Surely all of us have heard terms such as bot-net, malware, computer viruses, etc. We at secnews have written articles on prevention methods, or even analyses of categories and more specialized ways to deal with computer threats, on a number of occasions.
This article is dedicated to a specific hacking tactic that we have been hearing about since last September and unfortunately will continue to hear about in the future. This tactic is known as a Dos or DDos attack and the average user cannot deal with it with antivirus anymore.
What is Dos and what is DDos?
In a DoS attack, the attacker causes congestion on the IP address of the targeted device, with external, unnecessary communication requests being sent continuously from the attacker to the server to keep it busy, thus making it impossible or time-consuming for the device to connect to the Internet. The attack is directed at the IP address of the targeted device.
The above can be done very easily from any terminal.
In contrast, in a DDoS attack, the attacker uses malware that is installed on multiple computers in order to locate and attack the targeted device. Attackers launching a DDoS attack choose this type of attack to inflict greater damage on the targeted device than a DoS attack launched from a single device.
How do I know if I'm being attacked?
If your device is under a DoS or DDoS attack, you will most likely not be able to connect to the Internet or the connection of the attacked device will be interrupted. In short, the goal of this type of attack is blackout.
What is the IoT that we've been hearing about all this time in recent months and what role does it play in DDos attacks?
Internet of Things (IoT)is a new term coined by Kevin Ashton, co-founder and executive director of the Auto-ID Center (a research consortium at MIT), during a presentation by Procter & Gamble. As “things”, he referred to objects that are now capable of connecting and sharing data over a network, whether they are sneakers that measure time and steps, or decoders, routers, or medicine boxes that remind patients to take their medicine, etc.
In the vision of the Internet of Things, objects create a pervasive system and are connected to each other using multiple communication technologies (usually small). RFID tags are one of the first examples in this field. However, over time, this has led to new technologies that make communication between objects more efficient. Among them, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard stands out and the recent IEEE 802.15.4e amendment can significantly increase the reliability of radio frequency connections and energy efficiency, thanks to the adoption of the access mechanism.
Mirai malware.
“Mirai” which in Japanese means “the future”, is the name given to malware specifically designed to infect IoT devices, which on September 20th took part in one of the largest DDoS attacks ever. Some of the targets were Twitter, GitHub, Reddit, Netflix, Airbnb and many others such as the French provider OVH. And also a configuration of this malware was the day before yesterday's almost successful attack on Deutsche Telecom.
The malware was designed to infect Linux systems and synchronize the attack.
Is open source really safe?
One of the questions that immediately comes to my mind is the following.. We constantly hear about the security provided by Linux with its Kernel and surely anyone who frequents online forums for Linux enthusiasts will have surely read at least once the phrase “Linux does not have viruses”! The above confirms my own opinion that “no one deals with Linux” and if they decide to deal with it, here are the results. And Linux is not only Ubuntu! The router that we are currently connecting to the internet from our home also runs Linux!
The bad thing about the case is that each of us, with basic knowledge, can find the source code, configure it, adapt it to a device and here we have an IoT! A smart toaster, for example, that can remind you of your lunch with a message on your mobile phone! If I can synchronize a large number of such toasters to transmit data simultaneously, I can create big problems in an entire country! Straight out of a movie, right? And yet we've already experienced it!
Should we impose some conditions and security protocols on the use of open source?
