clydeiii/cybersecurity · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 4 429
floods.
Commands seen so far are:
flood http www.president.gov.ge/
flood tcp www.president.gov.ge
flood icmp www.president.gov.ge
The server [62.168.168.9] which houses the website has been largely offline
since the attack started. Passive DNS records show the system houses several
other websites which are mostly unrelated to the Georgian government.
However, the server does also host the Social Assistance and Employment
State Agency website (www.saesa.gov.ge). This website along with the others
on the host have been rendered inaccessible.
Is the attack political or perhaps nationalistic in nature? Your guess is as good
as ours but it doesn't take much to come to this possible conclusion. Recent
DDoS attacks against various other neighbors of Russia to include Estonia
have been quite popular in the last few years. We do not have any solid
proof that the people behind this C&C server are Russian. However, the HTTPbased botnet C&C server is a MachBot controller, which is a tool that is
frequently used by Russian bot herders. On top of that the domain involved
with this C&C server has seemingly bogus registration information but does tie
back to Russia.
Who else have these guys been attacking with this MachBot C&C server? The
answer is no one. This server recently came online in the past few weeks and
has not issued any other attacks that we have observed until recently. All
attacks we have observed have been directed right at
www.president.gov.ge.
The C&C server involved in these attacks is on the IP address 207.10.234.244,
which is subsequently located in the United States. Beaconing traffic from
your network to this host may indicate that you have infected machines on
your network and are most likely participating in this DDoS attack. We would
recommend blocking and/or monitoring for traffic to this address.
Update (7/20/2008: 1:36 PM EST): It appears the host site for 207.10.234.244 has
taken action against this system and appears to now be blocking access to it.
However, the server being targeted by the C&C is still unreachable.
Update (8/10/2008: 10:34 AM EDT): With the recent events in Georgia, we are
now seeing new attacks against .ge sites. www.parliament.ge &
president.gov.ge are currently being hit with http floods. In this case, the C&C
server involved is at IP address 79.135.167.22 which is located in Turkey. We
are also observing this C&C as directing attacks against www.skandaly.ru.
Traffic from your network to this IP or domain name of
googlecomaolcomyahoocomaboutcom.net may indicate compromise and
participation in these attacks.
COMPUTERWORLD
21 July 2008
By Jeremy Kirk
Georgia president's Web site falls under DDOS attack
Botnet took down site for one day
The Web site for the president of Georgia was knocked offline by a distributed
denial-of-service (DDOS) attack over the weekend, yet another in a series of
cyberattacks against countries experiencing political friction with Russia.
Georgia's presidential Web site was down for about a day, starting early
Saturday until Sunday, according to the Shadowserver Foundation, which
tracks malicious Internet activity.
Network experts said the attack was executed by a botnet, or a network of
computers that can be commanded to overwhelm a Web site with too much
traffic.
The command-and-control server for the attack is based in the U.S.,
Shadowserver said. The botnet appears to be based on the "MachBot" code,
which communicates to other compromised PCs over HTTP, the same
protocol used for transmitting Web pages.
The tool used to control this kind of botnet "is frequently used by Russian bot
herders," according to Shadowserver. "On top of that, the domain involved
with this [command-and-control] server has seemingly bogus registration
information but does tie back to Russia."
One of the commands contained in the traffic directed at the Web site
contained the phrase "win+love+in+Rusia," wrote Jose Nazario, a senior
security engineer at Arbor Networks, on a company blog.
On Sunday, it appeared that the host for the command-and-control server
had been taken offline, Shadowserver said.
The motivation for the attacks is not entirely clear. But Georgia is just one of
several former Soviet satellites, including Estonia and Lithuania, that are
seeking to downplay their historical legacy with Russia.
Georgia has angered Russia by pushing for entry to NATO, a pro-Western
security alliance. It has also tangled with Russia over the handling of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, two rebellious regions pushing for independence.
In Lithuania, 300 Web sites were defaced around July 1 following a new law
prohibiting the public display of symbols dating from the Soviet era and the
playing of the Soviet national anthem. The hacking was blamed on an
unpatched vulnerability in a Web server at a hosting company.
Estonian Web sites were pounded by a massive DDOS attack in April and May
2007. The attacks are believed to have been connected to a decision to
move a monument honoring Soviet World War II soldiers to a less prominent
place, which ignited protests from ethnic Russians.
COMPUTERWORLD
11 August 2008
By Gregg Keizer
Cyberattacks knock out Georgia's Internet presence
Large-scale attacks, traffic rerouting traced to Russian hacker hosting network
August 11, 2008 (Computerworld) Hackers, perhaps affiliated with a wellknown Russian criminal network, have attacked and hijacked Web sites
belonging to Georgia, the former Soviet republic now in the fourth day of war
with Russia, a security researcher claimed on Sunday.
Some Georgian government and commercial sites are unavailable, while
others may have been hijacked, said Jart Armin, a researcher who tracks the
notorious Russian Business Network (RBN), a malware and criminal hosting
network.
"Many of Georgia's Internet servers were under external control from late
Thursday," Armin said early Saturday in an entry on his Web site. According to
his research, the government's sites dedicated to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the country's president, Mikhail
Saakashvili, have been blocked completely, or traffic to and from those sites'
servers have been redirected to servers actually located in Russia and Turkey.
As of midnight Eastern time on Sunday, Georgia's presidential and defense

floods.

Commands seen so far are:

flood http www.president.gov.ge/

flood tcp www.president.gov.ge

flood icmp www.president.gov.ge

The server [62.168.168.9] which houses the website has been largely offline

since the attack started. Passive DNS records show the system houses several

other websites which are mostly unrelated to the Georgian government.

However, the server does also host the Social Assistance and Employment

State Agency website (www.saesa.gov.ge). This website along with the others

on the host have been rendered inaccessible.

Is the attack political or perhaps nationalistic in nature? Your guess is as good

as ours but it doesn't take much to come to this possible conclusion. Recent

DDoS attacks against various other neighbors of Russia to include Estonia

have been quite popular in the last few years. We do not have any solid

proof that the people behind this C&C server are Russian. However, the HTTPbased botnet C&C server is a MachBot controller, which is a tool that is

frequently used by Russian bot herders. On top of that the domain involved

with this C&C server has seemingly bogus registration information but does tie

back to Russia.

Who else have these guys been attacking with this MachBot C&C server? The

answer is no one. This server recently came online in the past few weeks and

has not issued any other attacks that we have observed until recently. All

attacks we have observed have been directed right at

www.president.gov.ge.

The C&C server involved in these attacks is on the IP address 207.10.234.244,

which is subsequently located in the United States. Beaconing traffic from

your network to this host may indicate that you have infected machines on

your network and are most likely participating in this DDoS attack. We would

recommend blocking and/or monitoring for traffic to this address.

Update (7/20/2008: 1:36 PM EST): It appears the host site for 207.10.234.244 has

taken action against this system and appears to now be blocking access to it.

However, the server being targeted by the C&C is still unreachable.

Update (8/10/2008: 10:34 AM EDT): With the recent events in Georgia, we are

now seeing new attacks against .ge sites. www.parliament.ge &

president.gov.ge are currently being hit with http floods. In this case, the C&C

server involved is at IP address 79.135.167.22 which is located in Turkey. We

are also observing this C&C as directing attacks against www.skandaly.ru.

Traffic from your network to this IP or domain name of

googlecomaolcomyahoocomaboutcom.net may indicate compromise and

participation in these attacks.

COMPUTERWORLD

21 July 2008

By Jeremy Kirk

Georgia president's Web site falls under DDOS attack

Botnet took down site for one day

The Web site for the president of Georgia was knocked offline by a distributed

denial-of-service (DDOS) attack over the weekend, yet another in a series of

cyberattacks against countries experiencing political friction with Russia.

Georgia's presidential Web site was down for about a day, starting early

Saturday until Sunday, according to the Shadowserver Foundation, which

tracks malicious Internet activity.

Network experts said the attack was executed by a botnet, or a network of

computers that can be commanded to overwhelm a Web site with too much

traffic.

The command-and-control server for the attack is based in the U.S.,

Shadowserver said. The botnet appears to be based on the "MachBot" code,

which communicates to other compromised PCs over HTTP, the same

protocol used for transmitting Web pages.

The tool used to control this kind of botnet "is frequently used by Russian bot

herders," according to Shadowserver. "On top of that, the domain involved

with this [command-and-control] server has seemingly bogus registration

information but does tie back to Russia."

One of the commands contained in the traffic directed at the Web site

contained the phrase "win+love+in+Rusia," wrote Jose Nazario, a senior

security engineer at Arbor Networks, on a company blog.

On Sunday, it appeared that the host for the command-and-control server

had been taken offline, Shadowserver said.

The motivation for the attacks is not entirely clear. But Georgia is just one of

several former Soviet satellites, including Estonia and Lithuania, that are

seeking to downplay their historical legacy with Russia.

Georgia has angered Russia by pushing for entry to NATO, a pro-Western

security alliance. It has also tangled with Russia over the handling of South

Ossetia and Abkhazia, two rebellious regions pushing for independence.

In Lithuania, 300 Web sites were defaced around July 1 following a new law

prohibiting the public display of symbols dating from the Soviet era and the

playing of the Soviet national anthem. The hacking was blamed on an

unpatched vulnerability in a Web server at a hosting company.

Estonian Web sites were pounded by a massive DDOS attack in April and May

2007. The attacks are believed to have been connected to a decision to

move a monument honoring Soviet World War II soldiers to a less prominent

place, which ignited protests from ethnic Russians.

COMPUTERWORLD

11 August 2008

By Gregg Keizer

Cyberattacks knock out Georgia's Internet presence

Large-scale attacks, traffic rerouting traced to Russian hacker hosting network

August 11, 2008 (Computerworld) Hackers, perhaps affiliated with a wellknown Russian criminal network, have attacked and hijacked Web sites

belonging to Georgia, the former Soviet republic now in the fourth day of war

with Russia, a security researcher claimed on Sunday.

Some Georgian government and commercial sites are unavailable, while

others may have been hijacked, said Jart Armin, a researcher who tracks the

notorious Russian Business Network (RBN), a malware and criminal hosting

network.

"Many of Georgia's Internet servers were under external control from late

Thursday," Armin said early Saturday in an entry on his Web site. According to

his research, the government's sites dedicated to the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the country's president, Mikhail

Saakashvili, have been blocked completely, or traffic to and from those sites'

servers have been redirected to servers actually located in Russia and Turkey.

As of midnight Eastern time on Sunday, Georgia's presidential and defense