Key parts of the Internet infrastructure face large-scale attacks that threaten the global system of Web traffic, the Internet’s address keeper said on Friday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said after an emergency meeting that there is “an ongoing and significant risk” to key parts of the infrastructure that affects the domains on which Web sites reside.
“They [hackers] are going after the Internet infrastructure itself,” ICANN chief technology officer David Conrad told reporters. “There have been targeted attacks in the past, but nothing like this.”
The attacks could date back to 2017, but have sparked growing concerns from security researchers in the past few weeks, which prompted the ICANN meeting.
The malicious activity targets the domain name system (DNS), which routes traffic to intended online destinations.
ICANN specialists and others say these attacks have a potential to snoop on data along the way, sneakily send the traffic elsewhere or enable attackers to impersonate or “spoof” critical Web sites.
“There isn’t a single tool to address this,” Conrad said, as ICANN called for an overall hardening of Web defenses.
“This is roughly equivalent to someone lying to the post office about your address, checking your mail, and then hand delivering it to your mailbox,” the US Department of Homeland Security said in a recent cybersecurity alert. “Lots of harmful things could be done to you [or the senders] depending on the content of that mail.”
So-called “DNSpionage” attacks might date back to at least 2017, said Ben Read, FireEye senior manager of cyberespionage analysis.
The list of targets included Web site registrars and Internet service providers, particularly in the Middle East.
“We’ve seen primarily targeting of e-mail names and passwords,” Read said. “There is evidence that it is coming out of Iran and being done in support of Iran.”
DNSpionage hackers appeared intent on stealing account credentials, such as e-mail passwords, in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm.
Similar attacks took place in Europe and other parts of the Middle East, with targets including governments, intelligence services, police, airlines and the oil industry, cybersecurity specialists said.
“You definitely need knowledge of how the Internet works and you have to handle a lot of traffic being directed to you,” Meyers said of the DNSpionage hackers. “With that access, they could temporarily break portions of how the Internet works. They chose to intercept and spy on folks.”
The attack itself is technically simple, but its scope and targeting of Internet service providers along with large government entities made it “a big deal,” Meyers said.
ICANN is putting out word to Web site and online traffic handlers to ramp up security or leave users vulnerable to being tricked.
The organization urged broader implementation of domain name system security extension technology, which adds digital signatures that act as virtual seals of sorts to expose when data have been tampered with.
“It aims to assure that Internet users reach their desired online destination by helping to prevent so-called ‘man in the middle’ attacks, where a user is unknowingly redirected to a potentially malicious site,” ICANN said in the release.
Part of the challenge to keeping the Internet infrastructure safe is that Web site owners do not always grasp the imperative guarding against wily hackers, Conrad said.
“We want to make sure people understand what it means to own a domain name and put it on the Internet, because all of your customers are only as secure as you are,” Conrad said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary