[BlueOnyx:15420] Open SNMP DDOS attack vector

Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet cobaltfacts at virtbiz.com
Tue May 20 12:09:08 -05 2014


Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen an uptick in reports of DDOS 
attempts using open SNMP servers.   A handful of those have been 
BlueOnyx servers with SNMP enabled.

In case you're unfamiliar, the current rash of SNMP-based attacks isn't 
exactly new, and it's nearly identical to what we saw not very long ago 
with the DNS amplification exploits.   I'm not quite sure why we seem to 
be catching more of it now.

My suggestion is this: unless you are actively using SNMP to communicate 
with your BlueOnyx server, leave SNMP service disabled from the GUI. 
There's no need to run it if you're not using it, and it's only another 
door for bad guys.

If you do use SNMP, I encourage you to use a nice, cryptic string as 
your public string.  For instance "PUBLIC" or "SNMP" would be examples 
of what not to use.  I would encourage you to treat your SNMP string as 
a password and make it nice and strong.

If you want some further reading on SNMP attacks, this is pretty easy to 
read:
https://bechtsoudis.com/hacking/snmp-reflected-denial-of-service/

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
Access, Web Hosting, Colocation, Dedicated
www.virtbiz.com | toll-free (866) 4 VIRTBIZ



More information about the Blueonyx mailing list