Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

Russian Black Hat Hacks 60 Universities, Government Agencies

A Russian-speaking black hat hacker has breached the systems of more than 60 universities and U.S. government agencies, according to threat intelligence firm Recorded Future.

A Russian-speaking black hat hacker has breached the systems of more than 60 universities and U.S. government agencies, according to threat intelligence firm Recorded Future.

The hacker, tracked by the company as “Rasputin,” typically exploits SQL injection vulnerabilities to gain access to sensitive information that he can sell on cybercrime marketplaces.

Rasputin is the hacker who last year breached the systems of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and attempted to sell more than 100 access credentials, including ones providing administrator privileges. Researchers found evidence that he had been negotiating with a potential buyer representing a Middle Eastern government.

Recorded Future has been monitoring the hacker’s activities and identified many of his victims, including over two dozen universities in the United States, ten universities in the United Kingdom, and many U.S. government agencies.

The list of targeted government agencies includes local, state and federal organizations. The targeted federal agencies are the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

US organizations targeted by Rasputin

There are plenty of free tools that can be used to find and exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities, including Havij, Ashiyane SQL Scanner, SQL Exploiter Pro, SQLI Hunter, SQL Inject Me, SQLmap and SQLSentinel. However, Rasputin has been using a SQL injection tool that he developed himself.

“Financial profits motivate actors like Rasputin, who have technical skills to create their own tools to outperform the competition in both identifying and exploiting vulnerable databases,” said Levi Gundert, VP of intelligence and strategy at Recorded Future.

Experts believe Rasputin picks his targets based on their perceived investment in security controls and the potential value of the stolen data. The personal information stored in the targeted organizations’ databases can be highly valuable, particularly if the data is associated with users in North America and Western Europe.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Recorded Future pointed out that while SQL injection vulnerabilities have been around for a long time and can be easily prevented through basic secure coding practices, addressing these types of flaws can often be costly.

“The problem and solution are well understood, but solutions may require expensive projects to improve or replace vulnerable systems. These projects are often postponed until time and/or budget is available, until it’s too late to prevent SQLi victimization,” said Gundert.

Related: Russian Man Accused of Hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox

Related: 100 Million Passwords For Sale From Russian Social Network VK

Related: Leak of 200 Million Yahoo Accounts Linked to 2014 Hack

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Cycode, a startup that provides solutions for protecting software source code, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $4.6 million in seed funding.

Vulnerabilities

Less than a week after announcing that it would suspended service indefinitely due to a conflict with an (at the time) unnamed security researcher...

Cybercrime

The changing nature of what we still generally call ransomware will continue through 2023, driven by three primary conditions.

Cybercrime

A recently disclosed vBulletin vulnerability, which had a zero-day status for roughly two days last week, was exploited in a hacker attack targeting the...

Cybercrime

As it evolves, web3 will contain and increase all the security issues of web2 – and perhaps add a few more.

CISO Strategy

SecurityWeek spoke with more than 300 cybersecurity experts to see what is bubbling beneath the surface, and examine how those evolving threats will present...

Cybercrime

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group informed some customers last week that their online accounts had been breached by hackers.

Data Breaches

OpenAI has confirmed a ChatGPT data breach on the same day a security firm reported seeing the use of a component affected by an...