Posts tagged Attacks
Osama bin Laden’s Death Triggers Facebook, SEO Poisoning Attacks – CRN
May 2nd
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Osama bin Laden's Death Triggers Facebook, SEO Poisoning Attacks
CRN SEO poisoning attacks and Facebook adware exploiting the news of Osama bin Laden's death are already traveling rapidly across the Internet, detected by researchers at antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab. The massive phishing campaigns … Spam, SEO and malware quick to capitalise on death of Bin Laden Web, E-mail and Facebook Exploit Osama bin Laden's Death |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Thousands of Bloggers Struggle to Withstand Wave of DDoS Attacks Against LiveJournal
Apr 7th
Long time blogging platform LiveJournal said today that it has been subject to “repeated, large-scale DDoS attacks” for the past two weeks. The company says that the attacks have targeted a number of different users’ journals, some of whom are political in nature. While a small number of users may be targeted, all users lose their ability to publish and read on the platform when the site is taken down. “LiveJournal believes strongly in the ideal of freedom of expression,” the company said, “and we’re working very hard to ensure that users around the world have a place where their voices can be heard.”
LiveJournal said it is making extensive but undescribed technical changes to try to fight off the attacks. Nearly 400 users posted comments expressing support for the company’s efforts (or listing their birthday wishes if they were born this month, the news update concerned several matters) within the first few hours after the statement.
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“These attacks are insane,” commented fiction writer and paid account holder McGarryGirl78. “I’m glad you guys are doing everything you can but the frustration does start to get to me after a while. I know it’s not your fault though so I just wish you luck on keeping the attackers at bay.”
In its statement, the company urged users unable to access their journals to watch Twitter for updates. LiveJournal describes itself there as “blurring the lines between blogging and social networking… since ’99.” Built by now-Googler Brad Fitzpatrick 12 years ago next week, LiveJournal was acquired by SixApart 6 years ago and then bought by Russian media company SUP 3 years ago.
Cynics might shrug at the troubles of the no-longer dominant blogging/social networking service, but attacks against LiveJournal are attacks against the voices of people who choose to use that platform to publish and subscribe to the world. The ability for any everyday person to publish their thoughts and subscribe freely to their personal interests in the world is a precious historical anomaly.
Amazon traffic monitoring service Alexa says LiveJournal is the 72nd most-trafficked site on the web, just behind the New York Times at #71.
Related: Why a Day of Tumblr Down-Time Matters to the Web & to the World
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2 Ways to Protect Your Site From SEO Attacks – Search Engine Watch
Mar 14th
 Search Engine Roundtable |
2 Ways to Protect Your Site From SEO Attacks
Search Engine Watch My oh my, what has the game of search engine optimization (SEO) come to recently? JCPenney, Overstock.com (ratted out by competitors?), and now BeatThatQuote.com. While I think BeatThatQuote.com being penalized is a great example of Google keeping … JCPenney's SEO No-No – How You Can Avoid a Similar Fate The affiliate's guide to dominating big niches with SEO Add People Offers SEO Success To Website Owners |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Blackhat SEO attacks spotted using Japan earthquake as lure – V3.co.uk (blog)
Mar 11th
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Blackhat SEO attacks spotted using Japan earthquake as lure
V3.co.uk (blog) Security experts are warning users to be on their guard for malicious search links related to today's earthquake in north-eastern Japan after blackhat SEO-ers again proved how quick they are to react to breaking news. In a blog posting, … Earthquake in Japan: Bad guys target search results |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Glenn Beck Attacks Google As Government Shills
Feb 15th
“Is anyone willing to do their own homework? Cause the media is not going to,” Fox News Commentator Glenn Beck asked Monday – and as a member of the media – he quickly showed he had not done his, claiming Google was “deeply in bed with the Federal government.”
Click to read the rest of this post…
View full post on Search Engine Watch Blog
One Way to Protect Your Organization From Stuxnet-like Attacks
Feb 8th
Late last year the Stuxnet made international headlines by infecting computers at an Iranian nuclear power plant. Much of the coverage has been focused on speculation as to who was behind the malware, which appeared to be designed specifically to target nuclear power plants with certain types of equipment. But how were the creators of Stuxnet able to infiltrate a high security nuclear power plant? According to Symantec, one of the key components in the attack was a legitimate digital certificate. The attackers either stole a private key, or were able to get their files signed. How can you keep your digital certificates and encryption keys safe?
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Venafi is a company that sells a product for managing digital certificates and encryption keys called Venafi Encryption Director. Today, it released a new version of its product. According to a market survey conducted by Venafi of 471 management and C-level respondents:
- 51 percent stated they had experienced either stolen or unaccounted for digital certificates, or that they were uncertain if their organizations had lost, stolen or unaccounted for digital certificates in general
- 54 percent stated they had experienced either stolen or unaccounted for encryption keys, or that they were uncertain if their organizations had lost, stolen or unaccounted for encryption keys in general
- 46 percent of organizations are managing at least 1,000 digital encryption certificates; 20 percent are managing more than 10,000
- 83 percent of organizations are managing technologies from at least two different CAs; 18 percent are dealing with more than five
- 88 percent of organizations have multiple administrators managing encryption keys; 22 percent have more than 10
- 42 percent or organizations manage encryption technologies from at least four vendors; 8 percent are dealing with more than 10
In an essay on Stuxnet, Venafi CEO Jeff Hudson writes in apparent reference these survey results:
Here’s a parallel analogy in the world of physical security. This is exactly the same as not knowing which people in a secure building are authorized to be on the premises and which are unauthorized. Imagine a bank where no one knew which people in the building were authorized to be there or not. This is not an exaggeration. This is an unacceptable situation to anyone who takes security seriously. This is an unquantified risk.
Stuxnet demonstrates the importance the damage rogue certificates can do. Encryption keys don’t do much good if they are lost or stolen. Whether you use Venafi’s solution or something else, you need to have a plan.
Symantec PGP TrustCenter competes with Venafi Encryption Director.
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Weekly Wrap-up: Internet Blackout in Egypt, Quora Blocks Startup Search Engines, 5 Arrested For Anonymous Attacks, and More…
Jan 29th
They are the common, proletarian tools of communication and now the crucial gears in budding revolutions: social networks, SMS, mobile phones. This week was filled with photos and stories about protests in Egypt, but it was Curt Hopkins’ post about the Internet being blocked throughout the country that drew the most attention from readers. What would be an inconvenience for those of us in North America was a critical moment in a civil uprising that appears to be spreading across the Middle East and North Africa.
In location news, open-source geocoding came to Ushahidi. One of the top mobile stories was about the apparently unquashable “Facebook Phone” rumor. And don’t miss our summation of the top Internet of Things stories. Read on for more.
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Top Stories of the Week
- Complete Internet Blackout in Egypt (Updated)
- Quora Blocks Startup Search Engines
- Al Jazeera Releases Egypt Coverage Under Creative Commons (UPDATED)
- Police Arrest 5 Men Over “Anonymous” DDoS Attacks
- Your Facebook Activity is Now an Ad
More coverage and analysis from ReadWriteWeb
Download Our Latest Free Report: Engaging Online Communities
The countless individual interactions people make online have introduced a new level of complexity in marketing. These “gestures” come in the form of likes in Facebook, replies in Twitter or subscriptions to blogs. Other gestures may be a link to a site or a check-in on a location-based network. Engaging Online Communities takes a look at how the modern enterprise must set up the right systems so it can keep track of the gestures that people make and perform analytics on the data. You can download and view Engaging Online Communities here.
Location
- Ushahidi & Pete Warden Join Forces to Add Open Source Geocoding to Platform
- Local Continuing Education Classes Now Included in Everyblock
Mobile
- iPhone to Android: Making the Nexus S Do Your Bidding
- Facebook: Again, We’re Not Doing a “Facebook Phone”
Internet of Things
More Internet of Things coverage
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Three Hackers Arrested in Wake of DDOS Attacks
Dec 13th
One of the more cringe-worthy stories to come out of the Wikileaks-Anonymous-DDOS plotline in the last few weeks is the lack of security practiced by just about everyone involved. Authorities found the name of a designer named Alex Tapanaris embedded in a PDF press release purporting to come from the hacker group Anonymous. His site was later inaccessible and he was said to have been arrested.
Several other people were arrested, said to be allied to Anonymous, in the Netherlands. Their identities may have been ascertained because the LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) software used for the retaliatory DDOS attacks carried user information with it.
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In Holland, two teenagers, a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old, have been arrested. The first, from The Hague, was said to have been involved in Operation Payback. The second, Martijn Gonlag of Hoogezand-Sappemeer, was arrested for an attack, possibly related, on the Dutch attorney general’s website.
The back-and-forth DDOS attacks from supporters, opponents and random extras, has created an environment of compromised security on each side. Perhaps this will point up how much those who believe themselves bulletproof have to learn. But just like any other fight, the instant people stop talking and start attacking each other, the discourse coarsens precipitously, and often permanently.
Here are the DDOS attacks so far by target.
- Wikileaks
- Visa and Mastercard
- Amazon
- PayPal
- Wikileaks
- Gawker (if this is related to the other, it’s oblique, but it’s often hard to tell which way the battle lines are pointing)
PandaLabs Blog has a good timeline of these attacks.
Some here at ReadWriteWeb, have made the case that DDOS attacks are really a type of civil disobedience. Others see it as the beginning of a war. (I hold with those who favor fire.)
If there’s anyone smart out there in either camp–pro-Wikileaks or anti-Wikileaks, pro-DDOS or anti-DDOS–they’d best do something to stop this before it gains such momentum that no one person can have an effect on it. Anyone who doesn’t will bear responsibility for what it becomes.
Now, what is that quote about war and truth?
“Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.”
Yeah. That’s the one.
Other sources: OpenTopic, Softpedia, BoingBoing
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