clydeiii/cybersecurity · Datasets at Hugging Face

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The malware from various locations caused the virus to be delivered
from
single
site,
address:
79.135.167.49).
The name of the malware is "name.avi.exe", and as of September 2008,
only FOUR out of 36 anti-virus products could detect it. The Russian
Business Network (RBN) had created a highly virulent strain designed to
act as a propaganda weapon against Georgia.
7. RUSSIAN BUSINESS NETWORK
The individual, with direct responsibility for carrying out the cyber "first
strike" on Georgia, is a RBN operative named Alexandr A. Boykov of
Saint Petersburg, Russia. Also involved in the attack was a programmer
and spammer from Saint Petersburg named Andrey Smirnov. These
men are leaders of RBN sections and are not "script-kiddies" or
"hacktivists," as some have maintained of the cyber attacks on Georgia
but senior operatives in positions of responsibility with vast
background knowledge.
Intelligence can suggest further information about these individual
cyber-terrorists. According to Spamhaus SBL64881, Mr. Boykov operates
a hosting service in Class C Network 79.135.167.0/24. It should be noted
that the pre-invasion attacks emanated from 79.135.167.22, clearly
showing professional planning and not merely
hacktivism.
Due to the
degree of professionalism and the required massive costs to run such
operations, a state-sponsor is suspected. Further information gathered
also links the RBN to known disruptive websites.
The IP addresses of the range, 79.135.160.0/19 are assigned to
Sistemnet Telecom to provide services to companies who are
classified as engaging in illicit activities such as credit card fraud,
malware and so on.
79.135.160.0/19 Sistemnet Telecom and AS9121 TTNet (Turkey) are
associated with AbdAllah_Internet which is linked with cybercrime
hosting such as thecanadianmeds.com. These are known Russian
Business Network routes.
8. THE 27 AUGUST ATTACK
The last large cyberattack took place on 27 August. After that, there
have been no serious attacks on Georgian cyberspace. By that is
meant that minor attacks are still continuing but these are
indistinguishable from regular traffic and can certainly be attributed to
regular civilians.
On 27 August, at approximately 16:18 (GMT +3) a DDoS attack against
the Georgian websites was launched. The main target was the
Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The attacks peaked at approx 0,5 million network packets per second,
and up to 200
250 Mbits per second in bandwidth (see attached
graphs). The graphs represent a 5-minute average: actual peaks were
higher.
The attacks mainly consisted of HTTP queries to the http://mfa.gov.ge
website. These were requests for the main page script with randomly
generated parameters. These requests were generated to overload
the web server in a way where every single request would need
significant
time.
The initial wave of the attack disrupted services for some Georgian
websites. The services became slow and unresponsive. This was due to
load
servers
these
requests.
As you see from the graphs above the attacks started to wind down
after most of the attackers were successfully blocked. The latest attack
may have been initiated as a response to the media coverage on the
Russian cyber attacks.
CONCLUSION
The information presented in here catalogues and explains the historic
first major use of cyberattacks as a weapon of war during the Russian
aggression against Georgia. Considering that this is the second Russiansponsored cyber-attack in just over a year, as well as the alarming fact
that the US Embassy in Tbilisi was listed for assault by cyberterrorists,
NATO member states as well as NATO aspirant countries need to be on
full alert for future Russian aggression against critical online
infrastructure.
APPENDIX: Articles About Cyberwar on Georgia
Contents
SHADOWSERVER............................................................................................................. 11
COMPUTERWORLD ........................................................................................................ 13
COMPUTERWORLD ........................................................................................................ 14
SOFT SECURITY ................................................................................................................ 15
THE TELEGRAPH ............................................................................................................. 15
NEW YORK TIMES ........................................................................................................... 17
AFP....................................................................................................................................... 19
INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP................................................................................ 20
THE TELEGRAPH ............................................................................................................. 22
WASHINGTON POST ...................................................................................................... 23
NEWSWEEK....................................................................................................................... 26
AFP....................................................................................................................................... 28
WASHINGTON POST (blog)............................................................................................29
SHADOWSERVER
20 July 2008; Updated on 10 August 2008
The Website for the President of Georgia Under Attack - Politically Motivated?
For over 24 hours the website of President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia
(www.president.gov.ge) has been rendered unavailable due to a multi-
pronged distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The site began coming
under attack very early Saturday morning (Georgian time). Shadowserver has
observed at least one web-based command and control (C&C) server taking
aim at the website hitting it with a variety of simultaneous attacks. The C&C
server has instructed its bots to attack the website with TCP, ICMP, and HTTP

The malware from various locations caused the virus to be delivered

from

single

site,

address:

79.135.167.49).

The name of the malware is "name.avi.exe", and as of September 2008,

only FOUR out of 36 anti-virus products could detect it. The Russian

Business Network (RBN) had created a highly virulent strain designed to

act as a propaganda weapon against Georgia.

7. RUSSIAN BUSINESS NETWORK

The individual, with direct responsibility for carrying out the cyber "first

strike" on Georgia, is a RBN operative named Alexandr A. Boykov of

Saint Petersburg, Russia. Also involved in the attack was a programmer

and spammer from Saint Petersburg named Andrey Smirnov. These

men are leaders of RBN sections and are not "script-kiddies" or

"hacktivists," as some have maintained of the cyber attacks on Georgia

but senior operatives in positions of responsibility with vast

background knowledge.

Intelligence can suggest further information about these individual

cyber-terrorists. According to Spamhaus SBL64881, Mr. Boykov operates

a hosting service in Class C Network 79.135.167.0/24. It should be noted

that the pre-invasion attacks emanated from 79.135.167.22, clearly

showing professional planning and not merely

hacktivism.

Due to the

degree of professionalism and the required massive costs to run such

operations, a state-sponsor is suspected. Further information gathered

also links the RBN to known disruptive websites.

The IP addresses of the range, 79.135.160.0/19 are assigned to

Sistemnet Telecom to provide services to companies who are

classified as engaging in illicit activities such as credit card fraud,

malware and so on.

79.135.160.0/19 Sistemnet Telecom and AS9121 TTNet (Turkey) are

associated with AbdAllah_Internet which is linked with cybercrime

hosting such as thecanadianmeds.com. These are known Russian

Business Network routes.

8. THE 27 AUGUST ATTACK

The last large cyberattack took place on 27 August. After that, there

have been no serious attacks on Georgian cyberspace. By that is

meant that minor attacks are still continuing but these are

indistinguishable from regular traffic and can certainly be attributed to

regular civilians.

On 27 August, at approximately 16:18 (GMT +3) a DDoS attack against

the Georgian websites was launched. The main target was the

Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The attacks peaked at approx 0,5 million network packets per second,

and up to 200

250 Mbits per second in bandwidth (see attached

graphs). The graphs represent a 5-minute average: actual peaks were

higher.

The attacks mainly consisted of HTTP queries to the http://mfa.gov.ge

website. These were requests for the main page script with randomly

generated parameters. These requests were generated to overload

the web server in a way where every single request would need

significant

time.

The initial wave of the attack disrupted services for some Georgian

websites. The services became slow and unresponsive. This was due to

load

servers

these

requests.

As you see from the graphs above the attacks started to wind down

after most of the attackers were successfully blocked. The latest attack

may have been initiated as a response to the media coverage on the

Russian cyber attacks.

CONCLUSION

The information presented in here catalogues and explains the historic

first major use of cyberattacks as a weapon of war during the Russian

aggression against Georgia. Considering that this is the second Russiansponsored cyber-attack in just over a year, as well as the alarming fact

that the US Embassy in Tbilisi was listed for assault by cyberterrorists,

NATO member states as well as NATO aspirant countries need to be on

full alert for future Russian aggression against critical online

infrastructure.

APPENDIX: Articles About Cyberwar on Georgia

Contents

SHADOWSERVER............................................................................................................. 11

COMPUTERWORLD ........................................................................................................ 13

COMPUTERWORLD ........................................................................................................ 14

SOFT SECURITY ................................................................................................................ 15

THE TELEGRAPH ............................................................................................................. 15

NEW YORK TIMES ........................................................................................................... 17

AFP....................................................................................................................................... 19

INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP................................................................................ 20

THE TELEGRAPH ............................................................................................................. 22

WASHINGTON POST ...................................................................................................... 23

NEWSWEEK....................................................................................................................... 26

AFP....................................................................................................................................... 28

WASHINGTON POST (blog)............................................................................................29

SHADOWSERVER

20 July 2008; Updated on 10 August 2008

The Website for the President of Georgia Under Attack - Politically Motivated?

For over 24 hours the website of President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia

(www.president.gov.ge) has been rendered unavailable due to a multi-

pronged distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The site began coming

under attack very early Saturday morning (Georgian time). Shadowserver has

observed at least one web-based command and control (C&C) server taking

aim at the website hitting it with a variety of simultaneous attacks. The C&C

server has instructed its bots to attack the website with TCP, ICMP, and HTTP