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Opinion | StormWall

<img alt="DDoS botnets are a bigger threat than we think" height="470" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/5-1643709805718.jpg" width="600" />

In August 2021, StormWall experts exposed the most powerful botnet in the world. Capable of 2 terabits per second attacks, it consists of 49 thousand infected servers.

StormWall experts managed to expose the most powerful botnet in the world, which consists of 49 thousand infected servers.

Hidden threats of DDoS botnets

7 october 2021

<h1>DDoS botnets are a bigger threat than we think</h1>

In August 2021, StormWall experts exposed the most powerful botnet in the world. Capable of 2 terabits per second attacks, it consists of 49 thousand infected servers. It is so strong, that unless you&rsquo;re Amazon or Google, you just can&rsquo;t defend against it with in-house protection measures.

Actually, consider this for a second: the Mirai botnet was about half as powerful, and in 2016, it took down the internet in Liberia. Yes, in the whole country. Some estimates suggest it caused over 100 million US dollars worth of damage.

Now, here comes the kicker. The botnet we discovered? Anyone can rent it. The pricing starts at $2500.

<img alt="" height="704" src="https://content2.stormwall.pro/or/articles/5-1643709932003.jpg" width="900" />

That means that anybody willing to part with that amount of money could potentially leave a whole country, most vital government and emergency infrastructure included, without internet connection, causing nationwide mayhem and millions in damage. Literally anyone in the world. It&rsquo;s a scary thought, isn&rsquo;t it?

DDoS botnets are a bigger threat than we think

<img alt="Cryptocurrency services are being DDoSed more frequently than banks, in Q1 2021." height="391" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/crypto-more-than-banks_w500-1643810493697.jpg" width="500" />

StormWalls data suggests that DDoS actors are beginning to shift their attention from banking and traditional fintech services to crypto, in 2021.

If a long-term bullish trend returns, we can expect cryptocurrencies to make it into the Top 5 industries most vulnerable to DDoS attacks.

Cryptocurrency services are subject to DDoS attacks more often than banks

8 september 2021

<h1>Cryptocurrency services are being DDoSed more frequently than banks, in Q1 2021.</h1>

StormWalls data suggests that DDoS actors are beginning to shift their attention from banking and traditional fintech services to crypto, in 2021.

This shift could have been triggered by the recent bull run when thousands of companies began creating new crypto assets and attempting to crowd-fund their inventions. At the same time, centralized exchanges experienced a massive rise in trading activity, and thus &mdash; revenue. This activity generated a convenient target for excretion attacks. Threat actors are threatening to bring down websites with DDoS unless the victim pays a ransom.

<img alt="Cryptocurrency services are being DDoSed more frequently than banks, in Q1 2021." height="391" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/crypto-more-than-banks_w500-1643810493697.jpg" width="500" />

However, the attacks have an opportunistic nature. If the market turns bearish I believe that we&rsquo;ll see a decrease in attack volume in the crypto industry. If the market manages to resume the long-term bullish trend, we might see crypto creeping into those &ldquo;top 5 most DDoSed industries pie charts.&rdquo;

Cryptocurrency services are being DDoSed more frequently than banks, in Q1 2021.

<img alt="Cyberwar against Elon Musk the founder of Tesla and SpaceX" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/opinion/ilon_w950.jpg" />

A group of unknowns &ldquo;declared war&quot; against the founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk on behalf of the group of hacker activists Anonymous. The businessman was called a narcissistic rich man, accused of lying and speculating cryptocurrencies.

The hacker activist group Anonymous has announced the beginning of a "war" against Elon Musk the founder of Tesla and SpaceX

Cyberwar against Elon Musk the founder of Tesla and SpaceX

10 august 2021

<h1>Can hackers do any harm to Elon Musk?</h1>

A group of unknowns &ldquo;declared war&quot; against the founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk on behalf of the group of hacker activists Anonymous. The businessman was called a narcissistic rich man, accused of lying and speculating cryptocurrencies.

In particular, the man behind the mask was dissatisfied with the way Musk behaves in the social media: due to a series of his posts on Twitter, the cryptocurrency market suffered a volatility spike, which, according to the speaker, resulted in the fact that &ldquo;many people have lost their honestly earned money in the market&rdquo;. He also noted that despite Musk&#39;s commitment to conducting an environmentally sustainable business, Tesla&#39;s refusal to accept bitcoin as payment for cars does not fit in with the fact that they are being produced from rather environmentally harmful cobalt mining, moreover, involving child labor.

In response to the threats received, Musk did not answer anything specifically, preferring, as usual, to laugh it off and not start a controversy with online trolls. It is worth noting that the fact of the &ldquo;accuser&rdquo; affiliation from the video with the real hacker group has not been established, and even now it is not completely clear whether the famous hacker group will attack the billionaire, or whether they have &ldquo;more important&rdquo; things to do.

<div style="text-align: center"><img alt="Cyberwar against Elon Musk the founder of Tesla and SpaceX" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/opinion/ilon_w500.jpg" /></div>

Nevertheless, IT security experts around the world have different views on the Anonymous group&#39;s ability to cause serious harm to Elon Musk&#39;s companies. Thus, the head of StormWall, Ramil Khantimirov, said that hackers can seriously harm Elon Musk in two cases:

<ul>
	<li>if important information is stolen,</li>
	<li>or if the IT infrastructure of Tesla, Space X or Solar Sity is subjected to DDoS attacks.</li>
</ul>

Ironically, in order to hijack Musk&#39;s Twitter account or steal private keys from his cryptocurrency portfolio, attackers need to have extensive knowledge of hacking rather than just launching large-scale DDoS attacks. As we have written on this blog before, today anyone can use large botnets for $200-300 a week to organize an attack on any site on the Internet, simultaneously knocking out the ISP infrastructure standing on the way to the victim.

What does this mean for Elon Musk himself? In the case of potential material losses, the billionaire can also befall reputational ones. Reputational losses of such media personalities almost always affect the value of their companies&#39; shares, and Musk risks losing also in the capitalization of his stock portfolio.

Thus, even if online threats are fake, Elon Musk should once again think about whether all his online resources and the resources of the companies under his control are safe. Investing in security is never redundant for small businesses or multi-billionaires, even if no attack ensues in the end.

Can hackers do any harm to Elon Musk?

<img alt="Самые уязвимые отрасли" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/top-rated-companies-1643810835776-eng.jpg" />

Which industries are targeted by hackers and how to defend against a potential attack if you work in these business areas? Ramil Khantimirov, CEO and founder of StormWall, talks about the most vulnerable industries.

According to statistics collected during 2019-2021 online retail, FinTech and telecommunications companies are at risk of DDoS attacks. Ramil Khantimirov talks about the most vulnerable industries in this article.

TOP of the most vulnerable industries for DDoS attacks

30 June 2021

<h1>The most vulnerable industries</h1>

According to statistics collected during 2019-2021 by StormWall specialists, companies from the following areas are at risk of being attacked:

<ul>
	<li>Online commerce, retail;</li>
	<li>Fintech services;</li>
	<li>Telecom.</li>
</ul>

Why are these industries targeted by hackers, what technologies are they using, and how to defend against a potential attack if you work in one of these business areas? Ramil Khantimirov, CEO and founder of StormWall, talks about the most vulnerable industries.

<img alt="The most vulnerable industries" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/top-rated-companies-1643810835776-eng.jpg" />

<h2>Online Retail</h2>

The number of DDoS attacks on online retail has grown by 400% this year compared to last year, with attacks mainly used in unfair competition and for extortion of money.

2020, as expected, was the richest year for hacking (so far). This is due to several factors: both the long-term trend towards an increase in the number of such crimes, and the Covid lockdown &mdash; consumers went online and began to buy more in online stores.

According to Ramil, attacks can be divided into several types based on the goals of the cybercriminals:

<ul>
	<li>stealing user data;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Commercial&rdquo; DDoS attacks on online stores for ransom;</li>
	<li>DDoS attacks on websites, infrastructure and internal systems made for the sake of unfair competition;</li>
	<li>Launching ransomware viruses.</li>
</ul>

Despite the fact that public attention is usually riveted to large data leaks and attacks on world famous services, small and medium-sized businesses suffer most from hacker threats. According to statistics for 2019-2020, within six months, up to 2/3 of all small and medium-sized e-com businesses face problems in the field of IT security. And it can be caused by any of the attacks listed above: DDoS, data leakage, encryption of critical information. This is why 85% of small businesses plan to increase their IT security spending (according to the poll in 2020). Ultimately, due to the growing pressure on the already small budgets of such businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises run the risk of leaving the market for good.

<h2>Fintech services</h2>

The share of DDoS attacks on banks and financial institutions increased by 27% in 2020 compared to the previous year. The main reason for attacks on the financial sector was data theft; personal data of users and bank card data were of the greatest interest to hackers. Over the past year, more than $ 2 million in bitcoins were paid to the addresses of cybercriminals who attacked various financial services. An interesting fact: according to surveys of top managers of various kinds of financial services, 85% of them claimed that their infrastructure is safe. However, in fact, every third respondent was subsequently successfully attacked over the next year.

In order to be closer to their user base, many banks are introducing cloud services into their infrastructure, as well as creating web versions of personal accounts and online applications. Such solutions greatly increase customer focus, but negatively affect data security, which, in turn, is used by attackers. According to the founder of StormWall, the deployment of client applications itself has created multiple entry points for cyber attacks. Attackers are motivated by gaining access to information on credit cards, gaining control over users&#39; finances, making money transfers, and stealing personal data.

Such activity of hackers can accompany DDoS attacks to distract the attention and resources of IT professionals from data leakage. Another emerging trend associated with this type of attack is the blackmailing of companies by leaking sensitive data onto the network. Information disclosure tactics are chosen by cybercriminals in the event that companies have backups of all lost / encrypted data.

<h2>Telecom</h2>

The number of DDoS attacks on the telecommunications industry increased by 35% compared to the previous year. The significant growth is justified by the noticeably increased competition in this market: with the transition to home offices, customers&#39; requirements for the continuity of Internet access, as well as the criticality of this infrastructure, increased, which competitors took advantage of in their unfair competition for the market.

Ramil Khantimirov also notes that telecom very often comes under attack indirectly when DDoS attacks occur on the websites of online stores and online services. Recently, botnet rental services for DDoS attacks, which capacity can reach 400-500 Gbps, have become available to anyone on the black market. Such a load is enough not only for the victim&#39;s servers, but also for the IT infrastructure of numerous ISP&rsquo;s standing in between the victim and the attacking botnet.

Along with known types of attacks, Researchers from SIDN Labs, (.nl domain zone), InternetNZ (.nz domain zone) and the Institute of Information Sciences of the University of Southern California described a new network vulnerability, tsuNAME, that could be exploited by attackers. The essence of the attack is that authoritative DNS servers are overloaded and disabled by numerous requests resulting from an endless loop. The result of such an attack can be a complete denial of Internet access at the country level.

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