Some Famous Website Attacks Around the World

(3) Attacks that paralyze the operation of the Web server system. This is a form of DOS attack aimed at our Web server system and this is also a fairly common form of attack on the network aimed at Web server systems.

(4) Impersonating users to make fake transactions.

(5) Eavesdropping on communications.

7.4.3. Information security for commercial websites

Since 1995, when websites such as amazon.com (known as the king of e-commerce), ebay.com (the world's leading electronic auction site), Yahoo! portal established in 1998, etc. began operating, companies and individuals doing business online have had to face new types of crimes (cybercrime or Internet technology crime) using many methods and tricks to attack or infringe on property, destroy websites, steal information, disrupt business website systems as well as take control of commercial servers.

Data from the new website security report published by CyStack shows that in the third quarter of 2019, the CyStack Attack Map system recorded up to

127,367 websites were attacked globally, a slight decrease compared to the same period in 2018. “Thus, every minute that passes, a website is hacked. When successfully attacking a website, hackers can perform many different damaging actions such as: stealing business data, changing the website interface (deface), inserting malicious code, redirecting users to phishing pages...”, CyStack experts analyzed.

Also in the website security report for the third quarter of 2019, the number of website attacks in Vietnam in the last 3 months increased by 113% compared to the same period last year (2,523 compared to 1,183). This number also puts Vietnam in 10th place on the list of countries with the most website attacks in the world. In which, the domain names .com, .vn and .net are attacked the most.



Figure 7.9. Number of website attacks over time

(According to CyStack Attack Map of CyStack Q3/2019)


The above attacks have caused great damage to the assets and reputation of online businesses. Most of the attacked e-commerce websites are giant electronic "supermarkets" that have been suspended, making it impossible for customers to access to buy goods, bid or conduct commercial transactions. The damage during the interruption will be difficult to determine in terms of material (how many transactions were suspended, how many customers did not access the website, how much the transaction value was, ...). In addition, the attack on leading e-commerce websites also affects customers' trust in the business, affecting the reputation of the business.

Table 7.1. Some attacks on famous websites around the world


Website name

Time and damage

Yahoo!

In 2014, Yahoo revealed that they had suffered an Internet attack that affected 500 million accounts and there was no need to argue much because not only were these accounts hacked, but these accounts were also used to continue to defraud the owners' relatives. Information such as names, dates of birth, and stolen phones caused a fever at that time. Despite Yahoo!'s assertion that this information leak would not affect bank accounts, Yahoo!'s users plummeted.

Previously in 2012, the group of attackers “Peace” sold 200 million user information with passwords for $1900 on the Internet. The worst thing happened to Yahoo when they were attacked again, affecting 32 million accounts, the attackers used the same method as before, the attackers created malicious cookies on the Internet and logged in without Yahoo password.

The sad ending when Yahoo! From a billion-dollar company had to sell itself for $4.5 million in 2017 to Verizon. In December 2018, Yahoo continued to admit that in the past they had lost all 3 billion accounts to Hackers. This can be considered the biggest attack in the history of the Internet.

Tinder

In 2015, the online dating site Tinder was hacked with the aim of stealing all the information of its users. Important information such as real names, dates of birth, postal codes, IP addresses and even sexual preferences... of 4 million accounts were made public on a forum accessed on the Tor browser. In this Internet attack, the attackers actually just wanted to warn about the security holes of the dating platform Tinder, so fortunately there were no cases of abuse or extortion.

But Tinder still hasn't woken up, in 2016 they suffered a more serious loss and this time the consequences were 100 times worse. 400 million accounts had their sensitive information stolen, 20 years of data from the giant dating app was officially made public online. The attackers used the Local File Inclusion method (a technique that takes a local file and transfers it directly to the hacker's online resource repository.

Many users have spoken out against the leak of extremely sensitive information, even if they had canceled their accounts years ago. The Tinder crisis far exceeds the Internet attack on another online dating platform, Ashley Madison, which exposed 30 million users’ information across 40 countries.

Maybe you are interested!

Time and damage

Equifax

Equifax - A credit company in the US, in a report revealed that they had to deal with a crisis due to an Internet attack for many months in a row. They discovered the attack in July 2017. The leaked information published included a lot of confidential personal data of 143 million customers in the US, Canada, UK and nearly 200,000 credit card information. There was almost no way for the company to recover the leaked information after the 2017 Internet attack, this error was determined to be due to a vulnerability in Apache Struts that was thoroughly exploited by hackers. The consequences were so great that major shareholders and executives of this company had to sell their shares to escape this crisis.

Target

The second largest retail chain in the US was the victim of a large-scale Internet attack in December 2013. Data of 110 million customers was stolen from November 27 to December 15. Of these, up to 40 million customers had all their information stolen (name, address, phone number and email, bank account...) and 70 million other customers had their information almost completely stolen. What is more worrying is that the unit that discovered Target was attacked was not Target. A security company in the US accidentally discovered this and at the same time they also discovered that this group was operating in Eastern Europe. The hackers secretly installed malware on the victims' computers and then recorded and sent credit card information. At the same time, they later offered a ransom of $18 million for all the data on black market websites.

Website name


7.4.4. Security measures for Website

7.4.4.1. Server Security

To have a well-functioning website, first of all, it is necessary to prepare well the computer system that acts as the server (where the applications that allow us to put our websites on the Internet will be installed and also where the database of the website we want to put on the Internet is stored). To do so, it is necessary to carefully study the requirements for our website, from which to make effective technical choices. The information to consider when choosing a Web server is:

(1) Server configuration, including: hard drive capacity, main memory capacity, processing speed, number of chips,... When choosing this hardware device, it is necessary to base on an important criterion which is the number of connections that the server can handle in a unit of time.

(2) The operating system that will be used for your Web server. Currently, there are many operating systems used for server systems such as Windows NT, Windows 2000 Server, Unix,...

(3) Web Server software such as Microsoft's IIS or Apache.

(4) Server system management and security software,... Also need to pay attention to the following parameters:

(1) Response time to user requests, usually measured by the number of connections the server can handle in a unit of time.

(2) Throughput: measured by the number of bytes of data that can be received in a unit of time.

It is necessary to have initial investigations and estimates of the number of people who will access your website in a unit of time, through which the most effective choice can be made. For units that are not specialized in information technology, the best way is to use specialized intermediary consultants for this choice.

7.4.4.2. Security policies for Website servers

After building a website, this is where we can post promotional information about the company's image as well as introduce the products we sell, so we need to regularly maintain the stable operation of this website. To do so, in addition to choosing a strong enough hardware system and suitable Web Server software, we need to have policies to protect the information stored.

kept on the Web server as well as against attacks on this server system:

(1) There are mechanisms to record server activity logs, usually this feature is integrated into server operating systems.

(2) The Web server should not be connected directly to the Internet, but should be connected through a Router with a Firewall installed. In addition, Firewall or Proxy software can be installed to control information coming in and out of the server.

(3) Back up all data in the Web server to another storage device to prevent data damage. If economic conditions allow, there should be other servers used as data backup machines, which are essentially copies of our Web server.

(4) Disable unused Web services that are built into the operating system or Web management software.

(5) There is a mechanism for decentralization for users.

(6) There are mechanisms in place to protect physical devices from damage or theft.

(7) Be careful when installing new software or running programs on the server, avoid using software or programs of unknown origin because they can be a source of spreading viruses to our computers.

(8) There should be backup Host addresses (Host is the address of the Web server on the network) in case the main address is attacked or overloaded, then everyone will be allowed to use this backup address.

7.4.4.3. Increase security for commercial websites

This is the key solution to ensure the safety of commercial websites. The security infrastructure of commercial websites is mainly related to protecting commercial servers. The directions for improving and developing the security infrastructure of commercial websites are:

(1) Access control and authentication : This involves the completion of public key infrastructure, the construction of digital certificate infrastructure and electronic signatures on a regional and international scale to ensure that any transactions between clients and the commercial website server are controlled and authenticated. For user authentication by name and password, the user (Admin) must control the confidentiality of the password to prevent illegal use.

(2) Operating system controls : The operating system provides a secure infrastructure for the commercial website server. Businesses with commercial websites are recommended to use the UNIX operating system for the Web server, which has high protection against unauthorized access and ensures server data integrity.

(3) Protect the server-client system and transmission channels: Use authentication mechanisms and measures to protect the Website server and clients during transmission.

7.4.4.4. Protection of commercial clients and servers

Clients must be protected against threats that originate from software or data downloaded to the client from the Internet. Web pages are often delivered to the client upon request by the Web browser. Dynamic content is also delivered over the Internet through dynamic Web pages. These can pose threats to clients.

Other threats to the client can be browser hijackers, email attachments, cookies, and web spoofing.

Commerce servers are at the heart of e-commerce security. Commerce servers (commerce Web servers) respond to requests from browsers.

Web browsing via HTTP protocol and CGI Scripts need to be strictly protected by strong measures.


7.5. SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY

7.5.1. Introduction to social media

Media is a specific method that helps businesses convey messages and content of their marketing strategy to customers. The goal is to reach potential customers, helping to increase conversion rates for businesses.

Media channels have a great influence on a business's marketing campaign. If chosen appropriately, media channels can help businesses receive good feedback from customers, boost sales and increase their competitiveness.

The media is increasingly perfected and has the ability to convey information accurately and effectively to users. Popular media today include newspapers, television, the Internet, radio, books, advertisements, tapes, and direct telephone calls.

Social media is the media that uses technology platforms based on the Internet. Basically, social media is divided into 4 basic groups as follows:

First is Social Community: This group will focus on developing networks of relationships and connecting people with similar interests and hobbies. The most prominent are social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The highlight of Social Community is its multi-dimensional interaction. It allows users to connect, chat and share information.

Second is Social Publishing: These are websites that transmit and disseminate content online. These include blogs; news sites; microsites; pages that post documents, music, videos, images, etc.

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