In New Delhi: As attack kits become more accessible and relatively easier to use, they are being utilised much more widely, a report by security, storage and systems management solutions provider major Symantec Corp has said.
This has attracted traditional criminals who would otherwise lack the technical expertise into cybercrime, fueling a self-sustaining, profitable, and increasingly organised global economy, the report said.
The Symantec report on Attack Toolkits and Malicious Websites, developed by the companys Security Technology and Response (STAR) organisation, is an in-depth analysis of attack toolkits.
The report includes an overview of these kits as well as attack methods, kit types, notable attacks, and attack kit evolution. It also includes a discussion of attack kit features, traffic generation, and attack kit activity.
Attack toolkits are software programs that can be used by novices and experts alike to facilitate the launch of widespread attacks on networked computers. These kits enable the attacker to easily launch numerous pre-written threats against computer systems.
They also provide the ability to customize threats in order to evade detection, as well as automating the attack process.
The relative simplicity and effectiveness of attack kits has contributed to their increased use in cybercrime these kits are now being used in the majority of malicious Internet attacks.
For example, one major kit called Zeus poses a serious threat to small businesses. The main objective of Zeus is to steal bank account credentials; unfortunately, small businesses have fewer safeguards in place to guard their financial transactions, making them a prime target for Zeus.
The profitability of malicious code attacks using Zeus was recently illustrated by the September 2010 arrests of a ring of cybercriminals who allegedly used a Zeus botnet in the theft of more than $70 million from online banking and trading accounts over an 18-month period.
As cyber-attacks have become more profitable, the popularity of attack kits has dramatically increased. This in turn has led to increasingly robust and sophisticated kits. These kits are now often sold on a subscription-based model with regular updates, components that extend capabilities, and support services, the report contended.
Cybercriminals routinely advertise installation services, rent limited access to kit consoles, and use commercial anti-piracy tools to prevent attackers from using the tools without paying, the report said.
The speed at which new vulnerabilities and their exploits spread around the globe has increased due to innovations that attack kit developers have integrated into their products. Attack kits are now fairly easy to update, which allows developers to quickly add exploit code for new vulnerabilities, the report said.
The result is that some exploits are in the wild just days after the associated vulnerability becomes public. Attackers who can easily update their attack kits with recent exploits are able to target potential victims before they apply necessary patches.
Because attack kits are becoming easier to use, cybercrime is no longer limited to those with advanced programming skills. Participants now include a mix of individuals with computer skills and those with expertise in traditional criminal activities such as money laundering.
In the past, hackers had to create their own threats from scratch. This complex process limited the number of attackers to a small pool of highly skilled cybercriminals, Symantec Vice President (India Product Operations) Shantanu Ghosh said.
Todays attack toolkits make it relatively easy for even a malicious novice to launch a cyber attack. As a result, we expect to see even more criminal activity in this area and a higher likelihood that the average user will be victimized, Ghosh added.
The study also said that popularity and demand has driven up the cost of attack kits. In 2006, WebAttacker, a popular attack toolkit, sold for US $15 on the underground economy. In 2010, ZeuS 2.0 was advertised for up to US $8,000.
Secondary services have emerged to direct unsuspecting users to malicious websites, where their computers can be compromised. Tactics used include spam campaigns, black hat search engine optimisation (SEO), the injection of code into legitimate websites, and malicious advertisements, the study revealed.
More than 310,000 unique domains were found to be malicious. On average, this resulted in the detection of more than 4.4 million malicious Web pages per month, the study said.
Of the Web-based threat activity detected by Symantec during the reporting period, 61 per cent was attributable to attack kits.
The most prevalent attack kits are MPack, Neosploit, ZeuS, Nukesploit P4ck, and Phoenix. The search terms that most commonly resulted in malicious website visits were for adult entertainment websites, making up 44 per cent of the search terms.
Organizations and end users should ensure that all software is up-to-date with vendor patches. Asset and patch management solutions may help to ensure systems are compliant and deploy patches to systems that are not up-to-date.
Organizations should create policies to limit the use of browser software and browser plug-ins that are not required by the users of the organization. This is especially prudent for ActiveX controls, which may be installed without the knowledge of the user.
Organizations can also benefit from using website reputation and IP black listing solutions to block outgoing access to sites that are known to host attack toolkits and associated threats.
Antivirus and intrusion prevention systems can be deployed to detect and prevent exploitation of vulnerabilities and installation of malicious code.
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