Experts comments on the recent ConnectWise’s announcement that hackers have targeted on-premise Automate systems so they can take over servers and then deploy ransomware across a company’s entire computer fleet. More than 100,000 IT professional users are advised to block access to ConnectWise Automate servers.
We want to inform you there are recent reports of malicious actors targeting open ports for ConnectWise Automate on-premises application to introduce ransomware. Please ensure that your ports are not left open to the internet based on our best practices: https://t.co/S7cgLAseAP
— ConnectWise (@ConnectWise) November 7, 2019
I love how everyone commenting on the news hasn\’t actually spoken to ConnectWise or even fully read the email released by ConnectWise as a follow up to the tweet. BLOCK INBOUND 3306 is the message ConnectWise is trying to send. Mysql has been a target for a long time by bad actors, and should never be open to the public. The link ConnectWise included was to a standard setup document that literally reviews the ports that should be forwarded and points out 3306 should NOT be forwarded. The news cycle has turned this into a media circus and over stating what is happening.
Threat actors and criminals always look for the easiest way to break into an organization, while also being the most covert. In cases like ransomware, the goal is to use the initial access into the environment to move to and compromise as many systems as possible. This allows the attacker to rapidly inflict as much pain as possible, bringing the company to its knees and maximizing the attacker’s reward.df
The most obvious entry point that satisfies this scenario is an approved, privileged, understood, knowledgeable, and centralized system used to manage a company’s computer systems. If an attacker compromises that system, he gets unfettered access to the entire environment. Moreover, he can thwart many security operations teams. Installing software (since ransomware is nothing more than software) is likely standard operating procedure for that system, so it still appears to be acting normally. This tactic is nothing new to security incidents and breaches; nation state threat actors and others have used it for decades.