Command and Control

-

 Command and Control 

The first known take down of a country’s power grid from a cyberattack happened on December 23, 2015. The details of the hack are summarized in detail by Wired. At about 3:30 pm local time, a worker inside the Prykarpattyaoblenergo control center saw his mouse’s cursor move across the screen. The ghostly cursor floated toward the digital controls of the circuit breakers at a substation, and began taking them offline. Almost 30 substations subsequently went down, and 230,000 residents were forced to spend a cold evening in the dark in Western Ukraine, with a blistering low of 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

What you need to know: A command and control attack is when a hacker takes over a computer in order to send commands or malware to other systems on the network. In some cases, the attacker performs reconnaissance activities, moving laterally across the network to gather sensitive data. In other attacks, hackers may use this infrastructure to launch actual attacks. One of the most important functions of this infrastructure is to establish servers that will communicate with implants on compromised endpoints. These attacks are also often referred to as C2 or C&C attacks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Compromised Credentials

-
 Compromised Credentials  In 2020, Marriott International suffered a massive data breach as a result of a compromised credentials attack. This breach compromised the accounts of 5.2 million Marriott customers, exposing their contact information, gender, date of birth and loyalty account information. The attacker used the login credentials of two Marriott employees, presumably obtained through a mix of phishing and credential stuffing, to collect Marriott customers’ information for an entire month before raising suspicion. What you need to know: Most people still use single-factor authentication to identify themselves (a pretty big no-no in the cybersecurity space). And while stricter password requirements are starting to be enforced (like character length, a combination of symbols and numbers, and renewal intervals), end users still repeat credentials across accounts, platforms and applications, failing to update them periodically. This type of approach makes it easier for adversaries
Read more

SQL Injection

-
 SQL Injection  Structured Query Language, or SQL (sometimes pronounced “sequel”), is the standard programming language used to communicate with relational databases — systems that support every data-driven website and application on the internet. An attacker can take advantage of this (very common) system by entering a specific SQL query into the form (injecting it into the database), at which point the hacker can access the database, network and servers. And SQL injection attacks continue to be a popular attack method. As recently as August of 2020, the Freepik Company disclosed a data breach impacting the logins of more than eight million users resulting from an SQL injection in a global database of customizable icons, which allowed the hackers to access and ultimately steal user login and personal information. What you need to know: SQL injection is a type of injection attack used to manipulate or destroy databases using malicious SQL statements. SQL statements control the database
Read more

Social Engineering Attack

-
 Social Engineering Attack  The 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can” tells the true story of (perhaps) one of the most accomplished practitioners of social engineering of all time. In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed a man named Frank W. Abagnale, Jr., who executed various high-profile cons, committed bank fraud and masqueraded in a variety of personas, including as a physician and pilot. Abagnale’s success depended on his ability to convince his victims that his forgeries, whether they were checks, diplomas or identities, were genuine. Abagnale was an active con man in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but the practice of social engineering has continued to develop and remains a powerful tool for hackers and fraudsters to gain access to closed systems around the world. What you need to know: Social engineering is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. Wh
Read more