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Agence France-Presse

Key parts of the internet infrastructure face large-scale attacks that threaten the global system of web traffic, the internet’s address keeper warned on Friday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) declared after an emergency meeting “an ongoing and significant risk” to key parts of the infrastructure that affects the domains on which websites are kept.

“They are going after the internet infrastructure itself,” ICANN chief technology officer David Conrad said. “There have been targeted attacks in the past, but nothing like this.”
The attacks could date back to 2017 but have sparked growing concerns from security researchers in recent weeks, which prompted the special meeting of ICANN.
The malicious activity targets the Domain Name System or DNS which routes traffic to websites.
ICANN specialists and others say these attacks may snoop on data along the way, sneakily send the traffic elsewhere or enable the attackers to impersonate or “spoof” important websites.
“There isn’t a single tool to address this,” Conrad said, as ICANN called for an overall hardening of web defences.

US authorities issued a similar warning last month about the DNS attacks.
“This is roughly equivalent to someone lying to the post office about your address, checking your mail, and then hand delivering it to your mailbox,” the US Department of Homeland Security said in a recent cybersecurity alert. “Lots of harmful things could be done to you (or the senders) depending on the content of that mail.”
So-called DNSpionage attacks might date back to at least 2017, according to FireEye senior manager of cyberespionage analysis Ben Read.
The list of targets included website registrars and internet service providers, particularly in the Middle East.
They could temporarily break portions of how the internet works
Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike
“We’ve seen primarily targeting of email names and passwords,” Read said. “There is evidence that it is coming out of Iran and being done in support of Iran.”
DNSpionage hackers appeared intent on stealing account credentials, such as email passwords, in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, according to Adam Meyers, vice-president of intelligence at CrowdStrike cybersecurity firm.
Similar attacks took place in Europe and other parts of the Middle East, with targets including governments, intelligence services, police, airlines, and the oil industry, cybersecurity specialists said.
“You definitely need knowledge of how the internet works and you have to handle a lot of traffic being directed to you,” Meyers said of the DNSpionage hackers. “With that access, they could temporarily break portions of how the internet works. They chose to intercept and spy on folks.”
The attack itself is technically simple, but its scope and targeting of internet service providers along with large government entities made it “a big deal”, according to Meyers.
ICANN is putting out word to website and online traffic handlers to ramp up security or leave users vulnerable to being tricked into trusting the wrong online venues.
Hacking elite gather in Hong Kong: but this is for a good cause
The organisation urged broader implementation of DNSSEC technology that adds digital signatures that act as virtual seals of sorts to expose when data moving online has been tampered with.
DNSSEC can also prevent internet users from being misdirected from intended websites, according to ICANN.

“It aims to assure that internet users reach their desired online destination by helping to prevent so-called man in the middle attacks where a user is unknowingly re-directed to a potentially malicious site,” ICANN said in the release.
Part of the challenge to keeping the internet infrastructure safe is that website owners do not always grasp the importance of guarding against malicious hackers, according to Conrad.
Hackers dump personal data of hundreds of German politicians
“We want to make sure people understand what it means to own a domain name and put it on the internet,” Conrad said. “Because, all of your customers are only as secure as you are.”


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Internet

Malicious hackers can ‘break the internet’ with DNSpionage, warn web infrastructure keepers

A male hacker working in dark empty room. Image: Alamy

A woman looks at the FBI internet site page dedicated to the DSN Malware on July 9, 2012 in Paris. Tens of thousands of people around the world whose computers were infected with malware may lose their Internet access after the expiry of a US government fix, security experts said. However, no trouble was reported in the early hours of Monday. The problem stems from malware known as DNS Changer, which was created by a gang of cybercriminals to redirect Internet traffic by hijacking the domain name systems of Web browsers. AFP PHOTO / MICHEL RUBINEL

Royalty-free stock photo ID: 13769041
Computer screen macro - Image

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. Capitalizing on spying tools believed to have been developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, hackers staged a cyber assault with a self-spreading malware that has infected tens of thousands of computers in nearly 100 countries. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

News

World

United States & Canada

The system that sends users to websites is increasingly being attacked and ‘lots of harmful things’ could happen if it were damaged


The system that sends users to websites is increasingly being attacked and ‘lots of harmful things’ could happen if it were damaged.


Computer hackers

Cybersecurity

Malicious hackers can ‘break the internet’ with DNSpionage, warn web infrastructure keepers

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The system that sends users to websites is increasingly being attacked and ‘lots of harmful things’ could happen if it were damaged

The system that sends users to websites is increasingly being attacked and ‘lots of harmful things’ could happen if it were damaged