sensitive data on social media sites and take other steps to reduce the potential cyberextortion attack surface.

Have an incident responseAlso, implement and test contingency and disaster recovery plans to ensure recovery from a cyber attack.

Find out the steps you need to take when responding to a security incident.

To protect a business, basic cyber hygiene is important, including deploying antimalware tools to identify and prevent malware intrusions, using up-to-date antivirus software for endpoint security, keeping all system software current with the latest patches, hardening internal network defenses and limiting network access to disrupt threat actor activity.

Additional cybersecurity measures to mitigate cyberextortion attacks include implementing risk analysis and risk management programs that identify and address cyber risks, reviewing audit logs regularly for suspicious activity, and remaining vigilant for new and emerging cyber threats and vulnerabilities by participating in information sharing organizations and receiving alerts from the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

FinCEN has identified multiple red flag indicators of ransomware related to illicit activity in the financial industry. The organization alerts financial institutions to situations that may help them detect suspicious transactions and prevent incidents.

Cyberextortion cases

In addition to the 2017 cyberextortion attacks against Netflix and HBO, there are other notable cases, including the following.

2014

Domino's Pizza was targeted by Rex Mundi, a hacker group that claimed it had stolen the customer records of 650,000 Domino's Pizza customers in Europe. Rex Mundi said it would release the records if Domino's didn't pay a 30,000 euro ransom. Domino's refused to pay. It notified its customers of the breach and suggested they change their passwords. Rex Mundi never followed through on its threat.

RSS feed service provider Feedly was hit with a DDoS attack to prevent users from accessing the service. The attackers demanded money, which the company refused to pay. The company worked with authorities to bring the hackers to justice. Feedly's content network provider restored service in a couple of hours.

2015

A hacktivist group, calling itself The Impact Team, attacked Ashley Madison, a hookup site for people who are married or in relationships. The attackers said they compromised the company's database, which held the personally identifiable information on 37 million users. Rather than asking for money, the group threatened to release the information if the company's owners, Avid Life Media (ALM), didn't take down two of its dating websites as punishment for defrauding its customers. The hackers claimed ALM didn't remove the personal information of some customers even though they had paid extra to have that information expunged. When ALM didn't give in to The Impact Team's demands, the group leaked Ashley Madison customer data.

2017

The WannaCry attack encrypted more than 250,000 systems, using asymmetric encryption. The U.K.'s National Health Service was among the targets and had to take its systems offline. The threat actors demanded payment in bitcoin. It's unclear how many victims paid the ransom.

The WannaCry exploit uses asymmetric encryption to lock up files.

2019

Threat actors attacked numerous state and local governments using Ryuk ransomware. According to the Center for Internet Security, ransoms ranged from $100,000 to $500,000 worth of bitcoin.

2020

In December 2020 and again in January 2021, hackers accessed dozens of organizations' data by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities of Palo Alto-based Accellion's file transfer application. Victims included supermarket chain Kroger, blue chip law firm Jones Day, Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Shell Oil. The methods used included Structured Query Language injection and server-side request forgery. The attackers sent emails to victims threatening to make their data publicly available.

Cybersecurity firm FireEye revealed in December 2020 that hackers had made off with its Red Team tools, which could be used to launch sophisticated cyber attacks. U.S. officials believed that Russian intelligence agencies were behind the attack.

The SolarWinds attack was also disclosed in December 2020, revealing that the company's monitoring software had been compromised in the latter half of 2019 and was used to infiltrate and extort government agencies and private sector companies.

2021

The ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline caused an eight-day shutdown of the 5,500-mile pipeline, which resulted in gas lines and shortages in New York and the Southeast. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified the attacker as DarkSide, a ransomware-as-a-service group known to use double extortion tactics. Colonial Pipeline is reported to have paid nearly $5 million in bitcoin.

Should cyberextortion victims pay demands?

The obvious benefit to paying a ransom is regaining access to crucial files and systems. While the ransom is costly, the cost to rebuild files or systems can be exponentially more and can take a good bit of time.

The FBI discourages ransom payments to criminals. The intelligence agency contends that doing so will embolden attackers to target other organizations, encourage other criminals and fund criminal activities. Besides, paying the ransom does not guarantee the recovery of a victim's files. Instead, the FBI urges victims to report ransomware threats to local FBI offices or to the FBl's Internet Crime Complaint Center.

In October 2020, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control warned that organizations helping victims make ransomware payments may be in violation of the agency's regulations. It identified companies such as financial institutions, cybersecurity insurance firms, and those involved in computer forensics and incident response as possible offenders depending on the tactics they use.

Is cyber liability insurance worth having?

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has said an active cybersecurity insurance market could help reduce the number of successful cyberextortion incidents. Insurers would encourage customers to implement preventative measures and best practices by basing coverage and premiums on the insured's level of self-protection.

Increasingly, customers are requiring vendors to have cyber insurance coverage as part of their compliance contracts. Insurer Woodruff Sawyer said the number of its public company clients buying cyber coverage increased from 22% in 2016 to 39% in 2019, and it expects this number to grow.

However, the cyber insurance industry is relatively young, and questions remain -- particularly about the willingness of insurers to pay claims and assign blame.
Learn more about the cybersecurity challenges enterprises face in addition to cyberextortion.

Continue Reading About cyberextortion

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What is Cyberextortion? -- Definition from WhatIs.com

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Cyberextortion is a crime involving an attack or threat of an attack coupled with a demand for money or some other response in return for stopping or remediating the attack. Cyberextortion attacks are about gaining access to an organization's systems and identifying points of weakness or targets of value.

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HERE AN ILLUSTRATION WHAT CYBER-EXTORTION LOOKS LIKE

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HERE AN ILLUSTRATION WHAT CYBER-EXTORTION LOOKS LIKE

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Here is an article about packet sniffer. Hopefully you will understand better ☺️

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Here is an article about packet sniffer. Hopefully you will understand better ☺️

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Now I know, that packet sniffer may be useful in increasing network security!!!

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Packet sniffing is the practice of gathering, collecting, and logging some or all packets that pass through a computer network, regardless of how the packet is addressed. In this way, every packet, or a defined subset of packets, may be gathered for further analysis. You as a network administrators can use the collected data for a wide variety of purposes like monitoring bandwidth and traffic.

A packet sniffer, sometimes called a packet analyzer, is composed of two main parts. First, a network adapter that connects the sniffer to the existing network. Second, software that provides a way to log, see, or analyze the data collected by the device.

How does packet sniffing work?

A network is a collection of nodes, such as personal computers, servers, and networking hardware that are connected. The network connection allows data to be transferred between these devices. The connections can be physical with cables, or wireless with radio signals. Networks can also be a combination of both types.

As nodes send data across the network, each transmission is broken down into smaller pieces called packets. The defined length and shape allows the data packets to be checked for completeness and usability. Because a network's infrastructure is common to many nodes, packets destined for different nodes will pass through numerous other nodes on the way to their destination. To ensure data is not mixed up, each packet is assigned an address that represents the intended destination of that packet.

A packet's address is examined by each network adapter and connected device to determine what node the packet is destined for. Under normal operating conditions, if a node sees a packet that is not addressed to it, the node ignores that packet and its data.

Packet sniffing ignores this standard practice and collects all, or some of the packets, regardless of how they are addressed.

There are two main types of packet sniffers:

Hardware Packet Sniffers
A hardware packet sniffer is designed to be plugged into a network and to examine it. A hardware packet sniffer is particularly useful when attempting to see traffic of a specific network segment. By plugging directly into the physical network at the appropriate location, a hardware packet sniffer can ensure that no packets are lost due to filtering, routing, or other deliberate or inadvertent causes. A hardware packet sniffer either stores the collected packets or forwards them on to a collector that logs the data collected by the hardware packet sniffer for further analysis.

Software Packet Sniffers
Most packet sniffers these days are of the software variety. While any network interface attached to a network can receive every bit of network traffic that flows by, most are configured not to do so. A software packet sniffer changes this configuration so that the network interface passes all network traffic up the stack. This configuration is known as promiscuous mode for most network adapters. Once in promiscuous mode, the functionality of a packet sniffer becomes a matter of separating, reassembling, and logging all software packets that pass the interface, regardless of their destination addresses. Software packet sniffers collect all the traffic that flows through the physical network interface. That traffic is then logged and used according to the packet sniffing requirements of the software.

Capturing data on an entire network may take multiple packet sniffers. Because each collector can only collect the network traffic that is received by the network adapter, it may not be able to see traffic that exists on the other side of routers or switches. On wireless networks, most adapters are capable of connecting to only one channel at a time. In order to capture data on multiple network segments, or multiple wireless channels, a packet sniffer is needed on each segment of the network. Most network monitoring solutions provide packet sniffing as one of the functions of their monitoring agents.

Packet Sniffing allows you to monitor your network traffic and gives you valuable insights about your infrastructure and performance.

How much traffic flows through your network? Which applications use most bandwidth? Find out with the professional Network Monitoring Tool PRTG!

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What kind of information does packet sniffing gather?

Packet sniffing collects the entire packet of each network transmission. Packets that are not encrypted can be reassembled and read in their entirety. For example, intercepted packets from a user accessing a website would include the HTML and CSS of the web pages. Most notoriously, users logging in to network resources across unencrypted transmissions expose their username and password as plain text that can be seen in captured packets.

When should I consider using
packet sniffing?

Packet sniffing has many practical uses. Typically, packet sniffing is used for network troubleshooting. Packets detected on a network they are not supposed to be in might suggest improper routing or switching. Packets marked for ports that do not match their protocol might also suggest a misconfiguration of one or more nodes. You can also analyze traffic and the responses received for requests. Does the node query the correct DHCP server? Does the correct DNS request get routed to the correct location? Is traffic encrypted with SSL or HTTPS when it should be, or are unencrypted responses being sent? Is the routing path taken by the packet the most efficient route to its final destination?

Packets can also be analyzed to see if a specific application is using too much bandwidth or if authentication is requiring numerous back-and-forth calls. Based on the data provided, you might upgrade communications, or troubleshoot applications to enhance the software performance.

You may use packet sniffing to monitor consumption trends on a network. Analysis of collected packets may show that a large amount of traffic is being used by a certain in-house application, or video transmissions. Also, a decline in traffic may suggest that specific resources are being used less.

Packet sniffing may be useful in increasing network security. When monitoring traffic for clear-text usernames and passwords, for example, you could notice possible security issues before any hacker. In addition, monitoring remote traffic can help ensure that all traffic is properly encrypted and not being sent out onto the open internet without encryption.

Messages within MQTT are published as topics. Topics are structures in a hierarchy using the slash (/) character as delimiter. This structure resembles that of a directory tree on a computer file system. A structure such as sensors/OilandGas/Pressure/ allows a subscriber to specify that it should only be sent data from clients that publish to the Pressure topic, or for a broader view, perhaps all data from clients that publish to any sensors/OilandGas topic. Topics are not explicitly created in MQTT. If a broker receives data published to a topic that does not currently exist, the topic is simply created, and clients may subscribe to the new topic.

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Packet sniffing is the practice of gathering, collecting, and logging some or all packets that pass through a computer network, regardless of how the packet is addressed. In this way, every packet, or a defined subset of packets, may be gathered for further analysis.

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After watching this video, I found that using public Wifi can expose ourselves being infected with malware. Therefore, I have provided an infographic on how to stay safe on public Wifi below.

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Packet Sniffing Attacks - CompTIA Network+ N10-005: 5.4

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INFOGRAPHIC - HOW TO KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE ON PUBLIC WIFI

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INFOGRAPHIC - HOW TO KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE ON PUBLIC WIFI

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INFOGRAPHIC - WAYS TO KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE ON PUBLIC WIFI

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Here's the brochure for deeper understanding:

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Here's the brochure for deeper understanding:

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Here's the qr code. Feel free to visit our website too!☺️

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QR code

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Hello everyone, our group has compile the topics into infographics and also a brochure. Hopefully it will help you guys. Here's the infographics :

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Hello everyone, our group has compile the topics into infographics and also a brochure. Hopefully it will help you guys. Here's the infographics :