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DDoS Attacks originated from thousands of .EDU and .GOV WordPress Blogs

DDoS Attacks originated from thousands of .EDU and .GOV WordPress Blogs

Dec 04, 2013
In a recent cyber attack on a Forum site, thousands of outdated legitimate WordPress blogs were abused to perform DDOS attacks using previously known vulnerabilities . After analyzing the Log file from the victim's server, we have noticed many Wordpress CMS based educational (.EDU) and Government (.GOV) websites from where the attack was originated. In the past we have reported about many such cyber attacks, where attackers hacked into the Wordpress blogs using password brute-force attack or they used the  PINGBACK  vulnerability in older versions of Wordpress without compromising the server. WordPress has a built in functionality called Pingback , which allows anyone to initiate a request from WordPress to an arbitrary site and it can be used for a single machine to originate millions of requests from multiple locations. We have seen more than 100,000 IP addresses involved in the recent DDOS attack and the victim's Forum website received more than 40,000 requests in 7 mi
Outdated version of WordPress leads to MasterCard Hack

Outdated version of WordPress leads to MasterCard Hack

Jan 09, 2013
On tip of a readers, yesterday we came across a new MasterCard hack, performed by  Syrian Electronic Army . Hackers was able to breach MasterCard Blog ( https://insights.mastercard.com ) and make a new blog post on the website with title " Hacked By Syrian Electronic Army " on January 5, 2013. For now MasterCard deleted that post, but readers can check Google cache . Today we tried to contact the hacker, but may be they are busy in Hacking Next Target , I started my investigation that how they can hack such a big economic website's blog. Starting from very first step, Information gathering about your target. Simple by reviewing the source code we found that MasterCard blog is using Wordpress. We all know, WordPress is particular a popular attack vector for cyber criminals. To know this, I just tried to access the readme.html file of CMS , that's it - MasterCard #fail ! They are using an old  Wordpress 3.3.2  version, instead of the current version 3.
GenAI: A New Headache for SaaS Security Teams

GenAI: A New Headache for SaaS Security Teams

Apr 17, 2024SaaS Security / AI Governance
The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo
WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache critical Vulnerability disclosed

WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache critical Vulnerability disclosed

Dec 26, 2012
One of the most popular Wordpress Plugin called " W3 Total Cache " which is used to Improve site performance and user experience via caching, having potential vulnerability. On Christmas day, someone disclose it on full-disclosure site that how a plugin misconfiguration leads to possible Wordpress cms hack. The loophole is actually activated on the fact that how W3TC stores the database cache. Jason disclosed that cache data is stored in public accessible directory, from where a malicious attack can can retrieve password hashes and other database information. Default location where this plugin stores data is " /wp-content/w3tc/dbcache/ " and if directory listing is enabled, attacker can browse and download it. He said," Even with directory listings off, cache files are by default publicly downloadable, and the key values / file names of the database cache items are easily predictable. " Because the plugin is very famous ,so this makes quite
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Today's Top 4 Identity Threat Exposures: Where To Find Them and How To Stop Them

websiteSilverfortIdentity Protection / Attack Surface
Explore the first ever threat report 100% focused on the prevalence of identity security gaps you may not be aware of.
WordPress Pingback Vulnerability Serves DDoS attack feature

WordPress Pingback Vulnerability Serves DDoS attack feature

Dec 18, 2012
Accunetix a web application security company reported vulnerabilities found in the Wordpress Pingback feature. According to report, Pingback vulnerability exists in the WordPress blogging platform that could leak information and lead to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. " WordPress has an XMLRPC API that can be accessed through the xmlrpc.php file. When WordPress is processing pingbacks, it's trying to resolve the source URL, and if successful, will make a request to that URL and inspect the response for a link to a certain WordPress blog post. If it finds such a link, it will post a comment on this blog post announcing that somebody mentioned this blog post in their blog. " Bogdan Calin explained . Pingback is one of three types of linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to, or referring to their articles. Some weblog software, such as Mo
45000 Wordpress blogs hacked on 2nd day of Spam campaign

45000 Wordpress blogs hacked on 2nd day of Spam campaign

Oct 17, 2012
Yesterday I have reported about a huge mysterious hack in wordpress servers, that cause compromise of 15000 wordpress account and hacker managed to post same spam article of " Money making sites " with title - " Im getting paid! " on each blog. We explained how hacker was earning in thousands of dollars by just sharing his Referral link on all these hacked sites. The campaign include some malicious domains where hacker is redirecting all readers and service from a well known email marketing company - Getresponse . Using the same dork -- site:wordpress.com "Im getting paid!" , today we tried to find out number of hacked accounts and once again another shocking number - its 59300 blogs in compromised list on 2nd day of hacking campaign. So many blogs have been compromised without any known method and wordpress team still not in action. As mentioned in last article, yesterday I tried to contact with Getresponse response team whose Email ser
15000 Wordpress blogs hacked for making money from Survey

15000 Wordpress blogs hacked for making money from Survey

Oct 16, 2012
Wordpress Security Team is sending out warning messages to thousands of wordpress users that their account has been compromised recently. Warning message include " We recently detected suspicious activity on your WordPress.com account. To protect your identity and keep your site safe, we've reset your password. " Message continue " To reset your password and get access to your account and blog, please visit WordPress.com. Click on "Forgot password?" in the Login toolbar to get started. It is very important that your password be unique because using the same password across different web applications increases the risk of your account being hacked. " Note: Wordpress officially has not announce yet any security breach news on their website, but these warning mails are silently received by compromised account holders. Method of hack is still not confirmed. But hacking 15000 blogs from wordpress server and posting same article on all sites most obvious can
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