Month: March 2018

New DDoS Reflection-Attack Variant

Bruce Schneier is reporting:

“This is worrisome:

DDoS vandals have long intensified their attacks by sending a small number of specially designed data packets to publicly available services. The services then unwittingly respond by sending a much larger number of unwanted packets to a target. The best known vectors for these DDoS amplification attacks are poorly secured domain name system resolution servers, which magnify volumes by as much as 50 fold, and network time protocol, which increases volumes by about 58 times.

On Tuesday, researchers reported attackers are abusing a previously obscure method that delivers attacks 51,000 times their original size, making it by far the biggest amplification method ever used in the wild. The vector this time is memcached, a database caching system for speeding up websites and networks. Over the past week, attackers have started abusing it to deliver DDoSes with volumes of 500 gigabits per second and bigger, DDoS mitigation service Arbor Networks reported in a blog post.”

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/03/new_ddos_reflec.html

How to Fight Mobile Number Port-out Scams

Brian Krebs reports: “T-Mobile, AT&T and other mobile carriers are reminding customers to take advantage of free services that can block identity thieves from easily “porting” your mobile number out to another provider, which allows crooks to intercept your calls and messages while your phone goes dark. Tips for minimizing the risk of number porting fraud are available below for customers of all four major mobile providers, including Sprint and Verizon.”

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/02/how-to-fight-mobile-number-port-out-scams/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KrebsOnSecurity+%28Krebs+on+Security%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Comcast xFi customers get push notifications for WiFi activity

Engadget is reporting that Comcast is introducing a new feature for its Xfinity xFi customers. Users will receive a push notification anytime there is a change in their network. If someone is using your WiFi when they are not supposed to this will alert you to that use, and if your username or password is changed you will also get an alert.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/02/xfinity-xfi-push-notifications/

Apple to Store Encryption Keys in China

Bruce Schneier is reporting: “Apple is bowing to pressure from the Chinese government and storing encryption keys in China. While I would prefer it if it would take a stand against China, I really can’t blame it for putting its business model ahead of its desires for customer privacy.”

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/02/apple_to_store_.html

Russians Hacked the Olympics

Bruce Schneier reports: “Two weeks ago, I blogged about the myriad of hacking threats against the Olympics. Last week, the Washington Post reported that Russia hacked the Olympics network and tried to cast the blame on North Korea.”
“Of course, the evidence is classified, so there’s no way to verify this claim. And while the article speculates that the hacks were a retaliation for Russia being banned due to doping, that doesn’t ring true to me. If they tried to blame North Korea, it’s more likely that they’re trying to disrupt something between North Korea, South Korea, and the US. But I don’t know.”
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/03/russians_hacked.html