#PHOTOMINER SAMPLE PASSWORD#
What's more, while the authors of this attack used brute force to find weak password combinations, this is not the only way hackers can gain access. GuardiCore added that attackers that are currently focused only on data mining may in the future "use stolen credentials and infected machines to move laterally inside the data centre and compromise the most valuable assets of the organisation". "By creating an infection that is hard to disrupt, the writers of PhotoMiner have created a botnet that is undoubtedly here to stay." "Infecting websites through unprotected FTP servers is a classic attack that seems to be gaining popularity once again," GuardiCore stated. While the PhotoMiner malware itself is relatively benign, it contains several features that make it very difficult to detect or remove, and the techniques used to distribute it could easily be copied by more aggressive malware that can cause major problems to a business.
#PHOTOMINER SAMPLE DOWNLOAD#
At this point, every file capable of being rendered to a user, including HTML, PHP and aspx files, is infected with a string that will download the malware to end-user devices. Once it finds one and successfully logs in, a copy of the PhotoMiner malware is uploaded to each writable server. By using a brute force attack aimed at random IP addresses, the worm uses a dictionary of common username/password combinations to find weakly-protected FTP servers. Its primary method of attack takes advantage of both the security weaknesses of FTP and poor user password practices. The PhotoMiner worm, identified by researchers at GuardiCore, earns money for its authors by using the resources of infected machines to mine for the Monero cryptocurrency. This therefore makes FTP servers a tempting target for hackers, who can gain access to these details and then rely on the fact many people reuse the same credentials across multiple accounts to infiltrate many other parts of a network.Īnother problem was highlighted this summer with the discovery of a piece of malware that is designed specifically to spread via websites using insecure FTP servers. The fact it does not offer the ability of encrypted information is one of its biggest weaknesses, meaning it does not allow for usernames and passwords to be protected, instead sending them in plain text. Many of FTP's security weaknesses have been well-documented for several years, and it's a topic I've discussed before. By comparison, the secure alternative, FTPS, made up just 1.05 per cent of ports. A recent study by Rapid7 revealed FTP made up 5.31 per cent of all ports on the internet, behind only HTTP, HTTPS and SSH. This is despite the fact that it's difficult to use and widely recognised as insecure, with the potential to leave businesses exposed to infiltration or data theft.Įven though other alternatives are now available, FTP is still one of the most common protocols in use on the internet.
For many organisations, FTP has been key for transferring files for many years, becoming a true veteran of data transfer.
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