Cisco Cybersecurity experts note a sharp increase in a certain type of cyberattack around the world. Surprisingly, hackers do not use sophisticated techniques, on the contrary.
Conduct a cyberattack, whether on a particular individual or a government, very often requires the deployment of sophisticated and complex techniques. The aim is, among other things, to retrieve personal information like your logins and passwords, or even your face to use it without your knowledge. But sometimes hackers use very simple methods like Brute force. It involves entering passwords at random until you find the right one. Cyberattacks of this kind are currently underway.
Cisco Cybersecurity experts note a “global increase in brute force attacks against various targets, including virtual private network (VPN) services, web application authentication interfaces, and SSH services“. They have been taking place since “at least March 18, 2024“. Among the targeted VPNs are some well-known names like Cisco Secure Firewall, Checkpoint, Fortinet Or Sonic Wall. As for SSH services, these are the protocols that are used to connect remotely to a computer that is part of a network.
This type of cyberattack is on the rise and targets everyone indiscriminately
Cisco compiled and blocked the IP addresses identified as the sources of the attempts. There are around 4,000. The company warns, however, that “traffic related to these attacks has increased over time and is expected to continue to increase“, knowing that they “do not target a particular region or industrial sector“. In other words : anyone can be targetedthe pirates behind this wave do not seem to follow any particular logic.
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They use “generic usernames and valid usernames“, also noted by Cisco which counts just over 2,000. There is nothing you can do to protect yourself from such an attack if it occurs. On the other hand, you can prevent it from succeeding by choosing a strong password at least 16 characters long, mixing lower and upper case letters, numbers and symbols. As it is best to never use the same thing twice, do not hesitate to use a password manager.