Last December, a cyber attack on the Ukrainian electricity grid led to a power outage in the northern part of the country's capital, Kyiv, and surrounding areas. But only now have computer security experts been able to discover the culprit behind these cyberattacks on Ukrainian industrial control systems.

Slovakian antivirus software maker ESET and critical infrastructure protection company Dragos Inc. announced that they had discovered a new dangerous malware, which targets critical industrial control systems and is capable of causing power outages.

The December 2016 cyber attack against the Ukrainian power grid Ukrenergo used the Industroyer or CrashOverRide worm (Industroyer/CrashOverRide). This is a new, very advanced malware designed to sabotage power grids. According to computer security experts, CrashOverRide is now the biggest threat to industrial control systems since Stuxnet, the first malware allegedly developed by the US and Israel to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities in 2009.

Unlike the Stuxnet worm, CrashOverRide does not exploit zero-day software vulnerabilities to carry out its malicious actions. Instead, it relies on four industrial communications protocols used around the world in power infrastructure, transportation control systems, and other mission-critical infrastructure systems.

The CrashOverRide malware can manipulate decades-old electrical substation switches and circuit breakers, allowing an attacker to simply shut down power distribution, causing cascading power outages. It is even possible to cause irreparable damage to the control equipment itself.

Industrial malware is a backdoor that first installs four payload components to control switches and circuit breakers. Next, the worm connects to remote server control to receive commands from intruders.

As experts from ESET say, “CrashOverRide payloads demonstrate the deep knowledge of their developers in organizing the management of industrial systems. In addition, the malicious program has a number of additional functions that allow it to hide from antivirus scanners and remove all traces of its interference in the computer system. To date, there are only four virus programs targeting industrial control systems. This is the infamous Stuxnet, Havex, BlackEnergy and now, it turns out CrashOverRide. But unlike Havex and BlackEnergy, which are designed for industrial espionage, CrashOverRide, like Stuxnet, is a program for sabotage.”

The Dragos company says almost the same thing about the new worm: “The functions and structure of CrashOverRide do not serve the purpose of industrial espionage. The only real feature of this malware is that it will attack control systems and cause electrical outages.”

Analysis of the new malware suggests that CrashOverRide, if fully operational, could lead to power outages much more widespread than those that occurred in December 2016 in Ukraine.

The malware includes interchangeable, plug-in components that could allow CrashOverRide to use a wide range of power management utilities or even launch simultaneous attacks against multiple targets. Moreover: depending on the additional modules connected to the virus, it can also be used to attack other infrastructures, such as transport, gas pipelines or even hydroelectric power plants.

Analyzing the CrashOverRide program code, experts came to the conclusion that the virus was most likely developed by a hacker group from Russia, which at one time created the Sandworm worm.

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO FOR THE USA

Just a few weeks ago, literally millions of computers around the world were suddenly attacked by the WannaCry computer worm developed by the US National Security Agency. This malware locked servers and workstations, requiring infected users to pay the attackers $300 within a few days. Or the price automatically increased to $600. If the money never arrived in the attacker’s account, all information on the disks of the infected computer was completely destroyed.

Nightmare Scenario is an Industroyer/CrashOverRide connection with a ransom module like the one used in Wannacry. If this malware infects control systems, the first thing their operators will face is that they will not be able to gain access to any switches or system transformers because they will have to pay a ransom for access.

Since the power grid personnel physically control both the transformers and all the large switches, they can do without the ransom. But the problem is that the virus will destroy in each of these devices factory firmware and it will take at least a month to change everything everywhere. A MONTH, which is half, if not the entire US will sit in the dark and without electricity! What exactly will YOU do if there is no light in your house for 30 days?

A new wave of ransomware virus has primarily captured Russia, also affecting companies in Turkey, Germany and Ukraine, Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, head of the anti-virus research department at Kaspersky Lab, told RIA Novosti.

“According to our observations, the majority of victims of the attack are in Russia. We are also seeing similar attacks in Ukraine, Turkey and Germany, but in much smaller numbers. The malware is spreading through a number of infected Russian media sites,” Zakorzhevsky said.

In his opinion, all signs indicate that this is a targeted attack on corporate networks. “Methods similar to those we observed in the ExPetr attack are used, but we cannot confirm the connection with ExPetr. We continue to investigate the situation,” the specialist added.

The Kaspersky Lab website reports that computers are being attacked by a virus called BadRabbit. For unlocking, hackers demand to pay 0.05 Bitcoin (approximately $283).

The Interfax news agency and the St. Petersburg publication Fontanka.ru previously reported cyber attacks on their websites. The Kiev metro and Odessa airport were also affected by hackers.

In order to protect against this attack, Kaspersky Lab recommends using updated anti-virus databases, and if they are not installed, then company experts advise prohibiting the execution of files such as c:\windows\infpub.dat and c:\windows\cscc.dat from using system administration tools.

The previous global hacker attack using a ransomware virus hit computers around the world at the end of June. Then the virus, which Kaspersky Lab dubbed ExPetr, began to spread from Ukraine. Besides it, Italy and Israel suffered the most.

Reaper: a new virus that will bring down the entire world Internet.

A MASSIVE botnet that has been building up over the past few weeks threatens to destroy the Internet, Israeli cybersecurity experts have warned.

Botnet (English Botnet, IPA: ; comes from the words robot and network) - computer network, consisting of a certain number of hosts, with running bots - autonomous software. Most often, a bot in a botnet is a program that is hidden and accessible on devices and allowed to the attacker. Typically used for illegal or unapproved activities - sending spam, brute-forcing passwords on a remote system, denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS attacks).

The new botnet uses all sorts of devices, including WiFi routers and webcams. Once hacked, they will collectively send bursts of data to the servers that power the Internet, causing them to crash and eventually go offline.

Around this time last year, there was a similar attack caused by the Mirai botnet that shut down the Internet on almost the entire East Coast of the United States.

Now, however, Israeli security researchers at Check Point have discovered what they call a completely new and more sophisticated botnet, the full activity of which could cause a virtual “cyber hurricane.”

“So far we estimate that more than a million organizations have already been affected worldwide, including the US, Australia and certain areas in between. And their number is only increasing. Our research shows that we are currently experiencing a period of calm before a very big storm. The next cyber hurricane is coming soon.”

Thus, it turns out that the botnet, called Reaper by Israeli specialists, has already infected the networks of at least a million companies. The number of infected devices and computers can no longer be determined.

Using Check Point's intrusion prevention system (IPS), researchers have noticed that hackers are increasingly attempting to exploit a combination of vulnerabilities found in various smart gadgets. This is their data received during September.

And every day, malware is discovering more and more vulnerabilities in devices. This is especially true for wireless IP cameras such as GoAhead, D-Link, TP-Link, AVTECH, NETGEAR, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others.

It became apparent that the attempted attacks originated from different sources And various devices, which meant: the attack was spread by the devices themselves.

One tech site assessing the threat warns that this “reaper” will wipe out the entire Internet.

Check Point says that as we experience the "calm before the storm," companies should begin preparing early for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that could potentially lock up resources.

DDoS attacks were made famous by the Lizard Squad, a cyber gang that entered the PlayStation network during Christmas 2014. They involve flooding websites or other targets with overloaded traffic, causing them to crash. Therefore, security experts of all firms and companies are asked not only to scan their networks, but also to proactively disable the maximum number of gadgets, considering them as infected.

Private device owners are encouraged to do the same, although the only thing non-technical users may notice is slower connection speeds, especially over Wi-Fi.

A cyber hurricane is coming that could “break” the Internet

The ranks of powerful botnets for Internet of Things (IoT) devices continue to grow. Recently, a new competitor to the Mirai and Necurs botnets, called IoT_reaper, was spotted online and has grown to gigantic proportions since mid-September.

According to researchers from Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point, the botnet currently includes about 2 million devices. These are mainly IP cameras, IP network video recorders and digital video recorders.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), viruses are also beginning to multiply, with the help of which you can damage electronics. Moreover, the very essence of IoT presupposes the presence of many connected devices. This is an excellent “habitat” for botnets: having infected one device, the virus copies itself to all available devices.

At the end of last year, the world learned about a gigantic (almost 5 million devices) botnet consisting of routers. The German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom also encountered router hacking, whose user devices were infected with malware called Mirai. The matter was not limited to network equipment: security problems were discovered in smart Miele dishwashers and AGA cookers. The “cherry on the cake” was the BrickerBot malware, which, unlike its “colleagues,” not only infected vulnerable devices, but completely disabled them.

Availability in home network A poorly configured or vulnerable IoT device can have dire consequences. One of the most common scenarios is the inclusion of a device in a botnet. This is perhaps the most harmless option for its owner; other uses are more dangerous. Thus, devices from the home network can be used as an intermediate link for committing illegal actions. In addition, an attacker who has gained access to an IoT device can spy on its owner for the purpose of subsequent blackmail - history already knows such incidents. In the end (and this is far from the worst-case scenario), the infected device may simply be broken.

Kaspersky Lab specialists previously conducted an experiment by setting up several honeypots that imitated various smart devices. Experts recorded the first attempts of unauthorized connection to them within a few seconds.

Several tens of thousands of requests were registered per day. Among the devices from which experts observed attacks, more than 63% can be identified as IP cameras. About 16% were various network devices and routers. Another 1% came from Wi-Fi repeaters, TV set-top boxes, IP telephony devices, Tor output nodes, printers, and smart home devices. The remaining 20% ​​of devices could not be clearly identified.

If you look at the geographical location of devices from whose IP addresses experts saw attacks on honeypots, you can see the following picture: the top 3 countries included China (14% of attacking devices), Vietnam (12%) and Russia (7%).

The reason for the increase in the number of such attacks is simple: the Internet of Things today is practically not protected from cyber threats. The vast majority of devices run on Linux, which makes life easier for criminals: they can write one piece of malware that will be effective against a large number of devices. In addition, most IoT gadgets do not have any security solutions, and manufacturers rarely release security updates and new firmware.

Recently it became known about the emergence of a new botnet, IoT_reaper, which has spread to approximately 2 million devices since mid-September, according to a study by Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point.

The malware used to create the botnet includes snippets of Mirai code, but also contains a number of new features that differentiate Reaper from its competitors, the researchers said. Its main difference lies in the distribution method. While Mirai looks for open Telnet ports and tries to compromise a device using a list of common or weak passwords, Reaper looks for vulnerabilities that could potentially infect more devices.

According to Qihoo 360 Netlab, the malware includes a scripting environment in the Lua language, which allows operators to add modules for various tasks, such as DDoS attacks, traffic redirection, etc.

Check Point experts believe that Reaper can paralyze the Internet for some time. “We estimate that more than a million organizations have already been affected by Reaper. We are now experiencing the calm before a major storm. A cyber storm will soon overtake the Internet,” Check Point said in a statement

Among the infected devices are wireless IP cameras from GoAhead, D-Link, AVTech, Netgear, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others. Some companies have already released patches that eliminate most of the vulnerabilities. But consumers are not in the habit of installing security updates for devices.

A MASSIVE botnet that has been building up over the past few weeks threatens to destroy the Internet, Israeli cybersecurity experts have warned.

Botnet (eng. Botnet, IPA: ; derived from the words robot and network) is a computer network consisting of a certain number of hosts running bots - autonomous software. Most often, a bot in a botnet is a program that is hidden on devices and allowed to the attacker. Typically used for illegal or unapproved activities - sending spam, brute-forcing passwords on a remote system, denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS attacks).

The new botnet uses all sorts of devices, including WiFi routers and webcams. Once hacked, they will collectively send bursts of data to the servers that power the Internet, causing them to crash and eventually go offline.

Around this time last year, there was a similar attack caused by the Mirai botnet that shut down the Internet on almost the entire East Coast of the United States.

Now, however, Israeli security researchers at Check Point have discovered what they call a completely new and more sophisticated botnet, the full activity of which could cause a virtual “cyber hurricane.”

“So far we estimate that more than a million organizations have already been affected worldwide, including the US, Australia and certain areas in between. And their number is only increasing. Our research shows that we are currently experiencing a period of calm before a very big storm. The next cyber hurricane is coming soon.”

Thus, it turns out that the botnet, called Reaper by Israeli specialists, has already infected the networks of at least a million companies. The number of infected devices and computers can no longer be determined.

Using Check Point's intrusion prevention system (IPS), researchers have noticed that hackers are increasingly attempting to exploit a combination of vulnerabilities found in various smart gadgets. This is their data received during September.

And every day, malware is discovering more and more vulnerabilities in devices. This is especially true for wireless IP cameras such as GoAhead, D-Link, TP-Link, AVTECH, NETGEAR, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others.

It became obvious that the attack attempts came from different sources and different devices, which meant that the attack was propagated by the devices themselves.

One tech site assessing the threat warns that this “reaper” will wipe out the entire Internet.

Check Point says that as we experience the "calm before the storm," companies should begin preparing early for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that could potentially lock up resources.

DDoS attacks were made famous by the Lizard Squad, a cyber gang that entered the PlayStation network during Christmas 2014. They involve flooding websites or other targets with overloaded traffic, causing them to crash. Therefore, security experts of all firms and companies are asked not only to scan their networks, but also to proactively disable the maximum number of gadgets, considering them as infected.

Private device owners are encouraged to do the same, although the only thing non-technical users may notice is slower connection speeds, especially over Wi-Fi.

A cyber hurricane is coming that could “break” the Internet

The ranks of powerful botnets for Internet of Things (IoT) devices continue to grow. Recently, a new competitor to the Mirai and Necurs botnets, called IoT_reaper, was spotted online and has grown to gigantic proportions since mid-September. According to researchers from Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point, the botnet currently includes about 2 million devices. These are mainly IP cameras, IP network video recorders and digital video recorders.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), viruses are also beginning to multiply, with the help of which you can damage electronics. Moreover, the very essence of IoT presupposes the presence of many connected devices. This is an excellent “habitat” for botnets: having infected one device, the virus copies itself to all available devices.

At the end of last year, the world learned about a gigantic (almost 5 million devices) botnet consisting of routers. The German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom also encountered router hacking, whose user devices were infected with malware called Mirai. The matter was not limited to network equipment: security problems were discovered in smart Miele dishwashers and AGA cookers. The “cherry on the cake” was the BrickerBot malware, which, unlike its “colleagues,” not only infected vulnerable devices, but completely disabled them.

Having a poorly configured or vulnerable IoT device on your home network can have dire consequences. One of the most common scenarios is the inclusion of a device in a botnet. This is perhaps the most harmless option for its owner; other uses are more dangerous. Thus, devices from the home network can be used as an intermediate link for committing illegal actions. In addition, an attacker who has gained access to an IoT device can spy on its owner for the purpose of subsequent blackmail - history already knows such incidents. In the end (and this is far from the worst-case scenario), the infected device may simply be broken.

Kaspersky Lab specialists previously conducted an experiment by setting up several honeypots that imitated various smart devices. Experts recorded the first attempts of unauthorized connection to them within a few seconds.

Several tens of thousands of requests were registered per day. Among the devices from which experts observed attacks, more than 63% can be identified as IP cameras. About 16% were various network devices and routers. Another 1% came from Wi-Fi repeaters, TV set-top boxes, IP telephony devices, Tor output nodes, printers, and smart home devices. The remaining 20% ​​of devices could not be clearly identified.

If you look at the geographic location of devices from whose IP addresses experts saw attacks on honeypots, you can see the following picture: the top 3 countries included China (14% of attacking devices), Vietnam (12%) and Russia (7%).

The reason for the increase in the number of such attacks is simple: the Internet of Things today is practically not protected from cyber threats. The vast majority of devices run on Linux, which makes life easier for criminals: they can write one piece of malware that will be effective against a large number of devices. In addition, most IoT gadgets do not have any security solutions, and manufacturers rarely release security updates and new firmware.

Recently it became known about the emergence of a new botnet, IoT_reaper, which has spread to approximately 2 million devices since mid-September, according to a study by Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point.

The malware used to create the botnet includes snippets of Mirai code, but also contains a number of new features that differentiate Reaper from its competitors, the researchers said. Its main difference lies in the distribution method. While Mirai looks for open Telnet ports and tries to compromise a device using a list of common or weak passwords, Reaper looks for vulnerabilities that could potentially infect more devices.

According to Qihoo 360 Netlab, the malware includes a scripting environment in the Lua language, which allows operators to add modules for various tasks, such as DDoS attacks, traffic redirection, etc.

Check Point experts believe that Reaper can paralyze the Internet for some time. “We estimate that more than a million organizations have already been affected by the actions of Reaper. We are now experiencing the calm before a major storm. A cyber storm will soon overtake the Internet,” Check Point said in a statement

Among the infected devices are wireless IP cameras from GoAhead, D-Link, AVTech, Netgear, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others. Some companies have already released patches that eliminate most of the vulnerabilities. But consumers are not in the habit of installing security updates for devices.

A MASSIVE botnet that has been building up over the course of

last few weeks, threatens to destroy the Internet, warn
Israeli cybersecurity experts.

Botnet (eng. Botnet, IPA: ; comes from the words robot and
network) - a computer network consisting of a certain number
hosts running bots - autonomous software. More often
in total, a bot within a botnet is a program that is hidden on
devices and permission to the attacker. Typically used for
illegal or unapproved activities - spamming, brute force
passwords on a remote system, denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS)
attacks).

The new botnet uses all sorts of devices, including

WiFi routers and webcams. After the hack they will be together
send bursts of data to the servers that support the Internet,
which will lead to their failures and, ultimately, to working offline.

Around this time last year there was a similar attack caused by
Mirai botnet - she turned off the Internet in almost the entire Eastern
US coast.

However, now Israeli security researchers from Check Point
discovered what they called a completely new and more complex
botnet, the full activity of which could cause a real
"cyber hurricane"

“While we estimate that around the world, including the US, Australia and
certain areas in between, over a million have already been affected
organizations. And their number is only increasing. Our research
show that we are currently experiencing a period of calm before
a very big storm. The next cyber hurricane is coming soon.”

Thus, it turns out that the botnet, called by the Israeli
by Reaper specialists (REAPER), has already infected the networks of at least a million
companies. The number of infected devices and computers is no longer possible
definition.

Using Check Point Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
researchers have noticed that hackers are increasingly attempting to
exploit a combination of vulnerabilities found in different
smart gadgets. This is their data received during September.

And every day more and more malware is being discovered
vulnerabilities in devices. This is especially true for wireless IP cameras,
such as GoAhead, D-Link, TP-Link, AVTECH, NETGEAR, MikroTik, Linksys,
Synology and others.

It became obvious that the attempted attacks came from different sources and
various devices, which meant: the attack was spread by
devices.

One tech site assessing the threat warns that this “reaper” will wipe out the entire Internet.

Check Point reports that while we are experiencing "peace of mind
storm" companies should begin preparing for an attack in advance with
distributed denial of service (DDoS), which could potentially
block resources.

DDoS attacks became famous thanks to the Lizard Squad,
cyber gang that entered the PlayStation network during Christmas 2014
of the year. They involve flooding websites or other targets
overloaded traffic, which causes them to collapse. Therefore, experts
security of all firms and companies is proposed not just to scan
your networks, but also preventively disable the maximum number
gadgets, considering them as infected.

Private device owners are encouraged to do the same, although
the only thing that non-specialists can notice for themselves is that it is more
Slow connection speeds, especially over Wi-Fi.

======================================== =

Rows of powerful botnets for Internet of Things devices
Things, IoT) continue to be replenished. Recently a new one was spotted online
competitor to the Mirai and Necurs botnets, called IoT_reaper, with
mid-September grew to gigantic proportions. Estimated
researchers from Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point, currently
Currently, the botnet includes about 2 million devices. Mainly
IP cameras, IP network video recorders and digital video recorders.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), viruses also begin to multiply, with
which can be used to damage electronics. Moreover, the essence itself
IoT involves many connected devices. For botnets
this is an excellent “habitat”: having infected one device, the virus copies
yourself on all available devices.

At the end of last year, the world learned about the gigantic (almost 5 million devices)
a botnet consisting of routers. I encountered hacking of routers and
German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, whose user
The devices were infected with malware called Mirai. Network
the matter was not limited to equipment: there were security problems
found in Miele smart dishwashers and AGA cookers. "Cherry
the “on cake” was the BrickerBot malware, which, unlike its “colleagues”, did not
it simply infected vulnerable devices and completely disabled them.

The presence on your home network of poorly configured or containing
IoT device vulnerabilities can have dire consequences.
One of the most common scenarios is turning on the device in
botnet This is perhaps the most harmless option for its owner, others
use cases are more dangerous. So, devices from the home network
can be used as an intermediate link to complete
illegal actions. In addition, an attacker who gained access to
IoT device can spy on its owner for subsequent
blackmail - history already knows similar incidents. In the end (and this
far from the worst scenario) an infected device may be
simply broken.

Kaspersky Lab specialists previously conducted an experiment,
setting up several traps ("honeypots") that imitated various
"smart" devices. First attempts at unauthorized connection to them
experts recorded within a few seconds.

Several tens of thousands of requests were registered per day.
Among the devices from which experts observed attacks, more than 63% can be
define as IP cameras. About 16% were various network
devices and routers. Another 1% came from Wi-Fi repeaters,
TV set-top boxes, IP telephony devices, Tor output nodes, printers,
smart home devices. The remaining 20% ​​of devices cannot be clearly identified
managed.

If you look at the geographical location of devices, with
The IP addresses of which experts saw attacks on honeypots can be observed
the following picture: the top 3 countries included China (14% of attacking devices),
Vietnam (12%) and Russia (7%).

The reason for the increase in the number of such attacks is simple: the Internet of things today
practically unprotected from cyber threats. The vast majority of devices
runs on Linux, which makes life easier for criminals: they can write
one malware that will be effective against a large
number of devices. In addition, most IoT gadgets do not have
no security solutions, and manufacturers rarely release updates
security and new firmware.

Recently it became known about the emergence of a new botnet IoT_reaper, which
since mid-September has spread to approximately 2 million devices,
reported in a study by Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point.

According to researchers, the malware code used to
creating a botnet, includes fragments of Mirai code, but also contains
a number of new features that differentiate Reaper from its competitors. Its main difference
lies in the method of distribution. If Mirai is looking for open
Telnet ports and tries to compromise the device using the list
common or weak passwords, then Reaper looks for vulnerabilities,
which in the future make it possible to infect a larger number of
devices.

According to Qihoo 360 Netlab, the malware includes an environment for
implementation of scripts in the Lua language, which allows operators
add modules for different tasks, such as DDoS attacks, redirects
traffic, etc.

Check Point experts believe that Reaper can for some time
paralyze the Internet. "We estimate that more than a million
organizations have already been harmed by Reaper's actions. Now we're going through
calm before a strong storm. Cyber ​​hurricane will hit soon
Internet," Check Point said in a statement.

Among the infected devices are wireless IP cameras from GoAhead,
D-Link, AVTech, Netgear, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others.
Some companies have already released patches that eliminate most
vulnerabilities. But consumers are not in the habit of installing updates
security for devices.

A MASSIVE botnet that has been building up over the course of

last few weeks, threatens to destroy the Internet, warn
Israeli cybersecurity experts.

Botnet (eng. Botnet, IPA: ; comes from the words robot and
network) - a computer network consisting of a certain number
hosts running bots - autonomous software. More often
in total, a bot within a botnet is a program that is hidden on
devices and permission to the attacker. Typically used for
illegal or unapproved activities - spamming, brute force
passwords on a remote system, denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS)
attacks).

The new botnet uses all sorts of devices, including

WiFi routers and webcams. After the hack they will be together
send bursts of data to the servers that support the Internet,
which will lead to their failures and, ultimately, to working offline.

Around this time last year there was a similar attack caused by
Mirai botnet - she turned off the Internet in almost the entire Eastern
US coast.

However, now Israeli security researchers from Check Point
discovered what they called a completely new and more complex
botnet, the full activity of which could cause a real
"cyber hurricane"

“While we estimate that around the world, including the US, Australia and
certain areas in between, over a million have already been affected
organizations. And their number is only increasing. Our research
show that we are currently experiencing a period of calm before
a very big storm. The next cyber hurricane is coming soon.”

Thus, it turns out that the botnet, called by the Israeli
by Reaper specialists (REAPER), has already infected the networks of at least a million
companies. The number of infected devices and computers is no longer possible
definition.

Using Check Point Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
researchers have noticed that hackers are increasingly attempting to
exploit a combination of vulnerabilities found in different
smart gadgets. This is their data received during September.

And every day more and more malware is being discovered
vulnerabilities in devices. This is especially true for wireless IP cameras,
such as GoAhead, D-Link, TP-Link, AVTECH, NETGEAR, MikroTik, Linksys,
Synology and others.

It became obvious that the attempted attacks came from different sources and
various devices, which meant: the attack was spread by
devices.

One tech site assessing the threat warns that this “reaper” will wipe out the entire Internet.

Check Point reports that while we are experiencing "peace of mind
storm" companies should begin preparing for an attack in advance with
distributed denial of service (DDoS), which could potentially
block resources.

DDoS attacks became famous thanks to the Lizard Squad,
cyber gang that entered the PlayStation network during Christmas 2014
of the year. They involve flooding websites or other targets
overloaded traffic, which causes them to collapse. Therefore, experts
security of all firms and companies is proposed not just to scan
your networks, but also preventively disable the maximum number
gadgets, considering them as infected.

Private device owners are encouraged to do the same, although
the only thing that non-specialists can notice for themselves is that it is more
Slow connection speeds, especially over Wi-Fi.

=========================================

Rows of powerful botnets for Internet of Things devices
Things, IoT) continue to be replenished. Recently a new one was spotted online
competitor to the Mirai and Necurs botnets, called IoT_reaper, with
mid-September grew to gigantic proportions. Estimated
researchers from Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point, currently
Currently, the botnet includes about 2 million devices. Mainly
IP cameras, IP network video recorders and digital video recorders.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), viruses also begin to multiply, with
which can be used to damage electronics. Moreover, the essence itself
IoT involves many connected devices. For botnets
this is an excellent “habitat”: having infected one device, the virus copies
yourself on all available devices.

At the end of last year, the world learned about the gigantic (almost 5 million devices)
a botnet consisting of routers. I encountered hacking of routers and
German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, whose user
The devices were infected with malware called Mirai. Network
the matter was not limited to equipment: there were security problems
found in Miele smart dishwashers and AGA cookers. "Cherry
the “on cake” was the BrickerBot malware, which, unlike its “colleagues”, did not
it simply infected vulnerable devices and completely disabled them.

The presence on your home network of poorly configured or containing
IoT device vulnerabilities can have dire consequences.
One of the most common scenarios is turning on the device in
botnet This is perhaps the most harmless option for its owner, others
use cases are more dangerous. So, devices from the home network
can be used as an intermediate link to complete
illegal actions. In addition, an attacker who gained access to
IoT device can spy on its owner for subsequent
blackmail - history already knows similar incidents. In the end (and this
far from the worst scenario) an infected device may be
simply broken.

Kaspersky Lab specialists previously conducted an experiment,
setting up several traps ("honeypots") that imitated various
"smart" devices. First attempts at unauthorized connection to them
experts recorded within a few seconds.

Several tens of thousands of requests were registered per day.
Among the devices from which experts observed attacks, more than 63% can be
define as IP cameras. About 16% were various network
devices and routers. Another 1% came from Wi-Fi repeaters,
TV set-top boxes, IP telephony devices, Tor output nodes, printers,
smart home devices. The remaining 20% ​​of devices cannot be clearly identified
managed.

If you look at the geographical location of devices, with
The IP addresses of which experts saw attacks on honeypots can be observed
the following picture: the top 3 countries included China (14% of attacking devices),
Vietnam (12%) and Russia (7%).

The reason for the increase in the number of such attacks is simple: the Internet of things today
practically unprotected from cyber threats. The vast majority of devices
runs on Linux, which makes life easier for criminals: they can write
one malware that will be effective against a large
number of devices. In addition, most IoT gadgets do not have
no security solutions, and manufacturers rarely release updates
security and new firmware.

Recently it became known about the emergence of a new botnet IoT_reaper, which
since mid-September has spread to approximately 2 million devices,
reported in a study by Qihoo 360 Netlab and Check Point.

According to researchers, the malware code used to
creating a botnet, includes fragments of Mirai code, but also contains
a number of new features that differentiate Reaper from its competitors. Its main difference
lies in the method of distribution. If Mirai is looking for open
Telnet ports and tries to compromise the device using the list
common or weak passwords, then Reaper looks for vulnerabilities,
which in the future make it possible to infect a larger number of
devices.

According to Qihoo 360 Netlab, the malware includes an environment for
implementation of scripts in the Lua language, which allows operators
add modules for different tasks, such as DDoS attacks, redirects
traffic, etc.

Check Point experts believe that Reaper can for some time
paralyze the Internet. "We estimate that more than a million
organizations have already been harmed by Reaper's actions. Now we're going through
calm before a strong storm. Cyber ​​hurricane will hit soon
Internet," Check Point said in a statement.

Among the infected devices are wireless IP cameras from GoAhead,
D-Link, AVTech, Netgear, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others.
Some companies have already released patches that eliminate most
vulnerabilities. But consumers are not in the habit of installing updates
security for devices.