The Prolexic Portal helps customers understand how DDoS attacks are mitigated

The DDoS security service provider, Prolexic made an announcement on Thursday revealing the launch of their online resource portal, Prolexic Portal. The new service is meant to facilitate clients by providing them stronger online visibility along with cloud-based services. It also enables customers to peruse Prolexic DDoS mitigation reports, traffic polls, warnings and figures pertaining to DDoS attacks.

According to the Chief Technology Officer at the company, Paul Sop, “The Prolexic Portal opens the door to a robust view of reports, graphs, alerts, and statistics that give our customers more insight into DDoS threats on their network and how we mitigate them. Most importantly, the Portal helps us work with our clients in a closer and more coordinated manner.”

The portal also provides members with a ‘Flow Based Attack Monitor’ which is capable of allowing them to view traffic as it passes through their routers. This includes availability of DDoS alerts and frequently updated traffic profiles. Additionally, members can also peruse Network Flow Based Alerts for events regarding online traffic within a client’s network. They can even view bandwidth graphs which are also updated every five minutes. A comprehensive document library comprising of service documents, descriptions along with an optimization guide is also available.

According to Sop, “The Prolexic Portal is another important way that we can help our customers minimize the disruption and financial impact of DDoS attacks, while illustrating the value that Prolexic provides,” Sop said in a statement. “This latest enhancement and new features are customer-driven and so far, feedback has been very positive.”

About Prolexic

Prolexic is considered to be the leading service provider of DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service for a number of enterprises worldwide. The company is responsible for restoring crucial online infrastructure for worldwide enterprises and government entities. Launched in 2003, Prolexic is based in Hollywood, Florida and possesses scrubbing centers in America, Europe and Asia as well.

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Original: Prolexic Introduces Online Portal for DDoS Alleviation

Prolexic Technologies Warns Dirt Jumper and Introduces Scanner

The renowned DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), Prolexic, has given a warning to the notorious Dirt Jumper toolkit, regarding its ability to attack website applications. The company has issued a security-scanning feature or application, which can be used to detect the malevolent threat’s presence via its command and control servers. Users interested in downloading the threat advisory and scanner can download it from www.prolexic.com/threatadvisories for free.

DirtJumper is malware software and an evolved form of the Ruskill type viruses. The disreputable toolkit is usually bought from ‘underground’ websites for as cheap as $150. The virus based toolkit is usually known to spread through spam, dubious downloads, exploit kits and even from contaminated systems.

Vice President of Prolexic’s Security Engineering Response team, had this to say, “The Dirt Jumper DDoS toolkit is currently one of the most aggressive malware strains used by DDoS attackers globally,” said Neal Quinn, vice president of operations at Prolexic.  “Increasingly, we are seeing this tool used against clients worldwide and it is likely to become more widespread and effective as distribution spreads.”

DDoS has been labeled a high-risk threat by the PLXSERT since it also possesses a high quality control panel which almost any hacker can use. Besides this, the malware also possesses an updated functionality feature, which makes it a high level threat for all systems. This is why Prolexic has launched Dirt Dozer, a public malware scanner which can be used to detect suspect HTTP command and control servers. The scanner can be used free of charge by corporate entities and individual entrepreneurs worldwide via the abovementioned link.

 About Prolexic

Prolexic is a renowned and reliable DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service mitigation provider which specializes in protecting organizations against online threats. Since its launch in 2003, a large number of reputable firms have placed their technical safety in their more than capable hands.

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Original: Prolexic Technologies Warns Dirt Jumper and Introduces Scanner

According to reports, the Apache Software Foundation (www.apache.org) is likely to launch a patch in the coming few days to counteract the susceptibility present in the server software. Recently, an exploit that can be employed against Apache HTTPD Web Server versions 1.3 and 2.X was launched on Full Disclosure mailing list.

Hackers can maliciously employ the Apache Killer exploit for sending the denial of service attack against an Apache server which can consequently affect the web server’s speed terribly. The Apache Software Foundation, before releasing the Patch, gave out a warning regarding the exploit.

According to the development team, “By sending specially crafted HTTP requests which include malformed range HTTP header, an attacker can disrupt the normal function of the web server, thus disallowing legitimate users to receive responses from the web server.” It was further explained that “this issue affects all Apache software versions and a patch has not been released yet.” According to Kevin Shorrt, Security analyst of SANS Internet Storm Center; the first error was identified for the first time on bugtraq in 2007, however, it “did not get much attention by Apache developers and it has remained un-patched all of this time” owing to “its lack of sophistication”.

The senior security researcher, Michael Zalewski explained that Apache and Microsoft’s Internet Information Services had “a bizarre implementation of HTTP/1.1 ‘Range’ header functionality”. It’s “implementations allow the same fragment of a file to be requested an arbitrary number of times, and each redundant part to be received separately in a separate multipart/byteranges envelope.”

The Apache Software Foundation, taking another step, also issued a latest advisory, explaining the susceptibility of the web server to the possible attack and said that the “active use of this tool has been observed.” Whereas, others purveyors have taken their own set of security measures against the exploit; for instance, launching tools like Sourcefire, Trustwave’s SpiderLabs and Imperva subsidiary Incapsula. Apache is one of the most preferred web server software that can work with all the leading OS.

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Original: Apache Launches Patch To Counteract Server Software Susceptibility

A petition was distributed by Change.org to free Chinese activist and artist Ai WeiWei. Unfortunately the repercussions of this action were hackers attacking the petitioning website. In the recent months, Change.org has incurred a significant amount of downtime as a result of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). These malicious actions overwhelm a website’s server with traffic and by sending requests that overload the system.

A Statement by Change.org

The founder of Change.org released a statement noting that it is clear the attacks have come as a result of the Ai WeiWei freedom campaign. In early April 2011, WeiWei was taken into custody for uncovering a Chinese government scandal and crisis. The activist was also well-known for his participation in the construction of Beijing’s National Stadium which was the venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

100,000 Signatures and Counting

The current petition for WeiWei’s release from incarceration has gathered over 100,000 signatures including those from high-profile entities like the Tate Modern and Guggenheim museums.

The United States’ Role

Representatives from Change.org have confirmed that the DDoS attacks originated in China despite being blocked by the Chinese government for many years. Change.org also stated that there is no reason to believe the Chinese government is behind these malicious attacks. The United States government, FBI and the State Department have all launched separate investigations into the attack.

Several international bodies such as the United States have criticized the Chinese government for its sub par human rights record over the past few years. There is the possibility that WeiWei’s arrest is only a small segment of a much larger movement to crackdown on anti-government dissidence by the Chinese government.

Information about Change.org

Established in 2007, Change.org is one of the largest petitioning websites on the Internet. The Change.org team works to gather caring individuals to fight for issues that plague the human race. Some of the most commonly fought for issues on the website include, human trafficking, sustainable food, immigration rights, gay rights and animals.

The website provides the advocacy tools needed to make a difference for free. The most popular tool is the email petition with a full suite of resources currently in development for online and offline campaigning.

Whenever there are controversial political articles and movements on the Internet, it is going to upset an individual or group somewhere in the world. Therefore, that group may take actions against that online presence such as with Change.org. To maintain continued success, Change.org must implement a higher level of security to reduce downtime.

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Original: Hackers Attack Change.org

Every day web hosting providers spend countless hours trying to secure the transactions and communications of their customers in order to maintain a reputable business reputation online. Likewise, every day thousands of hackers try their hardest to find new exploit so that they can intercept and decode encrypted data, and gain access to the administrative interface of innocent webmasters’ web hosting accounts. Thus, security is not something that should be overlooked when selecting a web host, especially if you plan on conducting e-commerce with your website. The following are three of the most dangerous web hosting security problems that web hosting providers and webmasters have to be aware of on a regular basis.

Financial Fraud

The first and foremost security concern of a hosting company is the protection of financial data that is transferred and stored on their Web servers. The Internet is a gigantic cyber marketplace that has millions of online stores and hundreds of millions of customers shopping at any given point in time. Hackers thrive in such an environment by exploiting any possible loopholes as much as possible. A single security flaw can result in hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars lost in a single day, especially if the integrity of a web server used to facilitate high volumes of e-commerce is compromised. Thus, hosting companies provide state-of-the-art encryption technology to their customers to ensure that their checkout pages are completely secure. Keeping the credit card and payment details of your customers safe at all times should be your primary concern as an online business owner.

System Overloads

One of the oldest, yet most common and troublesome security concerns in web hosting is the dreaded DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. This attack bares its name because the hacker is actually distributing a denial of service by overloading a web server with massive amounts of traffic or requests within a certain period of time. This causes the web server to temporarily shut down in response to restrictions and limitations put in place by the web hosting provider, in order to ensure that each customer has access to an adequate amount server resources at all times. In other words, if one website or a single web server is using too many server resources at once, it can be shut down. Thus, hackers attempt to send large amounts of requests to specific Web servers in an attempt to cause server downtime, affect the performance of the hosting service, and possibly gain administrative access to the Web servers in the process.

Malicious Scripts

Another serious security problem that web hosting providers have to face on a regular basis is malicious scripting, which has the potential to gather an immense amount of data for hackers and cyber criminals in a short period of time. Usually these scripts are attached to web applications that are used by webmasters to increase productivity and enhance certain website management capabilities. These scripts utilize popular programming languages and platforms such as PHP to send and receive data from webmasters’ websites. Viruses can also be spread on Web servers in a similar fashion, jumping from website to website until a solution is found. When a web server is infected with a virus, many of the websites on the server will attempt to inject a virus onto visitors’ computers, thereby affecting the reputation of the sites. Thus, malicious scripts need to be proactively combated in order to ensure a high quality of service and the safety of web hosting customers.

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Original: Three of the Most Dangerous Web Hosting Security Problems

Defined as a distributed denial of service attack, a DDoS attack is a program that sends an infinite number of requests to a server overloading it and shutting the equipment down. The goal of this attack is to make a server or website unavailable to its users. There are a few different methods in which the attack can be carried out. Although the reasons for such an attack may vary, the end result is consistent.

The most targeted websites for these types of attacks include:

• Banks
• Credit card payment gateways
• Root name servers
• E-commerce sites

The most common method of attack is flooding the server with an unlimited number of requests so it is unable to communicate with legitimate traffic. This causes the server to slow down to a screeching halt, so much where it is rendered in effective resulting in any actions to time out. This usually forces the target to reboot or consume the server’s resources to a point where they can no longer function as intended.

Another popular DDoS method is a disruption of the server’s configuration information such as the routing of data. If this is intercepted and blocked, communication can be completely shut down. Similarly, the disruption of communication media between the users and victim can be targeted. Finally, many attackers target specific networking components like the actual server with the intention of interrupting the flow of information.

DDoS attacks are highly illegal as they violate the Internet Architecture Board’s proper internet usage policy as well as the terms of service of all internet service providers. The issue with DDoS attacks is they are difficult to trace so the guilty party or parties may never be discovered.

There are a number of programs that can be used to perform a DDoS attack, many of which were created for other, less malevolent uses. These programs are typically packet injectors used to perform many other tasks. On the other hand, there is software developed specifically for denial of service attacks. A few examples of legitimate resources include, hping, httping and socket programming.

DDoS can and have caused major problems for many online organizations. The challenge with preventing DDoS is that they cannot be predicted and therefore all businesses can be affected. The best prevention method is having an excellent security system mixed with redundant servers and top-notch backup systems. This will alleviate the load set by DDoS attacks.

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Original: The Specifics of DDoS Attacks

The founder of WikiLeaks recently stated the United States is aggressively tracking his organization under a secret and illegal investigation prompted by U.S. officials. This investigation began following the release of 250,000 confidential documents by the organization to the public domain. This release was viewed by U.S. law as espionage.

As of Thursday, December 17^th, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was released from a UK jail after being granted bail. This was following 10 days of imprisonment. He is staying at a friend’s house in Suffolk, UK where his legal defense is also being prepared. The defense is for extradition back to Sweden for charges of sexual assault.

He informed reporters that individuals with a tie to WikiLeaks have been followed around, detained and had their computers seized. He also added that he is 80 percent certain U.S.-based authorities are having him extradited back to the United States to face espionage charges. Assange is worried about this as U.S. officials have been calling for his execution and kidnapping of his staff.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recognized it to be difficult to charge the hackers that have attacked websites of companies which it views against WikiLeaks. These companies include:

• Visa
• MasterCard
• PayPal
• Moneybookers
• PostFinance

Although authorities are searching for this group named, “Anonymous,” it would be difficult to located them and bring them to the United States for trial. Prosecutors would have to acquire subpoenas for different ISP’s and acquire a search warrant to scrutinize hard drives.

However, there have already been two Dutch teenagers arrested in connection with the denial of service (DDoS) attacks on different companies. Unfortunately, there are a number of other hackers across the globe believed to be involved.

Despite Assange claims that the United States is aggressively pursuing him, the fact is he broke U.S. law, ruined the reputations of many U.S. officials and exploited a security gap in homeland security. Officials in many countries believe he will and should get what he has coming to him.

After being tried for various crimes, Assange will eventually be transferred to the United States for prosecution. The evidence is strong against him and his group. Ultimately, the outcome for Assange will not be welcome and desirable. In the meantime, with the release of so many documents, the U.S. Government is going to need to enact damage control to eliminate this breach from the public eye.

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Original: U.S. Pursuing WikiLeaks

Dedicated hosting plans are often seen as the most powerful types of hosting available, and most webmasters aim to purchase a dedicated hosting plan in the near future. Dedicated severs provide a level of reliability and consistency that are not seen in other hosting plans, which makes them ideal for growing small businesses and corporations alike.  If you’re curious about the benefits of using a dedicated server to host your web sites then you may want to consider the following information.

Reputation of Reliability

Dedicated servers have a reputation of being highly reliable, primarily because you do not have to share your web server with other webmasters. Of course, the size and capabilities of a dedicated hosting plan will directly determine how much data and bandwidth your sites can process at one point in time. Dedicated servers are put on high priority with hosting companies, as most of the highest paying customers utilize this type of web server. Web hosting is primarily a profit-driven industry, which means as long as dedicated hosting plans are the most expensive, they will continue to be the most reliable.

Freedom and Flexibility

A lot of people do not realize just how many restrictions a shared or VPS hosting plan has until they purchase a dedicated hosting plan and begin experimenting with their software configuration. With a dedicated hosting plan you are basically leasing your own private web server, which means you have the freedom and flexibility to change the configuration of the server as you see fit. This means you can install custom web application and use any control panel you’d like. You can also run automated software that will enhance your search engine optimization efforts as well. Using custom software and performing all of these tasks would be impossible with most other web hosting plans.

Support and Stability

Dedicated servers come with dedicated support because hosting companies understand the need for proper server administration and maintenance in the world of eCommerce. Hosting providers know that most of their dedicated hosting plan holders conduct regular eCommerce, and that their business relies upon the stability of their web server. Thus, most reputable web hosting companies offer the greatest level of priority for dedicated hosting support.

Dedicated servers have a track record of being the most stable type of web server, primarily because it is only being utilized by a single webmaster. When web servers are shared, all of the webmasters utilizing the server may have to suffer for the actions of a single webmaster. For example, a web site may be attacked by a hacker that unleashes a DDoS attack on the web server, rendering every site on the IP block useless for minutes to hours at a time. Server downtime is extremely rare in dedicated hosting plans.

Overall, the reputation, reliability, freedom, flexibility, freedom, support and stability of dedicated hosting make it a better option than any other hosting plan for the serious online business owner.

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Original: The Benefits of Hosting with a Dedicated Server

Web hosting accounts are paramount on the online business industry. Every website needs a host in order to be presented on the internet. However, not all hosting accounts are the same, and there are vast differences in the amount of control and server resources delegated to the end user in each hosting plan. For this reason web hosting services have been divided into categories such as dedicated, shared, managed, VPS, colocated and others. Each category represents a different server environment, however within each category there are various plans that allow for specific server permissions. These permissions limit the user’s ability to do a variety of things with their web hosting account, including gain unlimited amounts of traffic.

Unlimited Web Hosting Plans

If you are like 90 percent of the other web hosting account holders out there, then you probably have an “unlimited” hosting account. I am sure you were promised unlimited bandwidth and disk space, and a variety of other features that are unlimited. While the features such as unlimited email accounts and FTP accounts may hold to be true, the facts is that no hosting company offers a hosting plan with truly unlimited server resources, unless you’re using a pay-as-you-go plan which bills you depending on the amount of server resources you use. Since every server has it’s limits, every hosting account also must have limits.

Traffic Limits

While there are no specific limits placed on the amount of visitors your site can have in a specific period of time, there are limits to how much bandwidth you can use. Each time a visitors comes to your site, bandwidth is being used by the server in order to display your site in the visitors web browser. When a visitor clicks a link on your site or visits a new page, your web server has to upload that information into the temporary internet files of the visitor’s computer. This bandwidth usage directly impacts your web server, and when there are many users at your website at the same time it can take a toll on your server resources. To prevent server crashes and unreliable service, you hosting company may temporarily suspend your service and send you a warning email before reactivating your website on the server.

How to Avoid Server Limiting

The aforementioned situation usually occurs when a user has a sudden spike in traffic. While this situation can happens with all server types, it usually is most common in a shared hosting environment, since many websites will be sharing the same web server. When it does happen to a dedicated server the hosting company will still temporarily suspend service and reset the web server. The more web server resources you have, the more you traffic you will be able to bring in during a short time period. However it should be noted that traffic limitations can be caused by a hacker attack known as a DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service). These attacks send a lot of artificial traffic to your website using high powered bots, which cause the server to automatically shut down for security purposes.

Conclusion

To prevent limitations causes by sudden surges in traffic, whether it be artificial traffic or genuine traffic, you will need take certain precautions. The first precaution is adequate security, and the second precaution should be having access to adequate web server resources.

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Original: Traffic Surges and Web Hosting Limitations

Web hosting security is the most important area for keeping a website protected and safe from external factors. Everyday websites and hosts are hacked causing malicious code to wreak havoc on users computers and steal information such as credit card numbers, addresses and phone numbers. This can literally ruin an individual’s life.

The most common type of security threat to both servers and websites is malicious code that infiltrates the system. Some code isn’t powerful enough to cause any damage or is caught by an anti-virus program. Other malicious software has shut down major websites causing massive disruptions.

The three most pertinent malicious software categories include the following:

Malware

There are numerous variations of software code that pose a threat to web hosting software, websites, servers as well as home computers. Malware is one of the most dangerous risks threatening the Internet community. Malware is a combination of the terms malicious and software and can impose serious damage to both hardware and software. In most cases, malware effects individual computers but has been known to destroy servers.

Trojans and Keyloggers

Other vicious pieces of code are Trojans and keyloggers. Trojans are especially harmful as they send information to the creator from a computer after they’re installed. This allows the creator to make subtle changes to the computer through the registry information. Many take this a step further and attach keyloggers which record every keystroke made on the keyboard exposing all passwords.

Bot Rings and Denial of Service Attacks

Another major issue effecting web hosts are bot rings. Bot rings are software that causes the dreaded DoS attacks which can shut down servers. A denial of service floods a network with requests. This significantly slows down the network until traffic cannot access anything. These attacks are common and unfortunately one of the most difficult to prevent.

To successfully accomplish a DoS attack, a hacker encompasses a single server making it into a master slave unit. The hacker instructs the mechanism to seek out vulnerable servers, comprising them to partake in the launch of a single computer. This causes so many requests stemming from so many hosts that the network cannot accept regular traffic and consequently goes down.

Malicious software can major damage to both vulnerable and secure networks. This can cause a major loss of customers and users alike. Vital information can be exposed depending on the maliciousness of the attack. When searching for a host, it’s always important to inquire about the security settings an

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Original: Malicious Software: Is Your Hosting Provider Protected?