How to set up an effective firewall and preserve your security & privacy with Orange Pi R1+, Netfilter, AdGuard and CrowdSec.
Welcome to the first part of our trilogy where the goal is to inspire you to create a very efficient firewall to protect your remote work environment, family, or your small business, which offers a serious level of security, at a low cost.
This first part will be centered around the basics: choosing hardware and installing the operating system and doing basic configuration. Part two will be on how to set up firewall functionality, setup client VPN to protect your identity online, setting up AdGuard for the entire network, DuckDNS if you don’t have a static IP as well as port knocking which is a cool way to close down your internet exposed services to anyone but you (or anyone else who knows the secret combination to enter). The third and final part will be about how to secure your network even more with CrowdSec – how to set up a canary device that ‘tweets’ when unexpected events like for instance port scanning occurs; something you would typically never do yourself.
It’s also being part of a larger project, CrowdSec, which is blocking Internet attacks and sharing IPs that launched them. You protect yourself and others at the same time. In essence, this comprehensive guide will show you how to:
Create security robust enough to resist even if passwords are compromised
Create a reliable hardware environment for your firewall
Install the OS on it and create a rock-solid Firewall to protect your activities
Add CrowdSec to protect your WLAN services you’d like to expose over the Internet and detect if any local IoT device is going rogue (e.g. cams, assistants, connected speakers, etc.)
Allow external access to DMZ-like services to control your home on distance and access your firewall
Add a VPN to protect your anonymity online
Add an anti-advertisement & anti-tracking system
Needed skills
You should have basic knowledge of Linux and Shell. If you can download and install a Linux distribution by yourself, nothing should sound overly difficult.
Enough talk. Let’s get started!
Part 1: Choosing hardware and installing OS
Needed hardware
The CrowdWall is among the cheapest possible decent security setup you can get.
The components are correct but your networks will not be very isolated internally. The advanced version offers both better security and performance. The “expert” CrowdWall is made to protect a small business of tens of coworkers.
In the basic CrowdWall setup, you can also add cost-efficient Wifi Access Points like this Tenda (around 45€) or add a third Ethernet interfaceor Wifi connection (over USB).
Should you want to organize a large distribution of the CrowdWall, say equip all your remote working force with it, you can look at the GL Inet products line. They are nicely priced if you go for volumes and offer real good performances for the money.
Table 1: Possible variations
The Orange PI R1+ benefits from very interesting characteristics beyond its small price tag. It runs on a 1.5 GHzGhz SoC with 1 GB ram which is enough for the job. It also provides two ethernet ports, has marginal power consumption, and even provides a USB port and a GPIO. (The Rock Pi-E can also do the job nicely and offers a bigger GPIO but for slightly more money)
If you don’t have an Orange PI R1+ other similar single-board computers can be used instead: Orange PI R1+ LTS (Same SOC, slower, low power RAM), NanoPi R2S, NanoPi R4S, ROCK Pi E, or even a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 with an extra ethernet plug. In the latter case, you probably want to use one connected via HAT. In either case, you won’t be able to use the same fancy case but would have to design your own or adapt mine.
Setting up your firewall
Going forward I will describe setting up using Orange PI R1+.
Physical setup
Just plug your Internet connection (usually the Box from your ISP) to the lower port (the one down, closest to the GPIO, on the above picture) and your LAN (usually your switch) to the left port above picture.
Plug the Orange Pi (from hereon ‘OPI’) to the Power supply, or if you want for redundant power supply, power up the OPI from the power bank and the bank from a regular power plug. This should give you some hours before the firewall shuts down and eventually give it time to notify you beforehand.
The physical setup should look like this:
Figure 1: The set-top box, local LAN & WAN setup, you can leave the Box Wifi for home & family use and dedicate the other Access Point to business.
Software initial setup
1/ At the time of writing the newest supported version of Armbian is Armbian 22.05 Jammy, based on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish. It doesn’t matter too much if the version of Armbian you install on is based on Debian or Ubuntu as long as it’s a supported version. Download it here. Other Debian-based distros like https://dietpi.com/ should also work although this hasn’t been tested.
2/ Download a USB stick/SDcard flasher. Balena etcher is great for this. It’s very straightforward to use and runs on both Windows, Linux & macOS environments.
Remember we are on a headless device with no HDMI port, so we are going to use it in command-line (CLI) mode only. That being said you could get a serial TTY console, but the effort and complication is really not worth the time (unless you need it for debugging).
After flashing and booting your appliance you should connect it to the eth0/WAN ethernet plug (furthest away from the power connector). You will have to check your DHCP server which IP is assigned to your CrowdWall (it’s usually residing on the box you got from your internet provider). The default ssh login is root and the password is 1234. After connecting to it you will be walked through an installation wizard that will set you up with a personal user account and sudo.
The other ethernet interface will be called lan0. And for everything to work you will need to configure it.
Setting up lan0
Configure a static IP on lan0 by editing /etc/network/interfaces and adding the following:
auto lan0
iface lan0 inet static
address 192.168.0.1/24
Start lan0 with the new configuration by typing sudo ifup lan0. Verify that the lan0 interface is up by typing ip addr show lan0 in a terminal.
Setting up your Internet Box in DMZ mode (Full NAT)
No two providers have the same box, OS, hardware, interface etc. hence no universal cut/paste commands, or screenshots to help here.
The feature you’re looking for is usually named “DMZ IP”. Enabling this feature requires you to input a LAN IP address, which will be the one to which all the Internet traffic will be redirected, without filtering. This is essential if you later intend to accept connections from the Internet to your home by exposing some services, like your home automation, NVR / IP cameras, or even a VPN server.
There are other ways of doing this, like enabling ports one by one, probably in a “Network”, “NAT” or “Network Address Translation” tab, but this requires you to get into the box interface every time you need to update a port, it’s error-prone and less flexible.
Basically, where/when possible, one shouldn’t trust the ISP’s Box either. So if you can bypass it totally, do it. Often enough, specifically in an FDDI context, you can just use the little modem that connects to your fiber and connects with Ethernet to your box, and plug yourself right in instead of the ISP box. There are tutorials online, just Duckduckgo (same as Googling but with privacy) for “how to bypass [BOX PROVIDER NAME] box”.
Absolutely not mandatory and mainly interesting for paranoïd people, but if you can do it, this is an even safer setup, even though bringing back the TV and Phone feature (should you want them), could be slightly more complicated, but far from impossible for advanced users.
So this was part 1 of our trilogy of how to install the CrowdWall. Part 2 will continue with configuring your installation with essential firewall functionality like traffic filtering, anti-ad features, and much more. Stay tuned!
You can secure your WordPress sites with CrowdSec using our latest application bouncer, available on the WordPress marketplace. This new plugin is compatible with versions 1.0.x and beyond. Given that the vast majority of websites in the world are hosted on WordPress, this plugin improves our defense arsenal in our mission to defend the greatest number.
Step one: Install CrowdSec agent
This bouncer has been designed to protect WordPress-hosted websites from all kinds of attacks. To be able to use this blocker, the first step is to install the CrowdSec agent.
Then, both installation and configuration of the plugin can be done in a few clicks from the WordPress marketplace.
CrowdSec plugin available on WordPress
Please note that first and foremost CrowdSec must be installed on a server that is accessible via the WordPress site. Remember: CrowdSec detects, bouncers deter.
Both pieces of software don’t have to be installed on the same server, although that would be easiest. To protect your server in the best possible way, the CrowdSec agent needs to be able to read relevant logs – either via file, syslog or whatever works best in your environment.
Step two: Install WordPress plugin
Installing the CrowdSec WordPress plugin is as easy as installing any other WordPress plugin:
Click ‘Plugins’ in the left navigation on your site’s dashboard.
Type ‘CrowdSec’ in the text field to the right. Hit enter.
In the CrowdSec plugin click ‘Install Now’
Once installed click ‘activate’ as illustrated below.
Now configure the plugin by clicking CrowdSec in the left navigation as shown below.
Set LAPI URL to the location of your CrowdSec agent. Is it installed on the same server, fill it out as shown above.
‘Bouncer API’ is created in cscli. Just follow the instructions.
For details on how to configure the CrowdSec WordPress bouncer, go to the official documentation or read on. Pay special attention to the option ‘Public website only’. This must be disabled if you wish to protect wp-admin (which you most likely would want to).
The “Flex mode” – a bulwark agains false positives
Thanks to the “Flex mode”, it is impossible to accidentally block access to your site to people who don’t deserve it. This mode makes it possible to never ban an IP but only to offer a Captcha, in the worst-case scenario.
CrowdSec blends into your design
When a user is suspected to be malevolent, CrowdSec will either send them her a Captcha to resolve or simply a page notifying that access is denied. Please note that it is possible to customize all the colors of these pages in a few clicks so that they integrate best with your design. On the other hand, all texts are also fully customizable. This will allow you, for example, to present translated pages in your users’ language.
The right balance between performance and security
By default, the “live mode” is enabled. The first time a stranger connects to your website, this mode means that the IP will be checked directly by the CrowdSec API. The rest of your user’s browsing will be even more transparent thanks to the fully customizable cache system.
But you can also activate the “Stream mode.” This mode allows you to constantly feed the bouncer with the malicious IP list via a background task (CRON), making it even faster when checking the IP of your visitors. Besides, if your site has a lot of unique visitors at the same time, this will not influence the traffic to the API of your CrowdSec instance.
Stream mode activation
If you’ve ever been confronted with high traffic, you are probably familiar with Redis or Memcached technologies. You have the capability to activate these caching technologies in the CrowdSec bouncer settings to guarantee invisible IP control on your site. For further explanation on stream vs live mode, check the official documentation.
CDN-friendly without forgetting other load balancers
If you use a CDN, a reverse proxy, or a load balancer, it is now possible to indicate in the bouncer settings the IP ranges of these devices to check the IP of your users. For other IPs, the bouncer will not trust the X-Forwarded-For header.
Coming up next
Soon, the plugin will have a dashboard allowing you to visualize the activity of your bouncer in live. It will also be possible to connect directly to CrowdSec’s global reputation database, without having to install an agent on your machine if you don’t wish to.
Widely tested, 100% open source
This plugin has been tested on the vast majority of WordPress versions installed in the world (90%+), according to WordPress real-time statistics. It has also been tested on a very wide range of PHP versions (7.2, 7.3, 7.4 and 8), the language in which WordPress is coded.
This plugin is released under MIT license, the most permissive and free license in the world. Its source code is fully available on GitHub. You can discover the entire collection of CrowdSec bouncers at our Hub. Beyond this one, you will find there more freshly released additions.
We would love to hear your feedback about this WordPress plugin. If you are interested in testing the bouncer to protect your sites or would like to get in touch with the team, give us a shout!
Today we’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with CrowdSec.
This is easily one of the most exciting developments in WordPress security for a long time, and it aligns with our goals to make Shield Security the best WordPress security solution, for everyone.
Our #1 mission with Shield is to deliver the most powerful security for WordPress sites. We’re not out to make millions in sales and scare you into upgrading to ShieldPRO because we have KPI targets.
We’re here simply to protect people and their businesses.
Our partnership with CrowdSec helps us fulfill that aspiration as we’re convinced it’ll deliver major security enhancements for every WordPress site running on Shield Security.
We hope you’ll be as excited as we are, after you learn about this collaboration!
In this article you’ll discover:
What CrowdSec is.
Why we decided to partner with CrowdSec.
How your WordPress security is enhanced with this integration.
How the CrowdSec integration differs between ShieldPRO and ShieldFREE
By gathering threat data about bots from millions of different sources, Crowdsec can build and share reliable intelligence about malicious bots (their IP addresses).
As a subscriber to CrowdSec, they’ll notify you about bad IP addresses, so that when those IPs send requests to your site/app, you can take action to block them immediately.
The reason this is so powerful is that when you block an IP address that you know is “bad”, you block all security threats from that IP completely. So the more quickly you can know about those bad IPs, the safer your sites will be.
Summary: Crowdsec offers you faster identification of bad IP addresses based on information gathered from other sites/servers across the globe.
It’s a complex system and we were working our way through it when we stumbled upon CrowdSec. It immediately piqued our interest since their focus is somewhat similar to our own.
We figured that if we could get their knowledge fed into Shield, then our customers could indentify bad bots more quickly and thereby instantly increase their protection.
We reached out to them to discuss whether there was scope for collaboration and they could immediately see, in-principle, that there was potential for mutual benefit.
Afterall, if Shield can give them access to data points about bad IPs from across 60,000+ WordPress websites, it’d be a huge addition to their network.
And conversely, if WordPress sites running Shield can access shared intelligence from all those sites and other websites/apps/platforms, our customers will also benefit.
What’s not to like about this idea?
They agreed that a collaboration between was definitely beneficial, and so here we are today!
How Does the CrowdSec Partnership Enhance Your WordPress Security?
We briefly touched upon this topic already, but we’ll go into a bit more below.
On any given WordPress site, Shield’s Automatic IP blocking system gathers intelligence about IP addresses that send requests to the site. It keeps track of bad IPs using a counter of “offenses” and when that IP has exceeded the allowed limit, it’s blocked from further access.
Basically a bad bot has 10 chances before it’s completely blocked. (10 is configurable)
This means there’s a small “window” open to any IP address to probe, attack or exploit your site, before Shield can be sure that they’re malicious.
With the CrowdSec integration, your WordPress sites will have access to intelligence about malicious IP addresses before they’ve ever accessed your website. (This intelligence will have already been gathered for you by other websites.)
This reduces that “window” available to malicious bots to zero.
Reducing the time window to zero means a malicious bot can’t:
Of course, this IP intelligence is formed through the activity of IP addresses on other websites, and sometimes your own.
With CrowdSec’s integration switched on, Shield will share its internal offenses-tracking with CrowdSec, which ultimately then shares the data with other WordPress sites.
This all happens seamlessly with zero effort or configuration needed by the security admin.
So in a nutshell, CrowdSec gives us a head-start against malicious bots and lets us block IPs before your Shield plugin needs to perform any assessments, relying on tracking already done by other Shield plugins, elsewhere on the Internet.
How Does The CrowdSec Integration Differ Between ShieldPRO and ShieldFREE?
ShieldPRO is designed to protect businesses and mission critical WordPress sites. If your WordPress site plays a critical role in your business, or even your personal endeavours, then ShieldPRO is definitely something you should consider.
If, however, your website isn’t so important, or you’re comfortable with restoring a website quickly from a backup after a hack, or you have other security systems in-place and feel you don’t need the extra protection that ShieldPRO offers, then ShieldFREE will go a long way to protecting your sites and users and offering useful extra features like Two-Factor Authentication.
The CrowdSec integration with Shield reflects this. When you’re running ShieldPRO you’ll get access to much more IP intelligence data, and also IP data from sources that reflect business or mission-critical websites, such as e-commerce stores etc.
As well receiving more relevant IP data, and at higher volumes, ShieldPRO installations will receive IP data more frequently. The current implementation is “every 2 hours” for ShieldPRO and “every week” for ShieldFREE.
This simply means that if you’re running ShieldFREE, your IP intelligence data will become increasingly stale, but you’ll be refreshed with the latest data each week.
We may adjust these settings over time.
If you need or desire greater protection based on the nature and purpose of the WordPress sites you’re operating, then we strongly urge you to move to the extra protection afforded to you by ShieldPRO.
CrowdSec and GDPR Compliance
Like ourselves, CrowdSec is commited to full compliance with privacy regulations, such as GDPR.
Please note, also, that CrowdSec integration is completely voluntary – you can switch it off on your Shield website at any time with no impact on your performance or security. Shield will continue to protect your site as it’s always done.
Future Plans For Our Partnership
You can already create a free account with CrowdSec over on their homepage. And once our Shield integration has been released, you’ll able to link your WordPress sites into your CrowdSec App account and view the data being sent to the network from all your sites.
We have a few further things under consideration to deepen our integration with CrowdSec, but we’ll annouce these as the integration progresses.
When Can You Get ShieldPRO + CrowdSec?
We’re getting set to release v16 of Shield Security in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to the newsletter or the changelog to get further details as they are published.
Thoughts, Suggestions and Feedback?
As always, we encourge our clients to share their thoughts with us when at any time, and in particular when we release a new feature such as this. Please feel free to leave your comments in the section below.
Scanning your WordPress sites for Malware is the most important thing you can do to protect your site.
This approach is common and is actually the USP (Unique Selling Point) of several popular WordPress security plugins and services.
Conventional wisdom and marketing emphasises to us all that scanning for malware is pinnacle of WordPress security greatness.
In this article I’ll argue that incessent Malware scanning isn’t going to keep your WordPress site secured.
I want to challenge your approach to WordPress site security and hope that by the end of the article your focus will have shifted a little.
Instead of endless “scanning for malware” treadmill, along with the anxiety that this produces in us, I want to show you there’s an alternative. And it’s a hugely effective way to keep your WordPress sites secure, and your data (and your customers’ data) safe.
Malware Scanning Is Super Important If You’re Already Hacked!
So yes, malware scanning is hugely important when you’re already compromised. You gotta find and eliminate the infection!
But let’s be absolutely clear here, statistically speaking, your site probably isn’t hacked. Yet.
Give me any random WordPress site and I’ll bet that “no”, it hasn’t been hacked. Afterall there are more non-hacked websites than hacked sites, so we’ve got better than a 50:50 chance.
So why on earth do we need powerful security plugins like ShieldPRO? What’s all that malware scanning for then?
Firstly, it’s important to realise that “under attack” and “hacked” are 2 different things. While you may not be compromised, if you’re not already under attack, I’d be very, very suprised.
So while I’d bet that you’re probably not hacked yet, the odds are good that if your site isn’t hacked today, it’ll be hacked eventually without robust security practices and defenses in-place.
The strategies and tools we need to handle both these scenarios (hacked and under attack) are different. ShieldPRO comes with all the powerful tools that work for both, but we’ll get to that a little later.
So What Is The Most Important Aspect Of WordPress Security Protection?
The clue is in the question – “PROTECTION“.
You’ll have heard the phrase that “prevention is better than cure”. This is a real thing.
It’s not a marketing ploy or persuasion tactic. It’s one of the rare times you can say ‘true fact‘ without sounding a little silly.
It is why, for example, Smallpox has been eradicated from planet earth, and why vaccines are the fastest way out of a global pandemic. <insert conspiracy theory counterargument here>
So it is, too, for WordPress site security.
It’s much easier and far cheaper to prevent a WordPress site from getting hacked and keep it clean, than it is to clean up after a site has been compromised.
If you’ve ever had to clean up a hacked site, you’ll know this to be true.
But it is depends on what you’re using you malware scanner for.
Malware scanning has 2 primary purposes:
To quickly detect hidden malware scripts, allowing you to eliminate infection more easily.
To let you know your website is vulnerable.
You see, many of us get it backwards. We think our website is vulnerable because we have malware.
But it’s the other way around: we have a malware infection because our website is vulnerable!
So if your favourite WordPress security plugin touts their primary feature is that they’re the #1 malware detector for WordPress, then you should also double-check with them that they actually prevent infection in the first place.
Sure you can detect and remove malware, but if you haven’t eliminated the root cause, you’re playing whack-a-mole with malware scripts.
Life’s too short for that.
I would never say, and certainly don’t imply, that malware scanning isn’t necessary as part of a holistic WordPress security strategy. We’ve made huge investments into our malware detection and repair engine within ShieldPRO because we know it’s important.
Being able to detect malware reliably, and eliminate it quickly, is critical in our efforts to secure WordPress sites after they’ve been compromised, and Shield fulfills this role for us.
But once malware has been discovered and cleaned, your work is only beginning. You’ll need to plug the hole that allowed the malware to get in there in the first place.
So, rather than set your primary goal to be detecting and eliminating malware, you’ll want to shift your focus a little and ask yourself…
What’s the Best Way To Stop Hacking in WordPress?
We said this earlier – good prevention is the path to robust WordPress security.
To prevent WordPress malware infections, we must understand how it happens in the first place.
There are a couple of angles to answering this. The most common answer you’ll hear is that vulnerable plugins and themes are single biggest vector for WordPress compromise.
This is true. But it’s not the whole story.
Let’s Play: Hacker Role Play
So let’s pretend you’re a WordPress website hacker and your stated goal is:
hack as many WordPress sites as you can all day, every day, and infect them with your malware scripts.
Here are some of your likely thoughts:
Firstly, you’d have a think about your target market – i.e. there are millions and millions of WordPress websites. Win!
Next, in order to hack 30,000+ websites every day you will need either:
a whole lot people to do a lot of manual work, or
automated bots and scripts to do all the hard work for you quickly
Since you don’t have the resources to hire people, you decide to build automated bots and scripts.
At this point you’ve decided to create automated bots to do your hacking for you. But there are a few things you must take into consideration when you design these bots:
You must “discover” the WordPress sites. Not all sites are WordPress, so you have to first find potential targets. So you’ll have your bots probe the websites to determine if they’re actually WordPress sites.
You have a library of publicly known (and maybe even non-public) WordPress plugin and theme vulnerabilities you’re going to exploit to gain access. So you narrow down your list of WordPress sites based on which sites have these vulnerable plugins/themes installed. This involves a lot more probing on the site.
You’ve now got a good list of sites to attack.
Attack!
Of course this layout is for illustrative purposes. But the principle of what’s happens in the real world is no different.
Some bots may not probe for discovery first, and instead go straight for the vulnerability itself, only to find it’s not present. But this can be considered a probing/exploit attempt, too.
In the end you’ll have lots of bots probing lots of websites.
Back To Preventing Malware and Hacking…
The first stage in hacking at scale is probing, with the use of bots/scripts, by either checking what the site has, or by directly targeting known vulnerabilities and hoping to get a hit.
If you track 404 errors on your own WordPress sites, you’ll see for example, there are often many requests to URLs that simply don’t exist. You’re being probed.
If we can detect these probing bots, determine that they’re sending requests for nefarious purposes, then we can completely block them from accessing our sites altogether.
This is true prevention and it works far better, and much more efficiently than repeatedly cleaning-up our sites after they’ve been compromised.
And this holds true not only for malware infections, but any possible compromise to your WordPress sites.
So your #1 goal shouldn’t be “find the best malware cleaner” – it should be: “find the best prevention against WordPress site hacking and compromise”.
How Does ShieldPRO Prevent WordPress Site Hacking?
The main area of focus of Shield Security for WordPress is in prevention.
We believe strongly that if we can prevent problems in the first place, we free ourselves and our WordPress sites to focus on the work that’s most important.
ShieldPRO achieves this by doing its utmost to detect bad bots and block them.
We use our exclusive, custom built AntiBot Detection Engine to detect bad bots. Detecting bad bots isn’t simple, because they do everything they can to hide their malicious intent. Shield builds up a profile for each IP address based on their activities and depending on their reputation, blocks certain requests.
Use our exclusive “NotBot” javascript snippet to quickly and reliably identify bots vs humans.
Gathers 25+ distinct “bot signals” to monitor, track and score visitors to build a unique “bot” profile.
Once we’ve accessed a visitor and determined it to be a bot, and more specifically, a bad bot, we prevent that visitor from performing certain requests against the site. And, depending on the Shield configuration, we can block that bot from sending any requests to the site entirely.
ShieldPRO prevents 10,000s of WordPress sites from being hacking every single day by standing in the way of malicious bots.
Of course, Shield will also scan for malware and filesystem modifications, vulnerable plugins and all the other usual suspects, but this “after-the-fact” scanning is no match for preventing such things in the first place.
Is Your WordPress Protection Focused On Prevention, or Cure?
If you ask yourself nothing else after reading this article, it should be whether your existing WordPress Security strategy is focused on prevention, or focused on cure.
We’ve argued that the biggest positive impact on your security lies in preventing the problems in the first place, and that ShieldPRO is built with this strategy in-mind.
While you might have the best or most expensive malware scanning engine on the market, if it’s consistently picking up threats, then you may not have the best WordPress protection available.
On August 30, 2022, the WordPress core team released WordPress version 6.0.2, which contains patches for 3 vulnerabilities, including a High Severity SQLi vulnerability in the Links functionality as well as two Medium Severity Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities.
These patches have been backported to every version of WordPress since 3.7. WordPress has supported automatic core updates for security releases since WordPress 3.7, and the vast majority of WordPress sites should receive a patch for their major version of WordPress automatically over the next 24 hours. We recommend verifying that your site has been automatically updated to one of the patched versions. Patched versions are available for every major version of WordPress since 3.7, so you can update without risking compatibility issues. If your site has not been updated automatically we recommend updating manually.
Vulnerability Analysis
As with every WordPress core release containing security fixes, the Wordfence Threat Intelligence team analyzed the code changes in detail to evaluate the impact of these vulnerabilities on our customers, and to ensure our customers remain protected.
We have determined that these vulnerabilities are unlikely to be targeted for exploitation due to the special cases needed to exploit. In most circumstances these vulnerabilities require either elevated privileges, such as those of an administrator, or the presence of a separate vulnerable or malicious plugin. Nonetheless, the Wordfence firewall should protect against any exploits that do not require administrative privileges. In nearly all cases administrators already have the maximum level of access and attackers with that level of access are unlikely to use convoluted and difficult exploits when simpler paths to making configuration changes or obtaining sensitive information are readily available.
The WordPress Link functionality, previously known as “Bookmarks”, is no longer enabled by default on new WordPress installations. Older sites may still have the functionality enabled, which means that millions of legacy sites are potentially vulnerable, even if they are running newer versions of WordPress. Fortunately, we found that the vulnerability requires administrative privileges and is difficult to exploit in a default configuration. It is possible that 3rd party plugins or themes might allow this vulnerability to be used by editor-level users or below, and in these cases the Wordfence firewall will block any such exploit attempts.
Vulnerable versions of WordPress failed to successfully sanitize the limit argument of the link retrieval query in the get_bookmarks function, used to ensure that only a certain number of links were returned. In a default configuration, only the Links legacy widget calls the get_bookmarks function in a way that allows this argument to be set by a user. Legacy widgets involve additional safeguards, and the injection point of the query itself poses additional difficulties, making this vulnerability nontrivial to exploit.
Description: Contributor+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting via use of the_meta function Affected Versions: WordPress Core < 6.0.2 Researcher: John Blackbourn CVE ID: Pending CVSS Score: 4.9 (Medium) CVSS Vector:CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Fully Patched Version: 6.0.2
WordPress content creators, such as Contributors, Editors, Authors, and Administrators, have the ability to add custom fields to any page and post created. The purpose of this is to make it possible for site content creators to add and associate additional data to posts and pages.
WordPress has several functions available to site owners to display custom fields created and associated with posts and pages. One of these functions is the the_meta function which retrieves the supplied post’s or page’s custom field data, which is stored as post meta data, through the get_post_custom_keys and get_post_custom_values functions. Once the custom fields for a post/page are retrieved, the function outputs the post meta keys and values data as a list. Unfortunately, in versions older than 6.0.2 this data was unescaped on output making it possible for any injected scripts in post meta keys and values to be executed.
Due to the fact that any user with access to the post editor can add custom meta fields, users with access to the editor such as contributors could inject malicious JavaScript that executes on any page or post where this function is called.
WordPress core does not call the_meta anywhere in its codebase by default. As such this vulnerability does require a plugin or theme that calls the the_meta function, or for this function to have been programmatically added to a PHP file for execution, so the vast majority of site owners are not vulnerable to this issue. The the_meta function is considered deprecated as of 6.0.2 and get_post_meta is the recommended alternative.
The Wordfence Threat Intelligence Team deployed a firewall rule to help protect Wordfence Premium, Care & Response customers today. Wordfence Free users will receive the same protection in 30 days on September 29, 2022.
The final vulnerability involves the error messages displayed when a plugin has been deactivated due to an error, or when a plugin can not be deleted due to an error. As these error messages were not escaped, any JavaScript present in these error messages would execute in the browser session of an administrator visiting the plugins page. This vulnerability would require a separate malicious or vulnerable plugin or other code to be installed on the site, which would typically require an administrator to install it themselves. In almost all cases where this vulnerability might be exploitable an attacker would already have a firm foothold on the vulnerable site.
Our built-in XSS rule should block any attempts to generate crafted error messages based on user input to a vulnerable plugin, and the Wordfence scanner will detect any malicious plugins uploaded by an administrator.
Conclusion
In today’s article, we covered three vulnerabilities patched in the WordPress 6.0.2 Security and Maintenance Release. Most actively used WordPress sites should be patched via automatic updates within the next 24 hours, and any sites that remain vulnerable would only be exploitable under very specific circumstances.
We have released a firewall rule to Wordfence Premium, Care, and Response users to protect against any exploits targeting the the_meta function and this rule should become available to Wordfence free users after 30 days, on on September 29, 2022.
As always, we strongly recommend updating your site to a patched version of WordPress if it hasn’t been updated automatically. As long as you are running a version of WordPress greater than 3.7, an update is available to patch these vulnerabilities while keeping you on the same major version, so you will not need to worry about compatibility issues.
Props to Khalilov Moe, John Blackbourn, & FVD for discovering and responsibly disclosing these vulnerabilities. Special thanks to Wordfence Threat Intelligence Lead Chloe Chamberland for collaborating on this post.
If you’re heading out of the office on a well-deserved vacation, are you certain the security controls you have in place will let you rest easy while you’re away? More importantly – do you have the right action plan in place for a seamless return?
Whether you’re on the way out of – or back to – the office, our Security Validation Checklist can help make sure your security posture is in good shape.
1. Check the logs and security events of your key critical systems. Stay up-to-date on recent activities. Check for changes – and attempted changes – and any potential indicators of compromise. Planning to be gone for longer than a week? Designate a team member to perform a weekly review in your absence, reducing the chances of a critical event going undetected.
2. Check for any new security vulnerabilities that were identified on your vacation. Use your preferred scanning tool or check one of the regularly updated databases, such as CVE Details.
3. Investigate failures of critical components and the reasons behind them. If remediation is needed, create an action plan to address the immediate issues and prevent repeated failures in the future.
4. Review whether there were any key changes to your products and their corresponding security controls. While now isn’t the time to implement major changes to your EDR, SIEM system, or other corresponding solutions, do make sure you’re aware of any updates that were made in your absence. Once you’re back – and able to monitor the impact on your overall security posture – you can make larger-scale changes to your controls.
5. Check with HR for any relevant changes. Did any new employees join the company and therefore need access to specific systems? Conversely, did any employees leave and need their credentials revoked? Were there any other incidents or red flags that require your attention?
6. Be aware of new business orientations. Did the organization introduce any new services or products that expanded the potential attack surface? For instance, did a new website or mobile app go live, or was a new version of a software product rolled out? Make sure your team is up to speed on the latest changes.
7.Check your password policies. Password policies shouldn’t be dependent on your vacation status, but as you work through this security checklist, take the opportunity to make sure policies are appropriately protecting the organization. Consider reviewing length, complexity, and special character requirements, as well as expiration and re-use policies.
8.Review firewall configurations . With many security experts recommending a review of firewall configurations every three to six months, now is an opportune time for an audit. Review network traffic filtering rules, configuration parameters, and authorized administrators – among other configurations – to make sure you’re using the appropriate configurations
There are plenty of tools that can help work through this checklist – but do you have all the resources needed to make sure everything will be addressed?
If you need help automating and standardizing your processes – or making sure critical vulnerabilities aren’t slipping through the cracks – Automated Security Validation can help. With real-time visibility, complete attack surface management, and actual exploitation measures – not just simulations – it provides what you need to rest easy while you’re away. And when you get back? Risk-based remediation plans help you create your roadmap for keeping your organization protected.
When you’re back, we’ve got your back. To learn more about protecting your security posture with Automated Security Validation, request a demo of the Pentera platform.
Securing a Microsoft 365 tenant must start with identity.
Protecting identities is a fundamental part of Zero Trust and it’s the first “target” that most attackers look for. We used to say that attackers hack their way in, now we say they log in, using bought, found or stolen/phished credentials. This article will show you why MFA is so important and how to implement advanced security features in Azure AD such as PIM, Password protection, Conditional Access policies (also a strong part of Zero Trust), auditing and more.
Below is the first chapter from our free Microsoft 365 Security Checklist eBook. The Microsoft 365 Security Checklist shows you all the security settings and configurations you need to know for each M365 license to properly secure your environment. Download the full eBook and checklist spreadsheet.
Multi-Factor Authentication
It should be no surprise that we start with identity, it’s the new security perimeter or the new firewall and having a strong identity equals strong security. The first step to take here is implementing Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). It’s free for all Office / Microsoft tenants. If you want to use Conditional Access (CA) to enforce it (rather than just enabling users “in bulk”), you need Azure AD Premium P1+ licensing. A username and a simple password are no longer adequate (it never was, we just never had a simple, affordable, easy to use alternative) to protect your business.
Hand-in-hand with MFA you need user training. If your business is relying on users doing the right thing when they get the prompt on their phone – they MUST also know that if they get a prompt when they’re NOT logging in anywhere, they must click Block / No / Reject.
To enable MFA on a per-user basis, go to aad.portal.azure.com, login as an administrator, click Azure Active Directory – Security – MFA and click on the blue link “Additional cloud-based MFA settings”.
Additional MFA settings
There are two parts (tabs) on this page, “service settings” where you should disable app passwords (a workaround for legacy clients that don’t support MFA, shouldn’t be necessary in 2022), add trusted public IP addresses (so that users aren’t prompted when they’re in the corporate office – we and Microsoft recommend not using this setting), disabling Call and Text message to phone and remember MFA on trusted devices setting (1-365 days), Microsoft recommends either using CA policies to manage Sign-In frequency or setting this to 90 days. Phone call / text message MFA are not strong authentication methods and should not be used unless there’s no other choice.
On the user’s tab you can enable MFA for individual users or click bulk update and upload a CSV file with user accounts.
If you have AAD Premium P1, it’s better to use a CA policy to enforce MFA, it’s more flexible and the MFA settings page will eventually be retired.
Enforcing MFA with a Conditional Access Policy
A few words of caution, enabling MFA for all your administrators is a given today. Seriously, if you aren’t requiring every privileged account to use MFA (or 2FA / passwordless, see below), stop reading and go and do that right now. Yes, it’s an extra step and yes, you’ll get push back but there’s just no excuse – it’s simply unprofessional and you don’t belong in IT if you’re not using it. For what it is worth, I’ve been using Azure MFA for over seven years and require it for administrators at my clients – no exceptions.
Enabling MFA for all users is also incredibly important but takes some planning. You may have some users who refuse to run the Microsoft Authenticator app on their personal phone – ask for it to be put in their hiring contract. You need to train them as to why MFA is being deployed, what to do, both for authentic logins and malicious ones. Furthermore, you need to have a smooth process for enrolling new users and offboarding people who are leaving.
You should also strongly consider creating separate (cloud only) accounts for administrators. They don’t require a license and it separates the day-to-day work of a person who only performs administrative actions in your tenant occasionally (or use PIM, Chapter 10).
MFA protects you against 99.9% of identity-based attacks but it’s not un-phishable. Stronger alternatives include biometrics such as Windows Hello for Business (WHFB) and 2FA hardware keys which bring you closer to the ultimate in identity security: passwordless.
Legacy Authentication
However, it’s not enough to enable MFA for all administrators and users, the bad guys can still get in with no MFA prompt in sight. The reason is that Office 365 still supports legacy protocols that don’t support modern authentication / MFA. You need to disable these; you can’t just turn them off, you need to check if there are legitimate applications / workflows / scripts that use any of them. Go to aad.portal.azure.com, login as a Global Administrator, click Azure Active Directory – Monitoring – Sign-in logs. Change the time to last one month, and click Add filters, then click Client app and then None Selected, in the drop-down pick all 13 checkboxes under Legacy Authentication Clients and click Apply.
Filtering Azure AD Sign-in logs for legacy authentication
This will show you all the logins over the last month that used any of the legacy protocols. If you get a lot of results, add a filter for Status and add Success to filter out password stuffing attacks that failed. Make sure you check the four different tabs for interactive / non-interactive, service principals and managed identity sign-ins.
You’ll now need to investigate the logins. In my experience there will be some users who are using Android / Apple mail on smartphones; point them to the free Outlook app instead (Apple mail can be configured to use modern authentication). There’s also likely to be line-of-business (LOB) applications and printers / scanners that send emails via Office 365, so you’ll need updates for these. Alternatively, you can use another email service for these such as smtp2go.
Once you have eliminated all legitimate legacy authentication protocol usage you can disable it in two ways, it’s best to use both. Start by creating a Conditional Access policy based on the new template to block it, also go to admin.microsoft.com, Settings – Org settings – Services – Modern authentication and turn off basic authentication protocols.
Disable legacy authentication protocols in the M365 Admin Center
Break Glass accounts
Create at least one, preferably two break glass accounts, also known as emergency access accounts. These accounts are exempted from MFA, all CA policies and PIM (see below) and have very long (40 characters+), complex passwords. They’re only used if AAD MFA is down, for example, to gain access to your tenant to temporarily disable MFA or a similar setting, depending on the outage.
A second part to this is that you want to be notified if these accounts are ever used. One way to do this is to send your Azure AD sign-in logs to Azure Monitor (also known as Log Analytics), with instructions here. Another option is to use Microsoft Sentinel (which is built on top of Log Analytics) and create an Analytics rule.
Microsoft Sentinel alert rule when a Break Glass account is used
Security Defaults
If yours is a very small business, with few requirements for flexibility, the easiest way to set up Azure AD with MFA for everyone, plus several other security features enabled, is to turn on Security Defaults. Note that you can’t have break-glass accounts or other service accounts with Security Defaults as there’s no way to configure exceptions. Go to Properties for your Azure AD tenant and scroll to the bottom, and click on Manage Security defaults, here you can enable and disable it.
Privileged Identity Management
It’s worth investing in Azure Active Directory (AAD) Premium P2 for your administrator’s accounts and enabling Privileged Identity Management (PIM). This means their accounts are ordinary user accounts who are eligible to elevate their privileges to whatever administrator type they are assigned (see Chapter 10).
If you’re not using PIM, create dedicated admin accounts in AAD only. Don’t sync these accounts from on-premises but enforce MFA and strong passwords. Since they won’t be used for day-to-day work, they won’t require an M365 license.
Password Protection
After MFA, your second most important step is banning bad passwords. You’re probably aware that we’ve trained users to come up with bad passwords over the last few decades with “standard” policies (at least 8 characters, uppercase, lowercase, special character and numbers) which results in P@ssw0rd1 and when they’re forced to change it every 30 days, P@ssw0rd2. Both NIST in the US and GHCQ in the UK now recommends allowing (but not enforcing) the use of upper / lowercase etc., but not mandating frequent password changes and instead of checking the password at the time of creation against a list of known, common bad passwords and blocking those. In Microsoft’s world that’s called Password protection which is enabled for cloud accounts by default. There’s a global list of about 2000 passwords (and their variants) that Microsoft maintains, based on passwords they find in dumps, and you should add (up to 1000) company-specific words (brands, locations, C-suite people’s names, local sports teams, etc.) for your organization.
You find Password protection in the AAD portal – Security – Authentication Methods.
Password protection settings
Remember, you don’t have to add common passwords to the list, they’re already managed by Microsoft, just add company / region specific words that your staff are likely to use.
If you’re syncing accounts from Active Directory on-premises to AAD, you should also extend Password protection to your DCs. It involves the installation of an agent on each DC, a proxy agent, and a reboot of each DC.
Continuous Access Evaluation
This feature has been in preview for quite some time but is now in general availability. Before Continuous Access Evaluation (CAE), when you disabled a user’s account, or they changed location (from the office to a public Wi-Fi for example) it could be up to one hour before their state was re-evaluated and new policies applied, or they were blocked from accessing services. With CAE, this time is much shorter, in most cases in the order of a few minutes. It’s turned on by default for all tenants (unless you were part of the preview and intentionally disabled it). Another benefit of CAE is that tokens are now valid for 28 hours, letting people keep working during a shorter Azure AD outage. You can disable CAE in a CA policy, but it’s not recommended.
Conditional Access policies
We’ve mentioned Conditional Access (CA) policies several times already as it’s a crucial component of strong identity security and Zero Trust. Unlike other recommendations, there isn’t a one size fit all set of CA policies we can give you, however (at a minimum) you should have policies for:
Require MFA for admins (see MFA above)
Require MFA for users (see MFA above)
Require MFA for Azure management
Block legacy authentication (see MFA above)
Require compliant or Hybrid AAD joined device for admins
Require compliant or Hybrid AAD joined device for users
Block access to M365 from outside your country
Require MFA for risky sign-ins (if you have AAD Premium P2)
Require password change for high-risk users (if you have AAD Premium P2)
This is all going to be a lot easier going forward with the new policy templates for identity and devices. Go to Azure AD – Security – Conditional Access – New policy – Create a new policy from templates. Another step to take is to create a system for managing the lifecycle of policies and there’s an API for backing up and updating policies, that you can access in several ways, including PowerShell. There’s even a tutorial to set up a backup system using a Logic App.
Conditional Access policy templates for identity
A common question is if there’s a priority when policies are evaluated and there isn’t, they’re all processed together for a particular sign-in, from a specific device and location to an individual application. If there are multiple policies with different controls (MFA + compliant device), all controls must be fulfilled for access. And if there are conflicting policies with different access (block vs grant), block access will win.
To get you started, here are the step-by-step instructions for a policy blocking access to M365 from outside your country, appropriate for most small and medium businesses that only operate in one or a few countries. Keep in mind that travelling staff may be caught out by this so make sure you align with business objectives and be aware that this won’t stop every attack as a VPN or TOR exit node can make it appear as if the attacker is in your country, but it’s one extra step they must take. Remember, you don’t have to run faster than the Fancy Bear, just faster than other companies around you.
Start by going to Azure AD – Security – Conditional Access – Named locations and click +Countries location and call the location Blocked countries. Leave Determine location by IP address, a new feature is using GPS location from the Microsoft Authenticator app which will be more accurate once all your users are using Azure AD MFA (and therefore can be located via GPS). Click the box next to Name to select all countries, then find the one(s) that you need to allow login from and click Create.
Creating a Named Location for a Conditional Access Policy
Go to Azure AD – Security – Conditional Access – New policy – Create new policy and name your policy with a name that clearly defines what the policy does and adheres to your naming standard. Click on All Users… and Include All users and Exclude your Break Glass accounts.
Click on No cloud apps… and select All cloud apps. Select 0 conditions… and click Not configured under Locations. Pick Selected locations under Include and select your newly created location. Finally, under Access controls – Grant, click 0 controls selected and then Block access.
CA policies can be either in Report-only mode where you can look at reports of what they would have blocked and control they would have enforced, or they can be turned on / off. Report-only can be handy to make sure you don’t get fired for accidentally locking everyone out but turn this policy on as soon as possible.
Conditional Access policy to block logins from outside Australia
A common question is, how can I control how often users are prompted for MFA or signing in again? While it might be counterintuitive, the default in Azure AD is a rolling windows of 90 days. Remember, if you change a user’s password, block non-compliant devices, or disable an account (plus any number of other CA policies you have in place that might affect the security posture of the session), it’ll automatically require new authentications. Don’t prompt the users for authentication when nothing has changed because if you do it too frequently, they’re more likely to approve a malicious login.
Branding Log-on Pages
While in the Azure AD portal, click on Company branding and add a company-specific Sign-in page background image (1920x1080px) and a Banner logo (280x60px). Note that these files have to be small (300 KB and 10 KB respectively) so you may have to do some fancy compression. This isn’t just a way to make users feel at home when they see a login page, in most cases when attackers send phishing emails to harvest credentials, they’ll send users to a fake login page that looks like the generic Office 365 one, not your custom one which is another clue that should alert your users to the danger. Also – Windows Autopilot doesn’t work unless you have customized AAD branding.
Edit Azure AD Company Branding images
Self Service Password Reset
The benefit of Self Service Password Reset (SSPR) is to lower the load on your help desk to manage password resets for users. Once enabled, users must register various ways of being identified when they’re resetting their password, mobile app notification/code, email (non-Office 365), mobile/office phone call, security questions (not available to administrators, plus you can create custom questions). If you are synchronizing user accounts from AD to Azure AD, take care in setting up SSPR as the passwords must be written back to AD from the cloud once changed.
Configuring Self Service Password Reset in Azure AD
Unified Auditing
Not restricted to security but nevertheless, a fundamental building block is auditing across Microsoft 365. Go to the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and find Audit in the left-hand menu (it’s almost at the end). If for some reason unified auditing isn’t enabled in your tenant a yellow banner will give you a button to turn it on (it’s on by default for new tenants). Once enabled, click the Audit retention policies tab, and create a policy for your tenant. You want to ensure that you have logs to investigate if there’s a breach and you want them kept for as long as possible.
With Business Premium you get a maximum of 90 days of retention and Microsoft 365 E5 gives you one year, but you want to make sure to create a policy to set this, rather than rely on the default policy (which you can’t see). Give the policy a name, a description and add all the record types, one by one. This policy will now apply to all users (including new ones that are created) for all activities. Only use the Users option when you want to have a specific policy for a particular user. Give the policy a priority, 1 is the highest and 10,000 is the lowest.
Create an audit retention policy for maximum retention
Integrating applications into Azure AD
One of the most powerful but often overlooked features (at least in SMBs) is the ability to use Azure AD to publish applications to your users. Users can go to myapps.microsoft.com (or office.com) and see tiles for all applications they have access to. But there’s more to that story. Say, for example, you have a shared, corporate Twitter account that a few executives and marketing staff should have access to. Instead of sharing a password amongst them all and having to remember to reset it if someone leaves the organization, you can create a security group in AAD, add the relevant users, link Twitter to the group and they’ll automatically have access – without knowing the password to the account. There are a lot more actions you can take here to simplify access and secure management of applications, here’s more information.
Azure AD Connect
If you’re synchronizing accounts from Active Directory to Azure Active Directory (AAD), check the configuration of AAD Connect and make sure you’re not replicating an entire domain or forest to AAD. There’s no reason that service accounts etc. should be exposed in both directories, start the AAD Connect wizard on the server where it’s installed and double-check that only relevant OUs are synchronized. One other thing to note here is the fact that any machine running Azure AD Connect should be treated with the same care (in terms of security) as a domain controller. This is because AAD Connect requires the same level of access as AD itself and has the ability to read password hashes. Making sure security best practices for access, patching, etc. are followed to the letter for the system running AAD connect is critically important.
The M365 Identity Checklist
Work through the Identity checklist.
Enable MFA for administrators
Enable MFA for users
Create cloud-only administrator accounts for privileged users / occasional administrators
Disable app passwords
(Configure trusted IPs)
Disable text message MFA
Disable phone call MFA
Remember MFA trusted devices 90 days
Train staff in using MFA correctly
Use Windows Hello where possible
Use FIDO2 / 2FA keys where possible
Investigate legacy authentication protocol usage in AAD Sign-in logs
Block legacy authentication with CA Policy
Block legacy authentication in M365 Admin Center
Create two Break glass accounts and exempt from MFA, CA Policies etc.
Configure alerting if a Break glass account is used
Enable Security Defaults in AAD (consider the limitations)
Enable PIM (AAD Premium P2) for all admin users
Add organization-specific words to Password protection
Deploy Password protection in AD on-premises
CA Policy Require MFA for admins
CA Policy Require MFA for users
CA Policy Require MFA for Azure management
CA Policy Block legacy authentication
CA Policy Require compliant or Hybrid AAD joined device for admins
CA Policy Require compliant or Hybrid AAD joined device for users
CA Policy Block access to M365 from outside your country
Require MFA for risky sign-ins [Only for E5)
Require password change for high-risk users [Only for E5)
Create custom branding logos and text in Azure AD
Enable and configure Self Service Password Reset, including password writeback
Go Further than Identity to Protect your M365 Tenant
There you have it, all the most important steps to take to make sure your users’ identities are kept secure, and therefore your tenant and its data also safeguarded. Keen to learn and do more?
The Microsoft 365 Security Checklist has another nine chapters of security recommendations each with its own checklist for:
Exactly how vulnerable is VMware infrastructure to Ransomware?
Historically and like most malware, ransomware has been targeting Windows operating systems primarily. However, cases of Linux and MacOS being infected are being seen as well. Attackers are being more proficient and keep evolving in their attacks by targeting critical infrastructure components leading to ransomware attacks on VMware ESXi. In this article, you’ll learn how Ransomware targets VMware infrastructure and what you can do to protect yourself.
What is Ransomware?
Ransomware are malicious programs that work by taking the user’s data hostage in exchange for a hefty ransom.
There are essentially 2 types of Ransomware (arguably 3):
Crypto Ransomware: Encrypts files so that the user cannot access them. This is the one we are dealing with in this blog.
Locker Ransomware: Lock the user out of his computer by encrypting system files.
Scareware: Arguably a third type of ransomware that is actually a fake as it only locks the screen by displaying the ransom page. Scanning the system with an Antivirus LiveCD will get rid of it quite easily.
A user computer on the corporate network is usually infected through infected USB drives or social engineering techniques such as phishing emails and shady websites. Another occurrence includes attacking a remote access server publicly exposed through brute-force attacks.
The malware then uses a public key to encrypt the victim’s data, which can span to mapped network drives as well. After which the victim is asked to make a payment to the attacker using bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency in exchange for the private key to unlock the data, hence the term Ransomware. If the victim doesn’t pay in time, the data will be lost forever.
As you can imagine, authorities advise against paying the ransom as there is no guaranty the bad actor will deliver on his end of the deal so you may end up paying the big bucks and not recover your data at all.
Can Ransomware affect VMware?
While infecting a Windows computer may yield a reward if the attacker gets lucky, chances are the OS will simply be reinstalled, no ransom is paid and the company will start tightening security measures. Game over for the bad guys.
Rather than burning bridges by locking a user’s workstation, they now try to make a lateral move from the infected workstation and target critical infrastructure components such as VMware ESXi. That way they hit a whole group of servers at once.
“VMware ESXi ransomware impact all the VMs running on the hypervisor”
From the standpoint of an attacker, infesting a vSphere host, or any hypervisor for that matter, is an “N birds, 1 stone” type of gig. Instead of impacting one workstation or one server, all the virtual machines running on the host become unavailable. Such an attack will wreak havoc in any enterprise environment!
How does a Ransomware Attack Work?
In the case of targeted attacks, the bad actor works to gain remote access to a box in the local network (LAN), usually a user computer, and then make a lateral move to access the management subnet and hit critical infrastructure components such as VMware ESXi.
There are several ways a ransomware attack on VMware ESXi can happen but reports have described the following process.
“The ransomware attack on VMware ESXi described in this blog is broken down into 5 stages”
Stage 1: Access local network
Gaining access to the LAN usually goes either of 2 ways:
A malware is downloaded in a phishing email or from a website. It can also come from an infected USB stick.
The attacker performs a Brute force attack against a remote access server exposed to the internet. This seems more unusual as it involves more resources and knowledge of the target. Brute force attacks are also often caught by DDoS protection mechanisms.
“Ransomware spread through malicious email attachments, websites, USB sticks”
Stage 2: Escalate privileges
Once the attacker has remote access to a machine on the local network, be it a workstation or a remote desktop server, he will try to escalate privileges to open doors for himself.
Several reports mentioned attackers leveraging CVE-2020-1472 which is a vulnerability in how the Netlogon secure channel connections are done. The attacker would use the Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC) to connect to a domain controller and gain domain administrator access.
Stage 3: Access management network
Once the bad actors have domain administrator privileges, they can already deal a large amount of damage to the company. In the case of a ransomware attack on VMware ESXi, they will use it to gain access to machines on the management network, in which the vCenter servers and vSphere ESXi servers live.
Note that they might even skip this step if the company made the mistake to give user workstations access to the management network.
Stage 4: VMware ESXi vulnerabilities
When the attackers are in the management network, you can only hope that all the components in your infrastructure have the latest security patches installed and strong password policies. At this point, they are the last line of defense, unless a zero-day vulnerability is being leveraged in which case there isn’t much you can do about it.
Several remote code execution vulnerabilities have been exploited over the last year or so against VMware ESXi servers and vCenter servers.
The two critical vulnerabilities that give attackers access to vSphere hosts relate to the Service Location Protocol (SLP) used by vSphere to discover devices on the same network. By sending malicious SLP commands, the attacker can execute remote code on the host.
CVE-2019-5544: Heap overwrite issue in the OpenSLP protocol in VMware ESXi.
CVE-2020-3992: Use-after-free issue in the OpenSLP protocol in VMware ESXi.
CVE-2021-21985: Although no attack mentions it, we can assume the vCenter Plug-in vulnerability discovered in early 2021 can be a vector of attack as well. Accessing vSphere hosts is fairly easy once the vCenter is compromised.
They can then enable SSH to obtain interactive access and sometimes even change the root password or SSH keys of the hosts.
Note that the attacker may not even need to go through all that trouble if he manages to somehow recover valid vCenter of vSphere credentials. For instance, if they are stored in the web browser or retrieved from the memory of the infected workstation.
Stage 5: Encrypt datastore and request ransom
Now that the attacker has access to the VMware ESXi server, he will go through the following steps to lock your environment for good.
Uninstall Fault Domain Manager or fdm (HA agent) used to reboot VMs in case of failure.
Shut down all the virtual machines.
Encrypt all virtual machine files using an ELF executable, derived from an encrypting script that targets Linux machines. This file is usually named svc-new and stored in /tmp.
Write a ransom file to the datastore for the administrator to find.
Note that there are variations of the ransomware attack on VMware ESXi, which themselves are ever-evolving. Meaning the steps described above represent one way things can happen but your mileage may very well vary.
How to protect yourself from ransomware attacks on VMware ESXi
If you look online for testimonies, you will find that the breach never comes from a hooded IT mastermind in an ill-lit room that goes through your firewalls by frantically typing on his keyboard like in the movies.
The reality is nowhere near as exciting. 9 times out of 10, it will be an infected attachment in a phishing email or a file downloaded on a shady website. This is most often the doing of a distracted user that didn’t check the link and executed the payload without thinking twice.
Ensure at least the following general guidelines are being enforced in your environment to establish a first solid line of defense:
VMware environment-related recommendations
If you need to open internet access on your vCenter, enforce strong edge firewall rules and proxy access to specific domains. Do not expose vCenter on the internet!!! (Yes, it’s been done).
Set VMware ESXi shell and SSH to manual start and stop.
Don’t use the same password on all the hosts and out-of-band cards.
Some recommend not to add Active Directory as an Identity Source in vCenter Server. While this certainly removes a vector of attack, configuring Multi-Factor Authentication also mitigates this risk.
Industry standards
Educate your users and administrators through educational campaigns.
Ensure the latest security patches are installed as soon as possible on all infrastructure components as well as backups servers, workstations…
Segregate the management subnets from other subnets.
Connect to the management network through a jump server. It is critical that the jump server must:
Be secured and up to date
Accessible only through Multifactor authentication (MFA)
Must only allow a specific IP range.
Restrict network access to critical resources only to trained administrators.
Ensure AD is secured and users/admins are educated on phishing attacks.
Apply least privilege policy.
Use dedicated and named accounts.
Enforce strong password policies.
Segregate Admin and Domain admin accounts on AD.
Log out users on inactivity on Remote Desktop Servers.
Don’t save your infrastructure password in the browser.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) where possible, at least on admin accounts.
Forward infrastructure logs to a Syslog server for trail auditing.
Ensure all the workstations and servers have a solid antivirus with regularly updated definitions.
Where do backups fit in all this?
While there are decryption tools out there, they will not always work. In fact, they almost never will.
Restoring from backup is essentially the only way known to date that you can use to recover from a ransomware attack on VMware ESXi. You can use Altaro VM Backup to ensure your environment is protected.
Because attackers know this well, they will try to take down the backup infrastructure and erase all the files so your only option left is to pay the ransom. Which, as mentioned previously, is no guaranty that you get your files back.
Because of it, it is paramount to ensure your backup infrastructure is protected and secure by following best practices:
Avoid Active Directory Domain integration or use multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Do not use the same credentials for access to the VMware and Backup infrastructures.
NIST controls for data integrity (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
VMware documents solutions for combatting ransomware by incorporating the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) controls specific to data integrity. You can find VMware’s recommendations and implementation of the NIST in this dedicated document:
“National Institute of Standards and Technology logo”
The NIST framework is broken down into 5 functions:
In the VMware document linked above, you will find Detect, Protect and Respond recommendations that apply to various environments such as private cloud, hybrid cloud or end-user endpoints.
So How Worried Should I be?
Ransomware have always been one of the scary malware as they can deal a great amount of damage to a company, up to the point of causing some of them to go into bankruptcy. However, let us not get overwhelmed by these thoughts as you are not powerless against them. It is always best to act than to react.
In fact, there is no reason for your organization to get hit by a ransomware as long as you follow all the security best practices and you don’t cut corners. It might be tempting at some point to add an ALLOW ALL/ALL firewall rule to test something, give a user or service account full admin rights, patch a server into an extra VLAN or whatever action you know for a fact would increase your security officer’s blood pressure. In such a case, even if there is a 99.9% chance things are fine, think of the consequences it could have on the company as a whole should you hit that 0.1% lurking in the back.
If you are reading this and you have any doubts regarding the security of your infrastructure, run a full audit of what is currently in place and draw a plan to bring it into compliance with the current industry best practices as soon as possible. In any case, patch your systems as soon as possible, especially if you are behind!
The Internet of Things (IoT) is here, and we’re using it for everything from getting instant answers to random trivia questions to screening visitors at the door. According to Gartner, we were expected to use more than 25 billion internet-connected devices by the end of 2021. But as our digital lives have become more convenient, we might not yet have considered the risks involved with using IoT devices.
How can you keep yourself secure in today’s IoT world, where hackers aim to outsmart your smart home? First we’ll look at how hackers infiltrate the IoT, and then we’ll look at what you can do right now to make sure the IoT is working for you – not against you.
How hackers are infiltrating the Internet of Things
While we’ve become comfortable asking voice assistants to give us the weather forecast while we prep our dinners, hackers have been figuring out how to commandeer our IoT devices for cyber attacks. Here are just a few examples of how cyber criminals are already infiltrating the IoT.
Gaining access to and control of your camera
Have you ever seen someone with a sticker covering the camera on their laptop or smartphone? There’s a reason for that. Hackers have been known to gain access to these cameras and spy on people. This has become an even more serious problem in recent years, as people have been relying on videoconferencing to safely connect with friends and family, participate in virtual learning, and attend telehealth appointments during the pandemic. Cameras now often come with an indicator light that lets you know whether they’re being used. It’s a helpful protective measure, but not a failsafe one.
Using voice assistants to obtain sensitive information
According to Statista, 132 million Americans used a digital voice assistant once a month in 2021. Like any IoT gadget, however, they can be vulnerable to attack. According to Ars Technica, academic researchers have discovered that the Amazon Echo can be forced to take commands from itself, which opens the door to major mischief in a smart home. Once an attacker has compromised an Echo, they can use it to unlock doors, make phone calls and unauthorized purchases, and control any smart home appliances that the Echo manages.
Many bad actors prefer the quiet approach, however, slipping in undetected and stealing information. They can piggyback on a voice assistant’s privileged access to a victim’s online accounts or other IoT gadgets and make off with any sensitive information they desire. With the victim being none the wiser, the attackers can use that information to commit identity fraud or stage even more ambitious cyber crimes.
Hacking your network and launching a ransomware attack
Any device that is connected to the internet, whether it’s a smart security system or even a smart fridge, can be used in a cyber attack. Bad actors know that most people aren’t keeping their IoT gadgets’ software up to date in the same way they do their computers and smartphones, so they take advantage of that false sense of security. Once cyber criminals have gained access to an IoT device, they can go after other devices on the same network. (This is because most home networks are designed to trust devices that are already connected to them.) When these malicious actors are ready, they can launch a ransomware attack that brings your entire digital life to a halt – unless you agree to fork over a hefty sum in bitcoin, that is.
Using bots to launch a DDOS attack
Although most people never notice it, hackers can and do infect IoT devices with malware en masse, gaining control over them in the process. Having turned these zombie IoT devices into bots, the hackers then collectively use them to stage what’s called a botnet attack on their target of choice. This form of assault is especially popular for launching distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, in which all the bots in a botnet collectively flood a target with network requests until it buckles and goes offline.
How you can keep your Internet of Things gadgets safe from hackers
So how can you protect your IoT devices from these determined hackers? Fortunately, you can take back control by becoming just a little more cyber smart. Here are a few ways to keep your IoT gadgets safe from hackers:
Never use the default settings on your IoT devices. Although IoT devices are designed to be plug-and-play so you can start enjoying them right away, their default settings are often not nearly as secure as they should be. With that in mind, set up a unique username and strong password combination before you start using any new IoT technology. While you’re at it, see if there’s an option to encrypt the traffic to and from your IoT device. If there is, turn it on.
Keep your IoT software up to date. Chances are, you regularly install the latest software updates on your computer and phone. Hackers are counting on you to leave your IoT gadgets unpatched, running outdated software with vulnerabilities they can exploit, so be sure to keep the software on your IoT devices up to date as well.
Practice good password hygiene. We all slip into bad password habits from time to time – it’s only human – but they put our IoT security at risk. With this in mind, avoid re-using passwords and be sure to set unique, strong passwords on each of your IoT devices. Update those passwords from time to time, too. Don’t store your passwords in a browser, and don’t share them via email. A password manager can help you securely store and share your passwords, so hackers never have a chance to snatch them.
Use secure, password-protected WiFi. Cyber criminals are notorious for sneaking onto open, insecure WiFi networks. Once they’re connected, they can spy on any internet activity that happens over those networks, steal login credentials, and launch cyber attacks if they feel like it. For this reason, make sure that you and your IoT devices only use secure, password-protected WiFi.
Use multi-factor authentication as an extra layer of protection. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), gives you extra security on top of all the other measures we mentioned above. It asks you to provide one more credential, or factor, in addition to a password to confirm you are who you say you are. If you have MFA enabled and a hacker tries to log in as you, you’ll get a notification that a login attempt is in progress. Whenever you have the option to enable MFA on any account or technology, take advantage of it.
Protect your Internet of Things devices with smart password security
The IoT is making our lives incredibly convenient, but that convenience can be a little too seductive at times. It’s easy to forget that smart home devices, harmless-looking and helpful as they are, can be targeted in cyber attacks just like our computers and phones. Hackers are counting on you to leave your IoT gadgets unprotected so they can use them to launch damaging attacks. By following these smart IoT security tips, you can have the best of both worlds, enjoying your smart life and better peace of mind at the same time.
Learn how LastPass Premium helps you strengthen your password security.
QR codes link the offline to the online. What started as a way to streamline manufacturing in the automotive industry is now a widespread technology helping connect the physical world to digital content. And as the world embraced remote, no-touch solutions during the Covid pandemic, QR codes became especially popular. QR codes offer convenience and immediacy for businesses and consumers, but cybercriminals also take advantage of them. Here’s what you need to know about QR codes and how to stay safe when using them.
Why QR codes?
Due to their size and structure, the two-dimensional black and white barcodes we call QR codes are very versatile. And since most people carry a smartphone everywhere, they can quickly scan QR codes with their phone’s camera. Moreover, since QR codes are relatively easy to program and accessible for most smartphone users, they can be an effective communication tool.
They also have many uses. For example, QR codes may link to a webpage, start an app or file download, share contact information, initiate a payment, and more. Covid forced businesses to be creative with touchless experiences, and QR codes provide a convenient way to transform a physical touchpoint into a digital interaction. During Covid, QR codes became a popular way to look at restaurant menus, communicate Covid policies, check in for an appointment, and view marketing promotions, among other scenarios.
As a communication tool, QR codes can transmit a lot of information from one person to another, making it easy for someone to take action online and interact further with digital content.
What hackers do with QR codes
QR codes are inherently secure, and no personally identifiable information (PII) is transmitted while you’re scanning them. However, the tricky part about QR codes is that you don’t know what information they contain until you scan them. So just looking at the QR code won’t tell you if it’s entirely trustworthy or not.
For example, cybercriminals may try to replace or sticker over a QR code in a high-traffic, public place. Doing so can trick people into scanning a malicious QR code. Or, hackers might send malicious QR codes digitally by email, text, or social media. The QR code scam might target a specific individual, or cybercriminals may design it to attract as many scans as possible from a large number of people.
Once scanned, a malicious QR code may take you to a phishing website, lead you to install malware on your device, redirect a payment to the wrong account, or otherwise compromise the security of your private information.
In the same way that cybercriminals try to get victims to click phishing links in email or social media, they lure people into scanning a QR code. These bad actors may be after account credentials, financial information, PII, or even company information. With that information, they can steal your identity or money or even break into your employer’s network for more valuable information (in other words, causing a data breach).
Pay attention to context. Where is the code available? What does the code claim to do (e.g., will it send you to a landing page)? Is there someone you can ask to confirm the purpose of the QR code? Did someone send it unprompted? Is it from a business or individual you’ve never heard of? Just like with phishing links, throw it out when in doubt.
Look closely at the code. Some codes may have specific colors or branding to indicate the code’s purpose and destination. Many codes are generic black and white designs, but sometimes there are clues about who made the code.
Check the link before you click. If you scan the QR code and a link appears, double-check it before clicking. Is it a website URL you were expecting? Is it a shortened link that masks the full URL? Is the webpage secure (HTTPS)? Do you see signs of a phishing attack (branding is slightly off, strange URL, misspelled words, etc.)? If it autogenerates an email or text message, who is the recipient and what information is it sending them? If it’s a payment form, who is receiving the payment? Read carefully before taking action.
Practice password security. Passwords and account logins remain one of the top targets of cyber attacks. Stolen credentials give cybercriminals access to valuable personal and financial information. Generate every password for every account with a random password generator, ideally built into a password manager for secure storage and autofill. Following password best practices ensures one stolen password results in minimal damage.
Layer with MFA. Adding multi-factor authentication to logins further protects against phishing attacks that steal passwords. With MFA in place, a hacker still can’t access an account after using a stolen password. By requiring additional login data, MFA can prevent cybercriminals from gaining access to personal or business accounts.
QR codes remain a popular marketing and communication tool. They’re convenient and accessible, so you can expect to encounter them occasionally. Though cyber attacks via QR codes are less common, you should still stay vigilant for signs of phishing and social engineering via QR codes. To prevent and mitigate attacks via QR codes, start by building a solid foundation of digital security with a trusted password manager.
