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Botnet Targeting WordPress “Admin” Username Accounts on the Internet

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in General Security/by admin

If you are a blogger and you are running WordPress as your blogging platform, please read this article. Attackers are logging in to WordPress blogs by using the default username “admin” and then using a brute-force dictionary-based attack to locate the password for the account.

McAfee, NIST partner to boost U.S. cyberdefenses

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in Hack/by fdesir

An posting from CNET News about McAfee, NIST partner to boost U.S. cyberdefenses : Security firm McAfee is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to try to shore up America’s defenses against cyberthreats. McAfee announced today that the company is now part of the the National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnership and will join cybersecurity […]

Botnet Targeting WordPress “Admin” Username Accounts on the Internet

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in General Security/by admin

McAfee, NIST partner to boost U.S. cyberdefenses

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in Hack/by fdesir

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Botnet Targeting WordPress “Admin” Username Accounts on the Internet

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in General Security/by admin

According to reports from HostGator and CloudFlare, there is currently a significant attack being launched at WordPress blogs across the Internet.

So, if you are running WordPress at this time, it would be a good idea to make sure you are using a very strong non-dictionary related password or better yet, to either disable or delete the ‘admin’ account from your user list.

In 2012, SplashData released its list of the most popular Internet passwords for 2012. Because these passwords are commonly used, they are also the most vulnerable when it comes to digital security. A list of the most popular passwords are listed below:

password
123456 (Unchanged)
12345678 (Unchanged)
abc123 (Up 1)
qwerty (Down 1)
monkey (Unchanged)
letmein (Up 1)
dragon (Up 2)
111111 (Up 3)
baseball (Up 1)
iloveyou (Up 2)
trustno1 (Down 3)
1234567 (Down 6)
sunshine (Up 1)
master (Down 1)
123123 (Up 4)
welcome (New)
shadow (Up 1)
ashley (Down 3)
football (Up 5)
jesus (New)
michael (Up 2)
ninja (New)
mustang (New)
password1 (New)

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg released a blog post saying, “If you still use “admin” as a username on your blog, change it, use a strong password, if you’re on WP.com turn on two-factor authentication, and of course make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest version of WordPress. Do this and you’ll be ahead of 99% of sites out there and probably never have a problem.”

He explained that in the WordPress 3.0 update, the company began allowing you to create your own login username when you first set up your WordPress backend — “admin” used to be the default. If you took the opportunity to make your own username, your account will be unaffected for now. – Source

This is not the first time WordPress has been a target, in 2012 an outdated versions of TimThumb, a popular PHP-based image resizer that is often used as the default by many WordPress templates cause a stir.

SecurityOrb.com, an information security and privacy awareness organization based in the Washington, DC Metro area agrees with the above recommendations pertaining to removing the ‘admin’ username and using a strong password. In conjunction, also using WordPress plugins that limit the number of login attempts can also be helpful to mitigate brute force dictionary-based attacks.

McAfee, NIST partner to boost U.S. cyberdefenses

2013-04-16/0 Comments/in Hack/by fdesir

An posting from CNET News about McAfee, NIST partner to boost U.S. cyberdefenses :

Security firm McAfee is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to try to shore up America’s defenses against cyberthreats.

McAfee announced today that the company is now part of the the National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnership and will join cybersecurity professionals from both the private and public sector to tackle the escalating problem of computer-based threats.

The partnership is part of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, which is hosted by NIST in collaboration with the state of Maryland and Maryland’s Montgomery County

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