It`s open war. The battle lines have been drawn, and it`s time for the good guys to fight back.
Corporations around the world are seemingly powerless in the face of the most concerted onslaught we`ve yet seen from young men with too much testosterone and computing power and something to prove. Surely that can`t continue; how can young men with limited budgets bring the world`s largest companies and government agencies to their knees?
All the predictions of last year are coming true, as corporate systems are compromised at will.
Ian Melamed, chief technology officer, SatelliteSafe
It`s clear from the events of this last week that we really ain`t seen nothing yet. All the predictions of last year are coming true, as corporate systems are compromised at will. Hackers rule right now.
Let`s just recap the key events in a week that showed just how precarious is the state of information security. Firstly, Microsoft`s Web sites, among the world`s most popular, were rendered unusable due to a combination of technician error and denial-of-service attacks. Secondly, 26 government Web sites in three countries were simultaneously defaced.
The implications for businesses all over the world are dire: no one, it would seem, is safe from attack, and there`s precious little to be done about it until we actively architect for security.
In the case of Microsoft, the facts are being hotly disputed. Microsoft`s official press statements are being torn apart by technical analysts; what is clear, though, is Microsoft`s Web sites were unavailable for most of Wednesday to Friday, and the scale of the damage can only be guessed at: Microsoft`s combined Web presence makes it the third most visited company on the Internet.
It`s well worthwhile summarising the whole sorry episode as it`s played itself out so far:
On Wednesday users were unable to access Microsoft`s Web sites, including msn.com, Encarta.com, microsoft.com and msnbc.com. The official line given was that a Microsoft technician had incorrectly configured routers, which had prevented Microsoft DNS (domain name server) routers from communicating with Internet routers. Once these were correctly configured, normal service was restored.
Problem was, in its press statement Microsoft indicated that its four primary DNS servers were located on the same sub-network, creating a single point of failure. This was widely reported in the trade, mainstream and online media. This would have presented a target for attack too easy and compelling to ignore. And sure enough, on Friday morning a massive denial-of-service attack was launched against Microsoft, again rendering its servers inaccessible to the world at large.
The FBI has been called in, and no doubt some youngsters will be caught and tried. Chief criticism levelled against Microsoft is that it placed its DNS servers together on the same sub-net: it`s been likened to a giant corporation allowing all its top executives to fly on the same aeroplane. Chief doubt regarding Microsoft`s explanation centres on the fact that MX requests were not fulfilled, but A requests were. Routers cannot differentiate between the two requests, so experts are pooh-poohing Microsoft`s explanation. This story has a long way to go yet.
* In the case of the government attack, Web sites in US, Australia and UK were simultaneously hacked and defaced. Different time zones, different countries, but all government Web servers. Were these guys sending a message, or what? The vandals/hackers, who go by the name of Pentaguard, replaced the Web sites with a criticism of government computer security, a greeting to other hackers, and a lambasting of competitive hackers.
Sites defaced included the Alaskan office of the US Department of the Interior, the Western Australian government`s E-commerce Initiative site, and a UK government mad cow disease information Web site.
Pentaguard has been responsible for 48 other defacements, and has to date attacked only servers running Window NT.
In the same week, a group known as Prime Suspectz defaced Microsoft`s New Zealand Web site, and one of Ford`s sites.
It`s going to be a long year, I fear...
* Some light relief - one Paul "Taff" Evans, who runs a UK PR agency called Good Evans, has found himself thoroughly compromised in his working environment through an e-mail. His wife, Tracey, believed he was having an affair. Using his e-mail, she sent a bogus confession to 50 of his most important business contacts. In it she described him as "despicable, deceitful and dodgy" and demeaned his manhood. Taff knew nothing of this until his friends began calling him on his cellphone. The Daily Mail broke the story, but didn`t indicate whether Taff had actually been having an affair. To prevent a similar problem happening to you, you may want to password-protect your system when you`re away.
(Sources: Silicon.com, HNN, Computerwire, CNN and Daily Mail.)
Share
