Cybercrime , Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Incident & Breach Response Breach Roundup: Brazilian Police Arrest USDoD Also: Internet Archive Limps Back Online, Beware Kerbertoasing and Passkey Takeup Image: Shutterstock Every week, ISMG rounds up cybersecurity incidents and breaches around the world. This week, Brazilian police arrested USDoD, the Internet Archive slowly recovered, a Microsoft warning over Kerberoasting and of mounting phishing attacks using file-sharing services, Google touted memory safety efforts, Volkswagen said no harm done after ransomware attack, and Amazon reported over 175 million customers using passkeys. See Also: Gartner Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Brazilian Police Arrest USDoD Hacker
The arrest of the Brazilian hacker was made after an investigation by the FBI that began in 2021. The hacker had boasted about their abilities in various online forums and had claimed to have gained access to the InfraGard forum, which is managed by the FBI.
The Rise of Cybercrime in Brazil
Cybercrime has become a significant concern in Brazil, with the country ranking among the top countries for cybercrime in the world. The rise of cybercrime can be attributed to various factors, including the increasing use of technology, the growth of the internet, and the lack of effective cybersecurity measures.
The Impact of Cybercrime on Brazil
Cybercrime has had a profound impact on Brazil, affecting various aspects of the country’s economy, politics, and society.
The Internet Archive is a digital library that hosts a vast array of content, including books, music, and movies. It is a treasure trove of information for researchers and historians.
The Internet Archive’s Role in Exposing the USDoD’s Identity
The Internet Archive has played a crucial role in exposing the USDoD’s identity. As a digital library, it hosts a vast array of content, including books, music, and movies. This makes it an attractive platform for researchers and historians to access and analyze information. The Internet Archive’s vast collection of digital content includes:
- Books: The Internet Archive hosts over 15 million books, including rare and out-of-print titles. Music: The archive contains over 10 million songs, including albums and singles.
The attack was carried out by a group of hackers who used a combination of malware and social engineering tactics to compromise devices.
Understanding the Attack
The Internet Archive, a digital library that preserves and provides access to cultural and historical content, was targeted by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The attack, which lasted for three hours, brought down the Wayback Machine, a crucial service that allows users to access archived versions of websites.
Stealing Active Directory credentials through a vulnerable authentication protocol.
Kerberoasting is a low-risk attack that can be carried out by anyone with basic knowledge of Windows and networking.
Understanding Kerberoasting
What is Kerberoasting? Kerberoasting is a type of cyberattack that exploits vulnerabilities in the Kerberos authentication protocol to steal sensitive information, specifically Active Directory credentials. This attack is often carried out by attackers who have already gained access to a network through other means, such as phishing or exploiting a vulnerability in a software application. #### How Does Kerberoasting Work? Kerberos is a widely used authentication protocol that allows users to access network resources securely. However, it has several vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers. Kerberoasting takes advantage of one of these vulnerabilities, which is the use of weak passwords for service accounts.
The attackers use legitimate file-sharing services to host their phishing pages, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and malicious content.
The Rise of Phishing Campaigns Using Legitimate File-Sharing Services
Phishing campaigns have become increasingly sophisticated, with attackers leveraging legitimate file-sharing services to host their malicious content. This trend is a significant concern for individuals and organizations alike, as it can be challenging to distinguish between legitimate and malicious content.
How Phishing Campaigns Work
Phishing campaigns typically involve sending targeted emails or messages to potential victims, prompting them to click on a link or download an attachment. However, in the case of phishing campaigns using legitimate file-sharing services, the attackers use these services to host their phishing pages. This makes it difficult for victims to distinguish between legitimate and malicious content. The phishing pages are designed to look like legitimate file-sharing services, complete with logos, branding, and even fake user accounts.
The Rise of Memory Safety Vulnerabilities
Memory safety vulnerabilities have become a significant concern in the cybersecurity landscape. These vulnerabilities occur when a program attempts to access memory that it is not allowed to access, often leading to crashes, data corruption, or even exploitation by attackers.
Why Memory Safety Vulnerabilities Matter
- They can be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or take control of a system. They can lead to crashes or data corruption, causing downtime and financial losses. They can also be used to launch devastating attacks, such as ransomware or malware. ### The Impact of Memory Safety Vulnerabilities*
- In 2017, a vulnerability in the Apache Struts framework was exploited to launch a massive cyberattack that affected over 200,000 websites. In 2020, a vulnerability in the Log4j logging library was exploited to launch a devastating ransomware attack that affected thousands of organizations. ### The Role of Rust in Mitigating Memory Safety Vulnerabilities
- Google has announced that it will start using Rust more in its programming of Android. The Biden administration has urged the industry to adopt memory safety languages, including Rust, as part of its cybersecurity policy agenda. ### Conclusion
- Memory Safety: CHERI provides a memory safety mechanism that prevents malicious code from accessing sensitive data. Data Execution Prevention: CHERI prevents data from being executed as code, reducing the risk of buffer overflows and other types of attacks. Address Space Layout Randomization: CHERI randomizes the layout of address spaces, making it harder for attackers to predict where sensitive data is located. ### Benefits of CHERI**
- Reduced Risk of Attacks: CHERI’s memory safety mechanism and data execution prevention capabilities reduce the risk of attacks such as buffer overflows and data corruption. * Improved System Reliability: CHERI’s address space layout randomization feature improves system reliability by making it harder for attackers to predict where sensitive data is located. #### Increased Efficiency**
- Improved Performance: CHERI’s hardware-based approach can improve system performance by reducing the overhead of software-based security solutions.
They eliminate the need for passwords, reducing the risk of phishing attacks and data breaches.
The Rise of Passwordless Security: A New Era for Online Safety
The world of online security has undergone a significant transformation with the advent of passwordless security features.
Other Stories From Last Week With reporting from Information Security Media Group’s David Perera in Washington, D.C.
The Impact of Memory Safety Vulnerabilities
The impact of memory safety vulnerabilities can be severe and far-reaching. For example:
The Role of Rust in Mitigating Memory Safety Vulnerabilities
Rust is a programming language that prioritizes memory safety. It achieves this through a combination of compile-time checks and runtime checks. By using Rust, developers can write code that is more secure and less prone to memory safety vulnerabilities.
Industry Adoption of Rust
Several industry leaders have started to adopt Rust in their programming practices. For example:
Conclusion
Memory safety vulnerabilities are a significant concern in the cybersecurity landscape.
governments, CHERI is a hardware-based approach to improving the security of computer systems.
The CHERI Architecture
A New Approach to Security
The CHERI architecture is a hardware-based approach to improving the security of computer systems. Unlike traditional software-based security solutions, CHERI is designed to be a fundamental part of the computer system’s architecture, rather than a separate layer of software that can be added on top.
