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My first question was: "Why on earth would anyone target Fastmail?" And to answer my own question, it seems a lot of email providers are in the firing line at t
by humps 5y ago
My first question was: "Why on earth would anyone target Fastmail?" And to answer my own question, it seems a lot of email providers are in the firing line at the moment - https://therecord.media/ddos-attacks-hit-multiple-email-providers/ https://therecord.media/ddos-attacks-hit-multiple-email-prov...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tyingq 5y agoThis bit is interesting: "Victims were targeted with a DDoS attack, and an email was later sent to the organizations, asking for a 0.06 BTC (~$4,000) ransom demand." Four thousand dollars. I guess they were trying to shoot low in hopes of a quick payment? Also, Runbox posted a copy of the ransom email: https://blog.runbox.com/2021/10/runbox-is-under-attack-by-extortionists/ https://blog.runbox.com/2021/10/runbox-is-under-attack-by-ex...
- Waterluvian 5y agoTest their response? Warm them up to the idea of capitulation?
- willcipriano 5y agoThis week: "Give me $50 or I break the windows in this place!" Next week: "Give me $75 or I break the windows in this place!"
- schleck8 5y ago"Bitcoin is not used for ransomware and other cyber crime, it's traceable" - some crypto fans on social media
- howdydoo 5y agoWould you get rid of your iPhone if you found out criminals used Apple gift cards?
- hsbauauvhabzb 5y agoThat analogy doesn’t even fit his question.
- sshine 5y agoBut would you download a car?
- doubled112 5y agoI'm going to need a bigger printer, but yeah, I would.
- buildbot 5y agoTo be fair, you could trace these transactions, and any from the address that receives them. It seems much better to use Monero or something if you intend to be nefarious. This is probably just ill thought out. edit: not a crypto fan personally.
- liuliu 5y agoBitcoin is easier for anyone to pay. Afterwards, you can wash this with Monero or other networks.
- Toutouxc 5y agoYou have successfully proved that some crypto fans say things that are wrong.
- swiley 5y agoThere has been malware that gave people addresses to mail cash to.
- schleck8 5y agoThe exception confirms the rule
- howdydoo 5y agoRansomware has been around since (at least) the 80s, long before bitcoin. https://www.knowbe4.com/aids-trojan https://www.knowbe4.com/aids-trojan
- NicoJuicy 5y agoCompletely ignoring that all of them now use Bitcoin as payment method. Bitcoin makes it easier.
- BrandoElFollito 5y agoThis expression makes my skin crawl everytime. It simply makes no sense. (nothing personal, plenty of people use it but it is so illogical that it wild be unethical not to protest)
- pclmulqdq 5y agoUsually, bitcoin is demanded because it's easy for a target to acquire, then it is swapped for Monero to wash it before cashing out.
- miohtama 5y agoThis is not true. Crooks do not bother with Monero or even hiding their traces. https://capitalgram.com/posts/how-to-money-launder-bitcoin/ https://capitalgram.com/posts/how-to-money-launder-bitcoin/ For example, the REVil author is known https://threatpost.com/revil-ransomware-core-member/175863/ https://threatpost.com/revil-ransomware-core-member/175863/ It is all about geopolitics, privateering and for Russia and China to see incompetent Western companies to suffer.
- upofadown 5y agoI don't understand how this works from the ransom email given. Anyone could send that email. It is because it is the first email? Otherwise why doesn't absolutely everyone send their own bitcoin address to any entity that seems to be having some sort of problem?
- tyingq 5y ago"I will start 1-2 hours attack on your site." So it's sent prior to the attack.
- jcborro 5y agoIt's becoming a pattern in the last few weeks. Fastmail manages my business email which is causing quite the annoyance. According to the article, this is targeting multiple "privacy and security-centric email services". What are the odds this is a coordinated attempt to drive folks to less secure, or bigger corporate services?
- creato 5y agoAre there any small (i.e. vulnerable to DDoS) service providers that aren't privacy and security centric?
- jjtheblunt 5y agoschool districts perhaps
- KennyBlanken 5y agoI can't think of any reason any intelligence agency in the world would want others using small, "privacy and security centric" (whatever that means? If your email is at any point unencrypted, it's not secure nor private) providers. Cloud email providers were a dream come true to the world's intelligence agencies and law enforcement.
- swiley 5y agoI run my own mail and haven't seen any of this.
- jmclnx 5y agoInteresting, my email provider (not fastmail) was down this morning. First time it ever happened (or first time I noticed). It is up now.
- codegeek 5y agoI could be wrong/naive but aren't most DDOS attackers using a bunch of cheap VMs on the cloud to create a distributed network to attack ? Can these providers not do a better job of identifying the culprits and shutting them down ? I doubt it is easy to create Distributed-DOS if access to cheap VMs are restricted.
- nicolaslem 5y agoThey don't use cloud providers, they use botnets of compromised computers/IoT devices.
- KoftaBob 5y agoWhat's the most common malware those computers are infected with, and most common way they got infected to begin with?
- JackGreyhat 5y agoMy educated guess: The most common way to get infected is via email.
- miketery 5y agoIoT devices get infected because they usually use common software stacks that go un patched. There's crawlers always doing their thing and looking to pop these.
- miketery 5y agoMost sophisticated ones uses bots on residential devices. Ie malware infected, or visiting a site with abusive code.