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NIST's
National
Vulnerability Database:
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MAY 1999
Computer Attacks:
What They Are and How to Defend Against Them
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Introduction
Using malicious programs like WinNuke, Papa Smurf, and Teardrop, intruders
invade our privacy and undermine the integrity of our computers. In the
1999 Computer Security Institute/FBI computer crime survey, fifty-seven
percent of organizations cite their Internet connection as a "frequent
point of attack." Thirty percent reported that they had found actual intrusions
into their networks and 26 percent reported theft of proprietary information.
The incident handling entity for the civilian government, FedCIRC, reported
that 130,000 government sites totaling 1,100,000 hosts were subject to
attacks in 1998. Computer crime is substantial. It is clear that we must
increase our efforts to secure our systems and mitigate crime in the relatively
new medium of cyberspace.
In order to prevent attacks
in cyberspace, systems administrators need a high-level understanding
of the methods attackers use to penetrate computers. You cannot effectively
fight a war without some knowledge of the weapons of your enemy. The Information
Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
researches the tricks of intruders and educates the public on how to stop
them. This bulletin:
- Presents an overview of
hacker tools that penetrate computers;
- Classifies the various
attacks that attackers use against networks;
- Statistically explores
what kinds of computer attacks are being publicly published on the Internet;
- Lists the most popular
attacks on the Internet today; and
- Discusses security solutions
that can prevent the majority of publicly available computer attacks.
Overview
of Attacker Tools
Vast resources are available on the Internet that enable intruders to
penetrate computer networks. Detailed software vulnerability information
is publicly discussed on newsgroups. Attacking tutorials are available
that describe how to write automated programs that penetrate computers
by taking advantage of these vulnerabilities. Thousands of automated software
tools have been written that enable anyone to launch computer attacks.
Computer attacks are no longer found on obscure pirate bulletin boards
but rather on publicly available commercial Web sites whose sole purpose
is to serve up this information.
These computer attack programs
are freely available to anyone on the Internet. Besides being available,
these attacks are becoming easier to use. A few years ago, one had to
have Unix to run an attack and had to know how to compile source code.
Today, attacks with user-friendly graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that
run on Windows hosts are available. Attack scripts are easy to use and
dangerous. It is vital that systems administrators understand the danger
these attacks pose and how to protect their networks against them.
Classification
of Computer Attacks
When we say "computer attack," we mean programs run by people to gain
unauthorized control over a computer. These attacks take a variety of
forms but generally fall in the following categories:
-
Remote
Penetration: Programs that go out on the Internet (or network) and
gain unauthorized control of a computer
- Local Penetration:
Programs that gain unauthorized access to the computer on which they
are run
- Remote Denial of Service
Programs that go out on the Internet (or network) and shut down another
computer or a service provided by that computer
- Local Denial of Service:
Programs that shut down the computer on which they are run
- Network Scanners:
Programs that map out a network to figure out which computers and services
are available to be exploited
- Vulnerability Scanners:
Programs that scour the Internet looking for computers vulnerable to
a particular type of attack
- Password Crackers:
Programs that discover easy-to-guess passwords in encrypted password
files. Computers can now guess passwords so quickly that many seemingly
complex passwords can be guessed.
- Sniffers: Programs
that listen to network traffic. Often these programs have features to
automatically extract usernames, passwords, or credit card information.
Statistical
Sampling of Publicly Available Computer Attacks
In 1998, NIST categorized and analyzed 237 computer attacks that were
published on the Internet out of an estimated 400 published attacks. This
sample yielded the following statistics:
Statistic:
Lesson: |
29% of attacks can launch from Windows hosts
One does not need to understand Unix to be dangerous anymore. We are
in an era of "point and click" attacks.
|
Statistic:
Lesson: |
20% of attacks are able to remotely penetrate network elements (e.g.,
routers, switches, hosts, printers, and firewalls)
Attacks that give remote users access to hosts are not rare.
|
Statistic:
Lesson: |
3% of the attacks enable Web sites to attack those who visited the
site
Surfing the Web is not a risk-free activity.
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Statistic:
Lesson: |
4% of attacks scan the Internet for vulnerable hosts
Automated scanning attack tools, which find easily compromised hosts,
abound. System administrators, with management concurrence or with
professional assistance, should scan their own systems regularly before
someone else does.
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Statistics:
Lesson: |
5% of attacks are effective against routers and firewalls
The Internet infrastructure components themselves are vulnerable to
attack. (To the computer industry's credit, most attacks were denial
of service and scanning and only a few were penetration attacks.) |
The
Most Popular Attacks on the Internet
In March 1999, the most popular attacks (or vulnerable applications) found
by NIST were Sendmail, ICQ, Smurf, Teardrop, IMAP, Back Orifice, Netbus,
WinNuke, and Nmap. These are discussed below.
- Sendmail:
Sendmail is an extremely old program that has had vulnerabilities throughout
its history. Sendmail is proof that complex software is rarely completely
patched because developers constantly add new features that introduce
new vulnerabilities. Recent attacks against sendmail fell into the categories
of remote penetration, local penetration, and remote denial of service.
- ICQ:
ICQ is a sophisticated chat program that stands for "I-Seek-You." It
is currently owned by America Online and used by over 26 million users.
In the past year, several ICQ attacks were developed that allowed one
to impersonate other people and decrypt "encrypted" traffic. An attacker
would use these attacks by going to a chat room and finding two people
that are friends. The attacker then pretends to be someone's friend
and sends them a Trojan horse (malicious code embedded into a legitimate
program) via ICQ.
- Smurf:
Smurf uses a network
that accepts broadcast ping packets to flood the target with ping reply
packets. Think of smurf as an amplifier allowing an attacker to anonymously
flood a target with a huge amount of data.
- Teardrop:
Teardrop freezes vulnerable Windows 95 and Linux hosts by exploiting
a bug in the fragmented packet re-assembly routines.
- IMAP:
The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) allows users to download
their e-mail from a server. Last year, IMAP server software was released
with a vulnerability that allows a remote attacker to gain complete
control over the machine. This vulnerability is extremely important
because a large number of mail servers use the vulnerable IMAP software.
- Back
Orifice: Back Orifice
is a Trojan horse that allows a user to control remotely a Windows 95/98
host with an easy-to-use GUI.
- Netbus:
Netbus is similar to Back Orifice but it works against Windows NT as
well as Windows 95/98.
- WinNuke:
WinNuke freezes a Windows 95 host by sending it out-of-band TCP data.
- Nmap:
Nmap is a sophisticated network-scanning tool. Among other features,
nmap can scan using a variety of protocols, operate in stealth mode,
and automatically identify remote operating systems.
How
to Prevent the Majority of Computer Attacks
Protecting one's networks from computer attacks is an ongoing and non-trivial
task; however, some simple security measures will stop the majority of
network penetration attempts. For example, a well-configured firewall
and an installed base of virus checkers will stop most computer attacks.
Here, we present a list of 14 different security measures that, if implemented,
will help secure a network.
- Patching
Companies often release software patches in order to fix coding errors.
Unfixed, these errors often allow an attacker to penetrate a computer
system. Systems administrators should protect their most important systems
by constantly applying the most recent patches. However, it is difficult
to patch all hosts in a network because patches are released at a very
fast pace. Focus on patching the most important hosts and then implement
the other security solutions mentioned below. Patches usually must be
obtained from software vendors.
- Virus Detection
Virus-checking programs are indispensable to any network security solution.
Virus checkers monitor computers and look for malicious code. One problem
with virus checkers is that one must install them on all computers for
maximum effectiveness. It is time-consuming to install the software
and requires updating monthly for maximum effectiveness. Users can be
trained to perform these updates but they can not be relied upon. In
addition to the normal virus checking on each computer, we recommend
that organizations scan e-mail attachments at the e-mail server. This
way, the majority of viruses are stopped before ever reaching the users.
- Firewalls
Firewalls are the single most important security solution for protecting
one's network. Firewalls police the network traffic that enters and
leaves a network. The firewall may outright disallow some traffic or
may perform some sort of verification on other traffic. A well-configured
firewall will stop the majority of publicly available computer attacks.
- Password Crackers
Hackers often use little-known vulnerabilities in computers to steal
encrypted password files. They then use password-cracking programs that
can discover weak passwords within encrypted password files. Once a
weak password is discovered, the attacker can enter the computer as
a normal user and use a variety of tricks to gain complete control of
your computer and your network. While used by intruders, such programs
are invaluable to systems administrators. Systems administrators should
run password-cracking programs on their encrypted password files regularly
to discover weak passwords.
- Encryption
Attackers often break into networks by listening to network traffic
at strategic locations and by parsing out clear text usernames and passwords.
Thus, remote password-protected connections should be encrypted. This
is especially true for remote connections over the Internet and connections
to the most critical servers. A variety of commercial and free products
are available to encrypt TCP/IP traffic.
- Vulnerability Scanners
Vulnerability scanners are programs that scan a network looking for
computers that are vulnerable to attacks. The scanners have a large
database of vulnerabilities that they use to probe computers in order
to determine the vulnerable ones. Both commercial and free vulnerability
scanners exist.
- Configuring Hosts for
Security
Computers with newly installed operating systems are often vulnerable
to attack. The reason is that an operating system's installation programs
generally enable all available networking features. This allows an attacker
to explore the many avenues of attack. All unneeded network services
should be turned off.
- War Dialing
Users often bypass a site's network security schemes by allowing their
computers to receive incoming telephone calls. The user enables a modem
upon leaving work and then is able to dial in from home and use the
corporate network. Attackers use war dialing programs to call a large
number of telephone numbers looking for those computers allowed to receive
telephone calls. Since users set up these computers themselves, they
are often insecure and provide attackers a backdoor into the network.
Systems administrators should regularly use war dialers to discover
these back doors. Both commercial and free war dialers are readily available.
- Security Advisories
Security advisories are warnings issued by incident response teams and
vendors about recently discovered computer vulnerabilities. Advisories
usually cover only the most important threats and thus are low-volume
and high-utility reading. They describe in general terms the threat
and give very specific solutions on how to plug the vulnerability. Excellent
security advisories are found from a variety of sources, but the most
popular come from the Carnegie Mellon Emergency Response Team at http://www.cert.org.
- Intrusion Detection
Intrusion detection systems detect computer attacks. They can be used
outside of a network's firewall to see what kinds of attacks are being
launched at a network. They can be used behind a network's firewall
to discover attacks that penetrate the firewall. They can be used within
a network to monitor insider attacks. Intrusion detection tools come
with many different capabilities and functionality. For a paper on the
uses and types of intrusion detection systems, see http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/intrusion/educational_material.shtml.
- Network Discovery Tools
and Port Scanners
Network discovery tools and port scanners map out networks and identify
the services running on each host. Attackers use these tools to find
vulnerable hosts and network services. Systems administrators use these
tools to monitor what host and network services are connected to their
network. Weak or improperly configured services and hosts can be found
and patched.
- Incident Response Handling
Every network, no matter how secure, has some security events (even
if just false alarms). Staff must know beforehand how to handle these
events. Important points that must be resolved are: when should one
call law enforcement, when should one call an emergency response team,
when should network connections be severed, and what is the recovery
plan if an important server is compromised? CERT provides general incident
handling response capabilities for our nation, (http://www.cert.org).
FedCIRC is the incident response handling service for the civilian federal
government, (http://www.fedcirc.gov).
- Security Policies
The strength of a network security scheme is only as strong as the weakest
entry point. If different sites within an organization have different
security policies, one site can be compromised by the insecurity of
another. Organizations should write a security policy defining the level
of protection that they expect to be uniformly implemented. The most
important aspect of a policy is creating a uniform mandate on what traffic
is allowed through the organization's firewalls. The policy should also
define how and where security tools (e.g., intrusion detection or vulnerability
scanners) should be used in the network. To obtain uniform security,
the policy should define secure default configurations for different
types of hosts.
- Denial-of-Service Testing
(for firewalls and Web servers)
Denial-of-service (DOS) attacks are very common on the Internet. Malicious
attackers shut down Web sites, reboot computers, or clog up networks
with junk packets. DOS attacks can be very serious, especially when
the attacker is clever enough to launch an ongoing, untraceable attack.
Sites serious about security can launch these same attacks against themselves
to determine how much damage can be done. We suggest that only very
experienced systems administrators or vulnerability analysis consultants
perform this type of analysis.
For
More Information
More details on computer attacks can be found in the paper "Understanding
the Global Attack Toolkit Using a Database of Dependent Classifiers",
at the URL: http://www.itl.nist.gov/div893/staff/mell/pmhome.html
General Computer Security
Information:
NIST Computer Security Resource Center:
Federal
Computer Incident Response Capability:
Center
for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security:
Carnegie
Mellon Emergency Response Team:
Disclaimer: Any mention
of commercial products or reference to commercial organizations is for
information only; it does not imply NIST recommendation or endorsement.
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