Posted by Virus Bulletin on Jul 19, 2012
DDoS-type attack could seriously disrupt business.
A new service is being offered on underground forums where between 25,000 and 100,000 emails are being sent to an email account within a short period of time, security blogger Brian Krebs reports.
The emails, which effectively perform a DDoS attack on the email account, could be seriously disruptive for an organization. The cybercriminals promise a delivery rate of 60% to 65%. For comparison, most spam campaigns have a delivery rate of 1% or less.
The same malicious seller also offers a similar service for sending large numbers of SMS messages, or performing continuous phone calls - attacks which could be equally disruptive. Like other DDoS-style attacks, they could be used to extort a ransom from an organization, especially if the attacks happen during periods that are critical for a business. They could also be used in combination with other attacks, where the flooding of someone's inbox could mean they miss essential emails alerting them to something being amiss.
Even if the delivery rate is half of what the criminals claim it to be, these attacks are a serious threat to any organization. They are also a serious challenge for companies offering email and phone security products.
More at Brian Krebs's blog here, with more on SMS flooding services at Webroot here.
Posted on 19 July 2012 by Virus Bulletin
