SQL attack hits 500,000 websites

Security researchers have uncovered a new SQL attack which has compromised more than half a million web pages.

"They have hit city websites, commercial sites and even government websites, " wrote Sans researcher Donald Smith.

"This type of injection pretty much voids the concept of 'trusted' or 'safe' websites."

Security firm F-Secure said that at least 510,000 pages have fallen victim to the attack.

The compromised sites have been embedded with code that redirects the user to a third-party site at which eight different exploits attempt to install a password-stealing Trojan.

F-Secure and Sans Institute urged administrators to block access to the domains hosting the malware exploit.

The Sans Internet Storm Center recommended blocking access to hxxp:/www.nihaorr1.com and the IP it resolves to 219DOT153DOT46DOT28 at the edge or border of the network.

F-Secure also recommended that administrators of hosting servers check their logs for possible attacks.

The outbreak is the latest in a rash of large-scale attacks this year. In March, a pair of attacks, one infecting 10,000 pages and another compromising 200,000 pages, were uncovered by researchers.

See also:

Infosec: Security tops government IT agenda

Citrix report highlights main priorities  24 Apr 2008

Infosec Video Lounge Part 2

Infosec video lounge in association with Microsoft Part Two  24 Apr 2008

Infosec: Surfers wary of using credit cards online

Confidence plummets as attacks soar  24 Apr 2008

Infosec Europe 2008 Special Report

The latest news and views from Europe's number one information security event  01 May 2008

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