A new, easy to use tool known as AutoSploit is now on the market through a release on Github that can be used for mass hacking. It leverages Python code to automatically search for vulnerable devices connected to the Internet and then uses Metasploit’s collection of exploits to take over computers and IoT devices. IT security experts commented below.
Bob Noel, Director of Strategic Relationships and Marketing at Plixer:
Stephanie Weagle, VP at Correro:
Gavin Millard, Technical Director at Tenable:
“Responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities is good for everyone, but releasing tools that simplify the process of indiscriminately breaking into systems that leverage those vulnerabilities is foolhardy.
“Most organisations should have a process in place for measuring their cyber risk and identifying issues that could be easily leveraged by automated tools. For those that don’t, this would be an ideal time to understand where those exposures are and address them before a curious kid pops a web server and causes havoc with a couple of commands.”
Jason Garbis, VP at Cyxtera:
“My fear is that this has magnified the attack surface, and made it so that “every” exposed service on the internet will be scanned and probed on a near-constant basis by an entirely new set of attackers.
“It is extremely likely that someone might use it. People have been using similar tools for years, this will make legitimate pen testing and malicious actors jobs easier.
“In order to protect themselves, organizations need to get a clear, accurate, and up-to-date picture of every service they expose to the Internet. Security teams must combine internal tools with external systems like Shodan to ensure they’re aware of all their points of exposure. This must include both traditional on-premises resources, as well as cloud-based resources such as applications running on IaaS. The latter can be considerably more difficult than the former.
“In addition, organizations need to seriously consider using a new and more secure approach to network security, which hides their services from unauthorized users and scanning tools. Security teams need to be honest, and embrace the hard fact that the fundamental premise of traditional network security – exposing services to unauthorized users prior to any sort of authentication – is profoundly flawed and puts the organization at risk. These just-released hacking tools should make this shift in philosophy even more urgent for enterprises, and they must consider new approaches such as the Software-Defined Perimeter.”
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