Amazon cloud services attacked by zombie computers
Monday, December 14, 2009
The popular EC2 cloud hosting service operated by Amazon suffered a botnet attack last week, and it was revealed that the service was unwittingly playing host to a command-and-control unit for the malicious software.
A botnet formed by the infamous Zeus Trojan was found to have infected some of EC2's client sites, and spread to others through the cloud service provider. This resulted in several service outages last week, as it unfortunately coincided with power failures at an Amazon facility in northern Virginia.
Amazon told CNET that "When we find misuse, we take action quickly and shut it down...which we did in this case. Our terms of usage are clear and we continually monitor and work to make sure the services aren't used for illegal activity. We also take the privacy of our customers very seriously, and don't inspect their instances."
EC2 offers the type of highly customizable - and more importantly, scalable - cloud hosting solutions that proponents of the cloud model say will revolutionize the IT world. However, the controversy over security and reliability will only be fanned by last week's events.
Related News:
Cyber criminals exposed medical records - 3.8.2010
More than 18,000 patients, whose medical information is stored on the computer systems of five doctors in Torrance, California, were potential victims of identity theft in September when cyber criminals penetrated the doctors' networks, according to the Los Angeles Times.
McAfee advises companies to boost web security relating to source code - 3.4.2010
At the RSA Conference, currently taking place in San Francisco, McAfee released a report indicating that companies regularly use too few web security protocols when protecting intellectual property such as source code.
False social networking attacks provides teachable moment for web security - 2.25.2010
A unique tool developed to prevent the spread of malware from social networking websites has been recommended Processor.com, a web and network security news provider.
With global web security under siege, exports point to problems - 2.25.2010
In 2009, Garlik, a United Kingdom-based web security company, reported a 207 percent increase in malware use to overtake bank accounts. Recent events have also shown vulnerability in corporate, private and governmental web security systems.
Kaspersky reports malware growing more sophisticated - 2.24.2010
Kaspersky, a web security provider, reported Wednesday that while there is very little growth in the amount of malware currently roaming the web, it is becoming more advanced and much harder to detect.
|
