LulzSecs Top 3 Hacking Tools Deconstructed

Analysis suggests LulzSec was most effective using a relatively unknown vulnerability to launch large-scale, botnet-driven attacks against everyone from Sony to the Senate.

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Slideshow: 10 Massive Security Breaches
In its 50-day hacking spree, how did the hacking group known as LulzSec manage to break into so many websites?
All told, the group appears to have relied heavily on three attack techniques: using remote file include (RFI), SQL injections, and cross-site scripting. Thats according to an
analysis
conducted by data security vendor Imperva, which studied the leaked LulzSec IRC chat logs
recently published
by the
Guardian
.
Interestingly, according to the Open Web Application Security Projects list of the top 10 biggest application security risks,
injection attacks
and
cross-site scripting
, respectively, placed first and second. These vulnerabilities, furthermore, have been extensively analyzed and detailed by security experts.
But RFI--a not widely discussed type of attack, according to Imperva--is a different story. According to the leaked chat logs, LulzSec member Kayla said that he or she used to load about 8,000 RFI with usp flooder crushed most server.
Remember that [its] Kayla who brought a bot army to Lulsecs toolbox, said Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at Imperva, in a blog post. In other words, Lulzsec used an often overlooked vulnerability to help ambush their targets.
Whats an RFI attack? An RFI attack inserts some nasty code into a Web application server, he said. What does the code do? Usually, RFI is used to take over the Web application and steal data. In the case of Lulzsec, they used it to conduct DDoS attacks.
Based on the chat logs, Kayla had 8,000 infected servers at his or her disposal. Thats pretty sizable, said Rachwald. Furthermore, just one infected server, given its relatively large throughput, can equal about 3,000 bot-infected PCs, meaning that Kaylas
botnet
could have equaled the power of one with about 24 million PCs. Notably, this was the botnet used to launch the DDoS attack against the
CIAs public website
.
Regardless of the techniques used by LulzSec, the companies and organizations it hacked--ranging from Sony to the U.S. Senate--faced a similar end result. Namely, LulzSec gained access to their servers, then published sensitive information. But had those organizations
taken better security precautions
, LulzSec may have moved on to easier pickings.
Last month, a message on the official LulzSec Twitter feed announced that after a 50-day hacking spree, its
members were moving on
. But understanding how its attacks succeeded is useful information for avoiding similar attacks in the future.
Notably, the #AntiSec effort to publish sensitive business and government secrets, launched by the Anonymous hacking collective and LulzSec (which sprang from Anonymous), has carried on. In fact,
#AntiSec recently claimed responsibility
for publishing information it obtained in separate attacks against Viacom, Vivendi SAs Universal Music Group, as well as the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Security monitoring, incident response, and forensics are essential, even in the cloud. But the cloud by definition implies relinquishing at least some control, which can make these practices problematic. In this report, we identify the challenges of detecting and responding to security issues in the cloud and discuss the most effective ways to address them.
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LulzSecs Top 3 Hacking Tools Deconstructed