Jump to content

Mirai (malware)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 79.172.242.26 (talk) at 13:27, 10 September 2017. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mirai
Original author(s)"Anna-senpai aka LiteSpeed"
(online pseudonym)
Repository
Written inC (agent), Go (controller)
Operating systemLinux
TypeBotnet
Websitegithub.com/jgamblin/Mirai-Source-Code Edit this on Wikidata

Mirai (Japanese for "the future", 未来) is malware that turns networked devices running Linux into remotely controlled "bots" that can be used as part of a botnet in large-scale network attacks. It primarily targets online consumer devices such as IP cameras and home routers.[1] The Mirai botnet was first found in August 2016[2][3] by MalwareMustDie,[4] a whitehat malware research group, and has been used in some of the largest and most disruptive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, including an attack on 20 September 2016[5] on computer security journalist Brian Krebs's web site, an attack on French web host OVH,[6] and the October 2016 Dyn cyberattack.[7][8][9] According to a leaked chat log between Anna-senpai and Robert Coelho, Mirai was named after the 2011 TV anime series Mirai Nikki.[10]

The source code for Mirai has been published in hacker forums as open-source.[11] Since the source code was published, the techniques have been adapted in other malware projects.[12]

Malware

Devices infected by Mirai continuously scan the internet for the IP address of Internet of things (IoT) devices. Mirai includes a table of IP Address ranges that it will not infect, including private networks and addresses allocated to the United States Postal Service and Department of Defense.[13]

Mirai then identifies vulnerable IoT devices using a table of more than 60 common factory default usernames and passwords, and logs into them to infect them with the Mirai malware.[6][14][15] Infected devices will continue to function normally, except for occasional sluggishness,[14] and an increased use of bandwidth. A device remains infected until it is rebooted, which may involve simply turning the device off and after a short wait turning it back on. After a reboot, unless the login password is changed immediately, the device will be reinfected within minutes.[14] Upon infection Mirai will identify "competing" malware and remove them from memory and block remote administration ports.[16]

There are hundreds of thousands of IoT devices which use default settings, making them vulnerable to infection. Once infected, the device will monitor a command and control server which indicates the target of an attack.[14] The reason for the use of the large number of IoT devices is to bypass some anti-DoS software which monitors the IP address of incoming requests and filters or sets up a block if it identifies an abnormal traffic pattern, for example, if too many requests come from a particular IP address. Other reasons include to be able to marshall more bandwidth than the perpetrator can assemble alone, and to avoid being traced.

Use in DDoS attacks

Mirai was used, alongside BASHLITE,[17] in the DDoS attack on 20 September 2016 on the Krebs on Security site which reached 620 Gbit/s.[18] Ars Technica also reported a 1 Tbit/s attack on French web host OVH.[6]

On 21 October 2016 multiple major DDoS attacks in DNS services of DNS service provider Dyn occurred using Mirai malware installed on a large number of IoT devices, resulting in the inaccessibility of several high-profile websites such as GitHub, Twitter, Reddit, Netflix, Airbnb and many others.[19] The attribution of the Dyn attack to the Mirai botnet was originally reported by Level 3 Communications.[17][20]

Staff at Deep Learning Security observed the steady growth of Mirai botnets before and after the 21 October attack.[21]

Mirai has also been used in an attack on Liberia's Internet infrastructure in November 2016.[22][23][24] According to computer security expert Kevin Beaumont the attack appears to have originated from the actor which also attacked Dyn.[22]

Identity of the author

On January 17, 2017, computer security journalist Brian Krebs posted an article on his blog, Krebs on Security, where he disclosed the name of the person who he believed to have written the malware. Krebs stated that the likely real-life identity of Anna-senpai (named after Anna Nishikinomiya, a character from Shimoneta), the author of Mirai, was actually Paras Jha. Jha is the owner of a DDoS mitigation service company ProTraf Solutions and a student of Rutgers University. In an update to the original article, Paras Jha responded to Krebs and denied having written Mirai.[10] FBI was reported to have questioned Jha on his involvement in the October 2016 Dyn cyberattack.[25]

Other notable incidents

At the end of November 2016, approximately 900,000 routers, from Deutsche Telekom and produced by Arcadyan, were crashed due to failed TR-064 exploitation attempts by a variant of Mirai, which resulted in Internet connectivity problems for the users of these devices.[26][27] While TalkTalk later patched their routers, a new variant of Mirai was discovered in TalkTalk routers.[28]

A British man suspected of being behind the attack has been arrested at Luton Airport, according to the BBC.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ Biggs, John (Oct 10, 2016). "Hackers release source code for a powerful DDoS app called Mirai". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  2. ^ Pierluigi Paganini and Odysseus (September 5, 2016). "Linux/Mirai ELF, when malware is recycled could be still dangerous". Security Affair. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. ^ njccic (December 28, 2016). "Mirai Botnet". The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  4. ^ unixfreaxjp (August 31, 2016). "MMD-0056-2016 - Linux/Mirai, how an old ELF malcode is recycled". MalwareMustDie. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. ^ Krebs, Brian (September 21, 2016). "KrebsOnSecurity Hit With Record DDoS". Brian Krebs. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b c Bonderud, Douglas (October 4, 2016). "Leaked Mirai Malware Boosts IoT Insecurity Threat Level". securityintelligence.com. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  7. ^ Hackett, Robert (October 3, 2016). "Why a Hacker Dumped Code Behind Colossal Website-Trampling Botnet". Fortune.com. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  8. ^ Newman, Lily Hay. "What We Know About Friday's Massive East Coast Internet Outage". WIRED. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  9. ^ "Dyn | crunchbase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  10. ^ a b Krebs, Brian. "Who is Anna-Senpai, the Mirai Worm Author?". Krebs on Security. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  11. ^ Statt, Nick (October 21, 2016). "How an army of vulnerable gadgets took down the web today". The Verge. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  12. ^ Kan, Michael (October 18, 2016). "Hackers create more IoT botnets with Mirai source code". ITWORLD. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  13. ^ Zeifman, Igal; Bekerman, Dima; Herzberg, Ben (October 10, 2016). "Breaking Down Mirai: An IoT DDoS Botnet Analysis". Incapsula. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d Moffitt, Tyler (October 10, 2016). "Source Code for Mirai IoT Malware Released". Webroot. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  15. ^ Osborne, Charlie (October 17, 2016). "Mirai DDoS botnet powers up, infects Sierra Wireless gateways". ZDNet. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  16. ^ Xander (October 28, 2016). "DDoS on Dyn The Complete Story". ServerComparator. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  17. ^ a b "Double-dip Internet-of-Things botnet attack felt across the Internet".
  18. ^ The Economist, 8 October 2016, The internet of stings
  19. ^ "Today the web was broken by countless hacked devices". theregister.co.uk. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  20. ^ "Blame the Internet of Things for Destroying the Internet Today". Motherboard. VICE. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  21. ^ "Think Mirai DDoS is over? It ain’t!!"
  22. ^ a b "Unprecedented cyber attack takes Liberia's entire internet down". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  23. ^ "DDoS attack from Mirai malware 'killing business' in Liberia". PCWorld. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  24. ^ "Massive cyber-attack grinds Liberia's internet to a halt". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  25. ^ Clark, Adam; Mueller, Mark. "FBI questions Rutgers student about massive cyber attack". NJ.com. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  26. ^ Krebs, Brian (30 November 2016). "New Mirai Worm Knocks 900K Germans Offline". krebsonsecurity.com. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  27. ^ "German leaders angry at cyberattack, hint at Russian involvement | Germany | DW.COM | 29.11.2016". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  28. ^ "New Mirai Variant Embeds in TalkTalk Home Routers". www.incapsula.com. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  29. ^ "Router hacker suspect arrested at Luton Airport". BBC News. 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mirai_(malware)&oldid=799896246"