Dangerous cyberattacks have been released by a group of hackers known as The Shadow Brokers. These exploits will lock up your data for good – no ransom, no return.
But this isn’t all they do – they’ll also leave behind a parasite that lets them “hang out” inside your computer, infect others, and re-enter through a backdoor.
What’s really scary is that these attacks are getting past traditional next-generation security measures. In 99 percent of the cases, security researchers found that these threats bypassed security tools.
EternalBlue (the worst-ever recorded ransomware strike): In February 2018 EternalBlue was ported to all Windows operating systems. By exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft’s Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, EternalBlue allowed the dangerous ransomware virus WannaCry to propagate and infect 230,000 computers.
EternalChampion and EternalRomance are two other exploits that were also reported at the same time EternalBlue was.
And then there’s EternalRocks, also known as MicroBotMassiveNet, which is a computer worm that infects Microsoft Windows. It uses seven exploits that were developed by the NSA and unknowingly leaked to hackers. As a comparison for you, the WannaCry ransomware program only uses two NSA exploits. Experts tell us that EternalRocks is much more dangerous.
EternalRocks installs the Tor anonymous network to conceal Internet activity. Your server then downloads EternalRocks to your computers. To avoid detection, it calls itself WannaCry. But unlike WannaCry there’s no kill switch.
EternalBlue and these other exploits use a backdoor implant tool to infect your systems. Plus, EternalRocks is self-replicating worm and leaves the back door open via DoublePulsar so that other hackers can load malware on your computer.
Backdoors leave you exposed to a multitude of cyber threats.
A backdoor is a port or malicious application that provides access to a server or network. It provides hackers with unauthorized remote access to your network by exploiting security procedures and authentication. Backdoors can be used for cybercriminals to gain remote access to your computers.
Backdoors work in the background and are hidden. They are much like other malware viruses and, therefore, difficult to detect.
A backdoor is one of the most dangerous types of computer parasites. It gives a criminal the ability to perform any possible actions on your computer.
The attacker can:
- Spy on what you do,
- Take over your files a user,
- Install additional software or malicious threats,
- Control your organizations’ entire PC system,
- Implement keystroke logging and screenshot captures,
- Infect files,
- Encrypt your data, and
- Attack other hosts on your network.
Plus, the parasite can work automatically on its own and do what the hacker wants.
A backdoor not only allows the hacker to access your computer and network, but it also lets them come back and enter your system again and again.
Backdoors are complicated for system administrators to deal with. In most of the cases, it’s very difficult to find out who is controlling the parasite. In fact, all backdoors are really hard to detect.
Before they can find out how hard it will be to block the hacker’s access, system administrators have to figure out the methods hackers will use. There are so many exploits now that makes this a very difficult, if not impossible task.
Plus, some of these backdoors can’t be detected because of the way they’re designed.
Even if your admin changes passwords when an attack is discovered, backdoor utilities can be programmed to give the hacker repeat access to your system.
They do this via computers on your IT system that don’t log on to the network very often. Because it appears that no one is using the machine, your system administrator doesn’t detect that a hacker is actually using it.
There’s another kind of backdoor utility that lets the hacker return to the network within a short period of time. This way they don’t have to find a vulnerability to exploit in order to gain access. But if your system administrator does detect them, they’ll just take the time to look for another vulnerability. As you can see, this can be a constant battle.
Password cracking is the most-used method of backdoor hacking to breach network security.
The hacker locates your accounts that use weak passwords. These are accounts that aren’t used often. The hacker creates an access point by changing the password. When the system administrator searches for the fragile accounts, the ones that have weak passwords, the passwords have already been changed won’t be visible.
Backdoors can degrade your Internet connection speed and system performance. They prevent you from removing them by hiding in files. Plus, there are no uninstall features to delete them.
There are 5 ways backdoor threats can get in:
- You can accidentally install them on your computers. Sometimes they come attached to phishing emails or file-sharing programs. They look safe and can trick you into opening and executing them.
- They get installed by viruses like spyware or Trojans without your knowledge. Then they infect each profile for those who use that compromised computer.
- They can be manually installed by malicious insiders who are authorized to install software on your computers. Then the backdoors can spread by exploiting remote systems with security vulnerabilities.
- Some backdoors come with applications, including legitimate ones. Once the hacker gains access to a computer and access to the software installed on it, they have the authorization to take control and infect the software.
- Backdoors can infect a computer by exploiting software vulnerabilities. They work just like computer worms and automatically spread without you knowing it. You won’t be alerted by warnings, setup wizards or dialog boxes when this happens.
What can you do to protect your business from backdoor threats?
Backdoor parasites are extremely dangerous and must be removed from the system. It’s essential that you contact your Technology Solutions Provider so they can do the following:
- Block external access to all Server Message Block ports on the public internet.
- Patch all Server Message Block vulnerabilities.
- Block access to C&C servers (ubgdgno5eswkhmpy.onion) and
- Install a DoublePulsar detection script.
- Make sure to use an up-to-date analytics tool to monitor for insider threats.
- Monitor your system for any newly added scheduled tasks.
Contact our cybersecurity experts. We can “shut your backdoors.”
