Researchers have identified a new cybercrime tactic they’ve dubbed “Infrastructure Laundering” exploiting mainstream Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Threat actors operating “hosting companies” rent IP addresses from mainstream hosting providers and map them to their criminal client websites. You can read the details of this new threat here:
https://www.silentpush.com/blog/infrastructure-laundering/
Erich Kron, security awareness advocate at cybersecurity company KnowBe4, commented:
“It’s no secret that phishing and other scam websites don’t stay online very long, and this is a clever way to acquire the IP address needed to host credential stealing, malware spreading, or other scam websites with little or no risk and very low cost. By utilizing major providers, the bad actors make it much tougher for organizations to block IP ranges, because those major providers may also be providing legitimate IP addresses for important web services. This precludes the ability to block large chunks of addresses easily.
Because the bad actors are not likely to set up an account using their own information, they’re liable to rely on stolen accounts to acquire these new IP addresses. Because much of the account takeovers involve the use of stolen or cracked credentials, it makes the need for the use of a phishing resistant Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) technology critical, especially on any accounts with elevated permissions.
Organizations should review the accounts with access, audit transactions, and educate people on how to spot potential malicious activity within their cloud accounts.”
I strongly suggest that you do read it as it is eye opening. Even for someone like yours truly who lives this stuff on a daily basis.
Tariffs And IT: Are They Disruptive To The Sector?
Posted in Commentary on February 3, 2025 by itnerdPresident Donald Trump loves his tariffs. He sees them as an offensive weapon. Actual economists don’t see it that way. But they don’t run the US. The real question is, what effect will tariffs have? To answer that question, I got this comment from Kevin Surace, CEO, Appvance the “Father of The Virtual Assistant” regarding the potential impacts of proposed tariffs on IT. Seeing as this is an IT focused blog:
“Tariffs will increase the cost of nearly all hardware since components are sourced from China and many products are assembled there as well. It’s a little late to mitigate! But moving sourcing out of China has been an obvious choice for a few years. Few did so. But now there is no choice but to scramble.
“In some cases where automation is possible, we will see more onshoring. In other cases nearshoring or sourcing from democracies. The days of dealing with communist countries for ultra low labor costs may be waning.
The IT industry both sources from and sells to China specifically. This will likely increase competition within China from local vendors and increase US vendors costs. It cannot have a positive effect on any customers.”
I have to admit that I am considering moving up some of my tech purchases to lessen the impact of tariffs. Because while I don’t know how long this will go on for, I do know that there will be no winners.
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