The Georgia Institute of Technology has teamed up with Google to investigate how to counter new forms of phishing attacks by hackers. Hackers are able to control users’ internet browsing by using the “open recursive” DNS (Domain Name System) server. This type of attack is not new, although hackers have developed a technique that makes it almost undetectable by anti-virus and anti-phishing software.
A DNS server is an internet service that translates domain names into a numerical internet protocol address. For example, users would type “google.com” into an internet browser and it would translate it to something that would look like this: “207.35.118,135″. The internet browser would then direct the user to the site.
DNS servers work together in a network. If one DNS server can’t find the address it would send it to another one until the address is found. Unlike other DNS servers, open recursive DNS servers answer all DNS look-up requests from any computer on the internet. It is this feature that hackers use.
Google and the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered that there are over 17 million open recursive DNS servers. Most of these give accurate information, but 0.4% or 68,000 are giving users false addresses to phishing sites. The hackers are able to send users to phishing sites with the DNS.
Phishing sites are false sites set up by hackers. Hackers would create sites that look like the original and get users to give information such as usernames, passwords and pin numbers. For example, they could copy an online bank site and get users to register and log in. The login information is sent to the hacker and he or she is able to use it to gain access to the user’s bank account. They trick users into entering their phishing site by sending a fake email. The email, for example, could be made to look as though it came from the user’s bank, asking them to login and update their details. The e-mail would then contain a link to the phishing site.
Hackers are using the open DNS system by targeting the user’s settings. The user would either open a virus infected attachment on an e-mail or a website with the virus embedded in it. The virus will exploit the user’s computer by changing just one file in Windows registry setting. The changed setting will allow the hacker to have complete control over the user’s browser.
If the virus is not stopped during the initial stages, it can go undetected for the rest of its existence. Users might believe that because they have anti-phishing software they can’t be infected. However, because the hacker is operating at DNS level, the anti-phishing software is rendered useless. Hackers would allow the user to browse normally, but would re-direct them suddenly if they tried to use online banking.
Google and the Georgia Institute of Technology are looking into developing a type of software that will counteract the hackers. They are also trying to create more awareness among all administrations to change their DNS servers. There is no real benefit from having an open-server. The Georgia Institute has marked phishing attacks as one of the top threats for 2008.
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A well known institute for higher education and Research in the state of Virginia is a high-tech facility established about two years ago to act as a vehicle for economic and community renovation in a region which has been recently hit by the loss of thousands of manufacturing occupations.
Through supplying advanced learning curriculums, planned research and technology transfer seminars, and outreach and technology courses in that region of the state , the institute is helping the community’s workforce to become accustomed to an economy that is changing rapidly. The institute’s goals do not stop there. An important part of their aim to bring advanced technology and recruiting top-notch talent to the region deals with teaming up with neighboring universities and educational institutes, which utilize the facility as a research center. in addition to that, the research institute is also utilized as a meeting area, with conference areas and a convention hub accessible to lease.
Generally speaking, the common population of the facility is made of a mixture of student and faculty staff, conference attendees in addition to general members of the public. This type of heavy traffic requires a the presence of a wide-ranging network of security cameras, which are supplied by a technical security integration company. The company, which had set up an award-winning A/V system at the research institution on the past, decided on 37 Canon VB-C50iR network video devices PTZ camera for the security system of the institute.
According to the director of the security company due to the nature of its surroundings, the institute is generally open to any body who wishes to enter. Individuals can freely come in an out of it without any restrictions whatsoever. Not to mention that there are also access points and spaces inside the property that are effectively unsecured, but at the same time are vital to be surveyed and observed. The aim of the system is to supply visually surveillance and inspection for these unprotected regions, which consist of isolated access points, normally vacant corners and alleys in the research quarters and the education vicinities. without a doubt, it is essential to thoroughly supervise the entrances and exits at the building in its entirety.
The latest occurrences at one of the schools that the research institution is in association emphasize the importance of video security. Due to the twelve security cameras set up outside the research institution building in protective weather-tight cases in addition to an added twenty cameras dispersed all throughout the building, the students, educators as well as guests enjoy feelings of serenity and tranquility, due to relaxing that they are they’re in a well supervised vicinity.
An Excellent status
The NVS security cameras of Canon, together with the two-way audio-equipped VB-C50iR PTZ, supply the performance and flexibility that many of the security experts require for compact, remote video-monitoring deployments. These NVS cameras convey the visual footage over IP, thus enabling users to send high-quality video pictures through the Internet or a LAN setup. In addition to that, the users also have the option of viewing footages from multiple sites, having a large number of people view a single spot or a blend of the two options. This enables the video feed to be in numerous places all at the same time.
In addition to that, the camera includes such features as a complex 26x optical zoom lens, a 12x digital zoom and a 340K effective pixel CCD which supplies crisp 640- x 480-pixel resolution video with up to thirty frames per second. Not to mention that it also features a pan of +/- 170 degrees and tilt of +10/-90 degrees, which is compatible for motion tracking purposes. Last but not least, through utilizing a screen-monitoring software application, the PTZ modifications to the position of the camera can be managed remotely via the Internet too.
After learning about Canon’s excellent history of supplying enhanced pictures through top-of-the-line optic technology, the selection was an obvious one for the security integration company, as was the three-step backlight management of the VB-C50iR, which can boost the brightness of shaded areas without affecting lighter regions.
the director of the security company pointed out that on top of that, the cameras had some characteristics that were exclusive in the market, for instance amending and compensating for light when recording footage of a door or window, so that one still has the ability to see the individual coming through the access point. That was a vital element in this deployment.
Easy to operate software applications
Furthermore, a surveillance software that was easy to operate was particularly important to the director of the security company.
He pointed out that individuals that are monitoring and utilizing the software are administrative-level personnel, who are not in any way IT professionals or experts in the security field. This was the primary reason to why the software needed to be able to be easily manageable by these groups of individuals, so they sensed that this particular implementation needed intuitiveness and easiness as a primary trait.
The security integrating company recently deployed Version 1.3 VK-64 network video recording software at the research institution. This deployment allows the VB-C50iR PTZ camera to operate over IP with all existing NVS security camera devices. The application supplies the capability to observe and record high-quality, full-motion video over IP from as many as sixty network security cameras on a solitary PC storage server. Due to the fact that this video is nonlinear, archiving and search functions are speedy and exact. The visual footage can be easily captured, administered, archived, and accessed by computer whenever needed, thus simplifying storage and review of the recorded material. In addition to that, the software also features a wide variety of selections, including camera management, which gives viewers an assortment of camera-adjustment options such as auto panel, white balance as well as light exposure settings.
The ability of an IP network to expand was also critical to the success of the project, especially due to the fact that the research institution had plans to add additional buildings to their property.
the security company’s director also stated that it was essential that the network be based on IP technology. At the present time there are three other buildings in the process of being constructed and a fourth one in the planning phases. They had to settle on a system that they really could effortlessly add to and expand upon.
The setting up of the Canon VB-C50iR security cameras proceeded with relative ease, and the research institution has been very pleased with the outcomes. The scalability of the cameras and software, joint with the quality of the picture and ease of deployment, made an unforgettable impression on the manager of the security company.
He pointed out that the quality was simply marvelous—the basic setting up of the networking infrastructure, and the features and operative procedures of the VB-C50iR camera utilities were also easy to deal with and maintain