Almost 9,000 Servers across Asian got Infected with Malware

An operation of cybersecurity run out of IGCI (Interpol Global Complex for Innovation) has uncovered over 9,000 servers that are malware-laden as well as many compromised websites in Asean region, including portals of government.

International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) said on 24th April (Monday) that it has worked with the investigators from 7 companies of private sector as well as from 7 different countries for the operation. As per the analysis, it has also been identified that almost 270 websites were infected with one malware code that exploited the vulnerability in application of website design. Many among them are websites of government that might contains the personal information of its citizens.

Several phishing website operators are also identified, which include one operator having links with Nigeria, and further investigations on the other suspects is still going on. Theedgemarkets.com posted on April 25th, 2017, stating that one Indonesian-based criminal selling the phishing kits through Darknet had posted videos in YouTube demonstrating customers the way of using the illicit software.

DDoS attacks were very common on Internet, using hijacked and the virus-infected computers for targeting websites till they can no more cope with scale of data that was requested.

Interpol further added that dangers posed by C2 servers were found to be active that include malware families targeting the financial institutions, distributing spam, spreading ransomware, and launching the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Services) attacks. Interpol says that investigations are going on.

Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of IGCI, said that this operation was the perfect example of how private and public sectors can work together efficiently for combating the cybercrime.

The operation further highlighted on the law enforcement need for proactively investigating on vulnerabilities that are exploited by the cybercriminals, instead of waiting for the reports coming from victims.

Cheng Khee Boon, Assistant Commissioner and Commander of SPF's Cybercrime Command, said that Singapore Police Force (SPF) will continue working closely with the Asian counterparts as well as Interpol community for eliminating the criminal activities in cyberspace. He further said that "we will spare no effort to track down cybercriminals who think that they can operate under the impunity of cross jurisdictions."

It is important for the operation to identify the legislative requirements and regulations around the region, to provide participants more knowledge and to understand the avenues and restrictions to conduct enquiries.

» SPAMfighter News - 5/1/2017