BGP Hijacking of Twitter Prefix by RTComm.ru
Earlier today, RTComm.ru started to advertise 104.244.42.0/24, a prefix used by Twitter. RTComm.ru is a sizeable Russian telecom provider. Russian ISPs have started restricting access to Twitter after Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to many Twitter posts critical of Russia's war.
Hijacking a BGP prefix is one way to block access, but it can also be used to intercept traffic to the respective IP addresses. It is not clear if traffic interception is part of the goal here. Twitter typically advertises this same prefix for AS 13414. RTComm.ru uses 8342.
Image from Cisco/BGPStream [1]
BGP announcements can be problematic as they may spread beyond the original target area. In the past, intentional or accidental BGP misconfigurations have led to outages for significant sites. Back in 2008, Pakistan's attempt to block access to YouTube led to YouTube not being available for users worldwide [2]. BGP security has been improved since then, but there is still a possibility that routes "leak." [3]
This is an excellent opportunity to emphasize TLS as an additional layer of protection. "Machine in the middle attacks" (MitM) launched via wrong BGP announcements will lead to certificate warnings if you are visiting a site protected by TLS. TLS not only provides encryption but also authenticates the site you are connecting to. At least as long as you do not trust a certificate authority controlled by the adversary. Certificate pinning, which would detect fake certificates issued by a trusted CA, is not used by current browsers, but some mobile apps may still use it and fail in this more sophisticated (usually state-sponsored) type of MitM attack.
Twitter (a bit ironically here) is probably the simplest way to stay informed about BGP issues. Just follow Cisco's BGPStream account: https://twitter.com/bgpstream
[1] https://bgpstream.com/event/288327
[2] https://www.wired.com/2008/02/pakistans-accid/
[3] https://www.internetsociety.org/deploy360/securing-bgp/
[update: had the AS numbers mixed up in an earlier version]
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Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D. , Dean of Research, SANS.edu
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Comments
Anonymous
Dec 3rd 2022
9 months ago
Anonymous
Dec 3rd 2022
9 months ago
<a hreaf="https://technolytical.com/">the social network</a> is described as follows because they respect your privacy and keep your data secure. The social networks are not interested in collecting data about you. They don't care about what you're doing, or what you like. They don't want to know who you talk to, or where you go.
<a hreaf="https://technolytical.com/">the social network</a> is not interested in collecting data about you. They don't care about what you're doing, or what you like. They don't want to know who you talk to, or where you go. The social networks only collect the minimum amount of information required for the service that they provide. Your personal information is kept private, and is never shared with other companies without your permission
Anonymous
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
Anonymous
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
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Anonymous
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
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Anonymous
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
Anonymous
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
https://defineprogramming.com/
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
distribute malware. Even if the URL listed on the ad shows a legitimate website, subsequent ad traffic can easily lead to a fake page. Different types of malware are distributed in this manner. I've seen IcedID (Bokbot), Gozi/ISFB, and various information stealers distributed through fake software websites that were provided through Google ad traffic. I submitted malicious files from this example to VirusTotal and found a low rate of detection, with some files not showing as malware at all. Additionally, domains associated with this infection frequently change. That might make it hard to detect.
https://clickercounter.org/
https://defineprogramming.com/
Dec 26th 2022
9 months ago
rthrth
Jan 2nd 2023
8 months ago