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Malicious attacks hit IPv6 Internet

The next-gen Internet, still immature, is now a pathway for Net attacks, a study finds. Also, ideology has become the primary reason for DDoS attacks.

The idyllic byways of the next-generation IPv6 Internet now suffer an affliction previously limited to the mainstream IPv4 Internet: distributed denial-of-service attacks.

And worse, the still-immature IPv6 network is being caught with its pants down when it comes to repelling the DDoS attacks. That's the conclusion of Arbor Networks' latest annual study on the Internet's operational security, released today.Only 4 percent of survey respondents reported seeing IPv6 DDoS attacks--but it shows the IPv6 Internet is no longer free of them.

"This is a significant milestone in the arms race between attackers and defenders," Arbor Networks said. "We believe that the scope and prevalence of IPv6 DDoS attacks will gradually increase over time as IPv6 is more widely deployed."

For the moment, the volume is still relatively small--only 4 percent of survey respondents reported seeing IPv6 DDoS attacks--but that's a worrisome harbinger.

DDoS attacks use a swarm of computers to swamp a target machine on the Internet with traffic so it's unusable. Such attacks sometimes are launched from botnets of compromised computers for criminal reasons--but now the top cause is ideology such as that evident in Anonymous' coordinated protest attacks.

DDoS attacks send traffic to a particular Internet address, and today the vast majority of those addresses are handled by Internet Protocol version 4, or IPv4. IPv6, which vastly increases the number of possible addresses to deal with the fact that IPv4 is running out of them, is gradually becoming a reality as those with servers and network gear invest in the new network.

IPv6 isn't the main route for attacks, since it's still a relative backwater, but two problems make IPv6 particularly vulnerable. First, with the relatively immature network infrastructure, many network operators don't have the ability to scrutinize network traffic well enough to distinguish DDoS attacks from benign traffic. Second, gateways that link IPv4 and IPv6 must store lots of "state" information about the network traffic they handle, and that essentially makes them more brittle.

Arbor forecasts greater protections, though. "Twenty percent of respondents indicated that they have no plans to mitigate IPv6 DDoS attacks. We suspect that priorities within these organizations may evolve rapidly as IPv6 network traffic becomes more prevalent," Arbor said.

Investments in countermeasures are expensive--but so are DDoS attacks.

Survey respondents reported varying costs of dealing with a DDos attack: about $1,300 or $8,000 in two cases, $250,000 or $300,000 in two others, and $1 million to $1.5 million in two others. And of course there are other costs, for example when a business or government can't get work done or sell products.Survey respondents commonly reported 1 to 10 DDoS attacks per month, but some reported hundreds.

Powerful attacks the "new normal"
The study, a global survey of network operators such as Internet service providers, also finds that DDoS attacks have become more powerful, more sophisticated, and more routine. And the leading cause: ideological attacks such as launched by Anonymous after MegaUpload arrests.

"Ideology was the most common motivating factor for DDoS attacks in 2011, followed by a desire to vandalize," Arbor Networks said. The finding is "one of the single most important data points in this year's report, with major implications in terms of threat assessment, situational awareness, and continuity of operations for network operators, governmental bodies, law enforcement agencies, and end customers alike."

Although the top bandwidth of an attack decreased from 2010's 100 gigabits per second to 2011's 60 gigabits per second, it's increasingly common to see attacks that send tremendous traffic, Arbor said."During the survey period, respondents reported a significant increase in the prevalence of flood-based DDoS attacks in the 10Gbps range. This represents the 'mainstreaming' of large flood-based DDoS attacks, and indicates that network operators must be prepared to withstand and mitigate large flood attacks on a routine basis," the report said.

Growing DDoS sophistication
In earlier years, distributed denial-of-service attacks traveled by lower-level network protocols such as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is used to ensure that data is successfully delivered across a network.

Now, though, attacks are moving to higher-level services such as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), which is used to send Web pages to browsers; DNS (Domain Name Service) for translating text-based Internet addresses into their numeric equivalents; SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) for sending e-mail; HTTPS for encrypted Web page communications; and voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP).

That's driven in part by new attack software. "HTTP GET and HTTP POST [two HTTP commands] were the most common application-layer DDoS attack vectors, more sophisticated mechanisms such as Slowloris, LOIC, Apache Killer, SIP call-control floods, SlowPost and HOIC are increasingly prevalent," Arbor found.

HTTP, used when a browser fetches a Web page from a server, is the most common application protocol for DDoS attacks, but other avenues include the standards for Net address lookups, e-mail, and voice communications.

This story was originally published on CNET News.

Stephen Shankland
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software and science.

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Malicious attacks hit IPv6 Internet

February 16th, 2012

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China Internet users strive to spare businesswoman from death

BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese Internet users have urged China's Supreme Court to spare a 31-year-old death row convict, once one of China's richest women, in a contentious fraud case that has sparked sympathy for the self-made daughter of a peasant.

It has become a touchstone issue for China's vocal Internet campaigners and newly rich private entrepreneurs who see the sentence as too harsh as Beijing struggles to deliver social harmony as wealth inequality soars.

Wu Ying, president of Bense Holding Group in eastern Zhejiang province, was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death two years later by the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court. She was accused of illegally raising 770 million yuan ($122 million), between 2005 and 2007, from 11 people who in turn sought money from other investors.

Wu was convicted of bilking investors of 380 million yuan, promising them exorbitant returns on money that she used to buy rapidly-appreciating real estate assets and luxury items which she says she aimed to re-sell at a profit.

The Zhejiang High Court rejected Wu's appeal last month on grounds that she "squandered" the funds and did not use them in "normal operational activities."

Wu has appealed against her sentence to the Supreme People's Court. In a rare move prior to reaching a verdict, the highest court said a review of her case will be handled "with care", conducted "based on facts" and "according to the law." A court spokesman did not say when the final verdict will be delivered.

TOUCHES ON KEY INITIATIVES

The case is particularly pointed as it touches on two key policy initiatives in Beijing -- one to curb speculation in real estate, the other to shut down the spread of unregulated lending in the shadow banking system.

A public outcry over soaring property prices and a scandal that saw private entrepreneurs in Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, flee into hiding to escape loan sharks after being unable to secure credit from China's big state-backed banks has forced personal pledges from the country's leaders to turn things around.

Premier Wen Jiabao toured Wenzhou last autumn at the height of the scandal, promising to ensure the right policy mix in future to support access to credit and economic growth.

Meanwhile, a two year-long campaign to bring property prices back to "reasonable levels" -- as determined by the leadership -- has struggled to gain traction, only really doing so in the last quarter of 2011. Home prices have fallen marginally in key cities, but remain many times the level they were a decade ago.

Microbloggers who have rushed to the defense of Wu, whose humble beginnings saw her open a hair salon in 1997, include well-known tycoons, academics and Zhang Sizhi, the 85-year-old defense lawyer of Mao Zedong's widow Jiang Qing.

Zhang argued that Wu did not defraud investors because she did not flee or "squander" the funds and that she invested in hotels, advertising, wedding planning and transport companies with money from friends and family, not the general public.

China's 500 million Internet users enjoy limited freedoms, with microblogs becoming a magnet to highlight abuse of power and champion victims of perceived miscarriages of justice.

"To save Wu Ying is to save ourselves," real estate magnate Ren Zhiqiang wrote in his Tweeter-like microblog.

"Spare (her) from the (executioner's) blade!" property tycoon Pan Shiyi said in his microblog, using an ancient saying.

"Today, we save Wu Ying. Tomorrow, more people will save us," wrote Xiamen University literature professor Yi Zhongtian.

DOUBLE STANDARDS?

Many microbloggers accused courts of double standards and showing leniency to corrupt government officials.

The public outcry came a year after parliament abolished capital punishment for 13 types of non-violent economic crimes.

China halved the number of executions to about 4,000 last year compared with 2005, rights group Dui Hua Foundation estimates. The official figure is considered a state secret.

The high court ruled that Wu "squandered" the money on 41 cars and jewellery worth 140 million yuan. Police in Wu's hometown, Dongyang in Zhejiang province, seized and sold by auction 30 cars for just 3.9 million yuan.

Wu's father, Wu Yongzheng, insisted that she could repay her debts by selling flats bought for 160 million yuan around 2006.

The Southern Weekend newspaper estimates that her real estate assets are now worth 400 million yuan, but the Dongyang Intermediate Court put it at one-third the market price.

($1 = 6.2996 Chinese yuan)

(Editing by Ken Wills and Richard Borsuk)

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China Internet users strive to spare businesswoman from death

February 16th, 2012

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DDos attacks spreading to IPv6 Internet