Israeli investigator uncovers cyberattack on hundreds of global servers
The cyberattack, dubbed FritzFrog, was based on the use of weak passwords, which the cyberattack infrastructure then used to infiltrate systems.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFEmployees, mostly veterans of military computing units, use keyboards as they work at a cyber hotline facility at Israel's Computer Emergency Response Centre (CERT) in Beersheba, southern Israel(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
Ophir Harpaz, a researcher at the Israeli cyber company Guardicore, uncovered an organized cyberattack infrastructure that managed to break into more than 500 servers, including those of large universities, railway companies, organizations and companies located in both Europe and the United States.The cyberattack, dubbed FritzFrog, was based on the use of weak passwords, which the cyberattack infrastructure then used to infiltrate systems. Harpaz realized that following the infrastructure's infiltration, the attackers turned systems into a peer network, which allows devices to work collaboratively, resulting in malicious forces to multiply.During the attack, the cyberattack infrastructure used infiltrated servers to mine for cryptocurrencies. However, this proved not to be the main intention behind the overall FritzFrog incident, and was rather intended for the preparation of an infected computer infrastructure to schedule a much larger attack.Harpaz also realized that the cyberattackers also tried to break into government institutions in Europe and the US, but ultimately failed in their attempts.Following the incident, Guardicore, which has locations in the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Mexico, Western Europe and Ukraine, issued guidelines to security personnel around the world, enabling them to check if they have been infected with the new malware.
